Participants: Pr. C. A. Murray
Series Code: DAA
Program Code: DAA000002A
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00:01 Music...
00:26 Hello and welcome again to: Daniel All Access. 00:30 My name is C.A. Murray 00:32 it's my privilege and pleasure to welcome you all 00:34 to this odyssey through the book of Daniel. 00:38 As we seek to make Daniel very plain and very pertinent 00:44 Daniel has much to say to us in these days 00:47 so we welcome you 00:49 and we ask you to dig deeply and think deeply 00:53 because the Lord has a message for each and every one of us 00:56 in the book of Daniel. 00:58 Will you pray with me now. 01:00 "Father God, as we open your Word, 01:04 we ask for your Spirit because we need your Spirit 01:09 to understand your Word. 01:12 Enlighten us, illuminate the path before us 01:17 that we may see and know and do... 01:22 and we thank you dear Father, in Jesus' name, amen. " 01:25 Audience: Amen. 01:27 The title of our presentation today is: Dream Catcher 01:30 and I hold in my hand a Dream Catcher. 01:34 This is an Indian artifact from the American Indians 01:40 particularly the Ojibwe Tribe and the Lakota Tribe. 01:45 Now, if you cannot say, "Ojibwe and Lakota" 01:49 just say Chippewa and Sioux 01:50 because they are the same tribes. 01:53 The Ojibwe are the Chippewa and the Lakota are the Sioux 01:57 but they particularly made Dream Catchers. 02:01 It is made from Willow bark and the idea was 02:05 that the Dream Catcher was to keep you from having bad dreams 02:09 so, if you ever went to a Lakota Reservation... 02:12 a Sioux Reservation 02:14 or an Ojibwe-Chippewa Reservation, 02:17 you would find one of these somewhere in the house. 02:19 It was designed to ward off bad dreams. 02:24 Now the Indians thought that bad dreams were kind of dumb 02:28 and good dreams were kind of smart 02:31 because bad dreams have evil intent 02:34 and good dreams have good intent. 02:37 So the idea was the dumb bad dream 02:39 would get caught up in the webbing 02:41 and couldn't get through 02:44 and there's a little tiny hole here in the middle, 02:47 the good dream would find it's way through that hole 02:50 and get to the mind of the sleeping person 02:53 and the little rattles that are here... these little rattles 02:57 were to guide the good dreams through 03:01 but bad dreams would get caught up in the web 03:04 and in the morning they would dissipate 03:06 and only the smart good dream would make its way 03:09 all the way through to the mind of the sleeping person. 03:13 Boy, I wish it could be that easy. 03:15 Audience: Amen... 03:17 But it is not... 03:18 because the Bible says in Daniel chapter 2, 03:22 and that's our study for today 03:24 that Nebuchadnezzar had a series of dreams 03:28 and I guess, he would call these "bad dreams. " 03:34 Pause. 03:36 In the second year of his reign very early on 03:40 he is plagued now by a series of bad dreams 03:44 or at the very least, "disturbing dreams. " 03:50 These dreams literally rocked his world. 03:55 They so tormented him that he could not function, 03:59 he could not eat and he certainly could not sleep. 04:02 Now, the Bible says, "Dreams" with an "s" 04:06 later on, it says, "dream" 04:08 so, what we believe is... it is... it is the same dream 04:12 several times... 04:14 not different dreams but one dream 04:16 night... after night... after night... after night 04:19 which is bad enough 04:21 but then to be disturbed from your sleep 04:23 and then wake up from your dream 04:25 and not know what you dreamed is a pretty shaky thing. 04:30 How many of you have ever had bad dreams? 04:33 Audience: Agreeing. 04:35 And you kind of wish you could forget it 04:36 because sometimes they seem so real 04:38 but Nebuchadnezzar had a series of dreams, 04:41 didn't know what he dreamt but he knew it was bad 04:44 pause... 04:45 and it disturbed him very, very much. 04:50 The same dream night after night after night. 04:54 Now, most of the monarchs in the ancient days 04:58 kept people on staff... 05:00 these were people who are hired and paid 05:02 to consult the stars and to look into prophecies 05:08 and to deal with astrology 05:10 and to deal with things like dreams 05:13 and Nebuchadnezzar... 05:15 the Babylonian Empire was no different. 05:17 There were men there who existed 05:20 to serve the king in that fashion. 05:23 Their job was to consult mediums 05:26 and the stars and astrologers 05:29 and then give the king information that he requested 05:32 and that he needed. 05:34 So it is natural now, 05:36 since Nebuchadnezzar has this problem 05:39 he's got dreams that are disturbing him, 05:41 he doesn't know what they mean, 05:43 it is natural that he would consult these individuals 05:47 to try to get some understanding as to what these dreams meant. 05:53 So he wants a de-briefing from them. 05:56 Now, what is interesting is that God told 06:00 the Israelite Community... the Jewish Community... 06:04 stay away from this kind of stuff... 06:06 you know that... from the days of... of Saul 06:08 no demonology... no necromancy... 06:12 no consulting with wizards, no consulting with spirits, 06:15 they were to stay completely away from that... 06:17 which is interesting 06:18 because we'll come back to that in just a moment 06:20 but in Babylon... not only were these people revered, 06:24 they were at the top of the food chain as it were, 06:28 people who could divine things and tell secrets, 06:32 they were much prized for this ability. 06:36 So, Nebuchadnezzar says, "I've got a dream... 06:39 this dream is disturbing me... 06:42 I'm having this dream night after night... 06:44 after night... after night 06:46 and what I want you to do is explain to me 06:51 not only what the dream meant 06:53 but I'm going to need you to tell me what I dreamed. 06:56 Now, that's pretty tough... 06:58 "I need you to tell me what I dreamed and what it meant. " 07:05 And so, here's our text, the Bible says, 07:08 I'm in Daniel chapter 2 verse 4... 07:10 "Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic... " 07:14 and remember last night I told you, 07:15 that Daniel is a series of sandwiches... 07:17 here's the first part of the sandwich 07:19 because right here at the word "Aramaic" 07:21 Daniel changes his writing from Hebrew to Aramaic 07:27 right here... this is a change... 07:29 so this is the meat part of the sandwich 07:31 that we were talking about last night, 07:32 so the king is asking them... their answer is, 07:35 "Then spake the Chaldeans to the King in Aramaic, 07:38 O king, live for ever: 07:41 tell thy servants the dream, 07:43 and we will shew you the interpretation. " 07:46 Now, doesn't that sound reasonable? 07:48 "You tell me what you dreamt 07:50 and I'll tell you what it means. " 07:52 That's not an unreasonable request... 07:58 but the king was not pleased with that. 08:03 They're trying to tell him 08:05 "Tell us what you dreamt... we'll tell you what it means 08:13 because that's our job. " 08:15 So, now we get some insight into the mental make-up 08:20 of a rash, hot-headed, absolute monarch 08:24 who has a bunch of employees 08:26 who are not only trying to save their jobs... 08:31 they're trying to save their necks. 08:33 "Tell me the dream... you will be rich and wealthy, 08:39 fail to tell me the dream... and I'll have you cut to pieces. " 08:46 "Please me... and you live... disappoint me... and you die. " 08:52 Pretty rough choice 08:55 but that is a choice that they were given 08:58 and their response is, 09:03 "What you're asking is impossible" 09:07 Here we have it in Daniel chapter 2 verse 10. 09:11 The Bible says, 09:12 "The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, 09:14 There is not a man upon the earth 09:17 that can shew the king's matter: 09:19 therefore there is no king, nor ruler, 09:24 that asked such a thing of any magician, 09:27 or astrologer, or Chaldean. " 09:30 They are saying, 09:32 "What you're asking is impossible. 09:36 Nobody asks that kind of thing, 09:39 we simply cannot do it, 09:42 we are paid to interpret dreams not read minds. 09:48 What you're asking is for a mind-reader 09:53 and we are not that. " 09:55 Daniel 2:11 "And it is a rare thing 09:58 that the king requireth, 10:00 and there is none other that can shew it before the king 10:04 except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. " 10:08 They're basically saying, "We can't do this, 10:10 your request is unreasonable. " 10:14 And as you look at the request, it is unreasonable 10:17 but you're dealing with a man who doesn't care about reason 10:21 so the answer comes... the response comes in verse 12, 10:25 the Bible says, "For this cause the king was angry" 10:29 not only angry, he was very furious. 10:32 "and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. " 10:36 This is a rash guy... 10:38 we're getting a picture of Nebuchadnezzar 10:40 as kind of a hot-headed guy who says... 10:43 who talks before he thinks 10:45 and who acts very, very rash 10:48 so, automatically, "you're all going to die" 10:50 "And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; 10:55 and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. " 10:58 Now, here's what's interesting, 11:00 somehow 11:02 Daniel and the three Hebrew boys 11:05 get lumped in with the wise men of Babylon, 11:08 somehow they get lumped in with the astrologers 11:12 and the soothsayers and... 11:13 and they had nothing to do with that 11:15 in fact, the Jewish religion 11:16 specifically forbade that kind of activity 11:20 but in the minds of those who were doing the killing 11:25 and the minds of King Nebuchadnezzar 11:27 a wise man... is a wise man 11:29 whether you're one of my wise men 11:31 or you're a Jewish wise man, 11:32 everybody's going to die 11:34 and Ellen White tells us the killing actually had begun 11:37 and so, Arioch comes to Daniel 11:41 and he is coming to Daniel and the Hebrew boys to take his life 11:46 to take their lives... 11:48 Daniel goes to the king and gets a stay of execution. 11:54 He consults with Hananiah, 11:56 Azariah and Mishael... 11:59 you know them as Shadrach, Meshach and Obednego 12:01 they are people of God, now, here's the side bar 12:04 we talked about this last night, 12:06 "When you want to know the will of God, 12:11 one way is to seek council from people that you know know God!" 12:17 Amen. 12:19 Does that make sense? 12:20 Every Christian ought to have somebody in your life 12:26 that you know knows God 12:29 so that you can get counsel when you need it... amen. 12:33 Hopefully, it's your husband... 12:36 amen 12:37 or your wife... 12:39 amen 12:40 but if not, find somebody 12:42 hmmm... find somebody that you know knows God 12:46 who can pray with you when prayer time is needed, 12:50 who can cry with you when crying time is needed, 12:54 who can laugh with you when laughing time comes 12:58 someone that you know knows God 13:01 that you can take your problems to 13:04 and not have them on Facebook the next day. 13:08 You know what I'm talking about? 13:09 Audience: Yes... laughter. 13:10 Find somebody... now... let me say this as a caveat, 13:14 it's best for a woman to find a woman to do that with, amen, 13:19 and best for men to find a man to do that with 13:23 amen 13:24 but find somebody who you know knows God 13:30 who can help you negotiate 13:32 some of the rough patches in life, 13:34 because everybody needs a friend 13:36 and everybody needs a friend who knows God 13:39 who can give you some good, sound counsel... 13:41 I'm tempted to go into a long story 13:43 but we've got a lot to talk about so I'm not going to do it 13:44 but find somebody that you know knows God 13:48 who you trust with your secrets 13:51 who will keep them between you and God... amen... 13:54 Audience: Amen. 13:55 Because everybody needs a friend, 13:57 everybody needs somebody to counsel with 13:59 and so, Daniel went immediately 14:01 to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego 14:04 the three Hebrew boys... 14:05 because he knew that they knew God 14:08 so Daniel and his fellows 14:11 are also slated for extermination 14:14 and make no mistake about it, the killing had already begun 14:16 and Daniel and his friends were next on the hit list 14:20 and praise God Daniel got to Nebuchadnezzar 14:25 and got a stay of execution 14:27 so, they're praying 14:29 and they're praying for the grace of God 14:32 we've got it in Daniel chapter 2 14:35 I'm looking at verses 18 and 19 in your Word. 14:37 They're praying that they would desire the mercies 14:41 of the God of heaven concerning this secret 14:44 that Daniel and his fellows should not perish 14:48 with the rest of the wise men of Babylon... 14:51 they didn't even belong there but they got lumped in. 14:53 "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision 15:01 and then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. " 15:03 Two things, one... notice that in this life-and-death matter. 15:08 You don't see Daniel fasting, 15:11 you don't see Daniel going all night and laying upon the ground 15:15 you don't see Daniel afflicting his soul, 15:18 now that does come a little later again in chapter 9 15:22 but he's not doing it now. 15:23 This is a life-and-death matter. 15:24 He asked God and God gives him the answer... 15:28 fast... huh... 15:30 he just asked Him... "God... " 15:32 see, the Lord wants to help you, amen. 15:33 Audience: Amen. 15:35 God wants to bless you, God wants to give you good gifts 15:39 you don't want to tear yourself up, 15:42 the Bible says, "Ask and ye shall... " 15:44 Audience: Receive... 15:46 Hmmm... hmmm... so, Daniel just asked... 15:47 God gives him a dream... 15:49 gives him the answer... amen... 15:51 and immediately... immediately Daniel praises the Lord, 15:55 now, he could have said, "Hey King, I got the answer 15:59 and if you want to grease my palm... 16:02 I'll give you the answer" 16:05 or he could have taken credit for himself 16:09 but he gave credit where credit is due, amen. 16:12 Audience: Amen. 16:13 You see, every good gift and every perfect gift 16:16 comes from... comes from God 16:19 and when God blesses you with something good, 16:22 God ought to get the credit. 16:25 Audience: Amen. 16:27 Amen... if anything good happens in our lives... 16:29 comes from... comes from God. 16:32 Ellen White says this, 16:34 "We are laid under obligation to praise the Lord" 16:37 Audience: Amen. 16:39 You have an obligation to praise the Lord, 16:41 it's not... it's not... it's not something you can do or not do 16:45 or may do or not want to do, 16:47 you have an obligation... we have an obligation 16:51 to praise God in our lives, 16:53 when God blesses you, open your mouth and praise Him. 16:56 Audience: Amen. 16:57 Amen... not just quiet praise, 16:59 "I'm thinking about praising God" 17:01 hmmm... hmmm... 17:03 open your mouth and praise Him. 17:05 Amen. 17:06 We are laid under obligation... and let me say this, 17:09 If you're praying 17:10 and your prayers are kind of hitting the ceiling 17:12 and coming back down 17:13 stop requesting and start praising 17:19 and praise will crack that ceiling. 17:21 Audience: Amen... amen... yes... amen... amen... 17:24 Yeah, just let the shopping list stay 17:28 and spend some time praising God 17:31 and praise will usher you into the presence of God. 17:35 It will... just stop and praise Him... 17:38 just find something to thank God for. 17:41 "Lord, one and one is two... oh I praise you. " 17:45 Amen. 17:46 Praise Him for your peanut butter and jelly sandwich 17:49 just find something to praise Him for 17:51 because He's worthy to be praised... 17:53 and the fact that you're here 17:54 and you're smiling 17:56 and you got clothes and you got food 17:58 and you got: one, two, three, four, five on this hand 18:01 and one, two, three, four, five on this hand... 18:03 that's something to praise God for... so praise Him 18:06 and you will find that praise ushers you 18:09 into the presence of God in a marvelous way 18:12 and so, the first thing Daniel did when he got the answer 18:16 is he praised the God of heaven. 18:20 So, Daniel gets the answer... God gives him the answer 18:24 and he praises God... 18:27 every good gift... every perfect gift... 18:30 let me give you the text for that, 18:31 that's James chapter 1 verse 17. 18:33 We need to thank Him. 18:35 Ellen White says as I said, 18:36 "We are under obligation to praise the Lord. " 18:39 Now, verses 20 through 23 in Daniel chapter 2 18:42 are all "praise verses" 18:44 he's just praising God for what He's done. 18:46 Four full verses of praise to God who deserves our praise 18:51 so, "there is a God in heaven" he says, 18:53 "who answers things and who gives us understanding. " 18:58 You know, people wonder why... 19:00 people wonder why Pastors make appeals at funerals 19:04 it's... it's... it's because 19:09 when your life is out of control, 19:12 that's the time you get sensitive to the need for Jesus 19:19 you hear me? 19:21 When everything is going well and everything is fine, 19:25 sometimes we feel we don't necessarily need the Lord 19:29 but when you get that negative doctor's report... 19:34 hmmm... hmmm... 19:35 or you get a notice... a little pink slip from your job 19:41 amen... 19:43 or 19:45 a police car pulls up in front 19:47 and your child is in the backseat, 19:50 those are times that are called "Seasons of the Soul" 19:55 when you become sensitive for your need 20:00 of some divine aid in your life 20:03 so, when you lose a family member or a spouse, 20:09 that's the time to talk about God 20:12 and you got a king who is a control freak 20:15 and his life is out of control 20:17 and what does Daniel do? 20:20 That's the time he inserts God in there. 20:24 "There is a God 20:27 who can help you. " 20:30 Well, now he's ready to listen, amen. 20:33 You know, after 9/11, I was there in New York, 20:35 after 9/11 the... 20:37 9/11 happened on a Tuesday 20:39 you should have seen the Adventist churches on Saturday 20:41 pause... 20:43 and the first-day churches on Sunday... 20:46 packed... packed... packed... packed 20:48 for about two months, Gary, two months... 20:51 then the exigency wore off 20:54 and folk kind of went back to their lethargy. 20:56 But seasons of the soul are the times 20:59 when you need to bring God in to the mix. 21:03 Death, divorce, loss of livelihood, moving... 21:07 Gary... you know, moving from one State to another 21:11 that's... that's when you need God, 21:12 you start packing up stuff and stuff is breaking... 21:14 and stuff is getting chipped and... 21:16 you know, that's the "Season of the Soul. " 21:18 Bad medical report... 21:20 pause... 21:23 you got a king and the dream is making him crazy 21:27 and he wants control and his life is out of control, 21:31 that's the time to tell him about God, amen... 21:34 seasons of the soul. 21:35 I lived next door to a lady some years ago 21:39 husband and wife doing well... 21:41 child got a full scholarship to I think it was Dartmouth, 21:44 one of those Ivy League schools... doing very well 21:46 husband owned a gas station 21:48 and he was also the principal mechanic 21:51 so they were making a lot of money 21:53 and they were very nice to us 21:55 but anytime I tried to steer the conversation to "God Stuff" 22:00 the wife kind of put a halt to it, 22:02 "We don't want to hear that, 22:04 we know you're a Preacher but ply that trade someplace else 22:07 we don't... we don't want to hear it" 22:09 and they were doing well 22:11 and one day, she left her job 22:13 and she decided she would surprise her husband 22:16 at the gas station 22:17 so she went to the gas station and she got the surprise 22:21 because he was in the back with somebody else 22:24 who wasn't her. 22:27 Audience: Hmmm... 22:30 So, now she's ready for Jesus... 22:31 and you know what? Jesus was ready for her, amen. 22:35 Audience: Amen. 22:36 It's called a "Season of the Soul" 22:38 when your when your world gets rocked, 22:41 that's when you know you need the Lord 22:43 and this came... 22:45 his world is out of control... 22:48 he is disturbed... he can't eat... he can't sleep 22:50 he can't function... he can't rule his kingdom 22:53 and God tells Daniel to tell him, 22:56 "There is a God in heaven who can help you. " 23:01 God has made you a spectator to the history of the world. 23:09 Now this... this is a... this is a heathen king, 23:12 this is not an Israeli king, this is a heathen king. 23:15 Follow me, you have 42 kings 23:21 of the nation of Israel, 23:23 42 in total, 23:25 if you take out the first three, that's Saul, David and Solomon, 23:30 you got 39 kings, 23:32 after Solomon, you know the kingdom was divided 23:35 Rehoboam... Jeroboam... 23:37 so now you got Israel in the north 23:39 Judah in the south 23:41 ten tribes constituted Israel... 23:44 two tribes... really two tribes and a half 23:46 because you had Judah... Benjamin... 23:48 and you had some Levites there in the temple 23:52 so, of the Israel kings... there were 19, 23:56 of that 19... guess how many, the Bible says, were good kings? 24:02 Out of 19... 24:05 not one... 24:08 0 for 19... all bad, 24:11 now in Judah, you got 20 kings 24:15 19 men and praise the Lord, one woman, Molly, 24:22 you got one woman, her name was Athaliah 24:25 now I've got some bad news for you, 24:27 bad... very bad... 24:31 killed a lot of people at the very beginning... 24:33 bad way to start out your... your kingdom... six years bad... 24:36 of the 19 guys that were kings of Judah, 24:42 guess how many were considered good kings? 24:47 Only eight... 24:50 only eight... I'll give you their names. 24:53 You know them because they're so few in number, 24:55 Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, 24:59 Jotham, Hezekiah... 25:00 and one we talked about last night... Josiah. 25:02 So out of... out of 39 kings, 25:06 only eight could the Bible commend, 25:09 all the others... the Bible says, 25:12 "they're evil in the sight of the Lord" 25:13 so, no wonder, when God wants to find somebody to work with, 25:17 He's got to leave Israel... He's got to leave Judah 25:20 and go to Babylon to find somebody that He can work with. 25:23 Pause. 25:26 Over 19... 25:28 and eight out of 39... 25:33 and really you could put Saul in the minus category, 25:37 David... he had his ups, he had his downs... 25:43 and Solomon started out good 25:46 and 300 wives and 700 girlfriends later, 25:50 his world got a little shaky 25:52 so God could not even find someone in His own... 25:58 of His own people... 26:00 so He's got to go to Babylon and latch on to a heathen king 26:08 you know, God will use whoever He can... 26:10 wherever He can... wherever He can find you. 26:11 If you don't speak, the rocks are going to cry out, 26:15 amen... 26:17 and if... if... if... if you don't get it done over here, 26:20 God's going to find somebody over there, 26:21 God is not beholden to anybody, 26:25 so, He's using now Nebuchadnezzar 26:27 and Nebuchadnezzar is not the first 26:29 and he certainly won't be the last, 26:31 he is making Nebuchadnezzar a spectator in history. 26:35 Here's what you saw, 26:37 we've got to get through this fast, 26:38 you saw a giant image, there it is on the screen, 26:40 90 feet tall... 27 meters tall, 26:43 and 9 feet wide... 2.7 meters wide, 26:46 that's what you saw, it was a statue. 26:50 Now, to get some... some sort of context, 26:54 the Statue of Liberty from the base 26:56 not the base... but the feet to the top of that torch 26:59 is a 111 feet tall, I said, from head to toe 27:05 but it's really from toe to torch... 27:07 111 feet tall. 27:10 Daniel's image probably came up to the top of the crown 27:16 of the Statue of Liberty 27:18 so, this is... this is... for that day and that time, 27:20 a... a... a massive image. 27:22 "What you saw... " Daniel says 27:26 "was excellent and awesome in form... 27:28 the head was of fine gold, 27:33 the chest and arms were of silver, 27:37 the belly and thighs were of bronze" 27:40 and that's bronze... not brass... 27:43 bronze is copper and tin... brass is copper and zinc... 27:47 this is bronze... 27:49 "the legs of iron 27:51 and the feet... a mixture of iron and clay. 27:56 Then later on, you saw a stone cut out without hands, 28:00 that stone hit the image on the feet, 28:02 dissolved it and filled the whole earth. " 28:07 Now the bombshell... 28:08 "You, O king, 28:10 are that head of gold. " 28:13 Now, that identified Nebuchadnezzar 28:15 as the head of gold but it also identifies us... 28:18 identifies for us a starting place for this prophecy. 28:23 We begin in 605 B.C. 28:25 the Babylonian Empire lasted 605 B.C. to 539 B.C. 28:29 now look at this, as you're looking on the screen 28:32 you see, the Babylon Empire really is not a very big empire 28:36 as empires go... this is not a lot of territory, 28:38 in fact, of the world empires, it is the smallest by far, 28:43 began in 605 B.C. at the Battle of Carchemish... 28:47 we talked about that last night ended at 539 B.C. 28:51 so that is the timeline for Babylon. 28:55 The Bible says, "You, O king, are the head of gold. " 28:59 I need to point out here, 29:01 when God says, "you" 29:03 he's not talking about Nebuchadnezzar, per se, 29:07 He is referring to Nebuchadnezzar 29:09 but more... He's referring to Babylon and the Empire. 29:14 God is not calling out kings, He's calling out kingdoms 29:18 so the "you" was not, 29:20 "You, Nebuchadnezzar are the golden boy" 29:23 it's, "your kingdom is this head of gold 29:26 but after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you" 29:31 and the word "inferior" kind of caught me because 29:34 it's only used one time in the Bible... and that's the place, 29:38 it's only used that one time, 29:40 it has to do with earthiness 29:42 so, when we're talking about inferior kingdoms, 29:45 we're not talking about size because each successive kingdom 29:51 was larger in size than Babylon, 29:53 Babylon was, by far, the smallest. 29:54 Most scholars state they're talking about the opulence 29:58 of the capital city 30:00 because none of the kingdoms... 30:01 even Rome which had running water 30:03 and bathrooms and saunas, 30:05 none of them had the opulence of the city of Babylon. 30:10 So, the word is, 30:12 "You're the king... you're the gold... 30:14 but you're not going to be there forever, 30:16 inferior kingdoms are going to come along behind you. " 30:21 These metals that made up these next several kingdoms, 30:25 were less value but interestingly enough 30:29 they were harder than gold, 30:31 gold is really the softest of them all 30:34 and they increase in overall wealth. 30:38 Pause. 30:40 One of the things that we will see in the next little bit 30:44 and we've got so much to cover 30:47 God spent an inordinate amount of time 30:52 with King Nebuchadnezzar. 30:55 He did for Nebuchadnezzar 30:58 that which He did for no other of the ancient kings 31:03 and there's a reason for that, 31:05 we will see that in just a little bit 31:07 but God spent a lot of time with Nebuchadnezzar. 31:11 He didn't do that with... with Cyrus and Darius, 31:15 He certainly didn't do that with Alexander the Great, 31:18 He didn't do that with any other Roman Emperors 31:21 and by the time Rome came along, 31:23 those emperors were so decadent 31:25 and so full of debauchery that they were really... 31:28 you cannot say, "Beyond hope" 31:30 but certainly, their minds were not on the things of God. 31:33 You've got people like Caligula, Nero, Diocletian,Tiberius, 31:38 Commodus, Elagabalus... these guys of implacable cruelty 31:42 Elagabalus spent his life 31:44 in one orgy and social engagement to another 31:49 so, we don't see God putting in the work with these 31:53 as He did with Nebuchadnezzar and there is a reason for that 31:56 and you will see that as we go through this 31:59 so the "you" is Nebuchadnezzar, 32:01 but in a more profound way it is Babylon. 32:04 The book of Daniel is not an exposition on kings 32:08 but rather... kingdoms. 32:09 it is not an exposition on people 32:13 but rather, principalities and powers... 32:16 not necessarily... personalities. 32:19 So, let's walk through it, 32:21 let me add something very quickly, 32:23 just popped in my mind, 32:24 we call these "world empires" and there it's on the screen 32:29 but there were empires... other places in the world 32:33 you look at the Zhou Dynasty 32:36 there in... in China, 32:38 who's bigger than all of these empires... 32:39 there were other world empires... 32:42 it lasted from 770 B.C. to 256 B.C. 32:45 then you've got the Qin Shi Huang Dynasty. 32:50 In 1974, they were digging in China 32:53 and they ran across all these clay soldiers that they made, 32:57 this is a wonder of a find, 32:58 four football fields worth of clay soldiers 33:01 full life-size... each one done individually 33:04 8,000 clay soldiers... they were done during the Qin Dynasty 33:10 or the "Qwin" Dynasty... 33:11 and The Great Wall of China... 33:14 again, under this Dynasty, 33:16 so, we use the term "world empires" 33:19 but the truth is... 33:20 there were empires in other parts of the world. 33:22 The Han Dynasty... large dynasty 33:27 covering almost all of South-East Asia, 33:29 lasted for 400 plus years for 24 plus Emperors. 33:35 So, the great world empires existed in other places... 33:40 but the Bible investigates and this is important... 33:44 the Bible investigates those nations 33:47 that were directly affected by God and God's people. 33:51 There were other world empires 33:52 and one of the things that I'm going to be very interested 33:55 to sit down and talk to the Lord about in heaven 33:57 is 33:59 "how You managed to get the gospel 34:03 to places where man could not take it. " 34:05 I had the privilege of working on 34:08 a Production called, 34:11 "The Seventh-day Lessons from Lost Pages of History" 34:14 and one of the things that we found out 34:15 in working on that production is that, 34:17 "God... down through the ages has done some remarkable things 34:21 to get the gospel where people could not take it. " 34:23 There are legends in 34:26 the Inuit Community... 34:28 the Eskimo Community of two men in white 34:30 appearing and bringing them the Sabbath. 34:33 There are lessons in India... in South-East Asia... Asia... 34:41 even in the American-Indian culture 34:43 of God using angelic beings to bring the gospel to people 34:49 and when the settlers found them, 34:51 they were already keeping Sabbath. 34:54 Down in Zimbabwe... this walled complex called, 34:58 "Great Zimbabwe" 34:59 and the historians said, "There's no way in the world 35:04 that that kind of architecture 35:05 could be done there in Great Zimbabwe" 35:08 well, on the wall, 35:10 there are hieroglyphics proclaiming the Sabbath 35:13 so, God has done some things... 35:15 He's not waiting on man all the time 35:17 sometimes, He goes Himself and does it 35:19 and one of the things I'll be anxious to talk 35:21 to the Lord about in heaven 35:23 is the ways that He got the Sabbath into places 35:27 where mankind never went, 35:29 where the western culture never went, 35:32 so, these great dynasties existed but... 35:35 you know, one thing about God 35:36 and I praise the Lord for it, 35:38 God is fair... amen... 35:40 everybody will have a fair opportunity, 35:42 God's not trying to kick anybody out... 35:45 He's trying to get everybody in 35:47 amen and amen... 35:49 now we've got to move kind of quickly. 35:52 So, Daniel chapter 2 verses 36 to 38, 35:54 the Babylonian Empire lasted some 70 years 35:59 Nebuchadnezzar ruled for 40 of those years, 36:03 some scholars say 45... 36:05 I tend to believe... 40. 36:06 The text indicates that the position... 36:10 the status that Nebuchadnezzar had... that he enjoyed 36:13 was actively supplied by God, 36:16 in other words, God used Nebuchadnezzar... 36:20 a heathen king with a pagan background 36:23 but God used him. 36:25 He was the unquestioned and unrivaled ruler... 36:28 the unfettered power and authority of his country... 36:31 now, let me give you a political side bar very quick, 36:34 when Babylon fell, 36:36 Darius the Mede took over in 539 B.C. 36:40 he only reigned a few years and it was under his rule 36:46 that Cyrus the Great came into prominence 36:52 and we see that in Daniel 5:31, 36:56 Darius only ruled a very short time, 37:01 he is most famous... we're going to talk about this 37:05 in our coming meetings for signing a petition 37:08 that he could not take back 37:10 that was part of the laws of the Medes and the Persians... 37:13 he wasn't in there long 37:15 but he got himself hung up because of pride and ego 37:18 we're going to talk about that also. 37:20 Pause. 37:24 Nebuchadnezzar made a decree and when Daniel spoke with him, 37:30 he changed that decree 37:32 that couldn't happen in the Medo-Persian Empire 37:35 because once you made a decree, it could not be changed 37:37 and there's something really... 37:39 there's something really, really great about that 37:42 and we'll take a look at it when we get to Daniel chapter 9 37:44 you talk about the war between good and evil 37:48 and Christ and Satan, 37:49 and I just discovered a link between Daniel 9 and Daniel 6 37:53 that is... just... 37:55 you talk about God being in time... on time... 37:56 every time... just when you need him, 37:58 when you see this link it's going to blow your mind 38:00 because God really did some wonderful things 38:03 for... with... to... and through His people. 38:07 So, the following kingdom is Medo-Persia... 38:10 you got the Medo-Persian timeline... 38:12 I'm trying to go fast... I got some stuff I want to show you 38:14 that's really, really important, 38:15 you got the Medo-Persian timeline 538 to 331 38:20 followed by Greece 331 to 168, 38:24 now, the Medo-Persian timeline 38:28 is the time when the book of Esther was written 38:30 you know the story of the king and his wife, Vashti, 38:35 and how she was dismissed 38:36 and they found Esther and then you got the intrigue 38:40 with Mordecai and Haman, 38:42 that's during the Babylonian time... so... 38:45 not Babylonian time... the Medo-Persian time... 38:49 and you've got all of this intrigue going on there 38:52 and we'll touch on that in just a little bit 38:54 now you've got the Roman Empire, 168 B.C. to 476 A.D. 39:00 the largest empire as you can see, 39:02 the Roman Empire covered pretty much... all of Europe 39:05 and as you look right up there in the corner, 39:07 you see... it crossed over the English Channel 39:08 into Great Britain also 39:10 by far, the largest of the world empires. 39:13 They had learned to use bronze and copper and iron 39:18 and they were much more efficient in their war, 39:23 they were much more efficient in their conquering 39:28 and by the time we get to the Roman Empire, 39:32 they had learned to smelt iron 39:34 so the Romans had iron spears and iron armor 39:37 and iron shields and iron swords 39:39 the gladius... the short Roman sword... 39:41 much more mechanized... much more highly efficient 39:44 168 to 476 A.D. 39:49 This was a kingdom that was ruling the world 39:53 when Christ was born 39:55 and there is a beautiful little text in Micah chapter 5 40:00 and verse 2 that I want to go to. 40:04 Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, 40:08 we skipped over it... want to go back to that 40:11 the Bible says, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah" 40:15 Bethlehem means house of bread 40:18 Ephratah means fruitful 40:20 so, it's, "But thou, 'fruitful house of bread,' 40:24 though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, 40:28 yet out of thee shall come forth unto me 40:32 He that is to be ruler in Israel; 40:35 whose goings forth have been from of old, 40:38 from everlasting even to everlasting. " 40:42 So, it was under the Roman Empire 40:44 and we will talk about this extensively 40:46 in our coming meetings that Christ was born, 40:50 God even used an unwilling Caesar Augustus 40:54 to send out a decree 40:56 that took Mary and Joseph back to Bethlehem 40:59 from their home in Nazareth 41:02 to be registered... 41:03 I'll say again, "God will use anybody at any time 41:06 willing... and sometimes even unwilling... 41:10 to do His work and to save His people. " 41:14 Amen... 41:15 Audience: Amen. 41:17 Been to that city of Bethlehem, it is still a pretty modest town 41:21 it's in Arab hands now 41:23 but it is quite a... an interesting place... 41:28 So, Nebuchadnezzar now sees the feet and toes 41:32 and I want to spend our last few minutes 41:35 in this particular setting dealing with this. 41:38 "For they are part of iron and part of clay" 41:43 two materials that can never be mixed together 41:47 "some strong and some weak" 41:51 Daniel chapter 2 verses 42 and 43 41:55 the Bible says, "And as the toes of the feet 41:59 were part of iron and part of clay, 42:01 so the kingdom shall be partly strong... " 42:04 and I found a translation that says, 42:07 "partly broken" 42:09 the New King James says, "partly fragile" 42:13 the King James says, "partly weak" 42:16 strong and weak... 42:17 "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with clay, 42:21 they shall mingle with the seeds of men: 42:25 but they shall not cleave one to another, 42:29 even as iron is not mixed with clay. " 42:33 Now this is a part of the Bible that we usually skip over 42:36 but I want to spend just a little time there 42:39 because the Bible says, 42:42 there will never ever be another world empire. 42:48 Amen. 42:49 You're never going to have one ruler again... 42:52 it's not going to happen... 42:54 even though down through the centuries 42:58 men have tried and tried and tried. 43:01 They tried to unite the world through force 43:05 or through coercion. 43:06 The first person who tried to do this was Charlemagne... 43:10 he tried to establish a new Holy Roman Empire, 43:15 he really wanted to unite all of Europe... he failed. 43:18 The second person was Charles the Fifth 43:22 Holy Roman Empire... Emperor rather... 43:26 he tried to unite the world... 43:28 he failed and died in a monastory. 43:31 The next person was Louis the 14th... 43:34 better known as the Sun King of France, 43:38 reigned 72 years 43:41 started five wars... including one war that lasted 30 years. 43:49 It's called: The Thirty Years' War 43:52 it was a religious war 43:53 because he tried to unite the world under the Catholic Church. 43:58 He is followed by, of course, Napoleon Bonaparte. 44:02 He tried to unite all of Europe. 44:05 He was defeated 44:06 he met his Waterloo and was poisoned 44:10 followed by Kaiser Wilhelm 44:14 German Emperor... King of Prussia... 44:17 he tried to unite the world... 44:20 succeeded in starting World War 1... 44:23 not he alone but he had a part in it 44:25 he failed... 44:27 followed by Adolf Hitler 44:30 he tried to unite the world in a 1,000-year Reich... 44:34 ended up committing suicide in a mountain chalet 44:38 with his girlfriend, Eva Braun... 44:41 followed by Benito Mussolini 44:45 who joined hands with Hitler 44:48 wound up being hanged by the Italian Underground. 44:53 The Bible says, "Though they try and try, 44:56 they shall not cleave or adhere one to another. 45:02 So now, someone came up with the idea... 45:07 "Let's unite through politics and economy" 45:11 and they tried politics and diplomacy... 45:15 "League of Nations" right after World War 1. 45:19 Limited success... failed... 45:22 followed by "United Nations" 45:25 existing today 45:26 I had... and baptized a Secretary 45:29 from the United Nations 45:30 and she told me... "All we do in that building is argue 45:36 nobody solves anything... nobody does anything... 45:39 we just argue... argue... argue... argue... " 45:43 I had the privilege of baptizing 45:45 the Ambassador to the United Nations 45:47 from the Island of Grenada, 45:48 the Honorable Franklyn O'Brien Dolland... 45:51 he's now a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 45:52 he said, "When I joined the church, 45:55 I had to in my resignation at the United Nations 45:59 because all you do is argue... argue... argue... 46:02 and spy on each other 46:04 and I don't see myself doing that... and going to heaven. " 46:07 So, he quit... amen. 46:09 Pause. 46:11 That was followed by NATO 46:13 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization 46:17 a loosely-put-together group of countries 46:20 that are... said they're going to protect each other 46:23 but they argue as much as they agree 46:27 because man cannot go against the Word of God. 46:32 Now we've got... since 1994 November 1, 46:37 1993 rather... 46:39 the European Union... 46:41 amen. 46:42 28 States... 19 of which use the Euro 46:47 and they cannot seem to agree 46:52 because some of the States are strong 46:54 and some of the States are weak 46:56 and some of the States have money 46:58 and some of the States are broke... 47:00 and the strong States like Germany 47:01 are tired of footing the bill for the poor States like Greece, 47:04 so, the European Union 47:06 is a very shaky grouping of countries 47:11 and if you want to know if the European Union is a success, 47:16 I got one word for you... Brexit 47:19 England is out 47:22 and now the other States are thinking about getting out too 47:26 because the Bible says, 47:28 "Man shall not cleave 47:31 one to another" 47:32 they are not going to stick together. 47:34 They're not going to adhere. 47:35 Access Point: Unity through intermarriage 47:41 the Bible says, "they shall mingle with the seed of men. " 47:46 I want to spend a few minutes on this. 47:48 "They shall not adhere to one another. " 47:52 One of the ways that the countries of Europe 47:57 tried to defy the will of God was through intermarriage. 48:05 Now, I'm going to take you through some things, 48:08 let's take a look at Portugal. 48:10 This is just one small example. 48:13 You got Maria... she's a princess, 48:17 she's 26 years of age, 48:19 she marries her uncle, Pedro. 48:22 Pedro when he's crowned king takes the name... Peter the 3rd. 48:28 He is 43. 48:30 Peter was Maria's father's youngest brother, 48:36 he's now her husband. 48:38 Maria and Peter the 3rd have a son whose name is Joseph. 48:44 At age 15, Joseph marries his aunt 48:48 who is Maria's sister, Benedita. 48:52 She is 30, 48:55 so Peter the 3rd's daughter-in-law 48:58 is also his sister-in-law 49:00 and his son's aunt is also his niece... 49:05 his niece and his wife is also his niece. 49:09 Pause. 49:11 That's just one little example. 49:13 "They shall not cleave. " 49:16 Let's talk about Victoria of England... 49:18 literally the Queen Mother of all Europe. 49:21 Victoria married her first cousin... Prince Albert, 49:26 they had nine children, 49:29 one boy... eight girls... 49:31 all eight girls carried the Hemophilia gene... 49:39 you know what that is? 49:41 That's when your blood won't clot and you just bleed, 49:43 all eight girls... 49:45 so strong was this gene 49:47 that not only did her daughters carry it, 49:50 her daughter's daughters carried it, 49:52 her daughter's daughter's daughters carried it 49:55 and her daughter's daughter's daughter's daughters carried it 49:57 four generations... 49:59 so whoever married one of those girls, 50:02 their children were hemophiliacs. 50:05 Leopold died at age 31... brain hemorrhage... 50:12 married a daughter... 50:14 Prince Frederick of Hesse died of a brain hemorrhage 50:18 married a daughter... 50:22 Prince Waldemar of Prussia waiting for a blood transfusion 50:27 bled to death on the table... 50:30 his mother was a daughter of Victoria. 50:33 Lord Leopold Mountbatten died on the operating table 50:38 age 32... his mother was a daughter... 50:42 bled to death... 50:43 Prince Heinrich of Prussia... four years old... 50:47 fell and scraped his knee... 50:49 just a little fall... a little scrape... 50:51 bled to death... 50:53 his mother was a granddaughter of Victoria. 50:57 Prince Alfonso, age 31, 50:59 his brother, Prince Gonzalo, age 19 51:03 minor car accident... 51:05 both bled to death. 51:07 Their mother was a granddaughter of Victoria. 51:13 Pause. 51:15 Alexa of Russia... little boy... 51:20 his mother was a great-granddaughter of Victoria 51:26 and that gene came through. 51:29 Pause. 51:31 Europe tried to defy the laws of God with disastrous results. 51:40 They tried to unite through marriage... 51:43 they tried to do through marriage 51:45 what they couldn't do through war 51:47 and what they couldn't do through economy. 51:49 Now, look at this face, 51:51 this is Charles the Fifth of Spain. 51:53 There were a bunch of Charleses... 51:55 in fact, there were a bunch of Charles the Fifths... 51:57 there were eight Charles the Fifth... 51:59 Charles of Spain, Charles of Prussia, 52:01 Charles of France... 52:02 what do you notice about that face? 52:04 Pause. 52:08 Well, I'll tell you, you see that elongated jaw? 52:11 Pause. 52:13 Now, you don't see it that much in Charles the Fifth of Spain, 52:17 let's look one generation later at his son... 52:19 Audience: Smiling. 52:22 What do you notice about that face right away? 52:25 Over-exaggerated jaw... his nose comes down to his lips 52:31 that... Ladies and Gentlemen is a genetic deformity. 52:35 Let's go to the next slide... what is it called? 52:39 It's called: The Habsburg Jaw 52:42 it's called: The Habsburg Jaw. 52:45 Now, this young man died at age 39. 52:49 That's a genetic deformity 52:51 that came about through centuries of inbreeding... 52:56 of trying to cleave together when God said, "they would not" 53:00 the first Habsburg... Rudolph 53:03 was put on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire in 1273 53:09 and for the next 700 years, 53:14 the Habsburg interbred with one another 53:18 so that by the 1400s you've got that Habsburg Jaw 53:25 and there was a time 53:26 when almost every leader in Europe 53:29 looked just like that. 53:32 That's inbreeding and inbreeding and inbreeding and inbreeding 53:37 for 100s of years... 53:38 I've got sheet upon sheet upon sheet of... of... 53:42 of lists of people who died because of... of inbreeding. 53:48 That young man that I just showed you... 53:51 that's Charles the 2nd of Spain 53:54 his father and his mother... 53:58 well, his mother was the niece of his father. 54:02 His grandparents on his father's side 54:07 were first cousins... 54:09 his grandparents on his mother's side 54:13 were first cousins... 54:15 so, can you see how tightly this is inbred? 54:19 You can't produce healthy children 54:20 when you're breeding that closely... 54:23 it's called: Consanguino Relationships. 54:25 Consanguino relationships starts at first cousins. 54:30 You can't marry your first cousin 54:32 and produce a healthy child 54:34 you can't do it. 54:35 That's why in India today you got so many blind people 54:38 because you got husbands marry... 54:41 rather, you got brothers and sisters marrying each other 54:43 and this... this kind of relationship 54:46 took place over hundreds of years 54:49 in... in Europe. 54:51 You can't see this but everywhere here 54:54 where you've got a little slanted line... 54:56 that's where an uncle married a niece 54:59 and you got it again and again and again and again. 55:02 So, that fellow that you just saw... 55:05 his... his family began in the 1400s... 55:09 from the 1400s to the 1600s... there was constant inbreeding 55:13 marrying sister... marrying cousin... 55:15 marrying first cousins... marrying niece 55:17 and after 200 years of inbreeding, 55:20 that's what you end up with, 55:22 now, what's bad about that is 55:23 not only did you get the physical deformities 55:25 of the Habsburg Jaw, 55:27 you also got mental deformity 55:30 and these deformities 55:32 reveal themselves in men and women. 55:35 I pulled up this stuff from the internet just yesterday... 55:37 you got women who had that same elongated jaw. 55:41 There were people born during the Habsburg era 55:44 whose jaw was so displaced, they could not eat food... 55:46 they could not chew... 55:48 all because of inbreeding 55:50 and God said, "They will not cleave one to another. " 55:55 So, you got 100s and 100s of years of... of inbreeding. 55:59 Charles the... let me get this right... 56:03 Charles... no... Louis the 9th from the 13th century 56:08 and Louis the 14th... the Sun King... 56:12 in the 17th century the genealogists have found 56:18 that there were 368 links between those two kings 56:24 several centuries apart... 56:27 now that doesn't sound like anything bad 56:29 until you understand what they're saying. 56:31 If you take a parent... two parents... father and mother 56:37 they have a child, 56:38 then that child marries somebody else, 56:40 the family tree ought to be going this way... 56:43 shouldn't it as you add people... 56:47 but when you marry consanguily, 56:50 what happens is, the family tree goes this way 56:53 and then it begins to turn and go this way 56:56 and you're beginning to concentrate 56:58 deformities... 57:00 and that's what happened in Europe during all of those years 57:03 now very quickly, we go to the St. Bartholomew Massacre, 57:06 massacre... very quickly, the St. Bartholomew Massacre 57:10 was a massacre of Catholics upon French Huguenots... 57:14 Charles the 9th had a sister. 57:17 Her name was Margaret of Valois. 57:20 Margaret of Valois was Catholic. 57:24 She was intending to marry a Henry of Navarre 57:30 the Head of the Huguenots. 57:31 So, all the Huguenots came into Paris for that great wedding 57:35 but it really was a ruse... 57:37 there was never going to be a marriage. 57:39 The night before the wedding, a bell was tolled, 57:42 and roving bands of Catholics slaughtered Huguenots 57:46 Protestants... for... Ellen White says, "two months" 57:49 most historians just say many, many weeks. 57:52 When it was over, 70,000 Protestant Huguenots 57:56 who were French Catholics... rather... French Calvinists... 58:00 were dead... 58:01 now, why is that important? 58:04 It's important because Charles the 9th 58:08 was inbred... 58:10 his parents on both sides were... 58:14 in fact his mother was Catherine de' Medici... 58:18 and she was inbred and his father was inbred... 58:22 more than just physical deformity, 58:25 this inbreeding after so many years caused mental deformity. 58:30 So, you had kings who would start wars and kill people 58:35 and who were mean and ferocious 58:38 and without love and without care 58:40 and that's what started this... 58:43 this... this St. Bartholomew Massacre. 58:46 Henry the 9th was the product of centuries of inbreeding 58:53 so, he was incapable and incompetent to be a king 58:58 and you had kings ruling countries 59:00 who could not control themselves. 59:02 Why? Because the Bible says, 59:03 "They shall not cleave one to another" 59:07 and no matter how you try it 59:09 and no matter how you cut it, 59:12 these things simply could not be. 59:15 I've got to skip over a lot of this material 59:18 because we've got... we've got to let you go 59:20 but in verse 44, 59:22 the Bible says, "And in the days of these kings 59:26 the God of heaven will set up a kingdom... " 59:29 now let me say this just very quickly before we close, 59:32 here's how good God is... here's how God ended this. 59:35 In the 1700s, after 500 years of inbreeding 59:39 the women had become so infertile 59:43 that they could not carry babies to term. 59:45 So it began to self-abort, they just couldn't carry them 59:48 and the men had inbred so much 59:50 that they could not father children 59:54 so after 5- 6- 700 years of inbreeding 59:58 the Habsburg Dynasty simply died out... 01:00:01 God just put an end to it. 01:00:03 The men could not father... the women could not mother... 01:00:06 and so, it just died... 01:00:07 "They shall not cleave one to another. " 01:00:11 But that's what we inherited 01:00:13 from them trying to go against God. 01:00:16 Let me close with this. 01:00:18 The Bible says, "In the days of these kings 01:00:20 the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, 01:00:23 which shall never be destroyed... " 01:00:25 can you say, "amen. " 01:00:27 Audience: Amen. 01:00:28 "In the days of these kings, it shall break in pieces 01:00:30 and consume all of these kingdoms, 01:00:34 and it shall stand for ever. " 01:00:40 Pause. 01:00:43 I am so glad that one of the things that Daniel assures us 01:00:50 is that, this world is coming to an end. 01:00:55 Audience: Amen. 01:00:56 Is that good or bad... ready or not... 01:00:59 Jesus is coming... 01:01:01 Audience: Amen... hallelujah... 01:01:02 And the men and the machinations of men 01:01:05 will not delay the coming of the Lord, 01:01:09 the Bible says, 01:01:11 "He that shall come, will come and will not tarry. " 01:01:16 And as we look over the long and sad history of this world, 01:01:22 it could be pretty depressing 01:01:25 but as we look forward 01:01:28 to the glorious world that is to come 01:01:31 Ladies and Gentlemen, it's pretty exciting. 01:01:34 Audience: Amen. 01:01:35 Man has done some pretty awful things 01:01:38 but we serve an awfully great God, 01:01:42 who is ready... willing and able 01:01:46 to save all who come to Him by Jesus Christ 01:01:51 and so, in verse 47, at the very end, 01:01:53 Nebuchadnezzar says, 01:01:56 "Truly your God is a God of Gods, 01:01:59 the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, 01:02:03 since you could reveal this secret. " 01:02:06 Even Nebuchadnezzar... a heathen king... 01:02:08 had to give glory to God 01:02:11 for what He did and who He was. 01:02:14 There is coming a time, Ladies and Gentlemen, 01:02:17 where every mouth shall confess, 01:02:20 every tongue shall confess 01:02:23 that He is King 01:02:24 and he is Lord of all. 01:02:27 Shall we pray? 01:02:29 "Father God, thank you for giving us your presence, 01:02:31 thank you for the book of Daniel, 01:02:34 thank you for what you showed a heathen king 01:02:38 so many centuries ago, 01:02:40 it gives us courage that God is still on the throne 01:02:45 and that one day we will be around that throne 01:02:50 to sing His praises forevermore, 01:02:53 we thank you and we praise you 01:02:55 in Jesus' name, amen. " 01:02:58 Audience: Amen. |
Revised 2018-07-10