Turn with me now, if you would,
to Daniel chapter 7. It's page 1117 in my Bible. Daniel chapter 7. I deeply pray
the Lord will bless this. I am at his mercy. You are at
his mercy. Therefore, I deeply pray the
Lord will bless this. You may remember when we looked
at Daniel 5 on the story of Belshazzar, this King Belshazzar in the writing
on the wall. which these two guys right here
picked. I told them I couldn't decide
for a title and I told them they had to pick. And so they picked
a message for this entire world. When we looked at that, all we
did is we read the chapter and we saw the spiritual picture
in the verses as we read through it. I'm sure you don't remember
that. I wouldn't remember that if I
didn't. have the notes, you know, but that's all we did. We just
started at verse one and we read the chapter and we saw the spiritual
picture in it. Right after that was Daniel chapter
six on the story of Daniel and the lion's den. And again, I
don't expect you to remember this, but all we did is we read
the chapter And we saw the spiritual picture in it as we went verse
by verse. And that's all we're gonna do
tonight. I'm gonna read 28 verses. Daniel chapter seven has 28 verses. And we're gonna see a spiritual
picture in it as we go through each one of these verses. But
before we get into it, I want to say this to you. From here, you know, we've been
talking about the book of Daniel, and I've been saying, let's ask
the Lord if he'll help us to go through this. From here to
the end of this book, if the Lord allows us to go through
this, we are gonna be looking at dreams and prophecies. And what I wanna say to you is,
I don't know anything about dreams and prophecies. And I'm being
very serious right now. I don't know anything about dreams
and prophecies. Look at verse three in Daniel
seven. It says four great beasts came up from the sea diverse
one from another four great beasts came up from the sea. Verse seven. The middle of that verse says
one of them had iron teeth. And then at the very end of that
verse, it says that it had 10 horns. Verse 17 says, these great beasts,
which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the
earth. Verse 24 says, and the 10 horns Out of this kingdom are ten kings
that shall arise, and another shall rise after them, and he
shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings."
I don't know anything about any of that stuff. I don't know anything
about that. The commentary writers say, when
you read commentaries on these types of chapters and on this,
The commentary writers say that it was the king of Babylon. It talks about four kings and
then it talks about ten more kings and then kings are going
to come after that. You know, and they say, well,
that's the king of Babylon. You know, Nebuchadnezzar pretty
much ruled the world in his day. And then his kingdom was overtaken
by a man named Darius of the Medes. And then Cyrus took over
who was a Persian. So you read these commentaries
and they will list Babylon and they'll list the Medes and they'll
list the Persians explaining who these kings are. These great,
you know, dominating forces of the earth. And they always like
to throw in Alexander the Great. I don't know anything about Alexander
the Great. I was either absent in school
that day or zoned out. I mean, probably the latter,
but I'm being serious right now. And then they'll say it was Rome,
you know, Rome ruled the world and has, you know, and here's
the thing about it. They may be right. Those men
are very smart men and they probably are right. I just don't know. I just don't know. I can't stand
up here and say, well, there's no doubt about it. That was the,
the Medes and the Persians. And I don't know. I don't know
anything about dreams. I don't know anything about prophecies.
I don't know anything about interpretations of them. There is one interpreter
and it's not me. By God's grace, what I do have
for us is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what I have
for us tonight. That's what I want to show us
tonight. If the Lord will continue to reveal Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, then we will keep going through this book. And
if not, I don't have anything to say about it. So with that
being said, Daniel chapter seven, This is an amazing account. These verses, these are amazing
verses. This is an amazing picture of
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And if the Lord doesn't give
me liberty to tell this tonight, it's still amazing. It's still
wonderful. But it does amaze me and it really
blesses my heart to see how much the Lord revealed to this man,
Daniel. In Daniel 9, let me just show
you these two things real quick. In Daniel 9, the Lord spelled
out for Daniel, he gave him the exact number of years, which
he called weeks, that it would be until Christ
would come into this world and die on the cross. I mean, he
literally handed him the number. Look at 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 three score and two weeks, which every week was seven years.
It was a year for every day. And because it happened that
way, we know that's how it was. The street shall be built again.
The wall, even in troublous times, And after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." Not for himself, Daniel. He's
going to do this for his people. He's going to be cut off for
his people. In chapter 12, the Lord told
Daniel exactly how long it would be until Christ comes back the
second time, and the end comes. Look at Daniel 12, the end of
verse 6. says, how long shall it be to
the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in
linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up
his right hand and his left hand unto heaven and swear by him
that liveth forever, that it shall be for a time, times and
a half. And when he shall have accomplished
to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall
be finished. And I heard, but I understood
not. Then said I, O my Lord, what
shall be the end of these things? And he said, go thy way, Daniel,
for the words are closed up and sealed till the end of time.
Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked
shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand,
but the wise shall understand. Verse 11, he said, and from the
time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, And the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be 1,290
days. Blessed is he that waiteth and
cometh to the 1,335 and 30 days. But go thou thy way till the
end be, for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of
thy days. How long is that? I have no idea. I don't know anything about prophecy,
but I'll tell you this, however long that is, that's exactly
how long it will be and Christ will come back. Daniel is a picture
of Christ, but Daniel, he was just a man too, just an actual
man. And the Lord revealed some marvelous
things to him concerning Christ's coming, Christ's death, Christ's
return, and everything in between all of that. And we really start
to see that in chapter seven. Go back over there now to chapter
seven. This chapter is amazing. God revealed the entirety of
creation. the entirety of man, the entirety
of the recorded Bible. I mean, Genesis to Revelation,
God revealed all of it to Daniel in one dream. And that's what chapter seven
is. The Lord caused Daniel to dream a dream. And this one dream
covers the entirety of the work of God concerning man. He told
him the whole thing. Eternity's story. That's what
this is. And it's amazing. This is just
amazing to say. Let me read and point out the
spiritual picture. We're not going to get hung up
on details that we don't know the answer to. We're going to
read and point out the spiritual picture. So verse one, Daniel
seven, verse one. In the first year of Belshazzar,
king of Babylon. Now you'll remember at the end
of chapter five, Belshazzar died. So this is backtracking in time.
In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a
dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the
dream and told the sum of the matters. And that's what this
is, the sum of the matter. This is a summary vision of how
God caused the whole thing to go. He said, this is how the
whole thing is going to go. Verse two, Daniel spake and said,
I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of the
heaven strove upon the great sea. Now, I'm going to tell you
what the Lord has laid on my heart to say based on some key
words in each verse. The reason why this picture has
come to light for me is because of some key words and I'm going
to point them out to you. He said that strove upon the great
sea. In the scripture, when it speaks
of the sea, it is usually referring to fallen man in general, all
men and women on this earth, just sinful mankind, the sea,
okay? Verse three says, and four great
beasts came up from the sea, diverse, One from another, four
horrible, dominating, ruling forces rose up in this world
and they all took their separate dominions on this earth. Verse
four, the first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I beheld
till the wings thereof were plucked And it was lifted up from the
earth and made stand upon the feet as a man. And a man's heart
was given to it with our spiritual eyes. We can see this first beast
as being a man, Adam. He was made in the image of Christ. He was in the image of Christ,
the lion of the tribe of Judah. And he had, spiritually speaking,
as the scripture states this, eagles' wings. He was good. Adam was good. He was sinless.
He mounted up on eagles' wings. But they were plucked. He fell. He lost them. Once sin is physically
removed from us, the scripture says we are all going to once
again mount up on eagles' wings. But in the garden, man lost him,
and man became a beast. And that's what man is before
God, a beast. Verse five, and behold another
beast, a second like to it, like to a bear, and it raised up itself
on one side. And it had three ribs in the
mouth of it, between the teeth of it, and they said thus unto
it, Arise, devour much flesh. In that we can see the adversary,
the enemy of God, the one who raised himself up and said, I
will be God. And boom, he was cast down to
the earth and he became the devourer of the flesh of man, walking
about, seeking whom he may devour. Verse six, after this I beheld
and lo another like a leopard which had upon the back of it
four wings of a fowl moving in every direction, north, south,
east, west. The beast had also four heads
seeing and knowing every direction and dominion was given to it. Because of that word dominion,
we can see sin. Sin, having dominion over every
living thing on this earth. Sin, the whole creation groaneth
because of sin's dominion. Verse seven, after this I saw
in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible
and strong exceedingly. And it had gray iron teeth. It devoured and break in pieces
and stamped the residue with the feet of it. And it was diverse
from all the beasts that were before it. And it had 10 horns. In this, we can see death. In
the scripture, the word horn means strength. It translates
strength. 10 times the strength of everything. Nothing could escape it. Nothing
can escape death. Verse 8 says, I considered the
horns and behold, there came up among them another little
horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up
by the roots. And behold, in this horn were
eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.
In this horn was a mouth speaking great things. And in this we
see coming out of death, Coming forth from death, Daniel said,
I saw a mouth speaking great things concerning man. That's
that false religion, lie of Antichrist. The works of man, verse nine.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down. He said, I saw all
these thrones. I saw all these dominions. I
saw all these things that were ruling on this earth. I beheld. till the thrones were cast down. And the ancient of days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like
the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery
flame, and his wheels as burning fire. He said, I beheld until
I saw everything, every strength on this earth cast down. And the Ancient of Days, who
is Christ, God Eternal, Daniel said, I saw Him high and lifted
up, sitting on His throne. He said His throne was judgment,
fiery judgment. All of His works, all of His
wheels, they were holiness. Verse 10 says, a fiery stream
issued and came forth from before him. Thousands, thousands ministered
unto him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The judgment
was set and the books were opened. Does that sound familiar? We
just read that in our scripture reading. Same thing that the
apostle John saw on the Isle of Patmos, that's the same thing
Daniel saw. That's the mouth of two witnesses.
This is how it's going to be. He said, I saw it, the judgment
was set and all the works of man were made known. The books were opened. Verse
11, I beheld then because of the voice of the great words
which the horn spake. I beheld even till the beast
was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning Because
of that false religion, lying message of Antichrist, the adversary
who spoke it was cast into the lake of fire. They were both
cast into the lake of fire. That message is going in with
him. Verse 12, as concerning the rest of the beast, they had
their dominion taken away. Yet their lives were prolonged
for a season, in a time. As for the rest of the beast,
heathen man, sin, death, everything, all of their dominion was taken
away. Daniel said, I saw it. It was
all taken away. Where did that happen? On the
cross of Calvary. Christ won the victory over everything
on the cross of Calvary. All dominion was removed, but
the dominion of Jesus Christ alone on the cross of Calvary,
that victory was set in stone. But even though it's finished
and over and set in stone, this world being full of sinners against
God still continues. There's a sea of sinful men and
women. They don't have dominion over
God's people, but they still exist. It's still going. Sin
itself still continues. Christ ended the sin of his people
on the cross of Calvary, yet here we are still in sin. It does not have dominion over
God's people, but it still continues. Death still continues. That message of lies, it still
continues. Death doesn't have dominion over
God's people at all. He or she that lives and believes
in Christ will never die. But for a short, prolonged season
in time, death is still around us. Verse 13, I saw in the night
visions and behold, one like the son of man came with the
clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they
brought him near before him. After our Lord's victory on the
cross and after he Conquered all that He came to conquer on
this earth, He ascended back on high to His throne of glory. And I love how Acts chapter 1
tells us as He ascended up, the clouds came and took Him out
of their sight. They were all just standing there
gazing into heaven. And clouds came and got Him and
took Him out of sight. And then Psalm 24 tells us those
clouds carried Him up to glory. And all of glory cried, open
the gates, the King is coming in. He ascended back to his father
and he sat down on his throne. Verse 14 says, and there was
given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people,
nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away in his kingdom,
that which shall not be destroyed. Daniel said, I saw, I saw it. All dominion and power and glory
was given to Jesus Christ. Verse 15. I, Daniel, was grieved
in my spirit, in the midst of my body, and the visions of my
head troubled me. He said, fear struck me. Seeing
this truth concerning Christ, it struck holy reverence in me,
down in the midst of my body, in my soul, in my heart. Verse 16, I came near unto one
of them that stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So
he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things.
That's the spirit of God himself. Who can know the mind of God?
Who can know the truth of God without the spirit of God revealing
it? Verse 17, these great beasts,
which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the
earth. rulers, dominions, like we've seen them to be. Verse
18, but the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom and
possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Daniel
said, I have seen it. I have seen the end. God has
given the inheritance to his people. He's given the victory
and the inheritance to his people. Verse 19, then I would know the
truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others,
exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of
brass, which devoured, break in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet. Daniel said, I wanted to know
the truth of death, the adversary of death. Verse 20, he's talking
about the truth of this message of death, of the 10 horns that
were in his head, of the other which came up and before whom
three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that
spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his
fellow. I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints
and prevailed against them. That message of lies and death,
that message of the fleshly works of man, there was a time that
it had hold on all of God's people. There was a time, there is a
time for all of God's people that they are captive to these
things. There was a time when the adversary,
the author of that lying message, held captivity over God's people.
Verse 22 says, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was
given to the saints of the Most High. And the time came that
the saints possessed the kingdom. Sin and death prevailed against
God's people until Christ came to the cross of Calvary and judged
sin and death for them and led that captivity captive. Deliverance. Verse 23. Thus he said, the fourth beast
shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse
from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread
it down and break it in pieces. Every soul that is without Christ,
every soul that was not judged in the death of Christ is going
to be judged by the death of Christ. The self-righteous works
of man, that has one ending, death. It's gonna be death. Outside of Christ, it's death
for all. It's either grace or works. It's
either Christ or man. If the message is not Christ,
it's man. And if the message is man, it's death. That message of man will bring
this whole world down. It will devour the whole earth
that tries to cling to it. Verse 24, it says, and the ten
horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, and
another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from
the first, and he shall subdue three kings. It's going to be
one false religion after another. One will rise after another.
Men will come up with this blasphemous lie, and then men will come up
with that blasphemous lie until time is no more. It's just going
to continue and continue. Verse 25, and he shall speak
great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the
saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws,
and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times,
and the dividing of times. This lie on God, this lie of
the adversary, is going to subdue this unbelieving world and it
will wear out God's people. It will vex, it will distress
God's people until time is no more. Verse 26 says, but the
judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume
and to destroy it in the end. But vengeance is the Lord's and
Christ is going to reign. This is how it's going to be
until time is gone from us. All of these things are going
to vex God's people. They're going to continue for
this little season. Sin, death, the adversary, men. But God is going to sit on his
throne and he's going to consume all of that away. Vengeance is
the Lord's. Verse 27 says, And the kingdom
and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High. That's amazing to me. Why didn't
that just say Christ? It's because His people have
been made to be one with Christ. Everything that He gets, we get. We are joint heirs with Him.
If it says it goes to Him, it goes to us. The kingdom and dominion
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall
be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve
and obey Him, Christ, forever and ever and ever. Verse 28 says,
hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my cogitations,
my meditations, much troubled me and my countenance changed
in me. But I kept the matter in my heart.
He said, this is the end of the matter. This is how it's going
to be. This is how things are going
to go. And he said, it struck fear into me. And it brought
this changed mind of repentance to me. But he said, I believed
it. God gave me faith to believe
it. And by God's grace, so do we. We. No, and we are sure this
is how it's going to go. By faith, we've seen this. How
do we know that in the end, Christ is going to reign on his throne
with all this sin still around us and all this death still around
us and this false message of the adversary still around us?
How do we know that Christ is going to do away with it and
sit on his throne and give us the kingdom and all will be well? How do we know that? We just
do. That's how he said it would be. And by faith, we see it. That's how it's going to be.
We acknowledge the great troubles are still here. They're here
for a little moment. But our God and his sovereign authority
and dominion, he is about to put them all away. And they're
going to be gone. And he will reign. We will be
glad and we'll rejoice in him. And that's how it's going to
go. Let Him be all the glory. Amen.