Participants: James Rafferty
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR001003
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01:00 Hello and welcome once again to our 3ABN Spring Camp Meeting
01:05 2012. We thank you for joining us. Those of you 01:09 that are joining us in different places around the world 01:11 via the satellite, via the radio internet, local television 01:16 Welcome. Even in prisons they're watching us and we praise God 01:20 for what the Lord is doing through 3ABN. Amen 01:22 We have people that have come here from different parts of US 01:26 And they have joined us from one side of the US to the other 01:31 Is there anyone here that has come from another country 01:34 to be with us at this Camp Meeting? Several people 01:36 Oh Praise the Lord. What country Canada. Praise the Lord 01:40 We welcome our Canadian brothers and sisters. We have a message 01:46 today from God's Word and from one of God's servants. 01:49 I'm talkin about James Rafferty. Associate or Co-Director of 01:54 Light Bearers Ministry, a Ministry that is preaching the 01:58 Gospel for many, many years through the printed page 02:00 James Rafferty has conducted hundreds of seminars 02:05 Daniel and Revelation Seminars across the world 02:08 including to people of all denominations even Ministers 02:11 of other denominations, of many denominations, and today 02:15 the topic will be Prophetic Waymarks, Part 1 02:20 Finding Jesus Christ in the Prophecies 02:24 An exciting topic and I hope you have your Scriptures ready 02:27 something to write with so you can continue your study. 02:30 Before we continue we're going to have prayer and so 02:34 we would like to ask everyone here, if you are able to stand 02:37 let us have prayer together and ask the Lord to bless 02:41 this hour of programming. Let us pray. 02:47 Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank You so much 02:50 for the instruments you have placed 02:54 in the hands of your children to preach the Gospel. 02:57 We pray that You will bless our staff and the equipment. 03:01 Bless the broadcast of this program that it may reach 03:06 your children all over the world 03:08 with the message they need to hear for this time. 03:12 We ask Lord for Your Holy Spirit to be poured out. 03:15 Bless your servant, James Rafferty 03:19 bless him with the Holy Spirit, and we ask Lord 03:22 we do plead that You will bless him with the Holy Spirit, 03:27 and that every word will come from Your Throne of Grace 03:30 We ask you these things, in Jesus' name. Amen. 03:36 You may take your seats. We are now going to be blessed by 03:41 a musical offering to the Lord. It's a song called 'My Desire' 03:47 and I'm blessed by the talent the Lord has blessed Sr. Celeste 03:54 Celestine Barry, and after this musical offering, this message 03:59 in song, the next voice you will hear will be of James Rafferty 04:03 in the message Finding Christ in the Prophecies. May God bless us 08:21 Good morning. It is such a privilege to be here at 3ABN 08:26 Camp Meeting Pillars of Prophecy that is very dear to me. 08:32 Prophecy, Bible Prophecy is the way God brought me in 08:36 to the message of the SDA Church In John 13:19, 08:43 you probably all know that verse by heart, John 13:19 08:48 Jesus identifies for us what Bible Prophecy is all about. 08:54 He's speaking here about the betrayal that is 09:00 going to take place concerning Judas. 09:04 And He tells His disciples, I am telling you this 09:07 before it comes to pass, that is Bible Prophecy 09:10 so that when it comes to pass, you might - does anyone know? 09:15 Believe. Bible Prophecy is all about establishing belief 09:22 in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray together. 09:26 Father in heaven I'm so thankful just now 09:29 for this opportunity that we have to open Your Word 09:32 to open Bible Prophecy and to find Jesus Christ 09:37 and to find our faith estab- lished and strengthened 09:41 in Him. Father we are going to give You this time 09:44 we're gonna give your our hearts, we're gonna ask 09:46 that You will be here to bless us, to guide our minds 09:49 our thoughts as we enter into this hour of study 09:55 of fellowship of worship in Your word, we pray that our hearts 09:59 and minds will not be distracted and that You will speak to us 10:02 through Your Word, we're asking that Jesus will be uplifted 10:06 and that we will be strengthened and encouraged 10:09 to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. 10:12 Be with us to this end we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. 10:17 Well, I have engaged in the newer technologies of the day. 10:24 My daughter set me up with Facebook, 10:26 and I now have Twitter. And I was interested because 10:33 this is Pillars of Prophecy Camp Meeting 10:38 and because we're doing the Book of Daniel, which I love 10:42 along with the Book of Revela- tion. I was just interested 10:44 to find out what people thought. I'm interested to find out 10:47 what you think about the most important chapter 10:52 in the Book of Daniel. So I sent out a tweet message 10:55 to all my tweet followers, not too many of them and I said 10:59 what do you think is the most important chapter 11:02 in the book of Daniel for God's people today 11:04 There's a little bit of a catch right there 11:07 For God's people today, and why? 11:10 Well, the first response I got was, I'm too afraid to answer 11:14 that question because I don't want to get it wrong. 11:16 So I clarified, I said you can't get the question wrong. 11:19 This is not a right or wrong question answer scenario 11:22 I just simply want to know, I'm curious. What do you think? 11:25 What do you think is the most important chapter and why? 11:30 What do you think? Daniel 2, Daniel 8, Daniel 1 11:38 Daniel 7, I got all of those answers, by the way. 11:42 I've been asked to do Daniel 11. While I'm here at 3ABN 11:50 It's in the schedule there, Daniel 10 and 11 11:52 and I never had one response, nobody said 11:56 Daniel 11 is the most important chapter in the book of Daniel. 12:02 Nobody said that, I wasn't surprised 12:05 I'm so glad that they coupled with Daniel 11, Daniel 10. 12:10 Because I believe that Daniel 10 is the most important chapter 12:18 for God's people today. I love Daniel 9 one person said, 12:22 a great deal. How to pray with sincerity and have Jesus 12:25 lifted up before His time. Daniel 12 is the exclamation 12:30 point on the book. Jesus stands up to rescue His people 12:34 and blesses those who led others to Him. 12:41 Daniel 12. I love Daniel 12 when Michael stands up. 12:44 It's hard to choose someone else said, but for me Daniel 8 12:47 because it tells us of God's defamation by the little horn 12:50 that it will be undone in the end time movement. 12:54 I think Daniel 1 because God's people in the world are dying 12:59 from diseases received via poor diet and that is the gateway 13:03 for Daniel. And how can we understand the rest of Daniel 13:06 they went on to say, if our minds are not clear 13:08 if they're all clogged? Daniel 9 another person said again 13:12 helps us specify who the true Jesus is. 13:16 By the way, Daniel 9 won out on all the responses. I got 13:20 the most Daniel 9s than anything else. So John Lomacang 13:22 is very fortunate, he's gonna be presenting on Daniel 9. 13:26 Daniel 9 because it holds the remedies to all that ails us 13:29 1 and 2 on unwavering allegiance purpose and subsequent reward 13:35 temporal and eternal. Second coming of Jesus. 13:37 To me Daniel 2, it proves God is in control and He exists. 13:41 Daniel 9 because it points to Jesus and so many think it 13:44 points to the antichrist and the rapture theory. 13:46 Daniel 3, because if we refuse to bow the knee to man 13:51 we will stand with God and will embrace everything else. 13:54 Daniel 8. I am fond of Daniel 2 because the rock 13:58 smashes the statute which means Jesus returns. 14:01 I'm really into Daniel 9. Repentance, failure to 14:04 covenant, longing for God's presence and God's return. 14:07 I'm into all of Daniel. I love it all. God has a message in 14:13 every chapter and every verse for every one of us. Amen 14:16 And I'm so thankful that 3ABN has chosen 14:20 as Pillars of Prophecy, to cover the Book of Daniel. 14:23 I can't wait until next Camp Meeting when they do the book of 14:28 Revelation. That's right. I hope I'm invited to that. 14:36 But I have found that there are not a lot of people that are 14:39 interested in Daniel 10. Daniel Chapter 10. 14:45 Daniel chapter 10. What is that about again? Daniel 10. 14:49 In fact, I've been given Daniel 10 and 11 14:52 Now, I'm telling you right now that the entire time 14:55 that I have on Daniel 11 is going to be spent on Daniel 11. 14:58 There is no way that I can cover Daniel Chapters 10 and 11, 15:01 there's no way I can cover Daniel 11 15:03 It's impossible to cover Daniel 11 in one meeting 15:05 We were going to spend our whole time on that, so I'm thinking 15:07 in my mind how can I cover Daniel 10 and 11 15:10 because I believe Daniel 10 is even more significant 15:13 than Daniel 11. And is probably, possibly, one of the most 15:18 significant chapters in the book of Daniel for God's people 15:21 today. Why? Well I believe in a nutshell 15:27 it's because in Daniel 10, Daniel meets Jesus. 15:34 That's it. In Daniel 10, Daniel meets Jesus. 15:41 In Daniel 1, God blesses Daniel gives him favor 15:46 and in Daniel 2, God gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream 15:50 that Daniel is later given an interpretation to and an 15:53 understanding of in Daniel 3 and Daniel 4, Daniel 5 we see God 16:00 giving more dreams and visions and protecting His people. 16:03 In Daniel 8 we have Gabriel. In Daniel 9 we have Gabriel 16:08 but in Daniel chapter 10, Jesus shows up. 16:14 And Daniel encounters personally encounters Jesus Christ 16:18 and I don't think that there is anything more important 16:21 for God's people in the end of time than a personal 16:26 encounter with Jesus. I think that is the most important 16:29 thing that we can find in Bible prophecy. 16:32 I think it's vital for each one of us. 16:34 Now when I was a young man, I was raised in a home where 16:42 my mom, single parent, really thought it was important for me 16:45 to eat my vegetables. I wasn't raised a vegetarian 16:49 and I loved meat. So as we would sit down at the table, 16:56 my mom would make my plate for me. Because she knew that if 16:58 I made my plate it would be meat and potatoes. 17:00 And there'd be no vegetables. So she'd make the plate 17:04 put the vegetables on with the meat and potatoes 17:06 and I didn't like vegetables at all. 17:09 I had a faithful dog who always sat under the table 17:16 and I came up with a good plan. I would slip the vegetables 17:21 to my dog. Unfortunately, he didn't like vegetables either. 17:31 So I had to come up with Plan B. Plan B was this, 17:33 I will eat the vegetables first. 17:36 I'll eat them as fast as possible, fast and furious 17:41 I'll gobble down the vegetables just get them out of my mouth 17:46 and down into my stomach where I don't have any taste buds. 17:48 And then I can get into the good stuff, I can get into the meat. 17:52 I can get to the potatoes. And that's the way it is, 17:56 often in Bible Prophecy. Daniel chapter 11 is the meat. 18:02 It's the deep stuff. And Daniel 10, well it's the vegetables. 18:06 We just want to get that out of the way, you know. 18:08 We just want to gobble it down to get it out of the way, but 18:10 but like food, Daniel 10 is where the nutrition is. 18:18 The veggies that my mom wanted me to eat so bad 18:23 were where I got my minerals, my vitamins, my nutrients 18:27 that would make me grow and become strong, you see 18:29 and that's why moms and dads want you to eat your veggies 18:33 young people because they want you to grow strong and healthy. 18:37 And so Daniel chapter 10 is the veggies. 18:41 Daniel 10 is where we find the nutrients, Daniel 10 is where we 18:46 grow in our spiritual relation- ship with Jesus Christ. 18:50 Daniel 11 is good. Prophecy is good. Prophecy is fantastic. 18:56 I love prophecy. But without a relationship with Jesus 19:00 prophecy becomes completely insignificant. 19:05 It does. The whole purpose of prophecy is to connect us 19:11 with Jesus Christ. And that's what we find in Daniel 10. 19:15 Finally, Daniel comes to the place 19:16 where he's going to connect personally with Jesus Christ. 19:20 Now I want you to consider another illustration. 19:22 Often, in our area where we live we go out for hikes 19:27 we live in Oregon now, we moved from Washington State to Oregon 19:30 so we're in duck country. We go out for these hikes in nature. 19:33 It's beautiful in Oregon right now where we live, in Eugene 19:36 area we get about 3 months of nice dry hot summer. 19:39 Just beautiful and we go out hiking by lakes, on trails 19:43 by waterfalls, beautiful places and inevitably when we go out 19:46 with a group from church you know or a group of people 19:49 the young people will wanna go off trail 19:52 they want to find the short cut they want to go off you know 19:56 and get to the end first, they want to go through the brush 19:58 Oh, there's a short cut over there, so they'll go off on the 20:01 short cut through the trail and the old folks, 20:04 so I'm an old folk now, we stick to the trail, coz the bones 20:10 kinda, the joints and so I just stick to the trail 20:13 And many times what I've found is that if ya stick to the trail 20:17 you know the worn beaten path that so many have trod 20:20 if you stick to the trail you're gonna find that the ease 20:24 of the trail actually gets you to the destination 20:27 faster than the short cut. In fact sometimes 20:30 these young people will get lost out there in the brush. 20:33 Like, Hey where are you guys? We're over here 20:36 We can't get up this cliff, we've come to a cliff and we 20:39 can't make it up the cliff. Go back to the trail. 20:42 Jesus is the trail. We want to get on the Jesus trail. 20:50 We want to keep our focus on Jesus Christ. 20:53 We want to make sure that He is the one we're following. 20:59 So it says in Revelation 14. Says, there's a people there 21:02 who follow the Lamb wherever He goes 21:07 Now God is developing that people, we follow Him 21:09 most places, some places, but every place? 21:13 Wherever He goes. Are we follow- ing Jesus wherever He goes? 21:18 God is developing a people who follow Him wherever He goes. 21:24 He's going to take them past the beast, past the dragon 21:31 through the 7 last plagues, safely to the City of God. 21:38 And He calls us to keep our eyes on Him. 21:42 To find Him and focus on Him. 21:45 He's promised to do that for us. 21:46 The author and the finisher of our faith. 21:48 So Daniel's prophetic truths are all about 21:52 relationship with Jesus Christ. It's about relationship. 21:56 It's about connecting with Jesus. That's why I believe 21:59 Daniel could introduce this chapter and he could say 22:03 Daniel 10:1, In the 3rd year of Cyrus, King of Persia 22:07 a thing was revealed unto Daniel speaking in the 3rd person 22:11 whose name was called Belteshazzar, 22:13 and the thing was true, but the appointed time was long. 22:17 And he understood the thing. And had understanding of 22:22 the vision. I believe Daniel understood the thing because 22:26 he encountered Jesus. And when you encounter Jesus 22:29 you get understanding. 22:32 When you connect with Jesus, you get understanding 22:35 If we do not connect with Jesus we will not understand 22:37 because the whole focus of the prophecy 22:40 is about Jesus. Jesus is the center of Bible prophecy. 22:44 And Jesus is the only one who can give us true understanding 22:48 of Bible prophecy. In fact, notice this. in my favorite book 22:52 the book of Revelation. You think I was gonna stay out of it 22:55 Did you? Revelation chapter 5. In Revelation chapter 5, 23:05 there's a little book that is in the right hand of Him who's 23:09 sitting on the throne and it's sealed up with 7 seals. 23:12 It can't be opened. John says that he heard an angel, verse 2 23:18 proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book? 23:25 And to loose the 7 seals? And what does he find in verse 3? 23:32 No man in heaven, no man in earth, and no man, where? 23:39 under the earth. Are there men in heaven? 23:41 Are there men in heaven? Yeah there are actually. 23:45 There's at least three, right? Who's in heaven? 23:49 For sure, Moses, Elijah and Enoch. How did Enoch get there? 23:58 He just walked there, he just walked right in. 24:00 Enoch walked with God every day. Enoch had this relationship 24:06 with God. This relationship. He walked with God like Adam 24:11 and Eve used to do in the cool of the day and one day 24:14 as he's walking with God, God says to Enoch, 24:16 God says, 'Did you know Enoch we're closer to my house 24:19 than we are to your house, why don't you come home with me?' 24:24 That's how Enoch got to heaven. He walked with God and God just 24:26 took him home. God said, you're just coming home with me. 24:28 Relationship, John 17:3 says this is life eternal that you 24:34 that they may know The, the only true God and Jesus Christ 24:38 whom Thou has sent. Relationship Bible prophecy is all about 24:43 relationship and that's what Daniel 10 is revealing to us. 24:46 So, no man in heaven or earth, doesn't matter who close you 24:51 walk with God. Doesn't matter how powerful your life has been 24:57 on this earth, you can't open this book. 25:01 You can't understand its myster- ies. And so what does John do 25:04 What does John begin to do in verse 4? He begins to weep. 25:07 He begins to cry. He knows that it's important to understand 25:11 the mysteries, the truths that are contained in this book 25:15 that are sealed up in this book. He knows it's very important. 25:18 By the way, in the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ 25:24 has unsealed the prophecies of Daniel. Did you know that? 25:27 The book of Revelation is a revelation 25:31 of the prophecies that were sealed up in the book of Daniel. 25:33 And so he begins to cry. And then one of the elders 25:37 says to him, verse 5, weep not. Have you heard the message? 25:45 Weep not, I mean there so many things, there are so many pains 25:48 there's a funeral right now, there's a funeral for a 6 yr old 25:53 There are so many pains, there are so many sorrows, there are 25:55 so many things that overwhelm us in this world 25:59 that cause us to weep. We feel our lostness, we feel our 26:03 inability to understand the mysteries of this great conflict 26:07 that we're involved in and why it is that it seems like 26:10 bad things happen to innocent people and why it is that 26:14 there is evil and suffering and pain it's so difficult for us to 26:18 comprehend all of that. It's like it's sealed up 26:20 we just can't get it. We just don't understand it. 26:23 And God calls us to behold Jesus If you want to understand 26:29 if you want to comprehend, look to Jesus. Jesus is the one who 26:33 has prevailed to open these mysteries. 26:36 And so John looks. He looks for the Lion of the tribe of Judah 26:40 verse 5, and one of the elders said, Weep not Behold the Lion 26:43 of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the book and 26:46 to loose the 7 seals. verse 6, I beheld and lo in the midst of 26:50 the throne, in the midst of the 4 beasts in the midst of the 26:52 elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. 26:57 That's a picture of Jesus. 26:59 That's the first time that the symbolism of the lamb 27:04 is introduced in the book of Revelation. 27:07 As introduced in the context of the cross. 27:09 Did you know the cross of Christ is in the book of Revelation? 27:13 It's all through the book of Revelation. 27:15 Now the reason I want to emphasize that is because 27:18 not long ago I read a blog on CNN. This is what the blog said. 27:26 It was called Four Myths about the Book of Revelation. 27:30 It was written by one of the world's leading biblical scholar 27:34 and stated that the book of Revelation was literally forced 27:36 into the New Testament Canon, that there is no indication 27:39 that he, the author of the book of Revelation who they say, 27:42 wasn't John, read Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 27:45 or that he read the gospels or Paul's letters 27:47 it doesn't even say that Jesus died for your sins. 27:51 That's March of 2012, CNN Belief Log. 27:55 You know, Martin Luther in his German translation of Revelation 28:00 that he composed in 1522, basic- ally came to the same conclusion 28:04 He considered that the Book of Revelation was neither prophetic 28:07 nor apostolic since Christ was neither taught nor known in it. 28:13 But in a completely new preface that he composed 1530, Martin 28:16 Luther reversed his position, 8 years later. 28:19 And he concluded that Christ was central to the book. 28:22 He said, as we see here in this book 28:25 through and beyond all the plagues, all the beasts 28:27 all the evil angels, Christ is nonetheless with the saints 28:29 and wins the final victory. I wonder if CNN is willing 28:35 to change their position. 28:38 Christ, it doesn't even say that Christ died for your sins? 28:43 In Revelation 1:5, it says 'from Him who loved us 28:47 and washed us from our sins in His blood. 28:50 I guess we can't rely on the scholarly experts anymore. 28:57 Or probably never should have, right? 29:00 God wants us to go to the Bible for ourselves and dig into these 29:03 prophecies. He wants us to see the Lamb, so He's introduced in 29:06 Revelation, chapter 5. The Lamb slain in the midst of the throne 29:09 That Lamb is the symbol of the Cross, 29:11 slain in the midst of the throne it's a symbol of Jesus Christ 29:14 crucified for us. How many times is the Lamb mentioned in 29:17 the book of Revelation? Anyone know? 29:20 Ok, you will from this day forward. You will know exactly 29:23 how many times. How many times is the beast mentioned in the 29:25 Book of Revelation? The beast, bad one, is mentioned 29:29 in the Book of Revelation because there are four, you know 29:31 living creatures that are ident- ified as beasts in King James 29:34 The beast is mentioned 26 times in the Book of Revelation 29:39 The Lamb is mentioned 29 times. 29:43 Just to give you a perspective there, Jesus is talked about 29:47 more in the Book of Revelation than the beast, ok? 29:50 Jesus is talked about more in the Book of Revelation 29:53 than the beast. The Book of Rev- elation is not about the beast. 29:58 The Book of Revelation is about Jesus. 30:00 Prophecy is not about the beast, the anti-Christ, the little horn 30:07 Prophecy is about Jesus. The anti-Christ takes a second seat 30:14 to Jesus. He is first and fore- most and when we understand 30:18 Jesus, and we see Jesus and we focus on Jesus, everything 30:21 else falls into place. Every thing else is understandable 30:25 In fact, notice this is so power full, in Revelation, chapter 6 30:32 It says here, you many not have noticed it before 30:37 Revelation 6:1, John says, and I saw when the Lamb, did what? 30:45 opened one of the seals. 30:49 You might say what's the big deal about that? 30:51 There's a book called Great Controversy and on page 652 30:55 in that book Great Controversy it says, 30:57 "The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries." 31:06 Is that Biblical? The mystery of the cross explains all other 31:11 mysteries? Is that Biblical? Yes we just read it 31:13 in Revelation 6:1, I saw when the Lamb, the one who was slain 31:18 open what? One of the seals. The seals of what? 31:21 Of the book that John couldn't understand, no one in heaven 31:24 no one on earth, no man under the earth could understand 31:27 No one could get it but the Lamb slain was able to take this book 31:31 and begin to unfold the mysteries of this book 31:34 and He opened seal number 1, Revelation chapter 6, verse 1 31:38 and verse 3, He opened the second seal, Revelation 6:3 31:42 And then Revelation 6:5, He opened the third seal 31:46 And then Revelation 6:7, and when He opened the fourth seal 31:53 And then Revelation 6:9, and when He opened the 5th seal 31:59 And then Revelation 6:12, and I beheld, He opened the 6th seal 32:05 And then Revelation 8:1, and when He opened the 7th seal 32:12 And 7 of course represents complete and perfect, 32:15 in other words, the Lamb of God is the one that unseals 32:19 the mysteries of prophecy. And when we see Jesus Christ as 32:25 the center of prophecy He begins to unlock for us 32:28 through the mystery of the cross all of those things 32:31 that we can't comprehend. See, that's why Daniel 10 is 32:37 so important because Daniel 10 is the reason why 32:41 Daniel was given chapter 11. 32:46 Daniel needed to encounter Jesus in order to be given more 32:52 understanding of Bible prophecy or I should say greater insights 32:56 into Bible prophecy. Insights that, quite frankly 33:00 we're still grappling with. I mean there are so many 33:04 interpretations of Daniel 11 that I with trepidation 33:08 fear to stand before you and try to explain that chapter 33:12 Sabbath evening, knowing that there are many people here 33:18 who have heard and re-heard and understand or interpret 33:22 reinterpret in a variety of ways the prophecies in that chapter 33:26 because they are so complex and so detailed 33:30 and in some quarters contro- versial, and yet I believe 33:34 that all of us will be able to unite on one thing in Daniel 11 33:39 you know what that is? Jesus. Jesus. We'll be able to find 33:45 Jesus in Daniel chapter 11 and we'll be able to see Him 33:48 revealed to us throughout prophecy. There are going to be 33:50 certain key landmark peeler points 33:53 that you're going to be able to look and say, Yes 33:55 without controversy we all agree on this. 33:58 And without controversy we all agree on this. 33:59 Without controversy we all agree, and those pillar points 34:01 are going to be where Jesus is revealed. 34:05 Where Jesus Christ is lifted up. So Daniel chapter 10 34:10 Daniel says in verse 2, in those days I was mourning 34:13 three full weeks, I ate no pleasant bread, 34:15 neither came flesh nor wine to my mouth, neither did I anoint 34:18 myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled, Dan 10:2-3 34:24 and on the 4 and 20th day of the first month as I was by the 34:28 side of the great river which is Hidekkel then I lifted up my 34:31 eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen 34:37 whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz, I'm reading 34:42 King James here, His body also was like beryl, His face was 34:45 as the appearance of lightning I love lightning, 34:48 do you all like lightning. I love thunder and lightning. 34:50 One time I was watching a thunder and lightning storm 34:53 sitting on the side of my bed, and I was watching this 34:55 beautiful, powerful thunder you know off in the distance 34:58 of course, thunder and lightning you know how it is 35:00 its, you hear the, no how does it go? You see the lightning and 35:05 then what? 30 seconds later or something like that? 35:13 Yes, you count the seconds and you know how far away it is. 35:15 That's right. One mile per second, so I'm sitting there 35:19 I'm just takin this all in. I'm sitting there takin it all in 35:22 And then all of a sudden, lightning hit 35:25 it was like in our front yard it was right there 35:28 and I went flying off that bed. I mean it scared me, my heart 35:31 went thud thud thud. It's so powerful isn't it? 35:35 It's so powerful, you're attracted 35:38 and yet at the same time you're scared. My wife and I 35:40 were walking just a couple weeks ago, we were walking back down 35:42 to our house on a long walk, it started thundering and lightning 35:44 from a distance, even though it was far away 35:46 I loved it and I was afraid of it. 35:51 And so Daniel is seeing this person 35:55 who comes with this amazing appearance, His face is like 35:59 lightning, His eyes like lamps of fire 36:03 His arms and feet like the color of polished brass and 36:05 the voice of His words like the voice of a multitude. 36:10 What does it all mean? What is Daniel seeing here? Who is this? 36:14 Who is this? How do you know? 36:19 Someone says, Jesus. Jesus. this is Jesus. 36:23 Revelation chapter 1. Look at Revelation 1 with me, this is 36:28 this is so powerful because this is where Daniel and Revelation 36:32 connect. These books are twins. Not identical twins, I'm a twin 36:37 I'm a twin. I have a twin sister. So are you identical? 36:42 No, I'm not identical. She's a girl, I'm a guy. 36:47 Fraternal, nut not identical. 36:49 And the books of Daniel and Revelation are twins 36:52 they're not identical twins but they have a lot in common. 36:55 They connect in a lot of areas. And so in Revelation 1 we have 37:00 this very similar description that is shown to John here 37:06 in the midst of the candlesticks verse 13 of Revelation 1 37:10 One like the Son of Man, who's that? That's Jesus. 37:14 And He was clothed with a garment down to the foot 37:17 girt about the paps with a golden girdle 37:19 His head and His hair were white like wool, white as snow 37:22 His eyes were like a flame of fire, there it is 37:25 His feet like unto fine brass as they burn in the furnace 37:28 His voice as the sound of many waters see that connection again 37:32 And He had in His right hand 7 stars and out of His mouth 37:35 went a sharp two-edged sword and His countenance was like the 37:38 sunshine in its strength, lightning, sun 37:41 and when I saw Him I fell at His feet as one dead. 37:47 I fell at His feet as dead. What does that mean, 37:51 I fell at His feet as dead? Does Daniel have a similar experience 37:54 And by the way, Revelation 2:18 also affirms that this is Jesus 37:59 Unto the angel of the church at Thyatira, these things says the 38:02 Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire 38:06 and His feet like brass. It's the Son of God 38:08 It's the Son of Man, it's Jesus Christ. 38:10 So he falls to his feet as dead. What happens to Daniel 38:13 Daniel wasn't alone when he saw this vision. 38:16 Daniel was not alone when he saw this vision. 38:19 It says in verse 7 of Daniel 10 38:21 And I Daniel alone saw the vision. Ok 38:25 For the men that were with me saw not the vision 38:28 but a great quaking fell upon them. By the way, 38:31 that's not talking about an earthquake, that's talkin about 38:33 fear. They were afraid. A great fear fell upon them 38:37 so that they fled to hide themselves. 38:40 So here comes this vision and Daniel sees 38:43 and the other men that are with him take off. 38:45 You know those are the two responses that we have 38:48 when we encounter Jesus. Are you with me? 38:52 Those are the two responses we have, we encounter Jesus and we 38:55 just take off, ah I can't handle this, or we drop dead. 39:02 That's what happened with John remember? He fell as though 39:05 he was what? dead. What happens to Daniel? Notice what happens 39:10 to him. Verse 8. Therefore, I was left alone 39:13 I saw this great vision and there remained what in him? 39:16 no strength in me for my come- liness was turned in me into 39:19 corruption and I retained no strength. 39:23 Have you seen Jesus? 39:26 Recently? The greatest hindrance to this experience 39:32 is when we get our eyes on other people. 39:36 Even ourselves. Because we always see ourselves 39:39 you know, wake up in the morning look in the mirror there we are. 39:46 Looking good today, not feeling so hot today. 39:48 And God is telling us, don't look at anyone but Jesus 39:56 Keep your focus on Jesus. Why? Well because it'll kill you. 40:01 It will literally kill you. And that's what needs to die. 40:05 You. Self needs to die. And the impossibility of that 40:11 is overwhelming at times, isn't it? We've tried and we've tried 40:15 and we've tried and we've done this and we've done that 40:18 and done the other thing and we're sure that there's some way 40:20 we could just crucify this old self so we don't love the 40:23 things that you know God tells us we shouldn't love 40:25 and so we can hate the things that God tells us we should hate 40:27 But by and large we realize that self is in love with sin 40:37 And there's no remedy for that in and of ourselves. 40:41 We cannot remedy our situation. Now the reason why this is so 40:45 powerful is because we're talkin here not about David 40:50 and his sin with Bathsheba, we are not talking about Solomon 40:52 and his apostasy and backsliding we're not talkin about the 40:56 wickedness of and evil of God's people, 40:59 we're talking here about Daniel! Daniel. I mean he was 41:05 more perfect, I mean he was a politician 41:08 and they couldn't find any dirt on him 41:10 I mean that goes way beyond around Paul, right? 41:16 I mean, I think he's the best of the best today 41:18 I mean if we're going to look at it from that perspective but 41:21 here's a man, here's a man who is a politician 41:24 and they're thinking about putting him in the number one position 41:28 and so all of the other politicians saying, we've 41:30 we've got to find some dirt on Daniel 41:32 They're not his friends, they're his enemies 41:34 and they can't find anything on him. 41:36 Nothing, zero, nothing. And then Daniel encounters Jesus 41:43 And he feels like he has nothing good inside of him. 41:47 Isn't that amazing. We can look at people, we can look at 41:50 men and women and say, wow look at that person 41:52 he is amazing. Look at that person. 41:55 Look at that person. That's an amazing revelation. 42:00 Of Christianity. I mean I'm so glad that the whole Bible 42:05 isn't Daniel's. I'm glad it's David's and there's a Solomon 42:07 here and there, you know and a Moses and Abraham 42:09 I mean I'm glad for them because if it was all Daniel 42:12 I would go Whoa, would we ever make it? 42:15 And yet when Daniel comes in contact with Jesus 42:19 what happens? I don't have any thing good in me but that word 42:24 corruption is the same word that is used in Ezekiel 9. 42:27 In Ezekiel 9, it talks about how the angel with the seal of God 42:31 goes through the city and seals everyone an then the other ones 42:34 come in and destroy, they slay. The word slay is corruption 42:40 He feels like he's slain. Isaiah 6, I saw the Lord sitting high 42:46 and lifted up. I heard the angels saying Holy, holy, holy 42:50 and he said, I realized that I was undone 42:53 means, second death, cut off, there's no hope for me 42:56 because I am a man of unclean lips. I mean I just say 43:00 a few things that are just not really what I should say 43:05 to my wife. I was a little impatient with my kids, I 43:07 just couldn't handle it anymore whatever, I just couldn't keep 43:10 the words in, I just had to vent. And I did. 43:14 And then when I saw Jesus, I realized, wow! 43:16 I'm lost. There is no way I'm going to be able 43:23 to enter into the city of God with this kind of character. 43:28 I'm so thankful for Daniel because Daniel was the one 43:35 who brings us to the place where we realize that it will never be 43:41 our righteousness that will take us into the city of God 43:45 The proud heart will strive to earn salvation 43:49 but both our title and our fitness for heaven 43:52 are found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 43:54 See, Daniel brings us that message. 43:56 And it's ok if you don't understand Daniel 11 44:01 It's ok if you don't understand all of the prophecies 44:04 of the book of Daniel, when you leave here, it's ok 44:06 But if you don't know Jesus that's not ok. 44:08 That's not ok. Because prophecy will cease, it'll come to an end 44:15 But love never fails. But I would say it this way. 44:21 I would say relationship with Jesus is a gateway 44:24 to understand the prophecies. It's the way to understand 44:27 Bible prophecy. Because when we become what we really are 44:32 in His sight, nothing. When we are, our glory laid in the dust 44:38 and we're down there swimming in our glory dust 44:41 Then Jesus lifts us up and He does for us what we cannot 44:46 do for ourselves. That is the message of the Gospel 44:50 of Jesus Christ. That is the essence of Bible Prophecy 44:53 that is what it's all about. It's all about Jesus Christ 44:56 deliverin us, Jesus Christ lift- ing us up, let's read right here 44:59 in Daniel chapter 10 it says I was left alone, and by the way 45:04 it's just you and Jesus, friends It's just you and in the end 45:08 it's just you and Jesus. It's not you, 3ABN and Jesus 45:11 It's not you, your pastor and Jesus, it's not you and the 45:14 Bible worker and Jesus, it's not you and your husband, 45:15 you and your wife, you and your kids. It's just you and Jesus 45:18 in the end. That's what it comes down to. And there'll be times 45:21 in your life when you feel like someone's let you down, 45:23 someone very close to you, some one very important to you 45:25 has let you down. That's ok. Because at some point you 45:29 you've got to know you've got to let go of that. 45:31 You've got to give that up and you've got to put your entire 45:34 strength, your entire weight and dependence has to be on Jesus 45:37 So its ok. God knows what we need, He knows how to bring us 45:40 to that point where our entire weight is on Jesus 45:42 Daniel was alone with Jesus There was nobody there with him 45:46 Nobody. He was alone with Jesus And he had no strength 45:52 And his righteousness was turned into corruption, his comeliness 45:56 his goodness was turned into corruption, and yet verse 9 45:59 I heard the voice of His words. 46:03 Ok, there are times when my wife and I, we don't argue 46:11 I told her we would never do that. I'm so glad we did 46:14 before we got married at least once, we have intense moments 46:18 of fellowship, that's what we have. 46:24 Intense moments of fellowship and there'll be times 46:28 when we go to bed, you know the Bible says do not let the sun 46:30 go down on your wrath, you know that verse. 46:32 I've learned a lot about that verse, in fact 46:35 go to our website Lightbearers.org 46:37 and there's a tape of the month there that's called 46:39 What to do with anger. What to do with anger 46:42 And that message has been a blessing to me 46:45 because it's a Biblical message that unpacks that verse 46:49 that says don't let the sun go down on your wrath. 46:52 Coz I would sit in bed, we have a king-size bed 46:54 you know I like room and I would be in these intense moments 46:58 of pressure, I would go to be you know, I'm a guy 46:59 so I'm just gonna stuff it. I don't wanna talk about it 47:01 just give me time I'll be good in the morning 47:03 my wife's not like that. She wants to talk about it she wants 47:06 to get it taken care of you know Don't let the sun go down 47:07 on your wrath. And so I'm laying on one side of the bed 47:10 and she's on the other side of the bed, there's enough room 47:12 between us for both of our kids. 47:16 I'm laying there and I can't sleep and she can't sleep. 47:20 And I don't wanna talk. So she'll say, are you awake? 47:24 And of course I don't say any thing because I'm 47:26 pretending to be asleep. If I say something, you know 47:29 But she persists, persists, persists 47:31 because she knows I'm awake and finally I say no I'm asleep 47:37 And as I begin, you know, she begins to talk and I hear the 47:41 words and we begin to you know it breaks the barriers 47:46 it starts coming down and we begin to communicate 47:47 reconcile. You see Daniel was overwhelmed, Daniel was 47:52 done, he was dead, he just fell down, he had nothing good 47:57 nothing righteous. Friends I don't care how long you've been 48:00 Adventist, how many generations how long you've been Christian 48:02 what kind of belief you have, what kind of faith you have 48:04 I don't care about your pedigree at all 48:06 it doesn't matter. When you get to Daniel, chapter 10 48:08 none of that matters. And praise the Lord for that. 48:10 Because the ground is level at the foot of the cross. 48:15 And so when you come the place where you feel like 48:17 you have nothing to give to God you have nothing 48:22 to merit His favor, there is no goodness in you, 48:24 you can say, Praise God. I'm no longer a Laodicean. 48:28 I no longer feel rich, increased in goods, in need of 48:31 nothing. I feel like I'm wretched, I'm a wretched man 48:34 And who can deliver me from this body of this death? 48:37 I thank God for Jesus Christ. That's Romans 7 48:41 The Romans 7 experience is the way to Romans 8. 48:43 You're not going to get to Romans 8 unless you go through 48:45 Romans 7. That's the way, that's the journey 48:48 The Romans 7 experience, don't deny it. 48:50 It is the journey to Romans 8. You come to the wretchedness 48:53 you realize you're wretched, you cry out for Jesus 48:54 and you enter into Romans 8. 48:56 You can't skip over Romans 7 because Romans 7 is for the 48:58 unconverted and Romans 8 for me. No, Romans 7 is the journey that 49:02 that's Daniel 10. Daniel 10, Romans 7 it connects 49:06 There are only 2 places those words are used in the Bible 49:08 New Testament. Wretched is used only two times. 49:11 One in Romans 7 and one in Revelation, chapter 3 49:14 In Romans 7 it says that God's people say they're wretched 49:18 In Revelation 3 it says God's people deny they're wretched 49:21 Which experience do you want? The one that denies 49:24 or the one that says I am? If you want the one that denies 49:28 you're in Laodicean condition. 49:30 Rich, increased in goods and have need of nothing, but if you 49:32 except what Daniel is revealing to us here 49:36 There is no goodness in me. I'm so glad it was Daniel, again 49:39 there's no goodness in me. Yet I heard the voice of His words 49:43 when there's no goodness in us God is ready to speak 49:49 When there's nothing we can do God takes over. 49:52 It took Abraham 25 years to figure that out. 49:54 You know that, right? I mean at first he was laughing, 49:57 you know there's no way, God you don't know what you're 49:59 dealing with here. My wife has been barren, I'm 75 years old 50:04 When I get done with you Abraham you're going to be 99 years old! 50:09 We're going to take this out, we are going to take this unbelief 50:12 this laughter about what I can do, what my promises say 50:15 we're going to take that out of your entire system 50:18 it's gonna be removed. We're still laughing, aren't we? 50:20 We're still laughing. We still don't believe 50:23 we're not hangin our helpless souls on the promises of God. 50:27 Believe in them for all we're worth because there's nothing 50:29 good in us. So Abraham and Sarah were lookin at themselves 50:32 they figured, Oh well Abraham you got a little bit more chance 50:35 than I do. You know we think that way sometimes. 50:36 That person's gonna make it, they'll be part of the 144000 50:39 I don't know if I'm gonna make it but I'll be glad just to be a 50:41 doorkeeper in the house of God. No, everything is for all of us 50:44 Everything is for all of us. We're all going to be standing 50:50 on the sea of glass. We're all going to be singing the Song 50:52 of Moses and the Lamb. Moses will sing the Song of Moses 50:54 and the Lamb. It's his song. None of us are going to have a 51:01 higher pedigree than somebody else because all of us are 51:04 saved, Revelation 7, by Jesus Christ. 51:09 Salvation to our God and to the Lamb 51:14 So Daniel is revealing this to us, I heard, verse 9, the voice 51:20 of His words and then I was in a deep sleep. 51:22 See, when we know that God speaks to us, that God 51:27 communicates to us, that God loves us not because of how 51:30 worthy we are but because of who He is. 51:32 Then we can rest, then we can rest. Daniel was overwhelmed 51:36 because he felt like he was dead but then he was trustin in Jesus 51:39 he was resting in Jesus. I heard the words, His words 51:42 and then I was in deep sleep on my face with my face toward 51:44 the ground and behold a hand touched me 51:47 and set me on my knees and the palms of my hands. 51:50 God takes us down so He can lift us up. 51:54 He doesn't want us to stay down there, see 51:58 He wants to restore us into His image 52:02 And He'll lift us up step by step. Now there are some people 52:05 here they're still on their face 52:07 Other people, they're on their hands and knees 52:10 We're all in different places in our Christian experience 52:13 But it's Jesus that's doing the work. 52:16 He's the author and the finisher 52:19 And our job as bystanders and fellow Christians 52:22 is to direct people to Jesus. 52:24 To show them Jesus, to point to Jesus, to reveal Jesus 52:27 That's our work. And He said to me, verse 11, Oh Daniel 52:34 a man, what is it, greatly beloved. Now why was Daniel 52:38 greatly beloved. You say Daniel was greatly beloved because 52:40 he stood without fault, he was God's man of the hour, he was 52:44 a prophet, he was this, he was that and the other, but 52:47 in the context of Daniel 10 why was he greatly beloved? 52:52 Because God loved him, that's why he was greatly beloved. 52:54 There is not one of us here, right now, 52:57 listening to this message, there is nobody 52:59 that God does not greatly love. 53:02 God greatly loves every human being on Planet Earth. 53:05 He greatly loves you. 53:08 And Daniel shows us that because Daniel comes to his face he sees 53:11 Jesus, he goes AH there's nothing in me, there's nothing 53:13 good in me I feel like I should just be slain, I feel 53:16 just like Ezekiel felt when he saw God he was undone, 53:19 I'm lost and God said you're greatly loved. 53:24 You're greatly loved. I want you to know. What a contrast 53:28 Isn't that an amazing contrast to feel like nothing and 53:30 have God says I love you. See we think we need to come to God 53:34 and show Him what we've done. I did this, and I did that 53:36 I did the other, I pray twice, I fast, I'm eating veggie dogs 53:40 and drinking soy milk for 30 years now 53:44 I pay my tithe, don't get me wrong, I love the health message 53:46 I mean, I feel you know I'm 49 I'm almost 50 years old 53:49 almost got my senior, they're gonna card me 53:52 You know why? Because of the health message. 53:55 That's why they're gonna do that. 53:56 I mean I already almost got carded. I went to one place 53:59 and I said what's the senior discount, 50 he said 54:01 I'm almost 50. You're not almost 50. Here's my license 54:05 Love it all. But I'm not saved by veggie dog eating 54:09 and soy milk drinking. I mean I like soy milk 54:11 I like rice milk. I am saved by the 54:13 righteousness of Jesus Christ. I am saved by His right doing 54:16 and His death, what He did for me in His life and what He 54:20 did for me on the cross. That's my salvation. 54:23 And because of that gift that He's given me 54:25 I live for Jesus. I love Jesus That's why I keep His commands 54:30 because I love Him. What else can you do 54:34 when you fall in love with Jesus Daniel fell in love with Jesus 54:37 he realized there's nothing good in me, he's coming to the end of 54:41 his life. God is doing this at the end 54:42 In the Book of Revelation, He does it at the beginning. 54:44 First Jesus reveals Himself to John in His glorified form 54:50 Beautiful form. But here, toward the end of his life 54:56 He reveals Himself to Daniel. 54:58 Stand upright, for unto thee I am now sent 55:03 And when He had spoken this word I stood trembling 55:05 He said to me, Fear not Daniel verse 12, for from the 1st day 55:09 that you set your heart to understand and chasten yourself 55:12 before God, your words were heard and I've come 55:14 for your words. How many days ago was that? 55:16 First day that he started, you know, prayin and intercedin and 55:19 warning and afflicting himself? It was 21 days. 55:24 21 days ago. Verse 13, but the Prince of the King of Persia 55:29 withstood me, for how many days? 20 days. You know sometimes we 55:35 pray and we don't get answers We're thinkin where is God? 55:38 Why can't He answer, this is an urgent request. 55:41 And we don't realize that we're involved in a great controversy 55:44 A conflict between good and evil We think God can do whatever 55:49 He wants, whenever He wants at whatever time He wants 55:51 Not according to the Bible. The Bible says that there are times 55:56 when Satan that loose canon steps in and he seeks to hinder 55:59 God's will in this earth. That's why Jesus said, we need to pray 56:03 God's will be done in earth as it is in heaven 56:06 Obviously God's will is not being done in earth 56:09 as it is in heaven. We need to pray God deliver us from evil 56:13 Obviously there's some things taking place in this earth 56:17 that are not God's will we need to be delivered from. 56:19 Some people think, well every thing that happens is God's will 56:21 and God's in charge of the whole thing. Friends, Jesus said 56:26 Deliver us from evil. Which means what? 56:30 There's a lot of stuff happen- ing in this world that we need 56:33 to be delivered from. By God God and evil are opposites 56:39 They're not partners. And God wants us to, if Jesus prayed 56:44 deliver us from evil because God is in control of everything 56:46 then Jesus would say pray to be delivered from God. 56:48 No, Jesus and God and evil are opposites 56:53 and God wants to deliver us from that evil. 56:57 The Book of Daniel is powerful because it introduces us 57:02 to Jesus Christ in the context of our relationship 57:06 our need of Him. It reminds us of our weakness 57:09 of our falleness and finally it shows us where the remedy is 57:13 in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. |
Revised 2015-06-12