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Series Code: AFDB
Program Code: AFDB000173S
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00:03 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.
00:09 Doug Batchelor: There are few humans whose intellect could 00:11 match the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest 00:15 artists and inventors of all time. 00:17 Probably, he's most renowned for his Mona Lisa painting. 00:22 Leonardo also excelled in the fields of science, engineering, 00:26 anatomy, botany, architecture, geology, zoology, mechanics, and 00:33 many more. 00:34 In many of these areas, he was far ahead of his time. 00:38 For example, he drew designs that were the equivalent of a 00:42 helicopter, one for parachute, a diving suit, an armored tank, 00:46 and many other fascinating inventions of our day. 00:50 He even build a robot capable of walking, sitting, and moving its 00:54 jaw, and some of his robotic concepts are currently being put 00:58 to use in robots for space exploration today. 01:01 Looking back, it almost seems like Leonardo could see into 01:05 the future. 01:07 We might wonder if anyone really can predict the future. 01:10 In ancient Babylon, the Prophet Daniel informed King 01:13 Nebuchadnezzar about the God of heaven who revealed the deep and 01:17 secret things of the future. 01:19 So join me now, friends, as we discover what God's Word really 01:22 says about the mysterious beasts from the prophecies of Daniel 01:27 and Revelation. 01:32 Doug Batchelor: Our study for tonight is called "Dream of the 01:36 Empires," and we're going to literally be looking at a 01:39 panorama of Bible prophecy tonight that you find 01:42 in Daniel chapter 2. 01:44 Just to give you the story, a little background of 01:46 what's going on, Nebuchadnezzar II, but everyone calls him 01:51 Nebuchadnezzar 'cause no one knows much about the first, King 01:54 Nebuchadnezzar was one of the greatest kings of the 01:56 Neo-Babylonian Empire. 01:59 That's about 585 BC. 02:01 He actually conquered Israel and he told him as long as they 02:05 obeyed, he'd give them a certain amount of freedom, but they 02:09 continued to rebel. 02:10 They didn't want to pay taxes. 02:11 They tried to get Egypt to fight with Babylon so they'd be freed 02:14 from Babylon. 02:15 Finally, he said, "Enough is enough." 02:18 He carried away captive a lot of the people. 02:21 He conquered the city. 02:23 He carried away a number of captives. 02:25 Nebuchadnezzar burnt Jerusalem. 02:27 He burnt the temple. 02:28 The Temple of Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. 02:31 Took all the gold, and the brass, and the treasures, and 02:33 brought it back to Babylon. 02:35 And along with the treasures and the people, he took some of the 02:41 brightest young people in the kingdom, because he said, "You 02:44 know, the Jews were brilliant." 02:46 They were good architects and they understood language. 02:49 And you know, David was a poet, musician, and he always took the 02:53 best of the best from his kingdom. 02:55 They'd kinda go through some college training and intensive 02:58 training so they could serve in his cabinet as counselors to 03:01 help him with ministry. 03:03 And among the four young people that he took, you had Daniel, 03:08 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 03:11 In fact, God had told through a prophet, King Hezekiah--Isaiah 03:14 the Prophet told King Hezekiah, "Because of your pride when the 03:18 Babylonian ambassadors came to visit, everything that they 03:22 looked at is going to be carried off to Babylon, including 03:25 your descendants." 03:26 Daniel and his friends were descendants. 03:29 The Bible tells us that the king of Babylon--it foretold this 03:33 in Isaiah. 03:35 King of Babylon will make some of your descendants eunuchs in 03:38 his palace, and that's exactly what happened. 03:42 So Daniel and his friends were taken to Babylon, along with 03:45 thousands of other Jews. 03:47 Nebuchadnezzar had conquered all of the surrounding kingdoms, and 03:50 Babylon became incredibly wealthy and powerful, but he was 03:54 an extremely ambitious king. 03:57 And one night, he was wondering how long this kingdom of Babylon 04:01 was going to last, and he became troubled about that. 04:04 And this was on his mind evidently, and he fell asleep, 04:08 and he had a dream. 04:09 And this dream was very vivid that gave him an outline of the 04:13 history from the time of Nebuchadnezzar up until the 04:17 second coming of Jesus. 04:19 Now, why did God give this Babylonian king this dream? 04:24 It says, "There is a God in heaven who reveals--" what's it 04:27 say there in yellow? 04:29 "Secrets, and He's made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be 04:33 in the," what days? 04:34 "Latter days." 04:36 So this dream is talking about what? 04:39 The future. 04:41 It says He, through this king, is revealing something that is 04:44 coming in the future. 04:46 And the Lord chose to give this dream to Nebuchadnezzar, and 04:50 then He ultimately calls a Hebrew prophet who reveals what 04:55 is coming. 04:56 And just like the pharaoh of Egypt had a dream, and he didn't 05:00 know what the dream meant, and he ultimately had to call his 05:05 wise men and they didn't know what the dream meant. 05:08 Finally, there was a Hebrew that was in prison and he was able to 05:13 interpret the dream, even though he was a captive in that land. 05:17 Well, this sort of repeats itself in the story here that we 05:20 find in Daniel. 05:22 Now, I tell you what, before I get to the second question, let 05:25 me read the first few verses right from the Bible. 05:27 I get dependent sometimes on the screen. 05:30 And if you have your Bibles, you can turn to Daniel 2. 05:32 I'm going to read the first few verses here. 05:35 "Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, 05:38 Nebuchadnezzar," he's the king, "had dreams; and his spirit was 05:43 so troubled that his sleep left him. 05:46 Then the king gave command to call the magicians, the 05:48 astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king 05:52 his dream. 05:53 So they came and stood before the king. 05:55 And the king said to them, 'I've had a dream, and my spirit is 05:59 anxious to know the dream.'" 06:01 So the king said, "Okay, time for you to earn your pay. 06:05 I've had this dream. 06:06 It was three-dimensional. 06:07 It's very real, very vivid. 06:09 It's--there's something in it. 06:10 God is trying to tell me something. 06:12 What's the message?" 06:14 And they said, Okay," let the king tell us the dream and we'll 06:18 tell the interpretation." 06:21 And the king says in verse 5, "My decision is firm; you shall 06:25 make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, or you'll be 06:29 cut in pieces, and your houses will be made an ash heap. 06:32 However, if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, 06:35 you'll receive from me gifts, and rewards, and great honor. 06:38 Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation." 06:42 And you can imagine the consternation of the wise men 06:45 when they said, "You know, we could concoct some 06:48 interpretation for you, but you want us to tell you what 06:51 you dreamed." 06:53 They said, "The answer for that only belongs with the gods. 06:55 How can we do that?" 06:57 And the king was furious and he said, "Man, you guys 06:59 are frauds." 07:00 He says, "You're just stalling." 07:02 "The king gave the command to," do what? 07:05 "To destroy, execute all of the wise men in Babylon." 07:09 Now, that always seems like a bad idea. 07:11 If you actually killed all the wise men, what do you have left? 07:16 When Daniel learned about the death decree, what did he ask of 07:20 the king and what did he tell his friends? 07:23 "Daniel went in and he petitioned the king. 07:25 He said, 'Give me time, that I might tell the king 07:29 the interpretation.'" 07:31 So he goes to the king and he asks for time. 07:34 How long was that time? 07:35 We don't know. 07:37 He might've--that might have been a day. 07:38 The reason I say that, there's prophecies in Daniel where it 07:41 talks about a time, a times, and the dividing of a time, and that 07:46 represented three and a half days, which in prophecy is three 07:50 and a half years, but that's a subject for another night. 07:52 So it may have been he said, "Give us 24 hours," and the king 07:55 thought, "Well, you know, if I kill all the wise men, I've got 07:58 to find new wise men. 07:59 They're hard to find. 08:01 And I would like to know what the dream means." 08:03 And the king interviewed Daniel and his three friends in chapter 08:06 1. It says he found them ten times wiser than all the other 08:09 wise men in the kingdom. 08:10 Why kill them all? 08:12 They weren't at the first interview. 08:13 Let's give them a chance. 08:14 So the king thought, "Well, 24 hours, sure." 08:18 So after that petition, the Bible said, "Daniel then went to 08:21 his house, and he made the decision known to Hananiah, and 08:24 Mishael, and Azariah, his companions." 08:26 Now, Daniel and his friends say, "We need to know what the 08:29 king dreamed." 08:30 They had a real heartfelt prayer meeting. 08:34 And in that prayer meeting, they believe, "That they might seek 08:37 mercies from God," and this is Daniel 2:17, "concerning 08:41 this secret." 08:42 It's a mystery. 08:44 Does God reveal secrets? 08:45 What does the Bible say we do if we lack wisdom? 08:47 "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all 08:51 men liberally." 08:53 They had very intense prayer meeting. 08:55 And during that time, they felt a peace that God heard their 08:58 prayer, so they finally went to sleep. 09:02 And evidently during the night, Daniel had 09:05 Nebuchadnezzar's dream. 09:07 Now, it just so happens that we've got a copy of that dream. 09:11 I'm going to read it. 09:12 And you start in Daniel chapter 2, verse 31. 09:14 This is when Daniel's relating it to the king. 09:16 We've got beautiful 3D animation video we're going to play for 09:19 you that kind of gives, you know, at least a representation 09:22 of what that dream is about based on the description. 09:25 And we're going to show that to you now. 09:27 "You, O King, were watching, and behold a great image. 09:31 This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you 09:35 and its form was awesome. 09:37 The image's head was of fine gold; its chest and its arms of 09:40 silver; its belly and its thighs of bronze; its legs of iron; its 09:46 feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 09:49 And you watched while a stone was cut without hands, which 09:52 struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them 09:56 in pieces. 09:57 And the iron, and the clay, and the bronze, and the silver, and 10:00 the gold were crushed together and became like the chaff of the 10:04 summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away that no 10:07 trace of them was found. 10:09 And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain 10:13 and filled the whole earth." 10:15 So here is sort of an overview of what happened in that dream. 10:19 In that dream, you see there's a panorama for the history of the 10:24 world because the angel of the Lord guided Daniel in 10:28 interpreting the dream as well. 10:31 So the first thing the king saw in the great image was this 10:35 great image, and it's made of the following elements. 10:38 So we notice that, and you see that up on your screen there. 10:42 They head was of gold. 10:44 It says the breast and the arms were of silver. 10:47 The belly and the thighs were bronze. 10:50 The legs were of iron. 10:52 And the feet were iron and clay. 10:55 So here's an outline of what we're going to go through. 10:58 Now, the only safe way to interpret the Bible is let the 11:01 Bible explain itself, amen? 11:04 So we're going to find out what the Bible says to understand 11:07 this dream so we don't have to speculate, and I think you're 11:09 going to be amazed. 11:11 First of all, what does the head of gold represent? 11:14 So the king is breathless, his eyes are wide, his mouth 11:17 is open. 11:18 He's on the edge of his throne listening to Daniel 11:19 explain this. 11:21 He said, "Okay, now I'm going to tell you, this is the dream. 11:22 Let me give you the interpretation. 11:24 You are the head of gold." 11:26 Well, Nebuchadnezzar thought, "I like that. 11:28 I'm the top. 11:30 I'm the head of gold." 11:32 And he felt pretty good about that. 11:35 Would the Babylonian kingdom last forever? 11:37 The prophecy tells us, "But after you shall another kingdom 11:41 arise inferior to you." 11:43 Now, if I can say, "Look, I've got 10 pounds of gold I'm going 11:46 to give you, or I'm going to give you 10 pounds of silver," 11:47 which do you want? 11:50 If you know anything about value, you're going to want 11:52 the gold. 11:54 People say silver and gold, but boy, they're not comparable. 11:56 Gold is a lot more valuable than silver. 11:59 But you know what? 12:01 Gold is softer than silver. 12:02 And what you're going to see happening now as you go through 12:05 this prophecy is with each succeeding power, and that are 12:11 represented by these metals, they get harder, the kingdoms 12:15 last longer, but they're of less value. 12:18 Starts with gold and ends with clay. 12:21 If I tell you I'm going to give you a pound of clay, 12:23 who's interested? 12:25 Doug Batchelor: Don't go anywhere, friends. 12:26 We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of 12:29 today's presentation. 12:30 Because of its mysterious symbolism, millions feel that 12:34 the book of Revelation and its prophecies are confusing. 12:38 Have you ever wondered, can anyone really know for certain 12:41 what all this symbolism means? 12:43 Well, we can know. 12:45 What if I told you that the key to understanding Revelation and 12:48 decoding your future is in understanding the past, 12:53 beginning in the Old Testament book of Daniel? 12:55 "Amazing Facts" wants to send you an incredible, eye-opening 12:58 magazine called "Daniel and Revelation: Secrets 13:02 of Prophecy." 13:03 It's a free resource that will guide you step-by-step through 13:06 the books of Daniel and Revelation. 13:08 Featuring stunning artwork and historical images and facts, the 13:12 true mysteries of prophecy will become clear for you like never 13:16 before and you'll experience a peace and assurance that you've 13:19 never had before. 13:20 To get your free copy, call the phone number on the screen and 13:24 ask for offer number 604 or visit the web address. 13:28 And after you read this incredible resource, be sure and 13:31 share it with a friend. 13:32 Let's return now to today's presentation and learn some more 13:35 amazing facts from the Word of God. 13:39 Doug Batchelor: So there's an inferior kingdom that rises. 13:43 And let me tell you how this happened. 13:45 Now, Babylon, I just mentioned, was surrounded by the Euphrates 13:47 River, and the river actually ran under the walls. 13:50 Babylon, after Nebuchadnezzar died, his grandson was on 13:55 the throne. 13:57 The son of Nebuchadnezzar was off fighting another battle 14:00 somewhere else and Belshazzar was on the throne. 14:03 And he was sort of a reprobate, young king. 14:05 He had grown up spoiled. 14:06 He hadn't had to fight wars to get his privileges, and he kept 14:10 having parties. 14:12 And the Persians came and surrounded the city, the Medes 14:16 and the Persians. 14:17 And Belshazzar said, "I'm not afraid. 14:20 Babylon's got enough food stored. 14:22 We've got the river running under the walls. 14:24 We've got enough food stored to last 20 years." 14:26 That's actually what one historian says. 14:28 "And they can't afford to besiege our city. 14:30 They'll run out of money feeding their army. 14:32 We'll outlast them." 14:34 So to show that they weren't afraid, they had a big party in 14:36 the city. 14:37 Well, I told you that there was a moat that went around Babylon. 14:41 The river ran underneath the walls. 14:43 This is actually a reproduction of the Ishtar Gate. 14:45 They have actually found one of the gates of Babylon. 14:48 It has beautiful, blue porcelain tiles everywhere. 14:52 And you can see it in Germany to this day. 14:54 They've reconstructed one of the gates of Babylon in Germany. 14:58 And under the walls ran the Euphrates River. 15:00 Cyrus the Persian general, he thought, "Well, the way, if we 15:05 can't go over the walls, let's go under the walls." 15:08 And way upstream, he had his men dig a channel diverting the 15:14 water of the Euphrates River into a low lake bed. 15:18 And when he gave the signal, they broke the dam and all the 15:20 water stopped running in the river and it ran off into 15:23 this reservoir. 15:24 The water level went down in Euphrates so low that at night, 15:29 he had a contingent of soldiers that went under the wall. 15:34 They went through the moat area. 15:36 The inner gates had been left open because the soldiers had 15:38 been drinking, and they were able to open the main gates and 15:42 let the whole Persian army in. 15:44 And in one night with hardly a shot being fired, Babylon fell 15:49 to the Persians. 15:51 And this was all foretold in prophecy. 15:53 Now, when the king was in the palace, King Belshazzar, having 15:56 his party, he wanted to mock the God of heaven. 16:01 He said, "I know my grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. 16:03 He turned away from our gods to Jehovah." 16:06 Do you know there's one section in the Old Testament that's 16:08 written by a non-Jew. 16:10 You know who it is? 16:11 Nebuchadnezzar. 16:13 There's a chapter in Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar shares his 16:15 testimony of his conversion. 16:18 He actually goes crazy for several years, and finally his 16:20 mind returns and he turns to the Lord. 16:24 And Belshazzar said, "We're not going to follow these 16:29 Jewish gods." 16:30 He was trying to undo the influence of Daniel and his 16:33 friends over the people and the religion. 16:35 He said, "We conquered those Jews. 16:37 Matter of fact, we've got their vessels from the temple in 16:39 my storehouse. 16:41 Bring out all the holy vessels from their God of Jehovah." 16:44 And he began to pour wine in these holy vessels from the 16:47 Jewish temple, and he began to toast the gods of wood, and 16:51 stone, and silver, and gold, and iron. 16:55 The Bible says that while they were at the peak of their party 16:58 and he was mocking the God of heaven, a bloodless hand 17:00 appeared and began to write on the plaster on the walls, 17:03 burning letters. 17:05 A bloodless hand just came out of nowhere and starts to write, 17:10 and everybody at the party stood still. 17:14 They were frozen with fear. 17:16 And you know what the writing said? 17:18 "The party's over." 17:21 The king calls in his wise men. 17:24 Now, once again, the wise men proven themselves useless all 17:26 the time. 17:27 Called in his wise men, and astrologists, and said, "Whoever 17:30 interprets this, I'll make him third ruler in the kingdom," 17:32 because Belshazzar was really only the second ruler. 17:35 His father who was the king was off out of town. 17:38 "I'll make him third ruler in the kingdom and give him 17:41 great rewards." 17:42 They couldn't interpret the writing. 17:45 They finally called in an old prophet who had worked for 17:48 Nebuchadnezzar, who was still alive, by the name of Daniel. 17:51 And he says, "I'm going to give you all these gifts." 17:53 Daniel says, "Keep your gifts because I know how 17:54 the story ends. 17:56 I don't want them. 17:57 But I'm going to tell you what the writing says: 'Mene, Mene, 18:00 Tekel, Upharsin.' 18:01 You are weighed in the balances and found wanting. 18:04 And this night, the Medes and the Persians are going to 18:07 conquer the kingdom and you will die." 18:10 That's a paraphrase. 18:12 And the very thing Daniel had foretold at the time he was 18:15 fulfilling the prophecy, the Persians were going underneath 18:18 the wall right then, and the city fell. 18:20 And even the historians bear this out. 18:22 So the Babylonians fell to the Persians. 18:25 Persian Empire started out led by Darius the Mede, and later 18:29 Cyrus the Great, 539 to 331 BC. 18:34 Each kingdom, the territory of Persia, is bigger than Babylon. 18:40 They're growing bigger, they're lasting longer, but the value 18:44 is less. 18:45 The metal is less valuable. 18:46 In the capital for Persia then was Persepolis, and 18:49 unfortunately, later when Alexander came, he and his men 18:53 were drunk and they burnt the city. 18:54 These are some of the ruins of what was once a splendid palace 18:59 of the Persians. 19:00 And you know, the Bible even foretold that Cyrus the king 19:05 would be letting the people of Israel go back to the promised 19:07 land; that he would be doing a special work for the Lord, for 19:11 His people. 19:12 You can read about this in Isaiah 45. 19:15 Now, another example of the amazing power of prophecy: long 19:18 before, hundreds of years before Cyrus is born, here's what 19:22 Isaiah the prophet wrote. 19:23 By the way, we know that Isaiah wrote this before it happened. 19:26 The Dead Sea scrolls and the Jewish history tells us these-- 19:29 the prophecy of Isaiah is one of the most dependable prophecies. 19:32 He's a real historical character. 19:35 "Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus," calls him 19:39 by name, "whose right hand I have held--to subdue nations. 19:43 I'm helping him subdue nations before him to loose the armor of 19:46 kings, to open before before him the double doors," the 19:50 two-leaved gates of the inner city had been left open, "so 19:54 that the gates of the city will not be shut." 19:57 What an amazing prophecy. 19:58 Calls him by name. 20:00 What metal would represent the kingdom that 20:02 followed Medo-Persia? 20:05 Says, "Another third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over 20:08 all of the earth." 20:10 So you've got this third kingdom of bronze. 20:12 Alexander the Great, a very brave soldier, one reason that 20:15 he was so successful, he would lead his men into battle. 20:19 Sometimes he was the first one over the wall and he nearly got 20:23 killed once or twice. 20:25 Because of his courage, his men would--they'd follow him 20:28 anywhere, and conquered, and conquered, and conquered. 20:31 And you've probably heard the story that he sat down and wept 20:33 one day because there was no more places to conquer. 20:36 That's not totally true. 20:38 It is true that he wanted to keep going on and his soldiers, 20:41 after 11 years on the road fighting, they said, "We've got 20:43 families we haven't seen. 20:45 We may never see them again. 20:46 We're done. 20:48 We followed you this far, but we're not going any farther." 20:50 And he finally had to concede to his soldiers. 20:53 So this kingdom now, bronze, not as valuable, but it's harder 20:58 than silver. 20:59 Kingdom gets bigger. 21:01 What happens next? 21:02 What metal represents the fourth kingdom? 21:05 Now any fifth grader knows what kingdom came after Greece. 21:11 It tells us that you've got this fourth kingdom that is as strong 21:15 as, what? 21:17 Iron. 21:18 And so Rome, they are the kingdom that they had the 21:23 iron weapons. 21:25 They had learned from the Phoenicians and others how to 21:28 perfect this. 21:29 And the Philistines were good with iron and they had a great 21:32 deal of armor. 21:34 And they were ruling the world during the time when our Savior 21:38 was born. 21:40 Rome was ruling the world. 21:41 They had their iron spears. 21:44 One of those pierced the side of Jesus. 21:45 And the iron nails, iron cat o' nine tails. 21:49 And so this was called the iron monarchy of Rome. 21:53 So, just doing a little review quickly. 21:55 The head is of gold. 21:56 It represents what kingdom? 21:58 Babylon. 22:00 Thank you. 22:01 Then you've got the silver, which represents what kingdom? 22:03 Medo-Persia, 539 to about 331. 22:07 Then you move on to the bronze, and bronze represents 22:10 what kingdom? 22:11 Greece. 22:12 Now, it's interesting. 22:14 Daniel foretold this all before it happened. 22:16 And then the Greek kingdom, 331 to the Battle of Pydna, where 22:18 the Greeks fell to the Romans. 22:20 Then you've got the iron that represents what kingdom? 22:24 Rome, 168 to about 476 AD. 22:28 Rome sort of disintegrated. 22:29 It wasn't one decisive battle. 22:32 What would happen after the fall of the Roman Empire? 22:36 It tells us, "The kingdom will be divided. 22:39 As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of 22:43 clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and 22:46 partly fragile." 22:47 Rome did not fall in a day. 22:49 Rome kind of disintegrated little by little. 22:52 You've got everything from Attila the Hun to the Barbarians 22:55 that came down from Germanic kingdoms and continually ate 22:58 away at the Western Empire of Rome until Rome fragmented into 23:02 ten kingdoms. 23:03 We can see this happen historically. 23:05 This was all foretold, just like the ten toes in the image. 23:08 But what are the feet made of? 23:11 Iron and clay. 23:13 Would these ten kingdoms ever succeed in uniting? 23:16 No. 23:18 It says, "They will mingle themselves with the seed of men, 23:20 but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not 23:23 mix with clay." 23:26 Now, this is something that happened is that, you know, they 23:28 kept trying to forge alliances all through Europe with 23:31 marriages because they kept warring and fighting. 23:34 Everybody tried to rebuild the Roman Empire, and you've got 23:37 everybody from Charlemagne, to you know, Louis XIV, and 23:42 Kaiser Wilhelm. 23:44 Napoleon tried it. 23:45 He got probably the closest of anybody, but he made the same 23:48 mistake Hitler later make--made of trying to take on Russia. 23:52 Russia was so vast, it just swallowed up their armies and 23:55 they starved. 23:56 They were never able to cling together again, even though they 23:59 tried to do it through marriage. 24:01 At one point, Queen Victoria was related to every leading country 24:05 in Europe through marriage. 24:07 She lived a long time and had a whole gaggle of kids, and they 24:11 all married to try and forge alliances, but they 24:13 kept fighting. 24:14 They will not cling to one another. 24:16 Who will set up the final kingdom? 24:18 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a 24:21 kingdom, which will never be destroyed; and the kingdom will 24:24 not be left to other people; it will break in pieces and consume 24:28 all these other kingdoms, and it will stand forever." 24:31 So, quick review. 24:33 We got the gold is Babylon; the silver, Medo-Persia, the bronze 24:36 is Greece; the iron is Rome. 24:38 Did this happen, friends? 24:41 And did everything in Daniel's prophecy come true? 24:44 Babylon ruled. 24:46 Of course, Daniel was alive then, but he predicted the 24:47 Medo-Persians, and then the Greeks. 24:49 There was just a small tribe. 24:51 Rome wasn't anything back then. 24:53 Maybe, you know, Romulus and Remus were still with a wolf 24:55 back then. 24:56 I don't know, but to predict that they were going to be a 24:58 world empire, who would've known that back then? 25:01 And Greece is actually mentioned by name in the book of Daniel, 25:04 that it would become a world power, and that the Roman power 25:08 would divide into ten parts and they would never again be a 25:11 world empire. 25:12 And we're living in the days of iron and clay right now, 25:15 friends, those same divisions. 25:17 United Nations, how successful have they been at uniting in 25:19 the nations? 25:22 What does the stone do to these other world kingdoms? 25:26 The stone that was cut without hands, who is that stone? 25:30 Jesus, the Rock of Ages. 25:31 What does David use to bring down Goliath? 25:34 A stone. 25:36 What does the Word of God compare to? 25:37 Jesus said, "He that hears these words of mine and does them is 25:40 building on the rock." 25:43 Christ is that Rock of Ages. 25:45 "He strikes the image on its feet of iron and clay." 25:49 You know how you sharpen iron? 25:51 With a stone, 'cause stone actually can wear down iron. 25:55 Broke them in pieces. 25:57 "Then the iron, and the clay, and the bronze, and the silver, 25:59 and the gold were crushed together, and became like the 26:02 chaff from the summer threshing floors. 26:05 And the wind carried them away. 26:06 But the stone--" It says, "They're carried away, no trace 26:10 of them is found. 26:11 And the stone that struck the image becomes a great mountain 26:14 and fills the whole earth." 26:15 Which kingdom is going to last? 26:18 Will it be the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the 26:20 Romans, the divisions of Europe? 26:22 What kingdom is the kingdom that will last? 26:25 The kingdom of the stone, which is Christ. 26:27 It is the one that ultimately fills the earth. 26:29 This message that Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, "You might be a 26:32 world king now, and we might be captives in your kingdom, but 26:36 when the end comes, the kingdom of God, King Jesus, the new 26:42 Jerusalem that you burnt with fire," Daniel's telling 26:45 Nebuchadnezzar, "it is going to rule the earth." 26:48 And everything in this prophecy has happened exactly as foretold 26:52 up to this time. 26:53 Now, the question is, if you know that everything in this 26:56 prophecy has happened, why would we doubt the last part? 27:01 Friends, do you believe Jesus is coming again? 27:07 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing, 27:09 free resource. 27:11 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 27:13 download a digital copy straight to your computer or 27:16 mobile device. 27:17 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 27:20 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 27:25 shown on your screen. 27:26 And be sure to select the digital download option on 27:29 the request page. 27:30 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 27:33 "Amazing Facts," wherever and whenever you want, and most 27:37 important, to share it with others. 27:40 female announcer: Did you know "Amazing Facts" has a free Bible 27:42 school that you can do from the comfort of your own home? 27:46 It includes 27 study lessons to aid in your study of God's Word. 27:50 Sign up today by calling 1-844-215-7000. 27:54 That's 1-844-215-7000. 28:03 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's free offer. 28:05 It's sure to be a blessing. 28:07 And thank you for your continued support as we take the gospel of 28:10 Jesus Christ to the world. 28:12 We hope you'll join us next week as we delve deeper into the Word 28:16 of God to explore more amazing facts. 28:20 ♪♪♪ 28:24 male announcer: This presentation was brought to you 28:25 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. |
Revised 2022-04-12