Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000002
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00:14 Well last night we said that we are here for 4 reasons,
00:16 and I'd just like to quickly reiterate those 4. 00:19 The first reason we are here is to try and demonstrate 00:21 that we are living in the time of the end, that we are living 00:26 in strange times, unusual times, and it is my studied conviction 00:30 that we are living in the very time of the end, 00:31 foretold in the Bible, and particularly in 00:34 the great prophecies of Revelation. 00:36 The second reason that we're here is we want to show you 00:39 from a Biblical perspective how this world is going to end. 00:42 Many people are insecure about that very thing, they know 00:45 that things don't seem quite right, there's something 00:48 in the air, something says that we are on the verge 00:51 of something big, so we want to take a look from a Biblical 00:55 perspective, not just from 1 man's perspective, or 1 man's 00:58 idea, but from the Bible's perspective, how is this whole 01:01 thing going to wrap up? The third reason we're here 01:03 is so we can be ready for these things because this 01:06 is not just an intellectual exercise, we actually want 01:09 to be ready for the things that are being foretold 01:11 in the Bible, can you say amen to that? [Audience says amen]. 01:13 That's Nr.3, to be ready, and Nr.4 is to stay ready, 01:17 that's why we're here, and I hope that's why you're here. 01:19 In getting started with our message tonight everyone 01:21 should have received a study guide as you came in tonight, 01:24 I hope you did, we ask that as you come in night by night, 01:27 you just have to register 1 time, that's not something 01:29 you have to do every night, we just want you to register 01:32 that once, that helps us to know how many materials to prepare, 01:35 we'll be giving away some books later in the seminar, 01:37 and also some magazines and other materials, 01:39 so it's very helpful for us to know exactly how many people 01:42 we're dealing with. If you'd like to take out 01:44 that study guide there, let's just take a look 01:45 at the opening paragraph, and as we did last night, 01:48 you remember, you can basically follow along the entire 01:51 presentation right there on your study guide. 01:53 Did you get all of your blanks filled in last night, yes or no? 01:56 - [Audience replies] Yes. - Okay, who got all of them 01:57 filled in? Oh, I have to slow down 02:00 a little bit, I'll do my best. So let's take a look at our 02:03 opening paragraph on study guide number 2 it says: 02:06 Many are wondering when or if the world will ever 02:10 come to an end. This question has intrigued 02:13 mankind since the dawn of time, but does the Bible 02:16 have anything to say about this subject? 02:19 The answer is yes, it has much to say. 02:22 In fact, the Bible is the only reliable guide concerning 02:26 this subject, as we will soon see. 02:28 Before going into the details of one of the Bible's most 02:32 incredible prophecies, let us first note the 4 essentials 02:36 of Bible prophecy. 02:39 Someone said to me last night as we concluded our presentation 02:43 that the B.I.B.L.E is an acronym that stands 02:47 for "The Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth", 02:51 have you heard that before? "The Basic Instructions" 02:55 "Before Leaving Earth", and I want to thank Kevin 02:58 for sharing that with me. Last night we looked 03:01 at this verse, Isaiah 46:9,10, God says: [text on screen] 03:17 That is the definition of prophecy. 03:19 You remember from last night's presentation that a prophecy 03:22 is a foretelling of future events, or a predication. 03:26 God says in Isaiah 46: "I'm God, no one else is God," 03:30 "and I'll prove it, I know the end from the beginning," 03:33 "and I can declare the future before it takes place." 03:36 Then we went to the New Testament, the very words 03:39 of Jesus in the gospel of John, 4th book of the New Testament, 03:42 John 14:29, Jesus said: [text on screen] 03:56 Now that just makes good sense, a historian can tell us 04:00 about the past, a news anchor person could tell us 04:03 about the present and the current events, 04:05 but God is saying: "I could tell you about more than" 04:08 "just the past, more than the present, I can tell you" 04:10 "about the future with perfect accuracy." 04:14 Jesus says "I'll tell you before it happens so that when it does" 04:18 "happen just as I've said, you may believe." 04:21 I used to not be a Bible believer, in fact, 04:24 I shared that with you briefly last night, I've been 04:26 a Christian for exactly 9 years, and I praise the Lord 04:28 for what He's done in my life, but until the age 04:31 of 23 years old, I didn't believe in the Bible, 04:33 I didn't believe in a God, I didn't believe in any of that, 04:34 I thought it was all fairy tails and foolishness, 04:37 but when I encountered the very prophecy that I'm going to share 04:41 with you tonight, it literally changed my life, 1 prophecy 04:46 changed my life, and I'll tell you a little bit more about that 04:48 as the seminar goes on. Let's look at the 4 essentials 04:51 of Bible prophecy. You'll not these in your study 04:53 guide. Nr.1 says: [text on screen] 05:13 Our story tonight, our prophecy tonight will be a perfect 05:16 illustration of point Nr.1, prophecy is given to set 05:19 the God of the Bible apart from other gods as 05:22 the true God; Nr.2, the 2nd essential of Bible prophecy: 05:28 [text on screen] 05:35 Of course, it just stands to reason that if someone 05:37 or some being could consistently, perfectly, 05:40 accurately tell us what was going to happen in the future, 05:43 we would put confidence in what that person has to say. 05:46 Some people wonder about Nostradamus, they say 05:48 "Oh, look at this guy, he knew the future", and when 05:51 statisticians go back and look at his predictions, he was right 05:53 some 10-15% of the time, I want to give you some news 05:56 tonight, God is right 100% of the time. 06:03 In fact, we're going to look at a prophecy tonight 06:05 that is just so thrilling, so powerful in its ability 06:08 to create faith in the heart of the hearer. 06:10 So reason 1: to set the God of the Bible apart from any other 06:14 god as the true God, and number 2, to create faith in the Bible 06:17 as God's inspired word. 3rd essential of Bible prophecy, 06:21 and this is a critical one: [text on screen] 06:32 I want to say something here that's very important: 06:34 we don't put on these Bible prophecy seminars merely 06:37 as an intellectual or an academic exercise, 06:41 we are not just here to satisfy idle curiosity, 06:44 can someone say amen to that? [Audience replies] Amen. 06:46 God didn't give these prophecies in the Bible like a circus trick 06:49 or a card trick, "Hey, look at Me, I'm God, I can pull" 06:52 "a rabbit out of a hat", no no, when God gives us these 06:55 prophecies, it's to let us know, God is saying: "I'm alive," 07:00 "I'm real, and I should be the pre-eminent priority" 07:03 "in your life." When we start thinking about 07:07 things more important than sports, entertainment, 07:09 and must see TV, and all of the accoutrements and paraphernalia 07:13 that clutter our lives, we start thinking about ultimate things: 07:16 "Why am I here? Where am I going?" 07:18 "Where am I from?" We start thinking about 07:20 the real things that matter in life, God is at the center 07:24 of all those things. 07:26 We start thinking about prophecy, God says: 07:28 "I'm going to put my finger on the pulse of what's" 07:30 "really important if you life." We're going to see that tonight, 07:34 to reveal to the hearer the thoughts and the priorities 07:36 of His heart, God is not just here to give us prophecy 07:38 so we can stand back in an art gallery and say: 07:41 "Oh, isn't that marvelous? Isn't that beautiful?" 07:43 "Isn't that tricky? Isn't that wonderful?" 07:48 No, God gives us prophecy to change us. 07:52 In fact, you find this consistently in the Bible, 07:54 it says that the wise don't understand, but the foolish 07:57 do understand, in other words, it's not your wisdom 08:00 that enables you to understand the Bible, it's your willingness 08:03 to obey what God says in the Bible that affects your 08:05 ability to understand it. Here's the simplest way 08:08 to remember that, "I will" is more important than "I.Q.". 08:13 [Audience laughs] Did you get that? 08:16 "I will" is more important than "I.Q." when it comes 08:19 to understanding the Bible. As we said last night, 08:22 the Bible was written for the common person. 08:25 Is it a blessing to the scholar? Is it a blessing to 08:27 the academician? Of course it is, 08:29 but the common person can understand the great 08:31 and wonderful things in the Bible. 08:34 And number 4, and probably most importantly of these 4 08:38 essentials is: [text on screen] 08:46 Those are the 4 essentials of Bible prophecy. 08:49 Notice right at the bottom, just bellow that on your 08:53 study guide it says: "These 4 essentials constitute" 08:56 "the core reason that Bible prophecy was given." 08:59 "Bible prophecy is not given merely to accommodate" 09:02 "and satisfy mankind's curiosity about the future,", 09:06 and I love this next sentence, "Bible prophecy serves" 09:09 "a moral purpose, that is to effect conversion" 09:13 "and transformation in the heart of the hearer." 09:17 If this makes sense I want you to say amen. 09:20 - [Audience replies] Amen. - These are 4 essentials 09:22 of Bible prophecy. Take Hebrews 4:12: 09:26 [text on screen] 09:28 It's not an antiquated book, it's not simply an ancient 09:31 book, dusty with the annals of time, no no, 09:34 the word of God is living, and active: [text on screen] 09:48 The author of Hebrews says God's book is alive, 09:51 the Bible is alive and God's word can put the finger of God 09:56 on your heart in a way to really let you know what is important 10:00 in life, what really are your priorities. 10:03 And then 2 Peter 1:19: [text on screen] 10:07 "more sure" - he's actually talking in context about 10:10 the evidence of his senses, he says we have something 10:13 more sure than the evidence of our senses, 10:16 what is more sure than the evidence of your senses Peter? 10:19 [text on screen] 10:32 In the context, the morning star is Jesus Christ. 10:35 What Peter is saying is "pay attention to the prophecies" 10:38 "because the purpose of the prophecies is to cause Jesus" 10:41 "to be seen in your heart and in your life." 10:46 Okay, Arion Niyu, Darlene Niyu, this baby needs its mother, 10:52 so if that's you, you need to go see your little baby. 10:58 We're going to go to the book of Daniel, why don't you 11:00 turn there with me, the book of Daniel, we're on page 2 11:03 of our study guide now. Daniel, you say: "where is" 11:07 "the book of Daniel?" It's in the Old Testament, 11:10 if you open your Bible right to the middle you'll probably 11:14 be in Psalms, go forward through Isaiah, through Jeremiah, 11:17 through Lamentations, Ezekiel and you'll arrive 11:20 in the book of Daniel. Daniel 2. 11:26 We're at the top of page 2 on your study guide. 11:36 The paragraph at the top says: "This prophecy given roughly" 11:41 "2500 years ago is precisely calculated to give us hope" 11:46 "and courage in these strange times. Most people recognize" 11:51 "that the world is seemingly spinning out of control," 11:55 "violence, immorality, war, pollution, terrorism, 11:58 "and a host of other factors at unprecedented degrees" 12:00 "are causing thinking people to wonder how much longer" 12:03 "can we go on like this?" In fact, tomorrow night 12:05 we're going to take a very specific look at these 12:08 so called "signs of the times", and that will be an awesome 12:11 presentation. I've been doing some brand new 12:13 research on some cutting edge signs of the times, as to how 12:17 we know for sure that this world can't continue to last 12:20 as it is, I want to invite you to come back tomorrow night, 12:22 you'll not want to miss that. Notice what it says: 12:25 "Yet as distressing as these times are, the Bible tells" 12:28 "of a better day to come," 12:33 "and gives us true hope and security even now." 12:36 Setting the context, let's set the context for our prophecy 12:39 tonight, found in the book of Daniel. 12:41 First of all, this foundational prophecy is found in the book 12:43 of Daniel, that's what you'd write in on the line there, 12:46 chapter 2. Approximately when was the book written? 12:51 600 BC, that is 600 years before the time of Christ. 12:57 Who wrote the book? It was written by Daniel, 12:58 except chapter 4 which was written by Nebuchadnezzar 13:00 the king, we'll talk about that later. 13:03 Where was the book written? It was written in Babylon. 13:07 The story is basically a sad one, it's a terrible one. 13:11 The people of God had been consistently and obstinately 13:15 disobedient to God's law, to God's covenant, and to God's 13:18 word, and finally God said "Listen, if you won't hear Me" 13:21 "in times of prosperity, I'll send you adversity." 13:24 It was C.S. Lewis, the great Christian author who said 13:27 that God whispers to us in our pleasures and shouts to us 13:30 in our pain. Sometimes if we won't listen 13:33 to God when things are going well, He'll shake us up 13:36 a little bit, isn't that true? And it's not because He 13:39 doesn't love you, it's precisely because He does love you, 13:42 and that's what you find in the Old Testament. 13:43 God had a people that He loved dearly, the nation of Israel, 13:46 and He pled with them, and He urged them, and He rebuked 13:49 them, and He tried to compel them through His prophets, 13:52 and consistently, obstinately they refused, and finally 13:54 He said "if you won't pay attention, I'm going to send" 13:57 "another nation, the nation of Babylon that are going to come" 14:00 "they're going to destroy your city, destroy the temple" 14:03 "and carry away some of your finest and best young people", 14:06 and that's exactly what happened. The Babylonian armies 14:09 under Nebuchadnezzar, that was the Babylonian king, 14:12 came and absolutely destroyed Jerusalem to the ground, 14:16 thousands, tens of thousands were destroyed in that 14:19 terrible conflagration. Nebuchadnezzar took some 14:23 of the best, the "A" students, the chief, the tops, 14:26 out of Jerusalem and he marched them 800 miles across 14:29 the Babylonian desert, brought them back to Babylon 14:32 where he would train them in the customs and the society, 14:36 and the government, and the culture of the Babylonians. 14:39 Then he would take them and set them up as puppet rulers 14:42 over various provinces of Babylon. 14:45 Daniel was one of those who was led out of Jerusalem 14:49 to Babylon, and endured the schooling and almost 14:53 brainwashing of the Babylonians. That helps us to set 14:56 the context a little bit. Notice, "Why was Daniel" 14:59 "taken from his homeland?", you know the answer now. 15:02 "What does the name 'Daniel' mean?" 15:05 The name "Daniel" comes from a juxtaposition of 2 words, 15:08 "Elohim" and the word "Dan", which means "judge", 15:14 the word "Daniel" means "God alone is my judge". 15:19 When Daniel arrived in Babylon one of the first things 15:22 they did was to change his name because his name 15:25 reminded him of Jerusalem, his name reminded him of the true 15:29 God, they changed his name to Belteshazzar, which is a name 15:34 of one of the Babylonian gods. Took him away. 15:37 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you've heard 15:41 those names before, but those were not the original names 15:43 given those Hebrews boys, those were the Babylonian names, 15:45 their real names were Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. 15:49 They would take these boys, the cream of the crop 15:52 and they would put them into these Babylonian schools 15:55 and educate them in Babylonian customs, and government, etc, 15:58 and then they would train them to be among the wise men 16:01 in Babylon. That sets the context 16:04 for Daniel 2. Daniel 2:1. 16:11 In Daniel 2 we find an ancient king, a name by the name 16:16 of Nebuchadnezzar, having a dream, a nightmare if you will. 16:21 Daniel 2:1, are we all there? We had lots of time 16:24 to get there, it says: "Now in the second year" 16:28 "of Nebuchadnezzar's rein, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams" 16:31 "and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him." 16:35 "Then the king gave the command to call the magicians," 16:38 "the astrologers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans" 16:40 "to tell the king his dreams, so they came and stood" 16:42 "before the king. And the king said to them, I have had" 16:45 "a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream." 16:47 "Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic", that was 16:50 the official language of the Babylonian court, 16:52 "O king, live forever, tell your servants the dream" 16:56 "and we will give you the interpretation", verse 5, 17:01 "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, My decision" 17:03 "is firm, if you do not make known to me the dream" 17:07 "and its interpretation, you shall be cut into pieces", 17:11 it is safe to say that the king had a very short temper, 17:14 "cut into pieces, your houses will be made an ash heap", 17:17 verse 6, "however", this is the good side of the story, 17:21 "if you can tell the dream and its interpretation" 17:24 "you shall receive from me gifts, and rewards, and great" 17:28 "honor, therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation." 17:31 Verse 7, "They said again, O let the king tell his servants" 17:35 "the dream and we will..." make up, come up with, 17:38 invent, an interpretation. 17:42 Notice that Nebuchadnezzar wants 2 things, it's the middle 17:45 of the night, he's woken from his sleep, he's troubled 17:47 by this dream, and he can't quite remember the dream, 17:50 but something tells him it's important, so he's trying 17:53 to recall the dream and when he can't do it, he calls in 17:56 his wise men, magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, 17:59 who were the PhD's of the Babylonian court. 18:01 He calls them in, he says: "Fellas, I've had a dream" 18:03 "and there's something about the dream that tells me" 18:05 "that it's important, but I can't remember the dream," 18:08 "I need you to tell me the dream and what it means." 18:11 They had probably gone through this before, and they've 18:13 probably been woken up in the middle of the night before, 18:15 and the king had some strange dream because he ate 18:18 too much before he went to bed, "I had this dream", 18:20 and they'd say "Oh king, this is what it means..." 18:22 "Oh, okay, well that's good", and they'd go back to sleep 18:24 and everything was fine. But tonight was different, 18:26 he couldn't remember it, he couldn't remember the dream, 18:29 so he said "I need to know the dream" 18:31 "and the interpretation", they said "Hey, listen," 18:34 "you tell us the dream and we'll give you the interpretation." 18:36 He said "Listen, I don't have it, if you can't give me both," 18:39 "the dream and its interpretation, it's going" 18:42 "to be over for you." Notice what happens next, 18:46 verse 8: "The king answered and said, I know for a certain" 18:49 "that you would seek to gain the time because you see" 18:52 "that my decision is firm." Verse 19, here it is again, 18:54 "If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only" 18:57 "1 decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying" 19:00 "and corrupt words before me till the time is changed," 19:02 "therefore tell me the dream," the king was no dummy, 19:05 "and I will know that you can give me the interpretation." 19:11 Verse 10: "Then the Chaldeans answered and said," 19:13 "there is not a man on earth who can tell the kings matter," 19:16 "therefore no king, lord or ruler has ever asked" 19:19 "such a thing of any magician, astrologer, a Chaldean." 19:22 Notice verse 11 carefully: "It is a difficult thing" 19:24 "that the king requests, and there is no other who can" 19:29 "tell it to the king except the gods who's dwelling" 19:33 "is not with the flesh. For this reason the king was angry" 19:37 "and very furious, and gave command to destroy" 19:40 "all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went out" 19:44 "and they began killing the wise men of Babylon" 19:46 "and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them." 19:51 This sets the stage for our story, very heavy drama. 19:54 the plot thickens. The king was not just 19:57 whistling Dixie, he was deadly and earnest about understanding 20:00 this dream, they couldn't give him the dream, the couldn't 20:02 give him the interpretation, he says: "That's it!" 20:05 We might think that the king was being a little extreme, 20:07 we might think that the king was being a little over the top, 20:10 but think about it for just a moment, the king paid 20:13 these people to know things that ordinary people didn't know. 20:17 The job of the magician, the job of the sorcerer, 20:20 the job of the astrologer, the job of the Chaldean 20:23 was to be in touch with spirits and the netherworld, 20:26 so that they knew things that common people didn't know. 20:29 The king would call on them in these kinds of difficult times, 20:32 and he had the reasonable expectation that they would 20:35 be able to deliver on what they said they could do. 20:38 And the moment he realizes he has a bunch of phonies 20:41 on the divine payroll, he basically says: "If you can't" 20:45 "deliver the goods, it's over for you so called wise men", 20:48 and he sends out the decree in his frustration, 20:50 "destroy all the wise men of Babylon." 20:53 Well, Daniel and his 3 companions, Shadrach, Meshach, 20:56 and Abednego, had gone through the schools of the Babylonians 21:00 so they were numbered among the wise men. 21:03 And a man by the name of Arioch, he was 21:06 the captain of the king's guard, he showed up one evening 21:08 and he begins to knock on Daniel's door. 21:13 I wonder what that conversation was like as Daniel opens 21:15 the door in the middle of the night and says: 21:16 "Yeah, Arioch, what can I get for you." 21:18 "Daniel, I'm here to kill you." 21:22 "Whoa, really?! Pinch myself, oh, I'm not dreaming," 21:25 "I wish I was. Why? Why are you here to kill me?" 21:29 And he made the thing known to Daniel, "Well, the king" 21:31 "has had a dream and he wants to know the dream," 21:34 "and the interpretation, nobody can tell it to him." 21:37 Pick it up with me in verse 14: "Then with council and wisdom" 21:41 "Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king's guard" 21:44 "who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon." 21:47 "He answered and said to Arioch, the king's captain, why is" 21:50 "the decree from the king so urgent. Then Arioch made" 21:53 "the decision known to Daniel." Notice verse 16, "So Daniel" 21:59 "went in and asked the king to give him time that he might" 22:04 "tell the king the interpretation." 22:06 Think about that for just a moment, Daniel goes in before 22:09 the king, quick question for you: does Daniel know the dream 22:12 at this point? No. Does Daniel know 22:14 the interpretation at this point? No. 22:17 But Daniel knows the One who knows the dream. 22:20 He goes in before the king, do you think that took faith, 22:22 yes or no? [Audience] Yes. 22:24 What he basically said is: "King, I don't have it now," 22:27 "but I know who does have it and if you'll give me time" 22:30 "I can deliver the goods." 22:33 Well, then Daniel did the same thing that you would do. 22:36 Verse 17: "Then Daniel went to his house and made" 22:39 "the decision know to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah," 22:42 that's Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, his companions, why? 22:45 Verse 18: "So that they might seek the mercies from the God" 22:47 "of heaven concerning this secret so that Daniel" 22:50 "and his companions might not perish with the rest" 22:52 "of the wise men of Babylon." In other words, they went 22:54 and prayed about it, isn't that what you'd do? 23:00 I mean, if your neck was on the line, and you knew you had 23:02 to come up with the goods, you would pray about it. 23:07 You know the proverbial airplane that takes off the tarmac 23:09 and it's filled with 300 sinners, and they get up 23:12 about 30,000-40,000 feet up into the air and they begin 23:15 to encounter some turbulence, and all of a sudden you've got 23:17 300 saints onboard. "Oh Lord, if You just get me" 23:21 "off this place, I'll live my life for You," 23:23 "I'm so...", and the captain gets the thing under control 23:25 and it lands safely, and 300 sinners walk off. 23:29 [Audience laughs] You know how it is. 23:32 When the going gets tough, when tough times come, 23:35 we know what's most important in life, don't we? Yes or no? 23:39 - [Audience replies] Yes. - Absolutely, in fact, 23:40 we're going to have a message entitled, if you've looked 23:42 at your advanced schedule that says: "how to face death" 23:44 "unafraid and with absolute confidence." 23:47 You don't have to be afraid to face death if you've put 23:50 your faith in Him who's already faced death and has conquered it 23:55 We'll come back to that, don't get me to preach 23:57 on that tonight, I've got stuff to talk about. 23:59 So look here, we're on verses 1-12, we should easily 24:03 be able to fill these blanks in. King Nebuchadnezzar had 24:07 a dream in the second year of his rein. He called 24:10 for the wise men, the astrologers and the Chaldeans. 24:14 Could the give the help that the king wanted? No. 24:18 What 2 things did the king want? He wanted the dream 24:23 and the interpretation. 24:26 According to the king's counselors who alone could give 24:29 the information that the king wanted? 24:31 - [Audience replies] God. - That's exactly right, 24:32 they knew it, they said: "Hey, listen, what you're asking" 24:35 "is strange, it's unusual, no king or lord has ever asked" 24:38 "this of any wise man or astrologer, only gods know this" 24:42 Notice the next part, Daniel was sought, Daniel asked the king 24:45 for time. What did Daniel do after 24:48 visiting with the king? He went and prayed. 24:51 What would you have done? You would have prayed too. 24:54 Now, look at verse 19. What is the first word 24:58 of verse 19? My Bible it says: "Then". 25:04 I want you to think about that for just a moment, "then" 25:07 is a chronological term, it's a term that has to do with time. 25:14 Now look at it, verse 19, "Then the secret was revealed" 25:18 "to Daniel in a night vision, so Daniel blessed the God" 25:23 "of heaven." Wouldn't you? 25:25 I mean, Daniel's praying, Hananiah's praying, 25:27 Azariah's praying, Mishael's praying, "Oh God," 25:29 "our head's on the block and all of these other phonies' " 25:31 "heads are on the block, and we don't want" 25:33 "only to lose our own lives, we want to preserve" 25:35 "the lives of these people. O God, give us the dream." 25:39 And God came through right on time, isn't that awesome? 25:43 Have you ever had God answer a prayer? 25:45 You know that sense, that feeling that God is at work. 25:48 So the Bible says Daniel blessed the God of heaven, 25:51 notice what he says in verse 20, he has a little praise session 25:54 there, Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God" 25:56 "forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His," 25:59 "and He changes the times and the seasons, He removes" 26:03 "kings and raises up kings," this gives you a little hint 26:06 into what the dream is actually about, "knowledge to those" 26:09 "who have understanding, He reveals deep and secret things," 26:12 "He knows what is in the darkness, and the light" 26:15 "dwells with Him. I thank You and praise You" 26:18 "O God of my fathers." Wouldn't you be thanking Him 26:21 and praising Him? Sure you would. 26:23 "You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known" 26:26 "to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us" 26:29 "the king's demand." Notice in your study guide 26:32 it says: what was the first word of verse 19? 26:35 The word is "Then". Why is this word so important 26:38 in this setting? Because the Bible teaching is 26:41 "you have to ask before God can give." 26:45 Did you hear that? You have to ask before God 26:49 can give you many of the things that you so desperately need. 26:53 Why? Because God's a gentlemen, 26:54 He doesn't want to violate your free will, He doesn't want 26:56 to violate your free choice, God says: "ask and ye shall" 26:58 "receive", in fact, that's the next page of your study guide. 27:00 Turn the study guide over, remember the words of Jesus 27:03 in Matthew 7:7: "Ask and it will be given you, seek and you" 27:08 "will find, knock and it will be opened to you," 27:11 "for everyone who asks, receives, he who seeks, finds," 27:15 "and to him who knocks, it will be opened." 27:17 Notice how easy this is to remember "ask", "seek", "knock", 27:21 spells "A.S.K.", isn't that easy? 27:25 Beloved, that is a principle of the Bible. 27:28 "Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find." 27:31 "Knock and the door shall be opened." 27:33 Why is it that God could come through in that tight spot? 27:36 Why is it that God could deliver the answer to the prayer 27:38 right on time? Because they asked. 27:45 Now, this is where the plot really thickens, this is 27:48 where the drama intensifies. 27:49 We pick it up in verse 24: "Therefore Daniel went" 27:51 "to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy" 27:54 "the wise men of Babylon. He went and he said to him," 27:56 "do not destroy the wise men of Babylon, take me before" 28:00 "the king and I will tell the king the interpretation." 28:03 What a tremendous act of faith, he says: 28:06 "Take me before the king, I'm going to tell him what he's" 28:09 "looking for." Verse 25, "Then Arioch quickly brought" 28:11 "Daniel before the king and he said to him, I have found" 28:14 "a man of the captives of Judah", makes you wonder 28:16 who really found who, but that's beside the point, 28:18 "who will make known to the king the interpretation." 28:20 "The king answered and said to Daniel who's name was" 28:22 "Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me" 28:25 "the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?" 28:27 Notice the king hadn't changed his mind, he still wanted 28:29 both things; "The dream and the interpretation," 28:34 "can you do it?" I want you to think 28:36 about the scene for just a moment, Daniel is basically 28:40 a Hebrew slave. For all practical purposes, 28:43 he's a Hebrew bondservant, his country, his nation had been 28:48 utterly destroyed and subjugated by the Babylonians, 28:52 and here he is probably a 19-21 year old boy, 28:55 standing before the most powerful man in the world, 28:59 and the most powerful man in the world is intensely 29:02 interested in what Daniel has to say. 29:04 Never forget this lesson, if you have knelt before God, 29:07 you can stand before kings. 29:10 If you have knelt before God with humility, 29:13 you can stand before kings with confidence. 29:15 And the king looks at Daniel and says: "can you give me" 29:17 "the dream?" And this would have a been 29:19 a perfect opportunity for Daniel to say: "O yeah king," 29:22 "I'm the man, I've got the goods, I can tell you" 29:24 "what it is because I'm so smart." 29:26 But I want you to notice what Daniel does, verse 27, 29:29 "Then Daniel answered in the presence of king," 29:32 "the secret which the king has demanded, the wise men," 29:34 "the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers" 29:38 "can't declare to the king, but there is a God in heaven" 29:42 "who reveals secrets, and He has made known" 29:45 "to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days." 29:49 Notice Daniel takes no credit whatsoever for himself, 29:53 he says "it's not about me king, it's about God, and God" 29:56 "has shown you this dream so you can know what happens" 29:59 "in the latter days." "Your dream in the visions" 30:02 "of your head upon your bed were these:", verse 29. 30:04 "As for you, O king, thoughts came about into your mind" 30:07 "while you were on your bed about what would pass" 30:09 "after this", notice that in verse 28 he said "latter days", 30:12 in verse 29 he says: "the dream has to do with what takes" 30:15 "place after this". "...and He who reveals secrets" 30:19 "has made known to you what will be", 3 times he says 30:22 it's about the future. 30:26 Verse 30, notice the humility in Daniel's voice here, 30:29 "But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me" 30:32 "because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our" 30:35 "sakes who make known the interpretation to the king," 30:38 "and that you may know the thoughts of your own heart." 30:42 Hey, that's one of our 4 essentials of Bible prophecy, 30:45 remember that? Wasn't that one of our 4 30:47 essentials of Bible prophecy? Sure it was, go back 30:50 and look, that's number 3. 1 of the purposes of Bible 30:53 prophecy, 1 of the core reasons that prophecy is given 30:57 is to reveal to the hearer the priorities of his heart. 31:01 And Daniel, a 21 year old Hebrew boy standing before the most 31:04 powerful man in the world says: "I've got new for you king," 31:07 "you're a Pagan king, but God cares about you", that's the 31:10 God of the Bible, the God of the Bible is a God 31:13 who cares about everyone, even Pagan kings who had 31:15 ransacked His people. 31:18 "He wants to show you the thoughts the intents of your" 31:22 "heart, Nebuchadnezzar." Verse 31, notice the absolute 31:26 confidence with which Daniel speaks, "You, O king, were" 31:30 "watching and behold, a great image. This great image who's" 31:34 "splendor was excellent stood before you, and its form" 31:38 "was awesome." He begins to recount to him the dream. 31:42 "This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms" 31:45 "of silver, its belly and thigh of bronze, its legs of iron," 31:49 "its feet partly of iron and partly of clay." 31:52 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands" 31:55 "which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay" 31:57 "and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay," 32:00 "the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together" 32:03 "and became like chaff", that is dust, "from the summer" 32:05 "threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that" 32:08 "no trace of them was found, and the stone that struck" 32:11 "the image became a great mountain and filled" 32:14 "the whole earth." Notice verse 36, "This is the dream." 32:20 He doesn't say: "Did I get it right king?" 32:23 "Is this the dream? I mean, I did my best king." 32:26 No no, when God gives you an answer, it's always 32:29 the right one. He doesn't say: 32:32 "I hope this is the dream", "I'm really anxious that this" 32:35 "might be the dream", he says "this IS the dream." 32:39 Notice the rest of that verse: "Now we will tell" 32:43 "the interpretation of it before the king." 32:46 As far as we know Daniel is standing alone in that 32:48 great hall, who's "we"? Daniel and his God. 32:54 Once again, Daniel refuses to take credit for himself, 32:58 he says "we will tell the interpretation of it before you" 33:01 Go to your study guide now, Daniel returns to the king. 33:05 According to Daniel, who alone could reveal the dream? 33:09 God. Did Daniel take any credit 33:12 for his ability to reveal the dream? Not 1 drop. 33:15 According to verse 28, to what time does the dream apply? 33:19 The latter days. 33:22 According to verse 30, why did God give the king 33:25 this incredible dream? So he would know the thoughts 33:29 of his heart. Now the dream itself, 33:31 the king saw a great metal man, you can look at it 33:34 on the screen, you can also look at our image here, 33:37 he saw a great metal man. The head was made of gold, 33:41 the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, 33:47 the long legs of iron, and the feet were made of both iron clay 33:52 I can just imagine that as Daniel is recounting this 33:55 to the king, the king's probably still sitting there in his 33:58 royal nighty, with his royal night cap on, and he scoots 34:01 to the edge of his royal throne and he's thinking to himself: 34:03 "That's what I saw!" 34:07 "I saw a great statue, its head was of gold," 34:09 "its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze," 34:12 "long legs of iron, that's right Daniel, you've got it," 34:14 "that is what I saw, its feet were made of iron and clay," 34:16 but that wasn't the whole dream, Daniel says, 34:18 "then you know what you saw? It was amazing," 34:20 "a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands" 34:25 "and it smashed the image in the head", is that what it said? 34:31 "It smashed the image in the chest"? No. 34:33 "It smashed the image in the legs"? No. 34:36 "It smashed the image in the feet", you've got it. 34:40 "Then that stone that smashed the image in the feet" 34:43 "grew and became a great mountain, filled the whole" 34:47 "earth." In fact, that's the rest 34:50 of it there, what happened to the image in the king's dream? 34:52 It was smashed. What happened to the stone? 34:54 It filled the earth. 34:58 This is the dream, I can just imagine standing before the most 35:02 powerful man in the world saying with absolute confidence 35:05 because he had knelt before God, he could stand before 35:07 that king and he said: "This is what you saw", 35:10 but Nebuchadnezzar wanted 2 things, didn't he? 35:13 He wanted the dream, but what else did he want? 35:17 He wanted the interpretation, that's exactly right. 35:22 Let's go to the interpretation, verse 36. 35:24 "This is the dream, now we will tell the interpretation of it" 35:28 "before the king", verse 37. "You, O king, are a king" 35:32 "of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom" 35:35 "and power and strength and glory," notice he even lets 35:39 king Nebuchadnezzar know that he's just a subject of God, 35:42 a great king, yes, but nothing compared to the infinite God 35:46 of the universe. Verse 38: "And wherever" 35:49 "the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field," 35:52 "and the birds of the heavens, He has given them into your" 35:54 "hand, He has made you ruler over them all," and notice 36:01 with me the next 6 words, "you are this head of gold." 36:08 He says it in plain language, he doesn't equivocate, 36:11 you can go to Christian book stores right now and you can 36:14 buy books right now in the Christian book store 36:17 that will tell you that the head of gold is representing 36:20 the European economic community, that the head 36:22 of gold represents the European Union. 36:24 I mean, there are so many fallacious, egregious, and just 36:27 plain wrong interpretations out there, Daniel said: 36:31 "You are this head of gold", the Bible is its own interpreter. 36:39 Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out, 36:41 he says: "what does the dream mean?" and he begins 36:43 by saying "you're the head of gold, O king, you're kingdom" 36:46 "is an awesome kingdom. God has given you this kingdom," 36:49 "you're it." And I can just imagine 36:52 the king there, his buttons bursting a little bit 36:54 and thinking: "yeah, that's right." 36:56 "Head of gold baby, don't ever forget it!" 36:59 [Audience laughs] 37:01 The ancient kingdom of Babylon was an amazing kingdom. 37:05 The ancient kingdom of Babylon was on the scene, historians 37:09 tell us, from 605-539 BC, that is before Christ. 37:15 Nebuchadnezzar was a king who was a great military conqueror, 37:19 a great political leader, and he was intoxicated with the idea 37:23 of his Babylon lasting forever. In fact, this is an actual 37:26 picture of a letter from Nebuchadnezzar, a clay tablet 37:30 letter from Nebuchadnezzar, and in this letter part of it says: 37:33 "The whole earth bows prostrate before Babylon." 37:38 Nebuchadnezzar was almost inebriated with this idea 37:42 that it would go on for ever and ever. 37:45 Here's the Babylonian clay tablet right inscribed there: 37:48 "may it last forever", so when Daniel said: 37:52 "You are this head of gold, I'm sure that Nebuchadnezzar 37:54 liked that, he said: "that's right, I'm the head" 37:57 "of Gold, may she last forever." 37:59 But I'm sure that Nebuchadnezzar did not like what Daniel 38:02 said next. Notice verse 39, 38:07 "But after you", what 2 words? "After you", I'm sure king 38:15 didn't like this part at all, "...shall arise another kingdom" 38:20 "inferior to yours." As if that wasn't enough, 38:24 that another kingdom was going to come, he had to throw 38:26 salt in the wound and say it's going to be an inferior 38:28 kingdom. "But after you shall arise" 38:30 "another kingdom inferior to yours, then another third" 38:33 "kingdom of bronze, which shall bear rule over all the earth," 38:36 "and the 4th kingdom shall be as strong as iron." 38:39 "In as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters" 38:42 "everything, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will" 38:45 "break in pieces and crush all the others, and whereas" 38:48 "you saw the feat and toes partly of potter's clay," 38:51 "and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided," 38:53 "yet the strength of the iron shall be in it," 38:55 "just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay." 38:59 Wow this dream isn't so hard to understand after all, is it? 39:02 What he's basically saying is "this image represents" 39:06 "a timeline." 39:10 He says "Babylon is the head of gold, but after you would come" 39:13 "another kingdom, and then another kingdom," 39:16 "and then another kingdom, and that kingdom would be" 39:18 "divided." All of these kingdoms, 39:21 by the way, are not sure little regional powers, just little 39:24 regional entities, he says: "another kingdom that would" 39:28 "rule over all the world." These were the great nations 39:31 of antiquity. Remember that Daniel is written 39:35 600 years before the time of Christ, he lived during the time 39:39 of Babylon. The great Ishtar gate, which is 39:42 even now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, 39:45 this is the very gate that archaeologists have excavated 39:48 that Daniel would have walked through in our story. 39:51 That's the very gate that he would have walked through, 39:53 his heart pitter-pattering, and yet, still with confidence 39:56 as he stood before the most powerful man in the world, 39:58 that's the gate archaeologists have excavated; 40:01 we'll talk more about that in another session. 40:05 He says: "after you another kingdom would come." 40:08 Despite Nebuchadnezzar's desires, and despite his hopes 40:11 and his plans, and his ambitions, Babylon did not 40:14 continue forever and indefinitely, it was eventually 40:17 conquered by the kingdom of Medo-Persia, which ruled 40:20 from 539-331 BC, 40:27 it's called the Medo-Persian Empire because it wasn't 40:30 just the Medes or the Persians, these 2 nations leagued 40:33 together to form what historians call the Medo-Persian Empire. 40:38 In fact, it's really quite a remarkable story, 40:40 we talked a little bit about it last night. 40:42 A man by the name of Cyrus the Great diverted the river 40:45 Euphrates into a field, Babylon was one of the great cities 40:49 of antiquity; 15 miles on each side square, 40:54 in fact, the walls were 200 feet high in some places. 40:57 One of the 7 wonders of the world was in that city, 40:59 the great Hanging Gardens, and the river Euphrates 41:02 flowed right through the middle of this city of Babylon, 41:04 it was an awesome city. Cyrus came to that city, 41:07 the story is told, historians tell us that they came 41:10 to the city and they saw those tall walls and they knew 41:12 "there's now way we could ever siege the city," 41:14 "no way we could ever surmount those walls", so what they 41:16 did on a certain night when the Babylonians were in a riotous, 41:20 drunken feast, what Cyrus did in an act of military genius 41:24 is he went upriver several miles, he dammed the river, 41:27 and diverted the river off into an adjacent field 41:30 so that down river the river went down, down, down, 41:33 and then they marched in through the river underneath the gates, 41:36 and Babylon, that great city of antiquity, 41:39 fell in a single night. 41:44 He met basically no resistance. God had said 41:48 that another kingdom would come and what God says 41:51 always comes to pass. Can someone say amen? 41:54 Even the most powerful kingdom in the world can't resist 41:56 the decree of God. But a 3rd kingdom would come, 41:59 a 3rd kingdom of bronze, which would rule over all the earth. 42:04 Which kingdom was it that succeeded the Medo-Persian 42:07 Empire? The mighty kingdom of Greece, 42:11 331-168 BC. I might get myself 42:15 into a little trouble here because I'm in the Macedonian 42:18 Cultural Art Center, so I should be perfectly candid 42:20 and remind us all that Alexander the Great was a Macedonian 42:24 more than a Greek. A great Macedonian Empire, 42:27 that'll get me go in good with Gore in here, 42:32 ruling from 331-168 BC. Alexander the Great was one 42:36 of the greatest military minds of all time. 42:39 In fact, Napoleon followed the very battle strategies 42:42 of Alexander the Great. Arian said in his 42:45 historical library, book 17, chapter 12: [text on screen] 43:04 Alexander the Great conquered the then known world 43:07 at the age of 31 years old, but he died in a drunken feast 43:11 at the age of 32. One of the historians, Hugo, 43:14 said he could conquer the world, but he couldn't conquer himself. 43:19 It is said of Alexander the Great that on one occasion 43:24 he wept because said he there was no one left to kill. 43:27 Alexander the Great prevailed over the great Medo-Persian 43:31 Empire. History of Rome, book 3, 43:33 chapter 10: [text on screen] 43:44 So we have the head of gold - Babylon; 43:47 the chest and arms of silver - Medo-Persia; 43:49 and then the bronze, or the brass, representing 43:52 "the brass clad Greeks", that's what Homer called them 43:56 in his book "The Odyssey", "the brass clad Greeks", 43:59 God predicted it all long before it came to pass. 44:03 But who would come after the Greeks? 44:06 Of course, the great iron monarchy of Rome. 44:10 Ruling not just for 100 years, or 150 years, 44:18 but from 168 BC-476 AD, roughly 700 years 44:26 the great nation of Rome ruled. The iron monarchy of Rome, 44:31 that's exactly what the Bible had said. 44:34 Daniel said "The 4th kingdom shall be as strong as iron." 44:37 Iron crushes all of the metals, iron could crush gold, 44:41 iron could crush silver, iron could crush bronze, 44:44 he said "This kingdom, the long legs of iron," 44:46 "would be a kingdom unlike the others, it would utterly" 44:49 "destroy, and smash, and obliterate the kingdoms" 44:52 "before it", the great iron monarchy of Rome. 44:55 "All roads leads to Rome." "Rome wasn't built in a day." 44:59 "When in Rome do as the Romans." Rome is the greatest empire 45:04 of antiquity, and God foresaw it all. 45:09 Jesus Christ was nailed to a Roman cross in 31 AD. 45:13 Jesus Christ was watched by Roman soldiers in 31 AD. 45:18 Jerusalem was sacked by Roman armies in 70 AD. 45:23 Rome. 45:25 Edward Gibbon, the famed English historian, said in his 45:28 well known series "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", 45:32 notice what he said, this is a secular historian; 45:34 in fact, Gibbon was known for his hatred for organized 45:37 religion, but notice what he says, look at this imagery: 45:40 [text on screen] 45:53 Let me ask you a question, where do you think the historian 45:55 Gibbon, got that imagery, gold, silver, brass, and iron, 45:58 to represent the sweep of history? 46:00 Where do you think he got it from? 46:03 He got it from the Bible, and particularly from the book 46:05 of Daniel. So this is amazing. 46:08 The king has a dream and it's this statue, a head of gold, 46:11 chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, 46:13 long legs of iron, and this image is basically a timeline. 46:20 He said: "You're this head of gold, but after you" 46:23 "comes another kingdom, and after you, another kingdom," 46:25 "and after you, another kingdom, and after you, the great" 46:26 "iron monarchy of Rome." Absolutely fascinating, 46:31 600 years before the time of Jesus, God is looking forward 46:35 and He can declare it perfectly and plainly because God alone 46:40 knows and can declare the future. 46:43 Well, this raises the question, who conquered ancient Rome? 46:46 I mean, Medo-Persia conquered Babylon, and Greece 46:48 conquered Medo-Persia, and Rome conquered Greece, 46:50 but who conquered Rome? The answer is no one 46:54 conquered Rome, Rome was not conquered from without, 46:58 it was divided from within. Notice that, look in Daniel 2, 47:06 Daniel 2:40: "And the 4th kingdom shall be as strong" 47:13 "as iron, in as much as iron breaks in pieces" 47:17 "and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes," 47:19 "that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the other", 47:21 but notice verse 41: "whereas you saw the feet" 47:24 "and toes partly of potter's clay and party of iron," 47:29 "the kingdom shall be divided." God said 600 years 47:34 before the time of Jesus the kingdom will be divided, 47:38 and the kingdom was divided, that's exactly right. 47:42 The kingdom was divided, and that's what's represented 47:45 by the feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 47:49 Partly strong and partly weak. The kingdom will be divided, 47:52 and that's the day we're living in right now, divided Rome, 47:55 or the so called "nations of Europe". 47:58 Europe today, has essentially divided Rome from 476 AD 48:01 to the present tense, there is nothing bellow the statue, 48:05 it's just head, arms and chest, belly and thighs, 48:07 long legs, and the feet, that's it, 48:09 you don't have anything else after your toes. 48:13 Partly of potter's clay, and partly of iron, 48:17 the kingdom will be divided. Here's a chart that depicts 48:21 the invasions and fragmenting of Rome, that began in 100 AD, 48:24 they say here "CE", which is the "common era", that's fine, 48:28 and the fragmentation, the Vandals moving up from the north 48:31 of Africa, and the Saxons up there in England, 48:34 and all of these Barbarian tribes begin to basically 48:37 pick Rome apart at the seems until eventually, 48:39 as my dad used to say to me, "you're getting too big" 48:42 "for your breeches boy", and it fell apart. 48:46 That's history. 48:49 The kingdom divided, and today we live in this very time. 48:53 Modern Europe, Europe is nothing more than divided Rome. 48:57 In fact, if you look at the divisions of Rome, 48:59 here they are. [Text on screen] 49:16 We'll talk more about that in another night. 49:18 All of these barbarian tribes today form what we call 49:22 Europe. The kingdom remains divided. 49:27 I want you to go back to your Bible, go back to your Bible 49:31 and look at verse 42 as we come to the end of this 49:34 remarkable prophecy. "And as the toes of the feet" 49:38 "were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom" 49:42 "shall be partly strong and partly fragile." 49:45 "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will" 49:48 "mingle themselves with the seed of men", that is they will 49:51 intermarry, "but they will not stick to one another," 49:55 "just as iron doesn't mix with clay." 49:59 The old King James says: "they will not cleave", 50:03 my version says "they will not adhere", they won't 50:06 stick together. Let me ask you a question, 50:08 if I had a bucket here, and I put into that bucket 50:12 clay, soft, malleable clay, and iron shavings, 50:15 and I began to stir it, how long would I have to stir 50:18 the iron and clay before I had "cliron"? 50:21 [Audience laughs] How long would I have 50:23 to stir it? I could stir it forever 50:25 and I'd still have clay and iron, because clay and iron 50:28 don't mix, are we all together on that? 50:30 That's what God says, they're going to try and stick together. 50:35 Have there been efforts to unite Europe, yes or no? 50:38 - [Audience replies] Yes - Oh sure, 50:39 let's just look at a few of the men who tried 50:42 to outsmart God. 50:44 Charlemagne, on his rampage to recreate the so called 50:47 Holy Roman Empire: unsuccessful. Charles V of Spain: 50:53 unsuccessful. Louis XIV of France, bathed Europe in blood, 50:59 unsuccessful, Napoleon, unsuccessful. In fact, Napoleon 51:03 himself, we're told, was shown this prophecy. 51:06 There is a tradition that Napoleon himself, 51:08 was shown this very prophecy that Europe could not, 51:12 yea, would not be divided, and as the tradition goes, 51:15 he took the Bible and threw it across the room, 51:17 and when he lost his battle at Waterloo, he said: 51:20 "God Almighty has been too much for me." 51:23 [Audience laughs] 51:25 And of course, Hitler. These are men who tried 51:27 to outsmart God, but God had said they will not cleave. 51:29 There have been significant efforts by some of the so called 51:33 great men of history, to bring Europe back under a single, 51:36 unified head, but none have succeeded. 51:40 God had declared they will not cleave together. 51:44 Today we are living in the time of divided Europe. 51:48 Have there been efforts even in modern times to unite Europe? 51:51 Yes or no? Sure, sure. 51:54 Here is a very interesting parallel of this painting here, 51:58 which was a famous painting by the Flemish Renaissance painter, 52:03 his name is escaping me, Brueghel. 52:06 The famous Renaissance painter, Brueghel, painted in 52:08 the 16th century of the tower of Babel. 52:11 You know the story of the tower of Babel? 52:14 Man was going to construct this great artifice to his glory, 52:17 and look at this, isn't this very interesting? 52:19 When the European Economic Community first came 52:22 on the scene, this was the official poster, do you see 52:25 the similarities? It's just basically a modern 52:28 characterization of Brueghel's old famous painting 52:32 of the tower of Babel, and notice this: 52:34 "Europe, many tongues, one voice." 52:37 Has there been a push to unite Europe? 52:40 Sure, but we're not interested in the politics of it, 52:42 we're not interested in the economics of it, 52:44 we're not interested in any of that, the fact is, 52:48 God had said these nations would remain divided, 52:51 and any effort, whether military, or intermarriage, 52:54 or political, to unite Europe is doomed to failure 52:58 because God has said they'll remain divided. 53:00 If that makes sense say amen. [Audience replies] Amen. 53:04 >From ancient Babylon on, so there it is. 53:07 Let's go back there. The dream is certain 53:10 and the interpretation is sure, there's the dates, 53:13 see if you can them all down. [text on screen] 53:43 Despite some of the so called great men of history 53:46 trying to unite Europe, and even political maneuverings, 53:49 and economic maneuverings, and intermarriage, there was a time 53:52 when Queen Elizabeth was called "the grandmother of Europe" 53:55 because the duchess of this country would marry 53:57 the duke of this country, and the princess of this country 54:00 would marry the prince of that country, and the king 54:03 of this country would marry the queen of that country, 54:06 but it never could cause them to stick together, why? 54:09 Because God said it wouldn't happen. 54:12 Let's finish up the prophecy, it's basically done, verse 43: 54:17 "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will" 54:20 "mingle themselves with the seed of men through intermarriage," 54:23 "but they will not cleave one to another, just as iron" 54:27 "does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings", 54:31 what kings? These kings right down here, 54:33 the toes partly of iron and partly of potter's clay, 54:36 "in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up" 54:40 "a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." 54:44 "The kingdom will not be left to other people", 54:49 unlike Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom which was left to other people, 54:52 "it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms" 54:55 "and it will stand forever. In as much as you saw" 55:03 "that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands" 55:06 "and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay," 55:08 "the silver and the gold, the great God has made known" 55:12 "to the king what will come to pass after this," 55:14 and notice the last part here, "the dream is certain," 55:20 "and the interpretation is sure." 55:23 Daniel knew that he was giving the right answers 55:25 because the answer came from God. 55:30 Absolutely incredible, 600 years before the time of Jesus. 55:36 I want you to think about that for just a moment, 55:38 what if you had to predict the next 25 years of human history, 55:41 could you do it? The 2500 years of human history, 55:43 could you do it? 55:45 >From the time of Daniel, 600 BC, until present time 55:49 is some 2500 years of human history and in approximately 55:53 150 words, Daniel gives us a sweep of human history, 55:57 do you think you could do that? 2500 years of human history 56:02 with absolute perfect accuracy and clarity? 56:05 The first time I ever saw this prophecy, I looked at 56:08 that book and I said: "there's only 2 possible options here," 56:11 "either someone is playing a very big trick," 56:16 "or this book is supernatural." Are you with me? 56:20 To be able to predict, and this is just 1 of many prophecies 56:23 incidentally, but to be able to predict with that kind 56:25 of clarity, that kind of accuracy, is absolutely 56:28 beyond the kin of man, it must be God. 56:34 Now, I'm not a gambling person, maybe you are, 56:37 I always lose, so I just stop gambling, 56:40 but there is a safe gamble. Think about it 56:42 from this perspective, if you were a gambling person 56:45 and God said there would be Babylon, and there was Babylon, 56:47 that's 1. God said that there would be 56:49 Medo-Persia, and there was Medo- Persia, that's 2. 56:51 God said that there would be Greece, and there was Greece, 56:53 that's 3. God said that there would be Rome, 56:56 and there was Rome, that's 4. 56:58 God said that Rome would be divided, and Rome was divided, 57:00 that's 5. God said that Rome would remain 57:03 divided despite significant efforts to unite it, 57:06 that's 6. The very next thing that God 57:08 says would happen is that He would set up His own kingdom, 57:13 that's the 7th thing, now if you're a betting man, 57:15 Nr.1 happens, Nr.2 happens, Nr.3 happens, Nr.4 happens, 57:18 Nr.5 happens, Nr.6 happens, what do you think about Nr.7? 57:21 [Audience says] It'll happen. 57:23 Do you think that's a safe bet, yes or no? [Audience says] Yes. 57:25 The stone that struck the image became a mountain and filled 57:28 the whole earth. When God sets up 57:30 His kingdom at the second coming of Jesus, that kingdom 57:33 will never be conquered, it is an eternal kingdom 57:37 for the saved, and for those who have put their faith 57:40 in the God of the Bible. Can someone say amen? 57:42 - [Audience] Amen. - Absolutely, friends, 57:45 what can be trusted in these uncertain times? 57:48 What can be trusted in these strange times? 57:50 God's word can be trusted. In a world of uncertainty, 57:55 Bible prophecy provides us with certainty. |
Revised 2014-12-17