Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000013
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00:15 Tonight we begin a 3 part series, and these 3 parts
00:19 cover a topic that is very important Biblically, but a 00:23 topic that, unfortunately, is not well understood. 00:27 It addresses the topic of the judgment, the judgment from 00:29 a Biblical perspective. When we use the word "judgment", 00:32 or the word "judgment" comes into the mind, many times 00:35 we see that as a negative thing, we think 00:38 "Oh, the judgment... " we begin to shake, and this fear, 00:40 and trepidation of this impending judgment, 00:44 "Guilty" sort of thing. What we're going to discover 00:47 from a Biblical perspective is that the judgment is actually 00:50 good news for those who have put their faith and their 00:52 confidence in Christ. That's why the title is 00:57 "There really is a Final Judgment," 01:01 "but don't be afraid, it's good news." 01:05 So let's begin with a word of prayer and we'll dive 01:08 right into our presentation. Father in heaven, we come 01:11 before You this evening and we are anticipating a great 01:14 blessing, you have been with us so many nights, 01:19 and Father, You've blessed us, You've enriched us, You've 01:21 given us a Biblical understanding of so many 01:24 things. Father, now as we embark from a Biblical perspective, 01:29 upon this topic of the judgment, particularly as it refers 01:33 and references Bible prophecy, we ask, Father, that Your 01:37 Spirit will be with us. We want to thank You for 01:40 the insights that you've already given as we have opened 01:43 Your Word You have opened our hearts. So Father, 01:46 tonight we ask that the Spirit that inspired this Word, 01:50 the Spirit that inspired the Bible would now come into 01:53 this room and be the Spirit that instructs that us. 01:57 Father, please, through this humble vessel, do something 02:00 awesome, do something supernatural and may we come 02:02 apart here with a clearer, more Biblical, more accurate 02:06 understanding of who you are, and just exactly what this 02:10 judgment entails, for we ask it in Jesus' name, 02:13 and let everyone say "amen". [Audience] Amen. 02:16 Okay, great. So let's go right to our 02:18 study guide, we do have quite a little bit of information 02:21 to cover tonight, so I want to make you that same promise 02:23 I have in nights passed, if I go so fast tonight that you just 02:26 can't follow me, which seems unlikely because I'm afraid 02:29 to go too fast or my voice might just turn off, but if somehow 02:32 I'm able to go too fast tonight so that you can't keep up 02:35 with me, you just go back to that CD table, you say 02:37 "Randy, I couldn't understand what he was saying," 02:40 "I only got half of my blanks filled in, and I need a free CD" 02:43 "and David said that you'd give me one", we will give you one. 02:45 If I go so fast tonight that you can't get it, it doesn't do you 02:48 as much as we want it to, now I did tell you that I speak 02:51 4 times faster than the average person, so if you only get 02:54 half of what I say, you get twice as much as the normal 02:56 speaking person would. Okay? 02:59 So let's go right to our study guide, and it says: 03:01 This series of presentation covers a very important topic: 03:04 The Sanctuary. With the raising of hands, 03:06 how many know what the sanctuary is, the Biblical sanctuary? 03:09 The sanctuary, that is, the temple of God. 03:11 We must begin by noting that there are 2 temples: 03:14 and earthly and a heavenly, and that's going to be 03:17 absolutely central, absolutely fundamental to our study 03:19 this evening and in the forthcoming nights. 03:22 2 Temples, an earthly and a heavenly, we'll look at that 03:25 in just a moment. As we shall soon discover, 03:27 the temple on earth was a picture, or a model, 03:30 of the temple in heaven. Just as the high priest 03:33 ministered in the earthly sanctuary, Jesus Christ, 03:35 our High Priest is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary. 03:39 Now before we do that we want to set this all in its 03:41 proper context. I'm going to give you several 03:44 texts, don't worry if you can't get all of these, that's fine, 03:47 but what I want to try and show you is that from a Biblical, 03:50 New Testament perspective, the judgment was future 03:53 to the New Testament writers, that's critical, the judgment 03:57 was future to the New Testament writers. 03:59 Now, none of these texts are in your study guide tonight, 04:02 so if want these you're going to have to write them down. 04:05 Now, we will go over these texts again at least 1 more 04:07 time, but I just want to quickly go over them with you 04:10 on the board. Acts 17:31, Luke writing, 04:13 Paul speaking: [text on screen] 04:25 "that man" - being Jesus Christ. [Continues to read] 04:30 In the English language we have 3 verb tenses: past, present 04:35 and future. You say "Of course, there's only 3 verb tenses", 04:39 well in other language there are actually many different 04:42 verb tenses, you have past perfect, and past imperfect, 04:45 and present continuous, etc, but in the English language 04:48 we have just past, present and future. Now I want you 04:51 to notice this again keeping that in mind "Because He has" 04:54 "appointed a day on which He will judge", what verb tense 04:58 would that be? [Audience] Future. 05:01 He will do it. Now notice the next passage, 05:03 very similar, Acts 24:25, Luke writing, Paul speaking: 05:08 [text on screen] 05:21 So Paul was speaking to Felix and he was talking about 05:24 righteousness, he was talking about temperance, 05:27 and the judgment that was going to come, which means it was 05:30 in the future. I'll show you a few other 05:32 texts to that effect, that are many in the New Testament, 05:35 we really want to solidify this with our thinking as we commence 05:38 with this 3 part series on the judgment. Romans 2:16, 05:41 the apostle Paul: [text on screen] 05:47 So if you're paying attention, 2 things are beginning 05:49 to emerge, #1- the judgment was future to the Bible writers, 05:53 that is, the New Testament writers. 05:56 The second thing that you're noticing is that Jesus Christ 06:00 is central to the judgment. Did you notice that? 06:02 Notice it says here: "He will judge the secrets of men" 06:05 "by Jesus Christ." So those are the 2 things that 06:08 are emerging, Romans 14:10: [text on screen] 06:12 That's a very good question for us, sometimes we can be 06:14 very judgmental, Paul says "Hey!" [text on screen] 06:20 "...shall", what verb tense is that? Future tense. 06:24 [continues to read] 06:27 So you see both things there in that passage, the judgment 06:30 is future, and Christ is central to the judgment 06:33 message. And one last one, 06:35 Romans 14:11,13: [text on screen] 06:47 There are other passages that could be presented, it looks 06:51 like I threw one more in, Hebrews 10:30: [text on screen] 07:01 So it should be crystal clear to us that from the perspective 07:04 of the New Testament writers, who were writing about 07:07 the 1st century AD, for them the judgment was always 07:10 in the future, not in the past, not in the present. 07:13 Paul reasoned of judgment to come. 07:18 So that's the first thing we really want to solidify 07:21 in the thinking as we commence this 3 part series. 07:24 Now let's do a little bit of review, we've been over 07:26 this before, but it's absolutely essential that we see 07:29 the judgment in the big scheme of things. We spent a little 07:32 time in the second night of our meetings looking at this 07:35 statue here, and a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar had 07:38 a dream, and that statue represented a great timeline. 07:42 What was the head of gold everyone? [Audience] Babylon. 07:45 Chest and arms of silver? [Audience] Medo-Persia. 07:48 Belly and thighs of bronze? [Audience] Greece. 07:50 The long legs of iron was...? [Audience] Rome. 07:53 And then down there the feet of iron and clay? 07:55 - [Audience] Divided Rome. - Very very good. 07:58 And then we saw these beasts in Daniel 7, in fact, why don't 08:01 we go there together, Daniel 7, and here we found that important 08:03 Bible principle of "review and enlarge", very good, 08:07 "A" students in the front row. That doesn't mean you're not 08:10 "A" students in the back row, it doesn't mean that at all, 08:13 it just means we've got some "A" students here in the front row. 08:16 So God would review, just as any good teacher would do, 08:19 just as any good educator would do, He reviews the material 08:22 He's been over, and then He begins to enlarge upon 08:24 that material. So here in Daniel 7 we saw 08:27 not 4 metals, but 4 beasts. The first was a lion that had 08:32 eagle's wings, and that represented the same thing 08:35 that the head of gold did: Babylon, reigning from 08:37 605-539 BC. After that there was a bear with 3 ribs in the mouth, 08:42 what was unusual about that bear? It was tipped up 08:46 on one side, showing an imbalance of power, 08:49 and that was the Medo-Persian power, reigning from 539-331 BC, 08:52 corresponding with the chest and arms of silver. 08:55 Then we move to the 4 headed strange leopard, with 4 08:58 wings of a fowl, corresponding with Greece, and you remember, 09:02 the 4 heads of the leopard represented the kingdom of 09:04 Greece after Alexander the Great died, his kingdom was divided 09:08 into how many parts? [Audience] 4. 09:11 That's exactly right, Alexander the Great's last 09:13 words were "The kingdom goes to the strongest", 09:16 from 331-168 BC. We also told you that wings 09:19 in Bible prophecy represent speed, and a leopard 09:21 is one of the fastest land mammals, so you put 4 wings 09:24 on a leopard, you have a fast moving beast. 09:27 Greece, the great kingdom of Greece of antiquity, 09:31 Alexander the Great began to conquer the then known world 09:33 at the age of 16, by the time he was 32 he had completed it. 09:36 In fact, it is said, on one occasion that Alexander 09:39 the Great wept because he said there was no one left to kill. 09:42 So then we move to the long legs of Rome, and here this 09:46 beast, this ferocious, terrible, this horrific beast, 09:50 reigning for almost 700 years from 168 BC-476 AD, 09:54 that would be the Great Iron Monarchy of Rome. 09:57 We've given you several quotations from secular 10:00 historians who support this basic, broad chronology, 10:05 but then Rome was divided, it was not conquered. 10:09 How many toes would there be on this image? 10:12 [Audience] Ten. Ten toes, how many horns 10:15 came out of that beast? [Audience] Ten. 10:17 And what kind of teeth did that beast have? 10:20 - [Audience] Iron. - Iron teeth, corresponding 10:22 with the iron in the legs. So God is simply reviewing. 10:25 Then you remember there was that little horn, 10:28 I want to go back to that slide there...come on... 10:30 have mercy...Oh, maybe I should point it this way at 10:33 the computer. [Audience laughs] 10:36 So, there was that little horn, and that was the new 10:38 information, so you're there in Daniel 7, let's pick it up. 10:41 Daniel 7, if you've been following along you'd get right 10:44 up to verse 7, and that's the beasts, so I'll pick it up 10:47 in verse 7, you'll know right where we are. 10:49 Daniel 7:7: "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold," 10:52 "a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong," 10:55 "it had huge iron teeth, it was devouring and breaking" 10:58 "in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet;" 11:00 "it was different from all the beasts that were before it," 11:03 "and it had 10 horns." Now watch this, verse 8: 11:06 "I was considering the horns", Daniel says "I was thinking" 11:08 "about those horns", something about the horns caught 11:11 his attention; what does the word "consider" mean? 11:14 It means what? If I say "Well, let me consider it", 11:16 what am I saying? "Let me think about it", 11:19 so Daniel says "I was thinking about the horns", "...and there" 11:23 "came up another horn, a little one, coming up among them," 11:26 "before whom 3 of the first horns were plucked up by" 11:29 "the roots, and in this horn were eyes like the eyes" 11:32 "of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words." 11:34 This little horn is none other than the Antichrist power, 11:37 we've already identified this individual, very interesting 11:40 though, notice it says that he sees this little horn coming up, 11:43 and the little horn is speaking pompous words. 11:46 Now, what is the very next thing that Daniel sees? 11:50 Look at verse 9, this is absolutely critical. 11:54 Verse 9: "I watched till thrones were put in place" 11:59 "and the Ancient of Days was seated." 12:02 Who's the Ancient of Days? That would be God the Father, 12:05 "...the Ancient of Days was seated, His garment was as" 12:08 "white as snow, His hair was like pure wool, His throne" 12:11 "wa a fiery flame and its wheels a burning fire", verse 10, 12:14 "a fiery stream issued from before Him, thousand" 12:18 "thousands ministered to Him, ten thousand times ten thousand" 12:22 "stood before Him,", and notice this last part "the court" 12:25 "was seated and the books were opened." 12:29 I want you to notice that sequence, just imagine with 12:32 me that you're Daniel and God is showing you something in vision. 12:38 So you see this lion with eagle's wings come up, 12:40 and you're watching it across the cinematic screen 12:43 of the sky, then you see the bear with the 3 ribs in 12:46 the mouth come up, representing the Medo-Persian empire, 12:48 you're seeing across the cinematic screen of the sky; 12:51 and then you see a 4 headed leopard come up and move across 12:54 the cinematic screen of the sky, and then you see this dreadful, 12:56 terrible beast coming up, strong and horrific, and he goes 12:59 across and fades off the screen, and then you come up 13:01 and you see a little horn, the 10 horns, and then you see 13:04 this little horn, and what's the very next thing that Daniel 13:07 sees on the cinema screen? He sees a judgment scene 13:10 in heaven. Look at verse 8, 13:12 the last words of verse 8 are "a mouth speaking pompous" 13:15 "words", then verses 9 and 10 he says "I saw the judgment" 13:19 "in heaven". So if you are going to look 13:21 at this in chronology, it's actually very simple: 13:23 he sees Babylon, then he sees Medo-Persia, then he sees 13:28 Greece, then he sees Rome, and then divided Rome, then he sees 13:31 the judgment scene, is that clear? 13:34 Let's do it again, let's see if I can get it right: 13:38 he sees Babylon, Medo-Persia, then Greece, then Rome, 13:41 then divided Rome, and then the judgment, the little horn, 13:44 and then the judgment. Exactly! 13:47 So let's look at this, here are the great time periods 13:50 of Daniel 7, write these down, they're right on your study 13:53 guide: [text on screen] 14:06 That sequence has to be absolutely indelibly 14:09 impressed upon your mind, in fact, that sequence is so 14:12 important that it occurs 3 times in Daniel 7, 14:17 3 times you see that identical sequence, I'm giving you 14:20 a little moment to write that down. 14:23 For those of you who are right with me, let me show you 14:27 something fascinating, you're still there in Daniel 7, 14:30 look at verse 19, Daniel 7:19: 14:37 "Then I wished to know the truth about the 4th beast," 14:41 "which was different from all the other, exceedingly" 14:43 "dreadful, with its teeth of iron, its nails of bronze," 14:46 "which devoured, and broke in pieces, and trampled" 14:49 "the residue with its feet", so who's that great, 14:52 terrible, horrific, 4th beast? Rome. 14:54 So verse 19 is Rome, in my Bible I've put a little "R" 14:57 there, that tells me that's Rome. Now look at verse 20: 15:00 "And the 10 horns which were on its head, and the other" 15:02 "horns which came up after, before which 3 fell," 15:05 "namely, that horn which had eyes, and mouth, which spoke" 15:10 "pompous words, whose appearance was greater that his fellows." 15:13 That's the little horn. So verse 19 is Rome, 15:17 verse 20 is the little horn, now, without even looking 15:20 at verse 21, without even looking at it, what do you 15:23 think would be the next thing? [Audience] The judgment. 15:26 Look at verse 21, it says: "I was watching, and the same" 15:29 "horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing" 15:32 "against them", that's still the little horn, look at verse 22, 15:35 "until the Ancient of Days came and a judgment was given" 15:38 "in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time" 15:42 "came for the saints to posses the kingdom", you're right, 15:45 you see the sequence, that's the second time. 15:48 So it goes here from Rome, to the little horn, 15:50 to the judgment, you've got it. Now, something in that verse, 15:54 if you've picked it up, verse 22, it says "judgment was given" 15:58 "in favor of the saints", who are the saints? 16:02 We are, God's people. Now look at this, see if you 16:05 can pick it up again, I'm in verse 23, watch the sequence 16:07 again, verse 23: "Thus he said", this is the angel explaining 16:10 the vision, it's a very simple vision as a matter of fact, 16:13 "the 4th beast shall be a 4th kingdom on the earth" 16:16 "what shall be different from all other kingdoms, it shall" 16:19 "devour the whole earth and trample it, and break it" 16:21 "in pieces." What kingdom is he talking about? 16:24 Rome, so in my Bible I've written a little "R" I've 16:26 written by verse 23, very simple, now look at verse 24. 16:29 "The 10 horns are 10 kings who shall arise out of this kingdom" 16:32 "and another shall arise after them, he shall be different" 16:34 "from the first ones, and he shall subdue 3 kings." 16:37 "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High," 16:40 "he shall persecute the saints of the Most High, he shall" 16:43 "intend to change times and laws", we've spent time 16:46 on this, "then the saints shall be given into his hands for" 16:49 "a time, times and half a time", look at that, in verse 23 16:51 you have Rome, in verses 24 and 25 you have the little 16:54 horn, now without looking at your Bible, what do you think 16:57 you would expect in verses 26 and 27? 16:59 - [Audience] Judgment. - Exactly, look at 26 and 27, 17:02 "But the court shall be seated and then will take away" 17:05 "his dominion to consume it and destroy it forever," 17:07 "then the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness" 17:10 "of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given" 17:13 "to the people of the saints of the Most High". 17:15 "God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion" 17:18 "shall serve and obey Him". So 3 times in Daniel 7, 17:22 it is unmistakably clear, 3 times you see Rome, 17:26 little horn, judgment, everyone see that? 17:30 3 times, Rome, little horn, judgment. 17:34 Let's say it all together [Everyone] Rome, little horn, 17:37 judgment. There it is. 17:39 Let's continue on, if you were paying careful attention 17:42 you noticed that the very reason that the heavenly 17:45 court is called to session is because of the blasphemous 17:48 words of the little horn. The little horn is basically 17:51 shooting his mouth off against God, against God's people, 17:54 and we're going to see that more in just a moment, 17:57 so God calls His court to session to overrule 18:00 the kangaroo court of the little horn. 18:03 Notice this one: [text on screen] 18:08 In fact, you'd write that in right there if you were 18:11 paying attention. Right there at the bottom 18:14 of page 1: The pompous words of the little horn call 18:17 to session the heavenly court, additionally, the persecution 18:21 of God's people in God's name calls to session the heavenly 18:24 court. That's all right there. 18:27 The judgment is a major theme of Daniel 7, the sequence: 18:31 Rome, little horn, judgment, occurs 3 times in this 1 chapter 18:36 alone. If this much is clear so far, 18:39 let's say amen. [Audience] Amen. 18:43 Okay, that's all for tonight's presentation, we'll see 18:45 you all... Nah, I'm just kidding. 18:47 [Audience laughs] Now, I want you to jump up, 18:50 jump back up to the paragraph just above that subheading 18:52 where it says "Daniel 7", everyone see that? 18:55 Let's fill that in; Daniel 7 deals largely with political 18:58 kingdoms and political movements, Daniel 8 covers 19:00 basically the same time period, but primarily addresses 19:03 spiritual issues and spiritual battles. We'll be in Daniel 8 19:06 in just a moment. The beasts of Daniel 7 19:09 are preditory beasts, that's what you'd write in there. 19:12 Look at these beasts, you've got a lion, you've got a bear, 19:15 you've got a leopard, and some horrifically terrible beast 19:18 that was so, so bad, Daniel couldn't even describe it. 19:21 So the beasts of Daniel 7 were beasts of prey, or preditory 19:24 beasts. Now, what's going to happen 19:27 in just a few moments, we're going to go to Daniel 8, 19:31 but what we find in Daniel 8 is not leopards, and lions, 19:35 and bears, do you know what we find there? A ram and a goat. 19:39 That's what you'd write in there, it says the beasts of 19:41 Daniel 8 are clean beasts. 19:44 You might be saying "Did he say clean? Did he think that" 19:46 "they'd taken a bath?" We say clean, we mean 19:49 ritually, and ceremonialy clean in the mind of the Israelite. 19:52 They were clean beasts from the sanctuary service 19:57 designed to teach 2 very different things. 19:59 In Daniel 7 it's primarily political, but in Daniel 8 20:04 there's a shift to a more spiritual emphasis, and we'll 20:08 pick that up here in just a moment, in fact, I think 20:11 that's actually where we're going to go in just seconds. 20:15 Let's go to our second page. Now we've said this this 20:19 morning, but it bears repeating, there was a time when being 20:22 a Christian meant something. There was a time when it meant 20:25 more than having the little fish on the back of your car, 20:28 there was a time when being a Christian meant being more 20:31 that having the T-shirt, there was a time when being 20:34 a Christian meant more than just going to church, there was 20:36 a time when if you took a stand for Jesus, you took 20:39 a stand for His Word, that'd be the last thing you ever 20:42 did, are we clear on that? Beloved, there was a time 20:44 called the Dark Ages where all you had to do as a Christian 20:47 was walk up to an idol, or to some sort of a statue, 20:50 perhaps of the Roman Emperor and take a little pinch 20:53 of incense and just drop it before that thing, and walk 20:56 away, and you were fine, and Christians said "No," 20:59 "I can't do that", and they would be killed and slaughtered, 21:02 and put into the Colosseum to be torn apart by angry lions 21:05 and other beasts just because they refused to capitulate 21:08 on 1 of God's commandments. There was a time when saying 21:11 you were a Christian meant more than it means for many people 21:14 today, [Audience] Amen. 21:17 ...during that period of the Dark Ages. 21:19 That was a terrific, amazing time, when people had to be 21:22 very courageous, very bold, to stand for truth. 21:25 We talked about this this morning, Martin Luther stood 21:28 before the Council of Worms, April 17, 1521, and he said 21:31 "Listen, if you can demonstrate to me by the Scriptures," 21:33 "or according just to plain reason, I will recant," 21:36 "but if you can't, I can't step down, it's neither safe," 21:39 "nor wise, to go against my conscience, here I stand," 21:42 "God help me." Powerful. 21:45 Martin Luther walked right out of there with absolute 21:48 confidence in God, and some people thought that was the last 21:51 thing he was ever going to do, and Martin Luther died 21:54 of old age, very interesting. Now go to Daniel 8. 21:58 Daniel 8 and the little horn's attack on God's people, 22:01 we're at the top of page 2 on your study guide. 22:05 In Daniel 8 the focus is clearly spiritual in nature, 22:09 it addresses the spiritual attack made by the little 22:12 horn on God and His people. Now we're just going to read 22:15 through, beginning in Daniel, quite a little bit of this 22:18 vision so you can see just how simple it is. 22:26 Daniel 8:1: "In the 3rd year of the reign of King Belshazzar" 22:30 "a vision appeared to me, to me Daniel, after the one" 22:33 "that appeared to me the first time", so he says 22:35 "I got this vision after the 1 in Daniel 7", verse 2: 22:38 "I saw in vision, and it so happened that while I was" 22:41 "looking I was in Shushan the citadel which is in" 22:44 "the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I" 22:47 "was by the River Ulai", he's telling you the circumstances, 22:50 the surroundings of when he received the vision. 22:53 Verse 3: "Then I lifted up my eyes and I saw there," 22:55 "standing beside the river, there was a ram" 22:59 "which had 2 horns, and the 2 horns were high," 23:03 "but one was higher than the other, and the higher one" 23:07 "came up last." So here Daniel sees a ram, notice, a clean 23:12 beast, not a preditory beast. We could say "I wonder" 23:15 "what the ram is? Maybe it's China, maybe it's North Korea," 23:18 "who's the ram?" Well, we don't need to guess 23:21 and wonder, just stay there in Daniel 8, and jump down 23:24 to verse 20, Daniel 8:20, the angel comes and says 23:26 "Hey Daniel, let me tell you what the ram is." 23:29 Daniel 8:20: "The ram which you saw having the 2 horns," 23:34 "they are kings of Media and Persia", so the ram is 23:38 Medo-Persia, that's pretty easy isn't it? 23:41 The angel just says it, "the ram is Medo-Persia". 23:46 Now notice what happens next, we're now in verse 4: 23:50 "I saw the ram pushing", now pay very careful attention here, 23:53 verse 4, "I saw the ram pushing westward, northward," 23:57 "and southward", how many directions is that? 24:00 [Audience] Three. Three directions. 24:02 How many ribs did the bear have in his mouth? 24:05 [Audience] Three. You're getting it, all we're 24:08 doing is reviewing, different language, different pictures, 24:11 same history, history doesn't change, history's the same, 24:14 but God is using different emphases to bring out 24:16 different points and to really focus our attention on whatever 24:19 it is He has in mind at that moment. 24:22 So it says here the ram was pushing westward, northward, 24:25 and southward "so that no animal could withstand him," 24:28 "nor was there any that could deliver from his hand," 24:31 "but he did according to his will, and he became great." 24:34 Now, if you're in the habit of underlining in your Bible 24:37 I would circle "great", that's going to become impotant in just 24:40 a moment, let's say that together "the ram became great", 24:45 what's the next thing Daniel sees? Very simple vision, 24:49 verse 5: "As I was considering", what does considering mean? 24:53 "As I was thinking, suddenly", what does the word "suddenly" 24:56 mean? It means "quickly", 24:58 very rapidly, very quickly, "suddenly a male goat came" 25:02 "from the west across the surface of the whole earth" 25:06 "and it didn't even touch the ground, it had a notable" 25:10 "horn between its eyes, then he came to the ram that I had" 25:13 "seen with 2 horns, which was standing beside the river," 25:16 "and he ran into him with furious power." 25:19 Clearly this goat has issues. He's mad as a hornet, 25:23 he runs into the ram, and he thrashes it into oblivion. 25:26 Verse 7: "And I saw him confronting the ram, he was" 25:29 "moved with rage against him, he attacked the ram, he broke" 25:31 "his 2 horns, there was no power in the ram to withstand" 25:34 "him, but he cast him down to the ground, he trampled" 25:37 "on him, and there was no one that could deliver the ram" 25:40 "from his hand." Hmm, I wonder who the goat is. 25:43 Just based on what you know already, just based on simple 25:45 history and what we've seen on Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, 25:48 who was it that conquered Medo-Persia, who do you think 25:51 this goat might be? [Audience] Greece. 25:53 Look down at verse 21, same chapter, here it is: 25:56 "And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece", 25:59 so notice, the Bible interprets itself, is that clear everyone? 26:05 The kingdom of Greece and the large horn that is between 26:09 its eyes is the first king, and who was that? 26:12 Alexander the Great. So notice, we're going over 26:15 some of the same ground that we saw in Daniel 2, so we're here, 26:17 Medo-Persia to Greece, that we saw in Daniel 7, 26:20 Medo-Persia to Greece. By the way, remember, Greece 26:22 moved very rapidly, and what was that word we just saw there? 26:28 "Suddenly", so it's all the same, that's the great thing 26:31 about Bible prophecy, once you get 1 thing right, and then 26:34 you get 2 things right, and then you get 3 things right, 26:37 it just begins to cascade and it gets easier and easier, 26:40 but if you get 1 thing wrong, guess what happens, 26:44 you get everything else wrong. Think of it this way, 26:47 if you want to go due north 100 miles, how many steps 26:50 have to be due north? Every single step, 26:53 and what's the most important step? [Audience] First. 26:56 Your first step, that's right. So if you get the first 26:59 step right, it's easier to get the second step right, 27:01 and it's easier to get the 3rd and the 4th, but if we 27:04 make an error on that first step, we're bound to make 27:07 an error on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th down the line. 27:09 So far so good? So let's continue the vision. 27:12 Verse 8: "Therefore, the male goat grew very great", 27:18 the ram was great, but the male goat is very great. 27:25 Do you see an increase in power? 27:27 So the ram is great, the male goat is very great, "but when" 27:31 "he became strong the large horn was broken", that's Alexander 27:34 the Great, "and in place of it four notable ones came up" 27:38 "toward the four winds of heaven". 27:41 What does that remind us of? The 4 heads of the leopard. 27:44 Are you beginning to see? Very simple. 27:47 4 notable ones come up. This is where things get 27:50 amazing, "and out of one of them came a little horn" 27:53 "which grew exceedingly towards the south, toward" 27:56 "the east and toward the glorious land." 27:59 Now this is where people say "whoa, whoa, slow down," 28:02 "we missed Rome, what happened to Rome?" 28:06 Did you think that? Because look at it, 28:09 we went from the ram, who was the ram? 28:13 Medo-Persia, and then we went to the goat, who's the goat? 28:16 Greece, and now we're at the little horn, the little horn 28:20 is papal Rome, hmmm, we're missing Pagan Rome. 28:24 No we're not, not at all because think of it this way, 28:29 in Daniel 2 here's Rome, the long legs of iron is Rome, 28:34 but what was down in the feet? Divided Rome, but what was 28:39 it made of? Iron and clay. 28:41 So notice this: Rome just changes, but still exists right 28:45 down to the very end, still Rome, but it just changes 28:49 and exists right down to the very end, think of this horrific 28:52 beast here, what's the 4th beast? 28:54 Rome, and then what grows out of Rome? 28:57 Those horns, so those horns continue to grow so Rome 29:01 continues, but it just takes on a different manifestation, 29:05 Rome transitioned from being primarily a civil power 29:09 to be an ecclesiastical power, or a spiritual power. 29:13 So you really have 2 distinct phases of Rome, you have 29:16 civil Rome, or if you prefer, Pagan Rome, and then 29:20 you have papal Rome, or if you prefer, spiritual Rome, 29:23 but both are Rome. Now look at this, Bible students 29:27 put your thinking caps on, look at verse 9. 29:29 It says: "And out of one of them came a little horn, which grew" 29:32 "exceedingly towards the south, towards the east, and towards" 29:36 "the glorious land". I want you to notice 29:39 that this little horn is moving in 3 directions, and it's all 29:43 on a horizontal plain, look at it again until you see it: 29:47 "towards the South, towards the east, and towards" 29:50 "the glorious land", so here the primary emphasis of 29:53 the little horn's conquests were along a horizontal plain, 29:58 these are political or military conquests, but watch what 30:03 happens in the next verse. Verse 10, it says: "and it grew" 30:08 "up to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host" 30:13 "and some of the stars to the ground and it trampled them." 30:17 So do you see the distinction there? 30:19 In the first verse he's moving on a horizontal plain, 30:23 in the next verse he's moving upward, even to heaven. 30:27 So that's what we find here. 30:33 Let's look at our next one. 30:44 Hallelujah, there we go! Medo-Persia, that's what we saw, 30:48 the ram, then Greece, then the little horn moving on 30:55 a terrestrial plain, that is a horizontal plain pushing 31:01 southward, pushing westward, and pushing towards the glorious 31:04 land, which was Jerusalem, pushing towards the Jewish 31:08 homeland. Then the next thing you see 31:10 is the little horn begins his attack, but now he's not moving 31:13 just on this plain, he's moving on the vertical plain, and he 31:16 begins to attack even heaven itself. 31:18 You say "wait a minute, how can he attack heaven itself?" 31:21 We're going to get to that in just a moment. 31:25 Let's continue this, this is so amazing, look at verse 11. 31:30 I know you're writing, so I'll give you just a little moment. 31:35 Daniel 8:11. The first word is "he". 31:42 "He is the little horn", I want you to notice what he does 31:46 in verse 11, it is absolutely audacious, verse 11: 31:50 "He even exulted himself as high as the Prince of the host." 31:58 Who's the Prince of the host? [Audience] Jesus. 32:01 Jesus Christ, do you see the vertical movements now? 32:04 So this little horn begins to vaunt himself even against 32:08 Jesus, "and by him the daily was taken away," 32:12 "and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down". 32:15 He begins a spiritual attack and begins to throw down 32:19 even the sanctuary of God. Look at verse 12: "Because of" 32:22 "the transgression, and army was given over to the horn" 32:26 "to oppose the daily sacrifices, and he cast truth to" 32:30 "the ground, he did all of this and he prospered." 32:34 Notice, this is a spiritual battle, listen beloved, he's 32:37 casting truth to the ground, he's making war with God's 32:40 people, he's making war with God's Son, he is throwing God's 32:43 sanctuary to the ground. That's a spiritual battle. 32:48 Now, already any Israelite, any Jew who was studying 32:52 His Scriptures would have already known that because 32:56 in the transition from Daniel 7 we go from these preditory, 33:00 unclean beasts to Daniel 8, and we're dealing with 33:02 sanctuary beasts, rams and goats. 33:06 So anyone's going to immediately notice: "Oh, this is dealing" 33:09 "more with spiritual issues, not political machinations" 33:13 "primarily." This gets amazing, 33:16 you're there at the top of page 2, it says: 33:20 List the 4 things that the little horn of Daniel 8 33:23 attacks. #1- he attacks God's people. 33:31 Let's just look at a couple of those verses, you can write 33:34 these verses down, look at verse 24. 33:39 It says "His power shall be mighty, but not by his own" 33:43 "power, he shall destroy fearfully and he shall prosper" 33:46 "and thrive, and he shall destroy the mighty and also" 33:50 "the holy people." So here we see this little horn 33:53 making war against God's people. We saw that already, look at 33:58 verse 13: "then I heard a holy one speaking, and another" 34:01 "holy one said to that certain one who was speaking," 34:05 "How long will be the vision concerning the daily" 34:08 "sacrifices and the transgression of desolation," 34:11 "and the giving of both the sanctuary and the host" 34:14 "to be trampled underfoot?" "How long is this little rascal" 34:19 "going to make war with God's people, and thrash them?" 34:22 that's basically what's happening. 34:25 So #1- he makes war with God's people; #2- he makes war 34:29 with God's Son. We already saw that didn't we? 34:32 He exalts himself in verse 11 against the Prince of the host. 34:39 Then look at verse 25, as if that's not enough, 34:43 speaking of this Antichristian power: "Through his cunning" 34:46 "he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule," 34:49 "he shall exalt himself in his heart, he shall destroy many" 34:54 "in their prosperity,", and look at this: "he shall even rise" 34:58 "against the Prince of princes, but he shall be broken" 35:02 "without human means." Who is the Prince of peace? 35:06 Jesus Christ. Who's King of kings, and Lord 35:08 of lords? So who would be the Prince of princes? 35:11 Jesus Christ, and that's what Daniel is saying here, 35:14 the angel's explaining the vision to Daniel, and Daniel 35:17 can hardly believe it, he sees this little horn destroying 35:19 God's people and then he begins to make war even with Jesus. 35:22 So how would you ever make war with Jesus? 35:25 I mean, does he just transport up into heaven and get into an 35:28 arm wrestling match with Jesus? No, you begin to obscure 35:30 the place of Jesus, you set up your own sacrifices by taking 35:33 away from the sacrifice of Jesus, you set up your own 35:36 priesthood by taking away from the priesthood of Jesus, 35:39 you set up your own sanctuary and temple by taking away 35:42 from the sanctuary and temple of Jesus, so the mind's 35:44 of people in the Dark Ages, particularly when they didn't 35:47 have the Bible, and the only show in town basically says 35:50 "You want forgiveness? You come to our priest." 35:53 "You want a sacrifice? You come to our mass." 35:55 "You want a temple? You come to our sanctuary." 35:58 The only show in town is basically obscuring the person 36:01 of Jesus and in doing that, they are making war with the real 36:05 Jesus, is that clear everyone? The people didn't have their 36:08 Bibles, they didn't know that the Bible says there's only 36:11 1 mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, 36:14 they didn't know all of this, so the priest says this, 36:17 and the cardinal says this, and the prelate says this, 36:20 and the Pope says this, it was the Dark Ages. 36:25 So this power makes war with God's people, and it makes 36:28 war with God's Son, and look at verse 12 again, it says 36:31 in verse 12 "he even cast truth to the ground". 36:35 So #3- he makes war with God's truth. 36:40 Clearly this is a spiritual battle. 36:45 Then #4- he makes war with God's sanctuary, God's temple. 36:49 We already read it, but look at verse 13 again, it says: 36:53 "how long will the sanctuary and the host be trampled" 36:57 "underfoot?" So Daniel's seeing all of this 37:00 in vision, let's go back and review it so we can see it. 37:03 Daniel sees Medo-Persia, that's fine, he sees the ram, 37:06 and then he sees Greece, that's fine, he sees the goat, 37:09 and then he begins to see this little horn power come up that 37:12 moves on a horizontal plain, that's what we would call 37:15 Pagan Rome, but then that thing is not satisfied moving on 37:17 a horizontal plain and it begins to move on a vertical plain, 37:20 and begins to make war with God, with God's people, with God's 37:22 truth, with God's Son, with God's sanctuary, begins 37:26 to make a spiritual warfare against God. 37:31 Daniel's watching all of this in vision, and he overhears 37:35 a discussion, a conversation between 2 angels, that's 37:39 verses 13 and 14, here it is, "then I heard", Daniel speaking, 37:44 "a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that" 37:46 "certain one", so now Daniel's listening in on a heavenly 37:49 conversation, "and one say, How long will the vision concerning" 37:53 "the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation" 37:56 "to give the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?" 37:59 In other words, one is saying "How long is this garbage" 38:01 "going to go one? Really! How long is God going" 38:06 "to tolerate this?" The answer's in verse 14: 38:11 [text on screen] 38:19 That is the longest time prophecy in all of the Bible, 38:23 you just read it. How many days was it? 38:26 2300 days. Notice that that time period, 38:28 2300 days is in direct response to the question "how long" 38:32 "is this going to go on?" "Oh, 2300 days." 38:39 Right there, you're on page 2, let's take a look at it, 38:42 by the way, you will need this for tomorrow night, 38:45 we are not going to make it through all of this, so this 38:48 is your lesson for tonight, and on Monday night, so be sure 38:51 to not lose this one. The longest time prophecy in 38:54 the Bible is found in Daniel 8:14. 38:56 It deals with a time period stretching from the time 38:59 of Daniel all the way down to the last days, that's what you'd 39:07 write in there. Remember that a day in end time 39:12 Bible prophecy equals a year in literal time, that's absolutely 39:18 essential, we've given you 2 verses there: Ezekiel 4:6, 39:22 Numbers 14:34. Even right there in the immediate context 39:26 of Daniel 8 it is clear that the days of the 2300 prophecy 39:30 could not be literal 24 hour days, consider that 2300 39:33 literal days would reach a mere 7 years into the future, 39:36 yet the angel Gabriel, who came to interpret the vision for 39:39 Daniel made it clear that the vision pertained to the time 39:43 of the end. You're still there in your 39:45 Bibles, pick up your Bible, look at Daniel 8:15, 39:55 this is Gabriel, Gabriel comes to explain the vision, verse 15: 39:58 "Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision" 40:01 "I was seeking the meaning, and suddenly there stood" 40:04 "before me one having the appearance of a man." 40:06 Boom, this figure stands before Daniel, verse 16: 40:09 "And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai," 40:12 "who called, and said," [David lowers his voice], "Gabriel," 40:14 "make this man... ", Oh, that sounds good with my voice low, 40:17 "Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision." 40:20 "So he, Gabriel, came near where I stood and when he came" 40:23 "I was afraid and fell on my face. But he said to me," 40:26 "Understand, son of man," that's speaking to Daniel, 40:28 Gabriel's speaking to Daniel, he's come to explain 40:31 the vision, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers" 40:35 "to the time of the end." So Daniel's sitting there 40:41 absolutely flabbergasted about this vision, Gabriel comes down 40:45 and says "Daniel, understand something, the vision pertains" 40:49 "to the time of the end." Daniel lived 600 years before 40:54 the time of Jesus, 2300 literal days would reach a whopping 40:59 7 years into the future, is that anywhere near the time 41:03 of the end? No, so you have internal 41:06 evidence that these 2300 days are not literal days, 41:10 but in prophecy, just as water represents peoples, multitudes, 41:15 nations and languages, and what does a beast represent 41:17 in Bible prophecy, a kingdom, or a nation, what does a horn 41:21 represent? A power, that's exactly right. 41:23 What does a woman represent? A church. 41:26 Okay, what does a prophetic day represent? 41:29 A year, so it's all symbolic. You have internal evidence 41:32 right there, Gabriel shows up and he says "Hey listen," 41:35 "the vision has to do with the end of time, the last days." 41:38 Look at verse 26 of the same chapter, Gabriel still speaking, 41:42 by the way, this isn't David Asscherick speaking, this is 41:45 Gabriel speaking to Daniel, Gabriel says: "And the vision" 41:48 "of the evenings and mornings, which was told is true," 41:51 "therefore seal up the vision, for it refers", my Bible says, 41:56 "to many days in the future." Do you all see that? 42:00 Many days; is 7 years many days in the future? 42:04 Not at all, he says "Many. Seal this vision up Daniel", 42:08 why was he told to seal it up? Because primarily it didn't 42:11 pertain to his time. "Seal it up Daniel," 42:14 this vision has to do with people living down at the end 42:17 of time. In fact, I can't resist, 42:20 go to Daniel 12, I just can't resist, so you're going to have 42:24 to forgive me. Daniel 12, look at this, verse 4. 42:33 Daniel 12:4: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal" 42:40 "the book until the time of the end, many will run to and fro" 42:45 "and knowledge will increase." God says "Daniel, seal the book" 42:51 "and it will be unsealed at the end of time." 42:55 Why? Let's think about that for just a moment, 42:57 is God being arbitrary, is God saying "Nanny-nanny-boo-boo," 43:00 "I know it and you don't!" No, think about it. 43:04 Daniel lived 600 years before the time of Jesus. 43:07 Why can we understand the prophecies of Daniel today? 43:10 Because we live in a place where we can look back 43:13 through history and see its fulfillment, that was a luxury 43:16 not afforded Daniel, Daniel lived 600 years before the time 43:19 of Jesus, here we live 2000 years after the time of Jesus, 43:23 so we can look back and say "Oh yeah, there was Babylon," 43:25 "yep, saw it; Medo-persia, yep; Greece, yep; Rome, yep;" 43:28 "Rome divided, yep; little horn." We can see it from where 43:31 we're standing in history. So the sealing of Daniel's 43:34 prophecy until the time of the end was not God arbitrarily 43:37 saying "Well you know, just at the end of time", it was God 43:40 saying "People won't really be able to grasp the significance" 43:43 "of these prophecies until they have the historical landscape" 43:48 "to look back over and say, Wow, it fits exactly as God said." 43:52 And that's basically what Gabriel says when he comes 43:55 down, he says "Hey Daniel, seal it up until the time" 43:58 "of the end because this vision has to do with many" 44:01 "days in the future." That's how we know that 44:04 those 2300 days can't be literal days, impossible. 44:10 There's internal evidence right there. 44:13 Now, you're still there, 2nd page, the paragraph 44:15 that says "According... ". According to the last verse 44:19 of this chapter, Daniel was astonished at the vision, 44:22 but he did not understand it. In fact, let's look at that, 44:24 Daniel 8, look at the very last verse of Daniel 8, 44:28 verse 27: "And I, Daniel, fainted and I was sick for" 44:31 "days; afterward I arose, and I went about the king's" 44:36 "business, and I was astonished by the vision, but no one" 44:40 "understood it." Okay, just a question 44:43 for you here, does Daniel understand the vision? 44:46 No. Now, he must have understood some of it because the angel 44:48 told him, the ram is Medo-Persia, Daniel wasn't 44:52 stupid, he would have known that, and the goat was Greece. 44:57 So he would have understood some of it, but he didn't 45:00 understand all of it. He says "hey, at the end" 45:03 "of the thing I was astonished, in fact, I was so crushed" 45:05 "by what I saw that little horn doing to God's people," 45:08 "God's truth, God's sanctuary, and God's Son", he says 45:11 "I fainted." Remember beloved, Daniel wasn't 45:14 at the cinema, Daniel wasn't at the movies, Daniel was seeing 45:17 a real power, making a real war against real people, 45:21 historians tell us that between 50-100 million martyrs gave 45:26 their lives for no greater crime than wanting to know 45:30 and live by this Word Just imagine seeing that 45:33 in vision. Daniel was crushed. 45:37 He was devastated, that's why when he listened in 45:40 on that conversation, one angel said "how long is this" 45:43 "going to go on? Really! How long is this going to go on" 45:46 "and God's going to allow His sanctuary, and His host," 45:49 "and His truth, and His Son to be trampled underfoot" 45:52 "by this rampaging little horn power?" 45:55 He said "Hey listen, this isn't going to go on forever," 45:58 "2300 days, tough it out, and then the sanctuary will be" 46:01 "cleansed." Does the vision make sense 46:03 at least broadly, yes or no? It's actually quite a simple 46:07 vision, so let's continue. So we're right there on that 46:10 same paragraph:...he even fainted. Why was he so 46:13 troubled after all? The answer is quite simple: Daniel has just 46:16 seen in vision that this little horn would wage a very 46:21 effective war against God, His truth, and His people, 46:25 and that it would last for a very long period of time, 46:29 more than 1000 years. Daniel had already seen his 46:33 own beloved city, Jerusalem, sacked by the armies of Babylon, 46:36 and now in vision he sees even more trouble and calamities 46:39 for God's people. This was serious stuff 46:42 for Daniel, this was no Hollywood movie. 46:45 Daniel was visibly shaken, he says "I fainted." 46:51 So there we go, the accusations of the little horn, bottom 46:54 of that page. The kangaroo courts and trials 46:57 of the little horn, the Antichrist, stand in direct 47:00 opposition and contradiction to the findings of God's 47:03 heavenly court. These false trials actually 47:06 found God's people guilty of blasphemy, what a mockery! 47:12 Now here is an important point: The judgment of Daniel 7 47:19 and the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8 47:22 are synonymous events, they're the same event. 47:25 That is, they describe the same thing, in order to 47:28 understand this we must turn our attention to the Israelite 47:31 sanctuary; but before we do that, I want to be sure 47:34 this is crystal clear. Let's review. 47:37 You might think "Oh, we're reviewing again... " 47:39 We're going to review, and I'll tell you why. 47:42 Okay, let's go, what was the sequence that we saw 3 times 47:45 in Daniel 7? Rome, little horn, judgment. 47:47 Clear on that everyone? 3 times: Rome, little horn, 47:51 judgment, and remember, judgment was given in favor 47:55 of whom? [Audience] Saints. 47:58 Why? Let's try to wrap our fingers 48:01 around this historically, this Antichristian power is 48:06 arraigning God's people before these kangaroo courts 48:10 of prelates, and pontiffs, and cardinals, and priests, 48:15 and charging them with blasphemy because they wanted to know 48:20 the Bible, because they wanted to follow Jesus, 48:22 because they didn't want to have to go along with all 48:25 of the traditions and accoutrements of the church, 48:28 and they would stand there in their mighty regalia, looking 48:30 down at these cowering individuals before them 48:33 who just wanted to serve the Lord, and they would burn 48:36 them at the stake, or throw them to the lions, 48:39 and say "Guilty of blasphemy", and on many occasions 48:41 you can read it, it's all history, they would take caps 48:44 and put these dunce cap looking things on them as they burned 48:47 them that would say "Heretic", and "Blasphemer", and these 48:50 were the true people of God, and they would call these 48:53 great councils together to basically condemn God's people. 48:57 And God looks down and says "No". 48:59 Now step into their mind, from their mindset this church was 49:03 the only church in town, it was the only show in town. 49:06 From their perspective, when the prelate said, or the bishop 49:09 said, or the Pope said, or the cardinal said "Hey listen," 49:12 "you're excommunicated", from their perspective, without 49:15 having the Bible - we take the Bible so for granted, 49:18 from their perspective they're eternally lost, they're going 49:21 throughout the ceaseless eternal ages in the fires of hell 49:24 because some man said so. These people were literally 49:28 living in the most terrible darkness, that's why we call 49:31 it the Dark Ages. So the people of God were 49:35 being arraigned before these kangaroo courts, and God says: 49:40 "Enough, I'll call my own court to session", and that's why 49:45 we saw: Rome, little horn, the judgment was seated. 49:50 Why? Because of the pompous words 49:53 of the little horn, and because of the persecution of God's 49:55 people. God sets His own judgment 49:58 and says "I'm going to undo, I'm going to overturn" 50:01 "all of these kangaroo court judgments with the true," 50:03 "heavenly judgment, in favor of My people. " 50:08 That's the scene you've got to have in your mind, 50:11 and you know what the verdict of that is? 50:14 The verdict of that court is that everyone who puts 50:17 their faith in Jesus gets the kingdom of God. 50:20 [Audience] Amen. That's everyone of us, 50:23 that's why the judgment is not bad news for you, 50:26 if you've put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible 50:29 teaches that Jesus is your advocate, that means He's 50:32 your lawyer and He's your judge, think of it, can you 50:34 have a better situation? Your defense lawyer is 50:37 your judge, that's a can't lose situation. 50:40 I'm looking across the room over here at one of my brothers 50:43 who's a lawyer, I'm looking at brother Cob, that's 50:45 a win/win situation isn't it brother Cob? 50:48 You can't lose. We think "oh the judgment," 50:51 "all of my deeds are going to come up", listen beloved, 50:54 do you know what's going to happen in the judgment? 50:57 God is going to hide the record of you pathetic life 51:00 in the perfect righteous life of the Lord Jesus Christ. 51:03 [Audience] Amen. That's what's going to happen 51:06 to you in the judgment, that's why you find David in 51:09 the Psalms, he's not saying "Oh, I'm so afraid of" 51:12 "the judgment, I could faint and die", he's saying: 51:15 "Oh Lord, judge Your people." Many times you find David 51:18 saying in the Psalms "judge me, O God", because he knew 51:22 he'd put his faith in a perfect God, and that perfect God 51:25 could handle his case. So God convenes His court 51:30 in direct opposition to the these Mickey Mouse courts 51:33 that were taking place down here on earth, and remember 51:36 again, all these people, as far as they were concerned, 51:39 they didn't have the Bible, they're looking up and thinking 51:42 "Oh, this is the church, these are the cardinals, these are" 51:45 "the priests, we must obey." Are you beginning to see this 51:47 in your mind? Very powerful! 51:52 I've only got 4 minutes left, so I'm a little reluctant 51:57 to advance, but we've got to do that just very quickly. 52:01 A heavenly model, you see there, there's 2 part: Part 1, Part 2. 52:05 A heavenly model and the divine drama of salvation. 52:08 Let's do this. The key, you see that there, 52:11 that's what you'd write in: The key that unlocks the judgment 52:15 is found in the Israelite sanctuary. 52:19 The key that unlocks the judgment is found in 52:23 the Israelite sanctuary. The cleansing of the sanctuary 52:28 was a day of judgment for Israel, symbolizing the final 52:33 judgment. So far so good? 52:37 The cleansing of the sanctuary took place on what's called 52:41 "The Day of Atonement". How many of you have heard 52:45 that before "The Day of Atonement"? 52:48 The word "atonement's" a very easy word to understand, 52:52 it divides neatly into 3 parts: "at", "one", "ment". 52:56 The Day of Atonement was the day when God was once again 53:00 at one with His people: The Day of Atonement. 53:06 Otherwise known as Yom Kippur, that's what you can write 53:09 in there, "Yom Kippur", the Day of Judgment. 53:12 In order to understand the day of atonement, we must 53:15 understand, at least in a basic sense, the purpose and drama 53:19 of the Israelite sanctuary. There were 2 main services 53:23 that were carried out in the sanctuary. 53:27 Certainly, there were many ceremonies and rituals, but they 53:30 can be roughly divided into 2 main categories: 53:32 the daily service and the yearly service. 53:35 How many services? Daily service and the yearly service. 53:39 The yearly service took place on the 10th day of the 7th month, 53:42 that was the Day of Atonement. Now this is basically how it 53:46 worked, and this would be a perfect place for us to stop: 53:49 there are basically 3 compartments to the Israelite 53:53 sanctuary. Very simple. 53:57 This is like if you were in a helicopter looking down on it, 54:01 so here's the 3 areas, #1 would be the courtyard, 54:04 in fact, you see see there at the bottom of this page, 54:06 I give you the opportunity to draw this out, I'd recommend 54:09 you do that. There, #1, that's the courtyard, 54:14 and that criss-cross grid represents the altar. 54:18 Just behind that, that blue circle represented the laver, 54:21 or the wash bin where the priests would wash themselves 54:24 before going in to the sanctuary, which is represented 54:28 by the black sections there. The sanctuary, this is where 54:32 you're actually entering a room, out here you're still in the out 54:35 of doors, but there, in 2 and 3 you're actually entering into 54:38 a room, and that room had 2 parts. 54:44 The first that you would step into was called 54:47 "The Holy Place". 54:51 And then in front of you there was a large curtain, 54:54 very heavy curtain, and on the other side of that curtain 54:57 was "The Most Holy Place". The Most Holy Place, 55:02 incidentally, was a perfect cube. 55:04 It was perfectly square on all sides; incidentally, 55:08 very interesting, when you go to Revelation 21 55:11 and 22, the New Jerusalem is a perfect cube. 55:14 You read it, it's just as wide as it is tall, as it is long, 55:18 representing the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. 55:22 So, there was 3 parts: the courtyard, the Holy Place, 55:27 and the Most Holy Place. This pattern, this sanctuary 55:31 was not something that Moses made up, it wasn't something 55:35 that Aaron made up, it wasn't something the Israelites got 55:38 together and made up, God showed this to Moses. 55:44 In fact, that's what we're going to learn Monday; 55:50 this was a picture of the temple in heaven, 3 places: 55:56 the courtyard, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, 56:01 and the daily services centered around numbers 1 and 2, 56:06 but the yearly service, the Day of Atonement, or the Day of 56:12 Judgment centered around guess which number? 56:14 - [Audience] Three. - Number three, you've got it. 56:17 What we're going to discover in our next 2 lessons, 56:20 I praise the Lord Jesus, we've made good time tonight, 56:23 what we're going to discover in our next 2 lessons 56:26 is exactly how this sanctuary, what does that mean there 56:28 in Daniel 8:14: "the sanctuary will be cleansed"? 56:31 We're going to discover exactly what that means from 56:34 a Biblical perspective. By the way, I knew 56:39 that this was going to get caught right in the middle, 56:42 it's just way too much information to present in 56:44 a single, I actually did it one time and it took me 2 and half 56:47 hours, we're not going to even try that. 56:49 But here's the 2 things I want to know, #1: tonight's 56:52 presentation, up to this point, do we at least broadly 56:55 feel clear about what we're looking at? 56:58 Pretty simple, all we've done is looked at Daniel 8 primarily. 57:00 Daniel 8 is just a recapitulation of Daniel 7; 57:03 Medo-Persia, Greece, little horn, judgment; 57:06 pretty simple, and then we're ending by looking at these 57:09 3 elements: courtyard, Holy Place, Most Holy Place. 57:16 Let me tell you, our next message is entitled, 57:18 not tomorrow night, but the following night, it's entitled 57:21 "Perfect Prophetic Proof of the Identity of Jesus". 57:25 If you've ever had anyone ever ask you, a skeptic, 57:29 or an unbeliever say to you "Well, how do you know Jesus" 57:32 "is the guy?" I will give you rock solid 57:36 prophetic proof that unmistakably points to Jesus 57:41 of Nazareth as the only guy, as we look at this, 57:46 a powerful prophecy, you're just going to go "Whoa! Praise God" 57:50 "in heaven", you will have one of the most powerful quivers 57:54 in your arsenal to share with skeptics, with unbelievers, 57:57 and with Christians alike, that will root your faith and ground 58:01 your faith in the absolute, total truthfulness of God's 58:05 Word. |
Revised 2014-12-17