Participants:
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000073S
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00:01 Music...
00:28 There is only one word that can describe this moment, 00:33 "Finally" that's the word. 00:35 Ivor: And "Fire. " 00:37 James: And "Fire" okay. Ivor: We'll do two words. 00:39 James: We'll get fire out of Finally... 00:41 Yvonne: Yes. 00:43 James: It's been a long journey to get to this place, 00:45 we're really excited... 00:47 had a lot of response to Salvation in Symbols and Signs 00:50 and I get e-mails every week... 00:52 Jason forwards them to me... and you... 00:54 and we... just our Answering are involved 00:56 and it's really cool because 00:58 people are really eager for this Series on Daniel 01:02 so we're finally getting to the book of Daniel 01:05 which, by the way, we all know 01:06 is connected to the book of Revelation. 01:08 They're like twins... we call them prophetic twins. 01:11 They are so connected together 01:14 that we will not be able to help ourselves 01:16 but to jump into the book of Revelation 01:18 as we move through the book of Daniel. 01:20 So, we're going to move through the book of Daniel, 01:22 but we're also going to connect it with the book of Revelation, 01:24 we're going to connect it to history... 01:25 we're going to see a lot of beautiful personal stories 01:30 in Daniel... kind of like islands... 01:32 you know, Revelation was just one symbol after another... 01:34 one beast... one... you know, this... 01:36 but Daniel kind of interrupts that sequence of visions 01:39 with these stories... these powerful stories... 01:41 relational stories 01:42 that really can captivate our hearts 01:45 and so it's going to be exciting to see that. 01:47 We going to start with the whole history of Daniel... 01:50 how he got involved in this... in this kingdom of Babylon 01:52 on what God was all about in doing that. 01:55 So, we should begin with a word of prayer. 01:58 Who would like to pray for us? 02:00 Ivor: I will pray. 02:01 James: Ivor... all right, take us in. 02:03 Ivor: "Heavenly Father, we come before You this time 02:06 thanking You for giving us another opportunity 02:08 to come together 02:10 and this time, to study the book of Daniel. 02:12 Lord, we have waited long for this moment, 02:15 there are many people who are looking forward 02:18 to this Series 02:20 and we just pray, Lord, that You would guide our thoughts... 02:23 that You would inspire us... 02:25 and Lord, we pray that You would make this book 02:29 open to all who are... who are viewing... 02:33 to all who seek to understand. 02:34 Guide us Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. " 02:37 All: Amen. 02:39 All right, we're going to do the same thing 02:41 that we did last time, 02:42 we're going to take our time. 02:44 Now, we don't have 22 chapters, we only have 12... 02:46 but we're still going to take our time 02:47 and we're going to make sure we go slow and easy, 02:50 we're going to do an Overview of Daniel, 02:53 so, we're just going to kind of look at the big picture 02:55 and look at some of the themes 02:56 and then we'll go back and we'll just do it verse by verse 02:59 and we don't know how long it's going to take 03:02 we're hoping to cut out what? 03:04 20 some programs this time. 03:06 Jason: Maybe 24 of those for this part. 03:09 Laughter... 03:11 So, start us up Jason, why don't you start us out here 03:14 in Daniel chapter 1 03:16 and let's just read this first verse here 03:18 and then we'll just jump right in. 03:20 Okay, "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim 03:23 king of Judah, 03:25 Nebuchadnezzar kind of Babylon 03:26 came to Jerusalem, and besieged it. " 03:28 James: Let's read verse 2 too. Jason: Okay. 03:30 "And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, 03:34 with some of the articles of the house of God, 03:37 which he carried into the land of Shinar 03:40 to the house of his god; 03:42 and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god. " 03:46 All right, this is big right here, 03:48 we're just going to just pause right here 03:50 and start thinking about one of the main themes of Daniel 03:56 and this first theme we're going to look at 03:58 is a theme of judgment. 04:00 The word "Daniel" actually has meaning. 04:02 The word "Dan" means to judge 04:05 and the word "Daniel" means, "God is Judge. " 04:08 What do you do when your life falls apart? 04:11 You know, what do you do? 04:12 How do you relate to... to God 04:15 or to your religion... 04:16 to whatever God it is that you are following or no God, 04:18 how do you relate to life when everything just falls apart? 04:21 because that's what's happening right here. 04:22 Everything is falling apart... not just for Israel... 04:26 for Judah... we should say, 04:27 because Israel has already been scattered, 04:29 but for Daniel himself 04:30 and can you still trust in God 04:33 and what we see here in these first two verses 04:36 is, we see this introduction that tells us 04:39 that the enemy has come in... 04:41 the enemy of God's people has surrounded them... 04:44 surrounded Jerusalem 04:45 and God... the God that you serve... 04:47 the God that you follow... the God that you believe in 04:50 has gone ahead and delivered you into the enemy's hands. 04:52 Hmmm... 04:54 So, Nebuchadnezzar comes and he besieges Jerusalem 04:56 and it says in verse 2, "And the Lord gave Jehoiakim 05:00 king of Judah into his hand... 05:01 with part of the vessels of the house of his God 05:06 which he carried into the land of Shinar 05:08 and put it in the house of his god. " 05:10 This is a battle of the Gods 05:11 and right away, what we find here 05:14 and one of the main themes in the book of Daniel 05:16 is the theme of the gospel. 05:17 It's a theme of God's willingness to humble Himself 05:22 before the nations 05:24 because back in the day, you know, 05:26 "My God is better than your God... 05:28 and my God is stronger than your God... 05:29 and my religion is better than your religion... 05:31 my religion is the right religion... 05:32 your religion is the wrong religion... I'll show you why. " 05:34 And Nebuchadnezzar says, 05:35 "I'll show you that my god is stronger than your God, 05:37 I'm going to go and I'm going to fight you 05:39 representing your God... 05:41 I'm going to beat you 05:42 because my god is stronger than your God, 05:44 and I'm going to take all of your God's stuff 05:45 and I'm going to put it in my god's temple... 05:47 that's what I'm going to do. 05:48 Yvonne: Hmmm... 05:50 Okay, and of course, we believe God is God 05:51 and there are no other gods, 05:53 but God humbles Himself before the nations, 05:55 He knows what Nebuchadnezzar is thinking, 05:57 He knows what the nations are thinking, 05:58 He humbles Himself and He... 06:00 we think, "Oh, why did God let His people go captive?" 06:03 "Why did God let Himself be taken captive?" 06:05 "Why did God humble Himself before the nations?" 06:09 "Why did God come down to this earth 06:12 in the person of Jesus Christ?" 06:14 "Why did He... 06:15 why didn't He call for those legions of angels?" 06:17 "Why didn't He knock out those Romans?" 06:19 "Why didn't He take care of... of the enemy?" 06:22 "Why didn't He just take them out? 06:23 He can feed 1,000s with just little bit of food, 06:26 He can resurrect the dead, we've got a Messiah now, 06:30 hosanna, He's coming... He's going to get these guys. " 06:33 And what does He do? 06:34 He goes to the cross and He dies. 06:36 So, Daniel chapter 1 introduces us to this theme of the gospel, 06:41 it introduces us to a God 06:43 Who humbles Himself before the nations 06:45 that He may be exalted in His way... 06:48 in His way... not in our way... 06:50 not in Daniel's way but in His way. 06:53 So, as we get into this now, 06:54 we start seeing the theme of the cross, 06:56 we start seeing the theme of humility, 06:57 and humility is all through the book of Daniel... 07:00 I mean, over and over again, 07:01 Daniel now is a... a representative of God, 07:04 Daniel is revealing God, 07:06 and Daniel has this attitude of humility all the way through 07:09 because this is the way that God shows up in the book of Daniel. 07:12 God doesn't show up as a conqueror, 07:14 He tried that once, you know, 07:16 coming through with the people, conquering the nations 07:18 and it didn't work because people got lackadaisy, 07:21 and they got... they got proud and they isolated themselves 07:25 so now God humbles Himself 07:26 because the... the humility of God 07:28 wants to reach out to the nations... 07:29 the cross wants to reach out to the nations. 07:31 God wants Nebuchadnezzar... 07:33 God wants the Babylonians... 07:34 God wants His people 07:36 and so, He humbles Himself before the nations 07:37 so Nebuchadnezzar thinks, "I'm taking your God captive. " 07:41 And God's like, "Well, I'm actually... 07:42 I'm coming as a guest... 07:44 I'm coming to your place as a guest, 07:46 I've got something... " 07:47 you know, Pilate says, "Oh, we're taking out your King. " 07:49 Well, actually, this is God's plan, 07:51 "You will have no power against me 07:53 but... but... but God allowed this to happen. " 07:55 So, God has a purpose here, 07:57 and that's what we want to look at when we get into Daniel. 07:59 What is God's purpose? 08:00 Because this will prepare us for Revelation. 08:02 When everything falls apart in Revelation 13... 08:04 when everything falls apart, God's people can't buy or sell, 08:06 and they're surrounded by the enemy, 08:08 and it seems like God's giving them over... 08:09 what is it that God's purpose is for us... for God's people 08:13 when we get into that last-day crisis? 08:15 Yvonne: Hmmm... 08:16 Ivor: And we'll... just in connection with that, 08:21 God has people in Babylon... end-time context 08:25 that He is going to use in a special way 08:30 just as He used Daniel and his three friends 08:35 in a special way in Babylon. 08:38 There is a... you'll find that there's a parallel 08:42 between what we're going to see in Daniel chapter 1... 08:45 even just these two verses 08:47 and then, all the way through the book of Daniel 08:49 not only is there the theme of the gospel, 08:52 and by-the-way, Christ... 08:55 we're going to see Christ is all in the book of Daniel. 08:59 Christ is in Daniel chapter 1, He's in Daniel chapter 2, 09:02 He's in Daniel chapter 3, 09:04 He's in Daniel chapter 4, 09:05 in some really, really like, mind-blowing... 09:09 just amazing off-the-chain... 09:11 off-the-wall ways, right? 09:12 Yvonne: Love it. 09:14 But the book of Daniel is going to... 09:16 the book of Daniel is... is almost like a... 09:19 a... a pattern that shows us 09:22 what is going to happen at the end of time. 09:23 All: Hmmm... 09:24 And so, as we study the book of Daniel, 09:26 we're going to be seeing the theme of judgment, 09:28 we're going to be seeing the theme of end-time events, 09:30 we're going to be seeing the theme of Christ and the gospel, 09:34 and it's... by-the-way, you know, 09:38 we kind of talked about this just before the Program, 09:41 the... the most difficult chapter in... 09:45 I would say, the Bible is Daniel chapter 11. 09:50 James and Yvonne: Hmmm... 09:51 That is the one that there is the most controversy... 09:54 and so, as we go through this Study, 09:56 we're actually going to be setting the foundation 10:00 to help you guys, you know, 10:02 you guys are our students, and thus, by extension 10:06 everyone out there that's watching... 10:08 but you are our video students 10:11 so we're going to be trying to prepare you to understand 10:15 Daniel 11 from Daniel 1 verse 1. 10:20 We're just going to be setting the foundation, 10:21 we're going to be following the theme 10:22 so that as we go through and we see judgment 10:25 and we see sanctuaries being cleansed 10:28 and we see little horns rising into power 10:30 and all these different things, it's going to prepare you 10:33 so that, by the time we get to Daniel 11, 10:35 you're not going to be like, "Well, wait a minute... " 10:38 you're... hopefully, if we do our job well, 10:41 you'll be like, "Oh, oh oh oh, ho... I get it!" 10:46 Students: Yes, yes, yes. 10:48 So, that's the plan. 10:49 Yvonne: Good. James: Amen. 10:51 Jason: Hopefully, we'll do that without any pop quizzes. 10:52 Ivor: Yes. 10:54 Laughter. 10:56 I think we should probably, you know, 11:01 just do an Overview of all the chapters of Daniel, 11:05 so, and... and... I'm going to share 11:08 that there is a message in this Overview 11:11 and especially an end-time message 11:14 that we'll see as we go through these chapters, 11:17 so, beginning with Daniel chapter 1 11:19 and we're just summarizing here, 11:21 so, Daniel chapter 1... what is that about? 11:23 James: So... so we begin with this picture, 11:25 I believe, we begin with this picture of the cross, 11:27 we begin with this picture of God 11:29 humbling Himself before the nations 11:31 so that He can be lifted up there. 11:32 We're going to see that in Daniel chapter 2, 11:34 Daniel chapter 1 begins by introducing us 11:37 to the way that God works through humility. 11:39 So, it's really significant 11:42 that Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned here 11:44 as taking the vessels of the house of Judah's God... 11:48 Daniel's God... 11:50 into the house of his god. 11:51 It's really interesting here 11:53 that the Lord gave Judah into his hands... 11:56 God gave Jesus Christ into the hands of Pilate... 11:59 into the hands of the enemies. 12:01 Ivor: But just let me add here that you will see that 12:04 in the book of Daniel, Daniel has like... 12:07 he has no recorded sin... 12:09 it's very interesting that Daniel is blameless 12:13 before his enemies 12:16 and yet, he was taken captive with his people... 12:20 he came to a strange land with his people 12:23 who were guilty. 12:25 Right? you almost wonder, 12:26 "Well... if like... Daniel was a good person... 12:31 the three Hebrews... good... 12:33 how did they end up in captivity?" 12:34 And focusing in on Daniel 12:36 you see this picture of the gospel 12:38 of Jesus who came to this earth as a prisoner, if you will, 12:45 with His brothers and sisters 12:47 even though He was not guilty of sin. 12:49 James: Hmmm... hmmm... 12:50 Ivor: So, you see that picture with the gospel 12:52 right there in Daniel chapter 1, 12:53 through the person of Daniel himself. 12:55 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm... a type of Christ. 12:57 Ivor: A type of Christ. 12:58 James: And the word itself, Daniel... God is judge... 13:01 "Dan" means to judge... "El" God... God is judge. 13:05 So, you have this theme of judgment 13:07 and this is the way Christ related to the Pharisees 13:09 who questioned Him... the religious leaders... 13:11 "I do God's will... God is my judge... 13:13 I don't do what I want to do, I do what God wants to do... " 13:16 and so, Daniel is cooperating. 13:18 You can imagine, before Daniel's time, 13:21 Isaiah wrote about this experience, 13:25 the very experience that Daniel is going through... 13:27 Isaiah writes about it 13:29 and you can imagine because Daniel's just a kid, 13:30 when he goes to Babylon, he's just a teenager, 13:32 15- 16-years old... 13:33 he's just a young guy 13:35 and you can imagine that Daniel's parents were like, 13:37 "Okay, we need to get into Isaiah right now, Kids, 13:40 because you know this is... this is coming... 13:42 we don't know when it's coming but this is coming... " 13:44 we got to get you ready and so, what God is doing is, 13:47 He's preparing His people. 13:48 As you get into the book of Daniel 13:50 there's a lot of history that goes before Daniel, 13:52 and we'll look at that, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel... 13:55 Jeremiah and Ezekiel are contemporaries with Daniel, 13:57 they're alive... 13:59 they're speaking into the crisis as it's happening, 14:01 but Isaiah has prophesied... 14:03 he has predicted about this crisis. 14:06 Isaiah is also the Messianic book. 14:09 It's all about Christ, 14:10 it's all about the sacrifice He makes 14:12 so, as Daniel is reading Isaiah, 14:13 he's reading about this Babylonian captivity, 14:15 all of a sudden he comes to Isaiah 53, 14:18 Whoa! "All we like sheep have gone astray; 14:20 we have turned everyone to his own way; 14:22 and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. " 14:26 He was like a lamb before the shearers... 14:28 He was dumb... He didn't speak... He didn't... 14:31 He didn't... He submitted... 14:32 He surrendered to God's will 14:34 and this is where Daniel is getting his strength. 14:36 You know, and it's for us. 14:38 How hard is it to surrender to God's will? 14:40 Well, it's particularly difficult if we don't... 14:44 if we're not sure of what God's will is. 14:46 Once we have that "Ah Ha moment... " 14:47 "Oh, this is God's will, God is directing me in this. " 14:50 Once we have that "Ah ha moment" 14:52 we're like, "Okay, I can surrender this... " 14:54 because we can surrender to... to the... 14:55 to the... to the hand of someone we know is on our side 14:59 and not only that, but is with us in the fire 15:01 and with us in the water 15:02 which is another theme that we see 15:04 through Daniel and Revelation. 15:05 In Daniel... He's with us in the fire, 15:07 in Revelation... through the water. 15:09 You know, they sing a song of Moses and the Lamb 15:11 Yvonne: Isaiah 43:1. 15:13 Yes, and you've got... and so you've got this picture.. 15:16 this beautiful picture of God's people in Revelation 15:19 standing on the Sea of Glass mingled with fire 15:21 and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb 15:24 because they've gone through that trial... 15:25 they've gone through that experience, 15:27 they're with God in the fire... 15:28 they're with God in the water 15:30 and Daniel is... that's what his experience is right here, 15:31 this is judgment, 15:33 so, one of the themes that we have in Daniel chapter 1, 15:35 you bring up another one, Ivor, 15:37 whatever you got here is judgment. 15:38 Ivor: Yeah. 15:39 James: God is allowing judgment to come upon His people 15:41 for being disobedient... for not... 15:46 and here's the disobedience 15:47 because sometimes we're thinking, 15:48 "What disobedience?" 15:50 Like they weren't keeping the Sabbath? 15:51 Yeah, probably they were worshipping idols... 15:52 well probably... obviously... 15:54 but what was the major disobedience? 15:55 Disobeying God in disregarding His Commandments 16:00 led them to disregard people... the nations. 16:04 The reason God put them on the earth 16:06 to make them a peculiar people, 16:08 is not so they could go to heaven by themselves, 16:10 and who cares about all the rest of those heathen, right? 16:12 The reason why God has us on this earth 16:15 is to witness... 16:17 to testify of Jesus and His love for everyone 16:20 and they had forgotten all about that 16:21 and so, as they are making alliances and confederacies 16:25 with all the other nations and compromising, 16:27 they're saying, "We don't care about you, 16:30 we don't care about the light and the love 16:32 that God has given us to give to you, 16:33 we don't care about that, 16:35 what we care about is 'us' and how you can benefit us 16:37 and you can help us and things you can do for us. " 16:39 And so, God's got to break all this up, 16:41 got to bring them down because He wants Nebuchadnezzar, 16:44 He wants the Babylonians... 16:46 He's bringing judgment in chapter one 16:47 because He wants His emissaries... His ambassadors... 16:50 to go in and to reach out to these people 16:52 and show them Who He is. Yvonne: Hmmm... 16:55 Ivor: So, just to add to that, Daniel chapter 1 16:59 is where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego 17:03 are invited to eat the king's meat and drink his wine 17:09 and obviously they refuse. 17:11 So, I want you to think about this, like, 17:16 "What... what... who was the king?" 17:19 Yvonne: Nebuchadnezzar. 17:21 Ivor: Nebuchadnezzar... and he was king of... 17:23 Yvonne: Babylon. 17:24 Ivor: Babylon... so, what you have in Daniel chapter 1 17:27 is that the kingdom of Babylon is trying to force God's people 17:34 to drink the wine of Babylon. 17:37 Yvonne: Ooooh. James: Hmmm... hmmm... 17:39 Yvonne: Ooooh... Ivor: And, what do they do? 17:41 they refuse 17:42 and as a result of refusing to partake of the wine of Babylon, 17:46 they are ten times wiser 17:49 so, automatically, right there in Daniel chapter 1 17:52 guess what we have? 17:54 We have this foreshadow of an end-time scenario 17:59 in which there will be a group of people 18:00 who... while the wine of Babylon... 18:05 or Babylon is trying to enforce drinking its wine, 18:08 they're going to say, "No, we're not going to do that" 18:11 and those people are going to be wiser... 18:14 think about the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, 18:17 or you know, just... at the end of time, 18:20 the book of Daniel tells us that 18:21 those that be wise 18:24 shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. 18:26 So, Man, how do we... 18:28 how do we be among that people that are wise? 18:33 Well, part of it is: 18:34 Refusing the wine of Babylon, right? 18:37 And we refuse the wine of Babylon 18:40 because... not out of a, you know, 18:42 out of a sense of self-righteousness 18:45 but because we are to be reflecting the character 18:50 and person of Jesus Christ. 18:51 Yvonne: Hmmm... 18:52 James: Which is in His Ten Commandments by the way. 18:54 Ivor: Absolutely. James: Ten times wiser. 18:56 So, I just want you to think about this for a moment, 18:58 the message in Daniel chapter 1, 19:00 I'm going to actually give you a... 19:01 share a whole message but it's coming in parts. 19:05 So, just think, Daniel 1, and think these words, 19:08 at the end of time, there will be a people 19:11 who avoid the wine of Babylon. 19:14 Those people will be ten times wiser. 19:17 James: Hmmm... hmmm... 19:18 Right? and the message just pauses right there 19:21 because we're only in Daniel chapter 1. 19:22 Daniel chapter 2 is going to add to that message. 19:27 So, we'll actually see a message 19:29 unfolding through all the chapters of Daniel 19:32 specifically directed to God's end-time people. 19:35 James: Hmmm... hmmm... Yvonne: Wow! 19:36 Ivor: Right, those who, you know, fear God... 19:40 keep His Commandments... 19:41 who have Jesus in their hearts... 19:43 this is His message of encouragement saying, 19:45 "Hey, listen, just like Isaiah wrote about... 19:48 'Hey Daniel, I want you to know 19:50 these are the things that are going to happen... '" 19:51 the book of Daniel was written for us 19:54 to let us know, "Hey, I'm going before you, 19:56 I really know what's going to happen 19:58 and I'm showing you through the chapters of this book 20:02 what is coming. " 20:03 James: Hmmm... Yvonne: Hmmm... 20:05 James: All right, Daniel chapter 2... 20:06 just a couple of verses 20:08 that I thought would be good for us to look at, 20:10 in Philippians... Jason, can you read these verses for us? 20:15 Philippians chapter 2... 20:17 and by the way, we're going to the New Testament 20:20 and we're going to... 20:22 we're going to see how the themes of the gospel... 20:26 themes of the New Testament 20:28 are woven throughout the book of Daniel 20:29 and throughout the Old Testament. 20:31 Sometimes Folks think, "Oh, the Old Testament is old 20:33 that's the... you know, that's the old stuff... 20:35 and the New Testament... that's where the gospel is. " 20:37 The Old Testament... 20:38 most of the New Testament... 20:41 or I shouldn't say, "Most of it... " 20:42 a lot of the New Testament is Old Testament quoted. 20:44 Paul is bringing out... 20:45 John is bringing out... 20:46 Luke is bringing out the themes of the gospel... 20:49 the gospel is bringing out... 20:51 the themes of the gospel 20:52 that are found in the Old Testament... 20:54 but we couldn't see... the Jews couldn't see it 20:56 and so, the bad thing about the Old Testament 20:57 is not that the gospel isn't there... 20:59 the bad thing about the Old Testament is 21:00 that we're not looking for the gospel there 21:02 and so, we're not finding the gospel there. 21:03 Yvonne: Oh, it's good. 21:05 James: But as we go into Daniel chapter 2 now, 21:07 we're going to see this very theme 21:09 that Jason is going to read to us about here... 21:12 just think about this as we get into Daniel 2, 21:14 Jason, read for us if you would please, 21:16 Philippians 2 verses 5 and go all the way down to verse 11. 21:21 Jason: Okay, "Let this mind be in you 21:25 which was also in Christ Jesus, 21:27 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery 21:30 to be equal with God, 21:32 but made Himself of no reputation, 21:34 taking the form of a bondservant, 21:36 and coming in the likeness of men. 21:38 And being found in appearance as a man, 21:41 He humbled Himself and became obedient 21:44 to the point of death, 21:46 even the death of the cross. 21:48 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him 21:52 and given Him the name which is above every name, 21:55 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 21:58 of those in heaven, and of those on earth, 22:01 and of those under the earth, 22:03 and that every tongue should confess 22:05 that Jesus Christ is Lord, 22:07 to the glory of God the Father. " 22:09 James: All right, so, in these verses, 22:10 I just want to summarize them, 22:12 you've got a "humbling" of God in the person of Jesus, 22:15 and then you've got an "exalting" of God 22:16 before the nations, 22:18 and all the nations are going to just, 22:20 "Whoa! this is the God of Gods... " 22:22 so now, that's what we see in Daniel 2. 22:24 In Daniel 1, God humbles Himself before the nations, 22:27 He allows His people to go captive... 22:29 He allows the vessels of His house to be taken to the 22:31 vessels of the gods of Babylon. 22:33 He's humbling Himself before the nations. 22:35 His name... and you'll see this in Daniel 9, 22:38 when Daniel is praying he's saying, 22:39 "God, we're praying for You and for Your sake 22:42 and for Your sanctuary that's desolate... 22:44 Your name is... " 22:45 Moses... same thing... 22:47 "Don't blot out Your people... don't destroy Your people 22:49 because Your name before the heathen... 22:50 Your name will be misrepresented. " 22:52 It's all about God's character in Daniel chapter 1, 22:56 he's humbling himself 22:57 but in Daniel chapter 2, 22:59 He is exalted... He gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream in it, 23:03 can't... can't figure it out. 23:04 None of the wise men can figure it out. 23:06 Nobody in the kingdom of Babylon can figure this out 23:08 except for Daniel and his three friends 23:10 and how they do it? Through prayer 23:12 and as they get an answer from God, 23:15 and they give Nebuchadnezzar the dream 23:17 and the interpretation of it, 23:18 Nebuchadnezzar goes, "Wow! there is no God like your God. " 23:21 "Wait a minute... you just said 23:22 that my god is stronger than your God 23:25 and you just took the vessels of my God into your house 23:27 and you put them in... " 23:28 "There is nobody like your God, Daniel, 23:30 your God is a God of Gods, your God is the King of kings. " 23:32 You see the transition that's taking place right there? 23:35 That's Philippians chapter 2 23:37 verses 5 all the way through 10... 23:38 transition theme. 23:40 Ivor: So, let's add to that again 23:42 that the fact that in Daniel 2, what you have is, 23:47 Nebuchadnezzar having this dream 23:49 and we'll get into the details of the dream in... 23:52 in further studies 23:54 but, the basic element of this dream is that 23:57 Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom... 24:00 Daniel actually tells him, 24:01 "Nebuchadnezzar, your kingdom is going to fall. " 24:05 All: Hmmm... 24:06 So, the wise men around Nebuchadnezzar 24:08 could not understand this message. 24:11 They couldn't understand the dream... the prophetic dream, 24:13 they could not... they did not have prophetic insight. 24:16 Only Daniel and his friends were able to preach this message 24:22 that Babylon is going to fall. 24:26 So, put Daniel one and two together. 24:27 At the end of time, there will be a people 24:29 who will avoid the wine of Babylon. 24:31 As a result, they will be ten times wiser. 24:34 They will be the ones 24:36 that are able to preach the message 24:39 that Babylon will fall. 24:42 James: Hmmm... hmmm... Yvonne: Wow! 24:44 Ivor: Right, so, that's Daniel 1 and 2 put together 24:47 and what we're seeing is this theme of the gospel 24:49 following... I mean, 24:51 paralleling this theme of 24:53 end-time events for God's people 24:55 and again, this goes all the way through the book of Daniel 24:57 so, every chapter actually adds to that... 25:02 that sentence or that message 25:04 so, now we know, "Okay, wow! 25:05 I'm encouraged because guess what? 25:07 At the end of time, there is going to be a people 25:09 who do stand strong... who do avoid the wine of Babylon 25:12 and because of that, 25:14 God is going to bless them with special wisdom 25:17 and insight... 25:18 and when everybody else around is not understanding 25:21 the prophetic message... 25:22 'What does this prophecy... what does... 25:24 what does this mean? I have no... ' 25:25 they are the ones that everyone is going to turn to and say, 25:28 'Can you explain this?'" 25:30 Jason: It's like the three angels' messages. 25:33 James: Easy... easy... 25:36 All: Laughter. 25:39 Yvonne: Exciting... that is so exciting. 25:41 James: Let's pound on this table right here. 25:43 Jason: I'm glad this is solid. 25:46 All: Laughter. 25:48 James: So, it's good stuff, we're... 25:50 we're done in about two minutes... 25:51 I'm thinking we'll stop right here 25:53 because we're going to pick up in chapter 3... 25:55 we're going to pick up another theme that we don't want to... 25:57 we don't want to cut out off too quickly... 25:59 but I just want us to... to just summarize this... 26:03 get this all together in our brains, 26:06 so, the book of Daniel is a supplement 26:08 to the book of Revelation. 26:10 Okay, they're twin prophetic books... 26:12 they connect together... I shouldn't say that... 26:14 I should say, "Revelation is a supplement to Daniel" 26:16 but they're connected together, all right. 26:17 So, you've got similar themes... prophetic themes... 26:20 you've got also some stories coming into Daniel 26:23 which we're going to look at, 26:24 and you've got definitely 26:26 "everlasting gospel" in the book of Daniel. 26:27 All: Hmmm... 26:29 Along with this everlasting gospel theme, 26:30 Ivor's been bringing out this beautiful idea 26:32 that helps us in the end of time to understand what... 26:36 where we're going to stand with God... 26:38 what God wants us to... instructions for us... 26:40 "Hey, you've got to resist the wine of Babylon 26:43 because I want to bless you with wisdom, 26:45 I want to bless you with ten times the wisdom 26:48 over those who are partaking of that wine 26:50 because I have a message I want to communicate 26:52 through you to others... 26:53 and that message is going to be communicated 26:55 as you put your complete reliance on me, 26:57 not on the wine of Babylon... not on armed flesh... 27:01 but put your complete reliance on me. " 27:02 We'll see that a little bit more 27:04 as we get into the first verse here 27:06 and how we're tempted to put our reliance on the arm of flesh... 27:10 different ways that we try to depend on man 27:14 instead of depending on God 27:15 and what we see here then is, 27:17 God humbling Himself before the nations 27:18 and then, Daniel chapter 2, 27:21 He's exalted before the nations through this dream, 27:23 and as the dream comes forth, Nebuchadnezzar goes, "Whoa... " 27:26 Nebuchadnezzar is the first person 27:28 to attend a Daniel Seminar. 27:30 Jason: Hmmm... Yvonne: Laughing... 27:31 James: He says... but we're always like, "Okay... 27:33 preach it, Daniel, tell me what's it all about... " 27:34 and after he's done, Nebuchadnezzar says, 27:36 "I want to join your church, 27:38 I want to be part of that Movement. " 27:39 So, this is a beautiful picture 27:41 that we're going to see right here, 27:42 and I believe God has given us a good start... 27:45 a good beginning 27:46 but our time is up... I mean, it just went so fast... 27:47 we're... we're just done 27:49 so, I know we've got to tell our Viewers 27:52 how they can get a hold of us, this... that and the other, 27:54 we'll have to do that in our next Program 27:55 because we're finished, right? 27:57 Ivor: Yeah, that's right. |
Revised 2020-09-17