Thy Kingdom Come
Living in Babylon: An Exposition of Daniel

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Good morning, church! It is good to see all of you this beautiful morning. Good to be together again. We’re continuing our series through the book of Daniel. We are in Daniel, chapter seven, today. We’ve titled this series, which we have mentioned every week, “Living in Babylon.”

If you’re here, maybe for the first or second time, let me remind us why we named it that. Babylon is symbolic of the world. When we say “Babylon,” we’re saying it’s the world’s economy. It’s the world’s religion. It’s the world’s government. And so, just as Daniel and his friends were exiled into Babylon and carried from their home in Jerusalem to Babylon, so we, as citizens of heaven, are still in this world. We’re like exiles in this world; exiles living in Babylon.

This morning, in chapter seven, there’s going to be a shift. You will notice it. I’m letting you know, in advance, there’s going to be a really huge shift in. The first six chapters were very historical and very narrative. We’re going to shift to a chapter that is what’s called “apocalyptic literature.” Apocalyptic literature comes from the Greek word, apokalypsis, which means “the unveiling,” “to not be veiled. ” Anytime you see a Greek word with an, ah, in the beginning, it means not or against. Often, it is against God. For example, atheist or agnostic; pokalypsis means no knowledge or not sure. So, this word means no veiling or no covering. So it’s uncovered.

We have a book of the Bible that’s named that in the Greek. It’s what book of the Bible? Does anybody know? The Apocalypse is of John, the Book of Revelation. So it means the unveiling, the uncovering. So, here’s what’s happening in Daniel, chapter seven. The veil of heaven is parted, and Daniel gets to see what’s going on from God’s perspective, from a heavenly perspective. What he sees is the kingdom of heaven coming. He sees the kingdoms of this world coming to an end and then, he sees the Kingdom of Heaven coming now. Don’t be too startled, because going from chapters one through six, it’s kind of like you’ve been sitting, clicking through the channels. For six chapters we’ve been watching the History Channel and now we click it again and all of a sudden we’re watching SciFi. We don’t know how we got here, but in Chapter seven, we’ve found ourselves on the Sci Fi Channel because everything here’s different because it’s otherworldly. Daniel is seen beyond the veil. It’s unveiled to him, and he sees from a heavenly perspective.

For the first time in his life, he’s known as the one who has the gift of interpretation. He needs someone to interpret this to him. We’ll see that. But he sees these kingdoms coming. Then he sees the ultimate kingdom coming; the Kingdom of Heaven.

I wonder, do you remember the Lord’s Prayer growing up? I mean, most of you know the Lord’s Prayer, probably by heart. You probably learned it at church. You learned it at school. I learned it at church. At every sports team event that I played on in high school, we said “The Lord’s Prayer” before every game. “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…” We prayed it; amen. And then we said, “let’s go kill them. Hey, man, let’s kill them.” You know, I’m not sure those two go together. But that’s how we did it.

Maybe you grew up praying The Lord’s Prayer but you didn’t really think about what the words meant. Just think about it for a second with me, because this is gonna be really important to understanding Daniel, chapter seven. We pray as Jesus taught us, “Our father, which art in heaven, holy is your name, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” That’s how Jesus taught us to pray.

But here’s our problem. That’s not how we pray. We go to God like He’s the “heavenly Santa Claus” and we give Him our laundry list. We pray, my kingdom come, my will be done. God make it happen in heaven the way I want it to happen on Earth. We try to get God to do our will. We try to get God to build our kingdom because we want to be in control.

One of the reasons that so many of us are filled with fear and anxiety is because we’re not in control. We’re still grasping at straws, trying to be in control. Some of us, especially men, because it’s like the one American emotion allowed for men, get angry. We are really afraid, or some other emotion, but the emotion we show is anger because we are not in control. We want to be in control. We are not in control, so we show anger.

Here’s what chapter seven, I think, is supposed to do for us; it’s gonna freak us out a little bit. It’s coming your way. We flip to a different area here, but once you get over that, don’t be afraid. Don’t be overly amazed. Instead, be encouraged. Be encouraged, because regardless of what’s going on in the world around us, give up control and give your control to King Jesus and say, “Jesus, Your kingdom come.”

Where is Christ King? It’s wherever you call Him king. Where’s the kingdom of God? It’s at your house if you’ve made Jesus king of your house. Where is the king? What’s over at my house? Where is the king? It’s right here if we say He’s king. Here’s the kingdom of God right here but the kingdom of God is coming to planet Earth because the kingdom of man is ending, so be encouraged.

In the book of Daniel, chapter seven, Daniel, receives from God, a vision. He gets a vision from God that reveals His plan to ultimately bring all the kingdoms of this world to an end and to establish His own everlasting kingdom for His saints, through the divine Son of God, the Son of man, Jesus Christ. I believe that we can be encouraged by recognizing that in these kingdoms, there’s a lot of war in the world. There’s a lot of violence. There’s terrorism. We can be encouraged in the midst of all that, knowing that it’s temporary and it’s unfolding. God has a plan, and ultimately Jesus will return again and set up His own kingdom. Those that are in Christ will be included in that kingdom.

Let’s look for three ways on how we can be encouraged in the book of Daniel, chapter seven. Are you ready now? What do I say? These last few weeks, I’ve been saying, “Don’t leave here and say that the church does not read the Bible. We read the Bible.” I’m going to read chapter seven to you , so hang on.

Daniel 7:1-28 (ESV) 1 “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. 2 Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. 5 And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ 6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. 9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. 11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. 15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. 16 I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. 17 ‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.‘ 19 “Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, 20 and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. 21 As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. 23 “Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. 25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. 27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’ 28 “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.” This is God’s word.

Three ways that we can be encouraged by God’s plan, by His plan, to bring it to an end all worldly kingdoms and to bring His own kingdom. Here’s the first: 1. Understand that God will bring all worldly kingdoms to an end. Understand that what we’re seeing in the world today is temporary. And as the world waxes worse with wars and rumors of wars and terrorism and all these things, it’s easy for the saints, for believers to be anxious, to be worried, to be discouraged. The book of Daniel is saying to the saints, I have a plan for this. Daniel, let Me show you something and visualize it kind of on split screens in this vision.

Here’s what’s coming on planet Earth; here’s what’s going on behind the veil in Heaven as this takes place. He exposes this to Daniel, but not just to Daniel, but all of us. For Daniel, more of it was the future. But for us, almost all of it has already happened, except for the last piece.

Okay, here’s the thing about prophecy when it’s already been fulfilled. It’s pretty much 2020. You can look at it and see that that’s fulfilled. But then when we look at the parts that are yet to be fulfilled, sometimes we have difficulty and we have to be humble in the way we interpret it, because we could easily get it wrong. I’ll do my best. You pray for me right now. I’m going to do my best to tell you about this apocalyptic chapter seven.

We have to understand the symbols and the numbers and all these things. So, let me help you unpack it . Here’s how you interpret scripture; , the best way to interpret scripture is by seeing it through the lense of the New Testament. Read the Old Testament through the lense of the New Testament. The book of Daniel is going to remind us that it sounds a lot like which other book? You’ll hear me refer to the book of Revelation a lot because it’s best to interpret scripture by scripture. It is best to interpret the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. It’s even better to always be looking for Jesus on every page; we’ll find Him here. You’ll see in just a moment.

Now for fourteen verses, we get the vision. It’s not until verse fifteen that we get any kind of sense of the interpretation. It’s at that point, with Daniel, that the shoe is on the other foot. Daniel’s got the gift of interpretation, but he can’t interpret this vision .

This is the first vision he gets, and he gets it in the first year of Belshazzar. For six chapters, it’s been chronological. But now, he’s going to reach back to Kings because he’s under Darius the Mede. He’s under Cyrus the Great from Persia when he’s writing this but he’s looking back now to the first year of when Belshazzar became king, because that’s when the vision happened.

From verse seven through twelve he’s looking back, and he’s talking about what God has taught him. But the shoe’s on the other foot because usually, like when Nebuchadnezzar gets a dream, Daniel has to interpret it. Now, he gets a vision and he needs help. As we see over in verse fifteen, “as for me, I am anxious, I am alarmed…” In verse sixteen, “ so I approached one of those who stood there.” So is he having a vision? No, he’s in it; he’s in Heaven. When he gets to, “…a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him…” , which I think is 100 million or something, do the math. I wasn’t a great math student. I’m pretty good, but I think that’s about right. There’s a whole lot of people around the throne. Daniel taps one on the shoulder and says, you look like you’ve been here a while; do you know what’s going on?

Somebody told me after today’s first service that Daniel wasn’t like most men. He asked for directions. He tapped somebody; it’s one of those heavenly hosts. . It’s probably an angel. I don’t know. Hey, what’s going on? He asked him questions, right? That’s where the interpretation starts. So he starts getting the first thing he wants to know.

16 “I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this.” The first thing he starts unfolding to him is about those four beasts because they’re scary. Tell me what they symbolize? He begins to talk about them, and Aramaic is flexible. Chapters two through seven of the book of Daniel are in Aramaic. It’s the largest Aramaic section of the whole Bible. Most of the Bible in the Old Testament is written in Hebrew. In the New Testament it is written mostly in Greek.

We have chapter seven in Aramaic, which was the language of Babylon. He’s in the chapter and he says kings, but it could easily mean kingdoms. Okay, so kings and kingdoms are kind of flexible, and he refers to that in other places, so it’s kind of urgent.

These four beasts represent four kingdoms. It’s hard not to not to visualize these four beasts. I found an artist’s rendering of what they look like: the lion, the bear, the leopard and the beast that Daniel can’t even describe it, it is so terrible. He didn’t know what to call it; he just describes it. Here’s an artist’s rendering. (pictures on screen)

It looks like this guy . Whoever painted this thought it looked like a rhino to him, with a lot of horns. Here they are. They’re coming out of the sea. “Winds” (2) – Winds represent strife, war, or conflict (Jeremiah 49:36, 37).The Bible almost always refers to violence or war. So wind is often symbolic of war. Water represents multitudes, peoples, and nations; you can look at Revelation 17:15; I don’t have time to look there now. It often represents the multitudes of the people’s or of the nations.

Out of the peoples of the world, these four kingdoms rise up out of the water; out of the sea. You can’t help but notice, if you’ve been with us on this whole journey, that Daniel’s basically getting a similar vision to what Nebuchadnezzar had in chapter two. Did you notice that? Do you remember this? Do you remember the golden headed statue that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about and Daniel had to interpret it? Remember that gold head, the silver arms, the bronze midsection, the legs of iron and the feet and ten toes mixed in clay.

I want to just kind of compare those really quickly because God’s making a big deal about this in the book of Daniel. First, he gives to Nebuchadnezzar a less detailed version. Then, he gives to Daniel an even more detailed version. He wants us to get this, so he gives it to us in two chapters.

I came up with this grid (on screen) to help us quickly cover this and Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. He has the statue of the head of gold, which represented Babylon. Daniel said, that’s you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that’s Babylon. The lion was Babylon in chapter seven, the lion with eagle’s wings.If you were able to go to Iraq today and look at the Babylonian ruins you would see, inscribed in the ruins, this lion with eagle’s wings. It was a well known Babylonian symbol on their coins. It was on their walls. It had breasts and arms of silver. The two arms are the Medo-Persian Empire. The bear, with one side raised higher than the other and the three ribs in its mouth are the same thing. The belly and thighs of bronze; that’s the leopard. That’s the Greek empire. The legs of iron and the beast with iron teeth; that’s Rome. The feet and 10 toes with iron clay, 10 horns with a little horn; that’s the western world. Nations that emerged out of Rome. See, Rome still exists; the way of Roman thinking, the idea of democracy and law and all this it. We’re part of Rome; it’s part of the Western world.

And so, that’s where we are, right? That’s the 10 toes; that’s where we’re at today. That hadn’t happened or it is happening, and we don’t know it yet. That’s the fuzzy part. I can tell you this, with great confidence when I get to that line. Fuzzy. Now there’s guys writing books about it. Just be warned. They don’t know any more than I do about that. They just know what this says, and then they try to figure it out, and they could be getting it right. But they could be getting it really wrong. That’s the age we’re in.

Remember the end of the story with Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in Chapter two? A stone comes that was carved away from a mountain, not with human hands; that’s the Messiah. He topples the statue.

In the chapter that we’re studying today, in Daniel, chapter seven, the Son of man is presented the keys to the kingdom, and he overthrows the little horn and establishes the Messianic kingdom. I want to go quickly there; we’ve already seen this in chapter two, but now we’re getting more details.

4 “ The first was like a lion…” Let’s look at the lion just for a second. Verse four speaks about this lion. He had his wings plucked off. He was lifted up from the ground, made to stand on two feet like a man. And then the mind of a man was given back to him. So this seems to have some Nebuchadnezzar detail in that one.

And then we see, “… like a bear…” All this is a simile, right? It’s not really a lion because you don’t see lions with eagle’s wings. So Daniel’s thinking these are hybrids. That kind of looks like a lion; that kind of looks like eagle’s wings. He’s trying to put into words what he sees in this vision. The next one looked kind of like a bear , it was raised up on one side because greater because Persia was greater than Media. And so, I think that it had the three ribs in its mouth that would coincide with the three nations: the Medo-Persian Empire overthrew Babylon, Lydia and Egypt. It overthrew those three kingdoms right in a row. Boom, boom, boom. And so that would coincide with that.

And then, it says, a leopard with four wings of a bird and four heads. Now, leopards are fast; that’s Greece. That’s Alexander the Great, who swept through that land like there was no resistance, like a leopard with wings. He overthrew Persia and all that land, and ironically, he ends up in Babylon, and then he wants some ships built so they can get back to Greece. And he’s waiting for the ships to be built and in a drunken stupor , he dies at age 32 and the kingdom is immediately divided between four generals, four heads.

The four generals are Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. The Greeks ruled from 331 to 168 B.C. The Greek Empire is ruled under these four, this four-headed leopard. Daniel didn’t see that yet; that hadn’t happened yet. But look at the details.

The fourth beast is the Roman Empire. That was way in the future for Daniel. It overthrows the Greek Empire, but it was never really replaced by a 5th kingdom. It has been divided into many smaller ones since, which the 10 horns represent. But, there’s not a 5th beast. The Roman Empire just kind of the case in the 10 toes, and that’s what we see today.

This is the idea of the Roman Empire as the western world and includes us because we come out of Britain. We don’t know exactly what that is. A lot of people have thoughts about that. I won’t go into all those because it’s still future or its present future. It’s easier to look into the past.

Here’s the thing: the 10 horns either represent 10 distinct kings or kingdoms or the number 10 in the Bible, symbolic of the number of a whole or complete so it represents the whole. It’s probably 10 as indistinct, so we don’t remember when the Union was first formed and it first hit 10. They first had 10 nations in the Union. People were freaking out. I think it has, like 20 some nations now. So, we don’t know right? But we do know this, that it will come to an end, and it will come to a climactic end.

The book of Matthew, chapter 24, is Christ’s revelation, if you will. It’s His teaching to His disciples about the future, because He heard the disciples talking about the buildings in Jerusalem . Jesus says to them, in Matthew 24:2, “You see all these things, don’t you? I tell all of you with certainty, there isn’t a single stone here that will be left standing on top of another. They will all be torn down.” Then, they wanted Him to tell them about that; tell us about the end times.

Matthew 24:6-8 (ESV) “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” He says to not be alarmed. This has gotta happen. That’s what he’s telling, Daniel; don’t be alarmed.

Here’s the ultimate endgame; yes, this is gonna happen, but then I’m going to send the Son of man and He’s gonna overthrow the kingdoms of men and replace it with an everlasting Kingdom. We are all invited to be part of that Kingdom. How can we be encouraged by that?

When you look around today, instead of being anxious and worried about what you’re seeing on CNN and Fox News and all those other 24 hour a day news broadcasts, don’t be anxious. Don’t be alarmed. He’s got this. I’m a patriot. I love the country. I’m glad I was born in this country. I’m glad we have the freedom of religion so that we can be here today without fear and that we can preach the gospel. But even this is an imperfect kingdom of man. And even as we see the years go by, little by little, it’s becoming unanchored from the Judeo Christian values that it was founded upon and, little by little, it’s devolving, You know, some people believe in evolution. I believe in devolution. I think things are running down, and so the kingdoms of men are getting worse and worse. We have to be careful that our kingdom is in Heaven. It’s with Christ. I’m an American and I love that, but it will pass away, so be encouraged. Don’t be worried about these things, put your faith in the coming Christ.

Here’s number two how we can be encouraged by God’s plan to bring it to an end for all worldly kingdoms and to bring His own kingdom:

2. Recognize that God will judge those who rebel against Him.

So, we’ve covered the first eight verses. We’ve “unpacked” these beasts, as they represent four kingdoms, and the latter part represents many kingdoms. It’s kind of fuzzy there at the end, and we think that’s the present tense time. But then in verse nine, we have this shift to Heaven, so let’s talk about that for a second.

In verse nine, it says, “As I looked, thrones were placed…” That’s plural: thrones. What do we do when we hit something like that? How do you interpret scripture from scripture and you interpret the Old Testament through the lense of the New Testament?

So let’s see if we can ask the New Testament which thrones are these and who’s sitting in them. That’s my question; that’s how I read the Bible. Is that how you read the Bible? And then it says, “and the ancient of days took his seat.” So one of the seats was a special seat. What about those other thrones?

If you look over in the book of Revelation 11:15-16 (ESV) “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God.” Well, I think that’s there. It is. I think there were twenty-four other seats and twenty-four elders had their thrones. Twelve for Israel and twelve for the church; this is the way that I see it. It represents the church and Israel, which are now one in Christ.

We see there’s a little glimpse from Daniel that John the Revelator saw more fully because the Bible is a progressive revelation. We learn more and more about God on every page. The ancient of days are the first time that has ever been mentioned, and I think it might be the only time in the entire Bible. It’s in this one chapter three times; it’s in verse nine, verse thirteen and in verse twenty-two. Who is this ancient of days? Who is it? It’s God, absolutely. In verse nine and verse thirteen, It appears to be the Father. Why do you say that; why am I saying that?

Let’s look down at verse thirteen, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.” Now, the son of man is who? That’s Jesus, and He’s presented to the ancient of days. Who’s that? That’s the Father. Jesus is given the keys to the kingdom. He says, I’m gonna put you in charge. Everything. I’m giving everything to You. And so that’s that moment in heaven where the Father gives to the Son dominion over all things.

Okay, but here’s the fuzzy part. Have you heard of the doctrine of the Trinity, that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are one God, yet three distinct personalities? That’s beyond my understanding, but I believe it because it’s revealed through scripture. So I think what we’re observing here is the Trinity in this vision. How can you see the father?

Here’s what John, 1:18 says, and the Scripture never goes against itself. We have to stick with what the scripture says. John 1:18 (ESV) “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” The only revelation of God is Christ. Do you want to see God? You have to see Jesus. Do you want to know God? You must know Jesus.

How do we get at this? Let me stir you up a little bit more. Let’s look over in the book of Revelation, chapter one and see how Jesus looked when the veil was pulled back. John got to see Him as He really is; John had spent years with Jesus. He’s the one who had his head over on Jesus’ shoulder at the last Supper. He loved Jesus. He knew him well. He was willing to talk to him about anything. But then when he saw him in the Book of Revelation, he fell out like a dead man when he saw Him because He saw this, He turned to see one like a son of man. Where did he get that phrase? He got it from the book of Daniel because that’s a Messianic title; Son of man. Revelation 1:12-16 (ESV) “Then I turned to see … one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” That sounds a lot like the ancient of days. I don’t understand this, but Daniel saw, somehow, a manifestation of the Trinity in action. That’s the best I can get my little pea brain around that this is both.

In verse nine and thirteen, it’s the father giving the keys to the son of man; the keys to the kingdom. In verse 22, which is the third mention of ancient of days, it says, I’ll start with verse 21, “As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.” Well, he’s coming again; Jesus. Here he is, talking about Jesus. I know it’s a little confusing. I told you we were flipping channels, but it’s wonderful. And it’s wondrous that Daniel’s peeping into this. Already, we see a reflection of the mysterious revelation that this son of man, it actually says he’s like a son of man, and verse 13 which, which hints at his divinity, that he stands in the presence of the ancient of days, and that the ancient of days gives him dominion over everything. We’ll talk more about him in just a little bit.

This ancient of days is God. That’s the simplest way to say it. It’s God, the father. and God, the son. And sometimes it’s the father and the son. We didn’t get involved with spirit right there. Okay, But that’s the Trinity; it’s a mystery. Hey, look, if we could understand everything about God, he wouldn’t be God. We only know about him and what he’s revealed to us about him. All that he has revealed is good. He has white clothing that expresses purity, has hair like wool that expresses wisdom and age.

How about that throne? Look at this. Maybe, he’s sitting on a throne of fiery flames and it has wheels that are on fire. He’s riding a fiery chariot . That’s what he went and got Elijah with, right? He went down and picked up Elijah in that thing. He’s riding a fiery chariot. Fire speaks of a couple things. Fire speaks of judgment, and it speaks of omnipresence. He’s everywhere; He’s not fixed by time or space. He judges everywhere all at once, all the time. This is the ancient of days and a stream of fire issues from him, which is his judgment. Judgment came out of His mouth and 1 million angels served in carrying out his judgements. 100 million of the heavenly hosts were present.They stood there as witnesses.

And then what’s that last part? And the court sat in judgment and the books were opened. What books? Books in heaven? Probably literally, scrolls. What’s this about? Let’s look in the New Testament. See if we can find some reference to books in heaven. Revelation 20:11-12 (ESV) “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it… And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

Is your name in the Lamb’s book of life? Is your name written there? I remember when I was a child, we would sing this song at church: “My name is in the book of life. Oh, bless the name of Jesus. I know, I know, I know, I know. I know. I know. My name is written there.” Do you know that? Do you know your name is written in the Book of Life? How do you know? It has to be written in there by the blood of Jesus. You have to receive him as your lord and savior.

The books were opened; Daniel saw this, but the part that really disturbed him was his second question in verse 19. He desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, especially that little horn with the big mouth. The one that uprooted three other kingdoms. That was really causing him to be anxious. We find details about him in verse eight, verse 11 and verses 23, 21, 24 and 26. Let me summarize. And then I will tell you who I believe the little horn is to be.

Verse eight says that after the ten little horns popped up, an eleventh one popped up. That was smaller, and when it did, it uprooted three of the ten and apparently the other seven went ahead and bowed to him after he uprooted three of them. And so we see that and he was given eyes like a man, which shows that he had a sense of wisdom. He was given a mouth speaking great things, which shows he was given the ability to influence people. In verses 23 and 21, it says that he spoke great things and he was greater than his other companions. He made war on the saints and prevailed over them. So he’s going to bring in an age of persecution; he is going to persecute the saints.

Then it says, in verse 22, that the ancient of days, which I believe here is Christ. came and judged the little horn and overthrew him. But then it says in verses 24 thru 26 that as the one that Daniel was asked to interpret, it says some more detail about him. It says he’s different from the others. He puts down three kings. He speaks words against the most high, which means he claims to be equal to God. He claims to be God. He wears out the saints. He changes times and laws. In other words, he changes the holidays to be more about worshipping him and he changes the laws to be about humanity, humanism, those kinds of things.

And then it says, in verse 25, that God allowed him to carry on like this and to persecute the saints like this. How long? For a time, times and half the time. That’s helpful. Remember back, when we’re talking about periods of time a few chapters ago? Daniel warned him; he said, look, there’s gonna be seven periods of time if you don’t, if you don’t repent, there’s gonna be seven periods of time where you’re gonna eat grass like an ox. We determined that that was seven years.

He hasn’t changed his symbolism here. Time is one year, times is two years and half a time is six months, so that’s 3.5 years. He let the little horn with the big mouth prevail over the world and persecute the saints for 3.5 years, this is the last 3.5 years of the seven years of tribulation. That’s what’s going on right here.

Who is he? Well, Paul called him, in 2 Thessalonians, chapter two, the man of lawlessness. John called him in 1 John, chapter two, the antiChrist and then, when John received the revelation in chapter 13, he called him the beast. Revelation 13:1-8 (ESV) And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns… And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.” The dragon is symbolic of the devil of satan. Satan gave his power to this man of lawlessness, this antiChrist, this beast is Satan incarnate. This is Satan’s counterfeit messiah. So he gave him his power and his throne in authority, and one of the heads seemed to have a mortal wound but it’s mortal wound was healed. In other words, there was a resurrection. So there’s a counterfeit resurrection and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast and they worshipped the dragon, for he had given authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like the beast who can fight against it, And the beast was given a mouth .

The little horn with the big mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words and allowed to exercise authority for 42 months was in the end times And that’s 3.5 years. It opened its mouth and uttered blasphemies against God, blaspheming him in his name and his dwelling. That is those who dwell in heaven. And it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them and authority was given over every tribe people language a nation and dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world. And what? The Book of life. The Book of Life of the Lamb Who was slain? Do you see how Daniel interprets revelation? Revelation interprets Daniel. This is still to come. This hasn’t happened yet. This one we see foreshadowing.

People thought Hitler was that; the way he killed the Jews, the way he tried to take over the world. Every time you see Satan at work in someone’s life, they want to take over the world. Even in the cartoons, Pinky and The Brain; every day, Pinky asks The Brain, what are we going to do today? The Brain replies, we are going to take over the world. That’s man’s desire; to take over the world, to be king, to be queen, to be in charge.

Ecclesiastes 3:17 (ESV) …God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.” The Book of Revelation speaks of the end of this little horn, this antiChrist, this man of lawlessness, this beast. This one, that would cause people to put the numbers 666 upon their head and upon their hands in order to buy food. This man, this little horn with the big mouth, says he will make war on the land, and the land will be conquered. But, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings is with those who were called chosen and faithful. God’s on the throne, so be encouraged. He’s going to judge, so be encouraged. He’s got this.

Here’s the third way that we can be encouraged even in the midst of seeing these kingdoms. Some of this stuff is scary because, well, anything man builds kind of looks like a hybrid beast. But what God builds is good and perfect.

3. Look and pray for God’s Son to return and establish His kingdom.

What do we do? So, if this stuff is gonna happen, no matter what we do, we’re not in control. This is gonna happen, but the good news is it comes to an end and Christ returns. So what do I do? What’s my part? Don’t be anxious. Don’t be worried. But what can I do on the positive side? Look and pray. Look and pray. Look for it; look for the signs. Look for Christ’s coming again and as you see the day’s progressing, wars and rumors of wars look harder. Don’t be caught wasting your time in Babylon. When the Kingdom of Heaven is coming, strip away every hindrance that’s slowing you down to run the race so that he catches you busy being an ambassador. Look and then pray. Let’s look at verse 13 for a second. I want to talk to you about the son of man, just for a second.

In Daniel’s vision, he saw one who looked like a son of man in verse 13. I saw him the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven. There came one like a son of man. In the New Testament. Jesus uses that title eighty-two times to refer to Himself; He is referred to as the son of man in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

He says, “I’m the son of man,” when He’s in that “kangaroo court” on a Thursday night or Friday morning; the sun hadn’t come up yet. The rooster had not crowed. Yet, He’s in the house of the high priest Ciaphas, and they’re bringing in these false witnesses but they couldn’t get their stories straight. It wasn’t looking good because Jesus wouldn’t even open his mouth. He was quiet like a lamb, all beaten and battered by the guards who had brought him there. He just sat there, with his eyes down and just ignored them. They asked Him, aren’t you going to defend yourself? I think Ciaphas, the high priest stood and basically said, swear to me, who are you? Are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? Jesus raises His face and answers. This is the only time he speaks. He says, Mark 14:62 (ESV) “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.” Ciaphas, the hypocrite that he was, said, now he’s blaspheming and deserves death unless he really is the son of man.

Ciaphas, if he’d been any kind of student of the Bible, would have known that Jesus was quoting Daniel,chapter chapter seven, verse 13. He’s saying, I’m the one that Daniel said 600 years ago was coming. Here I am. You know, Daniel didn’t see forthcomings. The people in the Old Testament prophets only saw from a distance. It’s kind of like you’re looking across the mountain range and you can’t see all the valleys in between. You can see one mountain but you can’t see the next one. Daniel didn’t see forthcomings, but he saw the Son of Man coming. Here’s Jesus, using that phrase, he refers to in verse 21 – 22 as I read before, “until the ancient of days came.” I believe that’s the Son of man in Verse 22; that’s Jesus. He came. That’s Him coming again. This everlasting kingdom is coming .

At the end of this chapter , Daniel says, 28 “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.” I looked at myself in one of those brass shiny mirrors and I didn’t even look like the same guy. My color was pale. I bet Daniel had to go and get another night’s sleep after that. He might have slept for a week after that. That was exhausting; this vision he saw into the future and he saw the veil of heaven pulled back. He recorded it 600 years before the coming of Christ and they missed it when he came.

We don’t want to miss it, do we, friends? Full revelation is upon us here. The Bible is true. Look at how prophecy is proven. You know people who say that Daniel couldn’t have been written 600 years before Christ. Do you know why they say that? It’s because the prophecies are too accurate. Isn’t that funny? It’s either not accurate or it’s too accurate . Make up your mind.

In chapter four, they say that can’t be true because we can’t find Belshazzar. Oops. We dug up something that says Belshazzar is around. Oh, never mind; it’s too accurate. Over here wasn’t accurate enough. Oh, well, that’s too accurate. We get to Chapter eight, you’re not gonna believe it. It just keeps getting more accurate. Where’s your faith? Where’s your encouragement? Where’s your joy?

Titus 2:11:13 (NLT) “ For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.” In other words, stop living it up in Babylon. We shouldn’t live in this evil world; we should live in this Babylon with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God. While we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will be revealed. He’s coming again.

Are you ordering up your life with that in view? Look for him and then pray. And now, when you pray the Lord’s Prayer, pray it, understanding what you should be praying, “Our father, which art in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Say it like this, “Your kingdom come in me, your will be done in me.” Let’s stop praying those “my kingdom come, my will be done prayers; let’s start praying, “your kingdom come, your will be done.” Let’s experience the joy and encouragement of knowing our God is on his throne, on his fiery chariot, and he never leaves it. He’s always aware of what’s going on. And he has sent us Jesus that he might purchase for himself a people that would live with him forever.

Let’s pray, Lord, thank you, first of all, for the Son of man that you sent. For Jesus, the son of man, the son of God, the word of God, the lion of Judah, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. His name is Jesus. He’s the king. He’s God’s provision. Do you know him? If you want to know God, you have to know Jesus. How do you do that? By faith, you make a decision to believe a decision that goes like this. You express it with your mouth and you believe in your heart. You act on it with your will. Dear Lord Jesus, pray with me right now. Dear Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you died on the cross, that you were raised from the grave three days later and that you live today. That you’ve ascended to the father and you’re coming again. I want to be part of your kingdom. Will you forgive me of my sin and come into my life? Make me a child of God. I want you to be my lord and savior and my king. If you prayed that prayer, believing, it’s not just the words, but it’s the faith in your heart that you really believe it. And he’s ready to save you. That’s why He came. Many of you are praying that prayer every Sunday. People are praying that prayer, believing in Christ; it changes everything. Others are here and you know Christ, but you’ve gotten your eye off of him. You’ve been praying “my kingdom come” prayers. You’ve been giving him your laundry list. Stop trying to be in control. Confess that right now. Repent of self and wanting your way. I want your way, Lord. Right now. Say, Lord, my yes is on the table. You’re in charge. Whatever you’ve called me to do, I will do it because I know you are God and that you have the future of nations and that you’re coming again. We prayed this in Christ’s name. Amen.