Thank you. The last six chapters of Daniel, however,
are prophetic and contain four major visions
that were given to Daniel regarding the future,
that is the future from his day. Those four visions
are found in chapter 7, the first one, the second
one chapter 8, the next one in chapter 9, and
the last one in chapters 10 through 12. And tonight
we look at the first one in chapter 7, which
is a sweeping panorama of events from Daniel's
day up until the second coming of Jesus Christ.
By the way, one proof of the Bible's authenticity
is the fulfillment of prophecy. The minute details
that are found in the book of Daniel, which have
been and in some respects still will be fulfilled,
are evidence of the fact that there is intelligence
behind this book that supersedes human intelligence.
These details tell us that there is a sovereign
God who is in control of history and who, may
I say, weaves together the events of history
so that they fulfill what He says that they will.
And those events eventually come out to his ultimate
end and purpose. As we look at chapter 7, we
notice a new name introduced to us. It says,
in the first year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon,
Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as
he lay on his bed. Well, who is Belshazzar? There
was a time in fact there was a long time when
historians asked that question and they said
well here is proof that the book of Daniel is
not the Word of God because there is never recorded
in history of Belshazzar who was the king of
Babylon and So liberal critics of the Bible use
this name this identity to attack the Bible's
credibility as being historically reliable However,
it is the critics who, in the end, have become
ashamed, as they always do, eventually. Because,
in fact, it has been discovered now that there
was a Belshazzar in the history of Babylon. Let's
back up just a little bit, though, and remember
that we have been talking primarily about King
Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon
for over 40 years, the greatest of the kings
of Neo -Babylon. the latter stage of Babylon's
history. However, Nebuchadnezzar died in 562
BC. Following his death, his son reigned in his
place. His son's name was Evil Merodach. This
man is recorded in the Bible in two places. His
name is found in 2 Kings chapter 25 and in Jeremiah
chapter 52. Evil Merodach did not have a long
reign, just two or three years before he died.
But he is noted because he is the one who released
the Jewish king Jehoiachin from imprisonment
and gave him certain rights as a person of royalty
and showed kindness to Jehoiachin. The fact that
he did this has been discovered not only in the
Bible, but in tablets that archaeologists have
uncovered at the gate of Ishtar, right there
at the ancient city of Babylon. That is, this
deed is not only recorded in biblical history,
but in secular history as well. Now, this man
died because he was murdered by his own brother
-in -law, who then reigned in his place. His
name was Nerigleser. He reigned for four years.
He also is named in the Bible in Jeremiah chapter
39. He is sometimes called Nergal Sharizer as
well. But he died after just a brief time on
the throne, four or five years, and his son,
a young son, was placed on the throne in his
stead. His name was Labishai Marduk. Now this
man, this young person, was assassinated. shortly
after he was placed on the throne, assassinated
by those around him in the court. And so the
reign then went to one of the assassins whose
name was Nabididus. He was the last king of Babylon.
He reigns beginning in 556 BC and was officially
the king until the end of the empire when the
Medes and the Persians conquered it. However,
Nabididus was not a man who enjoyed the role.
of King. He would rather be away from Babylon
than be there. In fact, history records that
there was one stint of 14 years when he didn't
even show his face in the capital city. Well
obviously somebody had to be in charge in the
city of Babylon and so he appointed his son to
be co -regent with him and so they reigned together
for most of that time. Three years after Nabonidus
became king, his son, Belshazzar, was appointed
to reign with him, and Belshazzar was the one
who took the official duties in the city of Babylon.
And so we have the record here that the first
year of Belshazzar is the time that Daniel received
this particular vision, this revelation from
God. And so the date is 553 B .C. Now, this vision
really falls easily into three parts, and that's
the way I want to approach it tonight as we think
about four beasts and a future kingdom. The first
part of the vision is the beasts from the sea,
found in verses 1 through 8. The general scene
is described for us in verse 2. Daniel said,
I was looking in my vision by night, and behold
the four winds of heaven were stirring up the
great sea. And four great beasts were coming
up from the sea, different from one another."
He mentions here four winds of heaven. The word
winds can also read spirits. So there are some
Bible commentators who take this to understand
that these were either angels that God unleashed
to stir up people, or that these were demons
that were at work. There are others who take
the concept of winds in a more symbolic way,
as representing simply God working in history.
We do find the same term used, it would seem,
of angels in Jeremiah 49 and 36, and a similar
phrase is used in Zechariah chapter 6 and verse
5. At least we can say this with confidence here,
that God was allowing certain forces to play
upon the nations. The great sea that is mentioned,
if taken literally, is the sea of the Mediterranean
Sea. And Daniel sees this great body of water
whipped up. But the Mediterranean Sea and the
idea, the concept of the sea, is used also symbolically
in scriptures to speak of the nations of the
world, especially Gentile nations. And so what
is probably in view here, Daniel is seeing the
Gentile nations of the world in turmoil. Humanity
is in turbulence. There is upheaval and distress
among the nations. And in the midst of all of
that, he sees four beasts that come up out of
the sea. Now remember, these beasts are symbolic.
They represent something. The first beast is
described to us as like a lion. He had the wings
of an eagle in verse 4. He says, I kept looking
until its wings were plucked and it was lifted
up from the ground and made to stand on two feet
like a man. A human mind also was given to it.
And so we have this creature with a lion like
creature with wings of an eagle. A lion has throughout
human history stood for royalty. Wings would
speak of swiftness or of speed. And so we see
here a personage of royalty who is noted for
speed and for his strength. But then something
strange happens. The wings are taken away from
it and it stands up like a human being and it
says a human mind is given to it. Now although
Daniel does not identify for us here what the
lion represents, we know from comparing chapter
2 where a parallel vision is given, there you
recall it was a dream given to Nebuchadnezzar
and he saw this great statue. We know that this
lion represents Babylon and especially King Nebuchadnezzar.
And when it speaks about his wings being plucked
and a human mind being given to this beast, It
may have to do with Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation
before God when God caused him to become insane
for those seven years. And as a result of that,
he humbled himself before God and perhaps, and
I like to think did, come to faith, genuine faith
in the true God, the God of Daniel, the God of
Israel. Now following the lion, there came a
bear out of the sea. And it was raised up on
one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between
its teeth. And thus they said to it, Arise, devour
much meat. And so now we have a successor kingdom.
This is identified, not in this particular chapter,
but by comparing other scriptures, especially
Daniel chapter 2. This is identified as Mediapersia.
The union between those two peoples was not an
equal one. The Persians were stronger, thus this
bear is seen as not being balanced. It is off
-balance. A bear is known for its strength. Unlike
a lion, which is noted for speed, a bear is more
lumbering. It is nonetheless very ferocious.
It is an animal that conducts itself with less
grace than does a lion. And so all of this symbolically
represents the kind of a nation that the Medes
and the Persians developed. It was a nation that
was very ferocious and it conquered widely. When
it says here, rise and devour much meat, the
idea is that as a nation it expanded and took
in other peoples. and did so very cruelly, I
might say. Following the bear there is a leopard
that comes out of the sea. It says in verse 6
that it had on its back four wings of a bird.
The beast also had four heads and dominion was
given to it. And once more we know from comparing
scriptures that this beast represents Greece.
which was the major Gentile power in that part
of the world that followed the Medes and the
Persians, it conquered Persia. The wings speak
again of swiftness and of course a leopard is
known for its swiftness as well and if you look
at history you find that the swiftness speaks
of Alexander the Great, the leader of Greece
who with amazing speed for his day. conquered
all of the known world, and it's said when he
was 33 years of age, he sat down and wept because
there was no more world to conquer. Now the four
heads will be explained as we get into more about
Greece, especially in chapter 8, and so I'm going
to leave that, but the four heads do have a significance.
And then there's a fourth beast, and this is
the one that seems to capture Daniel's attention.
He says, I kept looking in the night visions,
and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible
and extremely strong, and it had large iron teeth,
and devoured and crushed and trampled down the
remainder with its feet, and it was different
from all the beasts that were before it, and
it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the
horns, behold another horn, a little one, came
up among them, and three of the first horns were
pulled out by the roots before it. That sounds
rather violent, but actually the language is
not that violent. It really means that this little
horn came up and sort of pushed its way in, causing
the others, by that force of action, the natural
force of its own growth, to be uprooted. And
it says, behold, this horn possessed eyes like
the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great
boasts. And so we have a dreadful, terrifying,
strong beast that is not further described to
us. Probably this beast incorporated elements
of the first three beasts. Because each of these
kingdoms to some degree incorporated aspects
of its predecessor. And so this fourth and final
empire, which we know now to be Rome, incorporated
certain aspects of Babylon, Mediapersia, and
of Greece in itself. The most prominent feature
in this particular vision is the appearance of
the ten horns. And then that one little horn,
as it is described, that uproots three, leaving
a remainder of eight altogether. Now, you can
go to Revelation chapter 13 sometime on your
own. And you will see another vision recorded
with a beast coming out of the sea which relates
to this. It is there the Apostle John receiving
a vision as he was on the Isle of Patmos. And
in his vision he sees more identification and
information regarding this little horn. This
little horn is the personage that we generally
call the Antichrist. who will appear in the last
days. We'll get into that a little more in a
few moments. And so we have the first part of
this vision, the sea raging and out of that sea
then coming successively, not all at the same
time, but successively, these four beasts that
represent to us empires, Gentile empires. Now
it's interesting to consider the contrast between
this explanation of the four empires and the
one in chapter 2. In chapter 2 you notice that
there is an emphasis upon the parts fitting together.
There's the head, then there's the shoulders
and the stomach and the thighs and the legs and
it's all a part of the same thing. But here you
see the emphasis on the diversity of the four
empires. Also you find in the statue vision the
intrinsic value of these empires given. There's
gold, there's silver, bronze, and iron, and then
iron mixed with clay, a decreasing value, but
nonetheless there is a value given to them. So
chapter two is often said to be the view of these
empires from man's perspective, because man looks
at these empires and sees value in them. Whereas
this vision gives a view of these empires from
God's perspective, he sees them as beasts. And
that was truly the actual nature. We look upon
our nation, for example, as having intrinsic
value. But I wonder how the holy God of heaven
looks upon this nation. I would submit to you
that he sees our nation as a beastly nation.
because of its immorality, its blasphemy, its
lack of respect for life. And so I think you
understand that from man's perspective, nations
have one set of values. From God's perspective,
nations are seen entirely differently. And God
sees them, all Gentile nations, as beasts. And
the most ferocious one is this last one. We'll
pick that up in a moment, but the vision goes
on to a second part now. In chapter 7 verses
9 through 14, he talks about the thrones in the
heavens. There's a courtroom scene here where
judgment is dispensed in verses 9 through 12.
The thrones are arranged, and it says the ancient
of days took his seats. The Ancient of Days is
the judge in this scene. He is the sovereign
one. He is described in terms like this. His
vesture was like white snow, the hair of his
head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with
flames, its wheels were a burning fire. And so
this is not a typical kind of throne. And there
are some wheels. in connection with this throne
someway. Now when you think of wheels in a vision,
you undoubtedly think of Ezekiel, who had a very
similar vision. What do all of these things symbolize?
Well, it's telling us something about God, God's
eternity, God's justice, God's holiness, are
all represented here by these flames and the
burning and the whiteness. the pure wool, and
so on. Now it says that there was a river of
fire flowing and coming out from before him,
and thousands upon thousands were attending him,
and myriads upon myriads were standing before
him. And so this courtroom is not empty. There
are thrones. The judge, who is called the Ancient
of Days, comes in, takes his seat, and in the
courtroom there are spectators. numbered here
in the thousands upon the thousands and myriads
of myriads, these are undoubtedly angelic creatures
that are seen. And it says the court sat, which
means that the court was called into session.
The business at hand was about to be taken care
of. It says the books were opened. are books
of which God records the deeds of people and
of nations. And so judgment is about to take
place based upon the infallible record of the
Holy God. And judgment is dealt to the beasts
and to the little horn. It says, I kept looking
because of the sound of the boastful words which
the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the
beast was slain. and its body was destroyed and
given to the burning fire. And so judgment is
dealt to this fourth beast. It says, as for the
rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken
away, but an extension of life was granted to
them for an appointed period of time. That last
phrase probably means that there was an extension
of the lives of those first three beasts in the
fourth one. as it incorporated elements of those
previous beasts. But in the end, all of them
are destroyed, never again to rise. And so we
have the courtroom scene, which then leads us
to a scene of the second coming of Christ. Daniel
would not have known it this way, you understand,
but this is what he saw. I kept looking in the
night visions. By the way, notice he says, I
kept looking, I kept looking. That phrase is
used more than ten times in this chapter. So
Daniel is telling us what he saw. I kept looking
in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds
of heaven, one like a son of man was coming.
Notice that this is in contrast to the beasts.
Here's one who is humanity. Not mere humanity
we know but one who is truly man the son of man
He was coming and he came up to the ancient of
days and was presented before him And so now
we understand there are two personages here the
first one the ancient of days is a Theophany
it is an appearance of God the father In this
vision to Daniel it is still true that no man
has seen God at any time As John tells us in
John 1, that is, we have never seen God in his
essence, but God has appeared, such as in this
vision. And God the Father is the one who is
seen in these vestures earlier described with
the fire coming from his throne. And now the
Son of Man, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus
Christ, comes up and is presented to him. And
to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom.
that all the peoples, nations, and men of every
language might serve him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion which will not pass away,
and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
Now our friends who are all millennialists, you
say, what are they? Well, those are people who
do not believe in a literal earthly reign of
Jesus Christ. Our friends who are all millennialists,
they believe in no millennium. look at this and
they say, well, you know, this refers to Christ's
reign in the hearts of people when they get saved.
But friends, if you look at this and you intend
to interpret the Bible literally, that means
that when there are symbols, you seek to interpret
the symbols as they should be. But when you approach
the Bible literally, you take it for what it
says, there is no way to read into this a spiritual
kingdom in the hearts of men. He talks about
peoples of nations in every language. They will
serve him, an everlasting dominion, a kingdom.
He is talking here about an earthly, literal
kingdom that will be given to Jesus Christ. Its
initial period is a thousand years. That's why
we call it the millennium. But that's not the
end of it. That's just the first period. There
are some things that take place then that sort
of separate out the first thousand years. But
then his kingdom goes on forever and forever.
And so he has quite a vision here of the thrones
and the heavens. He sees the judge and then he
sees the son of man coming with the clouds of
heaven entering into the courtroom and receiving
from the one on the throne the right to rule
on the earth. Well, this upsets Daniel, what
he sees. He is distressed by it. He says, the
visions in my mind kept alarming me. And so now
we come to the final part of the chapter, the
prophecy of the last days. Daniel is distressed
and alarmed and so he asks the angel for the
certainty of the interpretation. Now Daniel seems
to already understand what is taking place. But
he wants to nail it down. And so he asks an angel
to tell him exactly, for sure, what it means.
And the angel does. Verse 17. We have an overview
in these next two verses. These great beasts,
says the angel, which are four in number, are
four kings who will arise from the earth. Now
even though it says kings here, they cannot be
separated from their kingdom. The point is, it's
talking about leaders and the empires over which
they rule. But the saints of the highest one
will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom
forever for all ages to come. And so that's the
overview. The angel says, Daniel, what you have
seen are four kingdoms that will come upon the
earth and four kings. But ultimately it is the
saints of the highest one who will receive the
kingdom and possess it forever, for all the ages
to come. Who are these saints of the most high?
Well, we can understand the term saints being
used in the Bible in a number of different ways.
I think the best way to understand it here is
to see it as representing those who are believers
on the earth at that time. They will be, of course,
Jews in the tribulation period as well as multitudes
of Gentiles. But there is another sense in which
it includes all believers because the Bible promises
us, we who are part of the church, who will be
taken out by the rapture before the tribulation
and who will come back with Christ at His second
coming. It promises us that we will reign with
Jesus Christ. And so I think that we can take
the saints here not only in a narrow sense, that
is the Jewish and Gentile believers who are alive
on the earth at that time, but in its broadest
sense, all of the children of God, those who
have believed. Now beginning in verse 19 and
going through verse 26, There are some additional
specifics given regarding the fourth beast. There's
a review of the vision in verses 19 to 22 with
just a slight addition to the vision. And then
there's an interpretation, and that's what I
want to get to, verse 23. He says the fourth
beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which
will be different from all the other kingdoms.
And it will devour the whole earth and tread
it down and crush it. As for the ten horns out
of this kingdom, ten kings will arise, and another
will arise after them. And he will be different
from the previous ones and will subdue three
kings. And he will speak out against the most
high. Who is the he? Well, it is the little horn,
the one king who arises after the ten. He will
speak out against the most high and wear down
the saints of the highest one. And he will intend
to make alterations in times and in law. And
they will be given into his hand, they here,
referring probably to the saints, they will be
given into his hand for a time, times, and half
a time. But the court will sit for judgment,
and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated,
and destroyed forever." Well let's just stop
there at this point. There are several items
that we want to notice and notice as quickly
as we can. The first is that there is a fourth
kingdom that will come. We have said before that
this is Rome. Rome which had the widest rule
of any of the empires that are described. Rome
which in biblical prophecy is seen in two separate
periods of time. It is seen first as immediately
succeeding Greece and reigning for hundreds of
years. In fact, some commentators point out that
actually parts of Rome ruled until the 15th century,
the eastern part of it, the Byzantine Empire.
And so for centuries upon centuries, Rome existed.
It was a power upon the earth. Rome was the power
in Jesus' day when he was born. There was a Caesar,
of course, in Rome. And it was a fierce, militaristic
empire. It was never conquered, as has been pointed
out before. It collapsed, it disintegrated from
within, basically. And although Rome was eventually
conquered in the 5th century, There was never
an empire that replaced it. Things just sort
of disintegrated governmentally. The Bible indicates,
I believe, that there is yet a future aspect
to the Roman Empire. And what we see here is
that future aspect. Rome was never described
in those ancient days as ten kings. There was
never another king that rose up and replaced
three of them, became then the eighth and obviously
the leading one of the kings of Rome. That never
happened historically. I believe it is yet remaining
for a future time. When we think of the Roman
Empire, we think of Europe. And I believe that
what we are seeing today in Europe may well be
the stirring of that continent, which will result
in the formation of what Daniel saw in this vision.
Right now, the European common market is more
than ten nations, but everything is in the fruit
basket that's being tipped over in Europe right
now. The two Germanys are talking about reunification.
There may be other countries that will merge
or perhaps split. There's a great deal of racial
and ethnic division and conflict even in some
of the political countries. For example, Czechoslovakia
with its three distinct sections. And so I believe
that we're going to see in Europe develop over
the next months and years a change, so that there
will eventually form a confederation of nations
that will number ten. And that will be a revival
of the ancient Roman Empire in the form that
Daniel predicted. And about the time these ten
kingdoms get together, there is going to arise
another king. And as a result of his emergence
on the scene of the world, this king, who will
become the Antichrist, will in some way replace
three of the kings. We're not told how that will
happen. But by virtue of his rising up to power,
three kings will be replaced. so that there will
be essentially eight kings left with Antichrist,
the eighth, being the most powerful, the most
influential. It is said that he will speak against
God. That preposition literally says he will
speak at the side of God. The picture is that
he will present himself as being God's equal.
Thus he will he will pretend to be deity and
will come to the point of demanding worship.
Assisting him in that will be the false prophet
who is described again in Revelation chapter
13 as Antichrist's partner. Because Antichrist,
this political figure who arises out of the Gentile
world, this Antichrist will clothe himself with
the garments Get this, of apostate Christendom,
which is described for us in Revelation chapter
18. There will be a wedding of the political
power of Antichrist and the religious power of
the apostate church. And the apostate church
will help the Antichrist rise to power. before
Antichrist then turns on the church and persecutes
and destroys it, its power. It is said that this
king will wage war with the saints in verse 21.
He will wear them down and so he will turn upon
the true people of God and will persecute them.
That is described in Revelation chapter 12 in
some detail. Zechariah seems to indicate that
two -thirds of the Jews in that period of time
will be killed. I say it with sorrow in my heart,
but the worst days for the Jewish people are
yet ahead. Hitler and the Holocaust was only
a preview, I am sorry to say, of what Antichrist
will do to the Jewish people. Two -thirds of
them will be wiped out in the tribulation period,
as will many Gentiles who will not follow Antichrist,
who will not receive his mark. Zechariah also
seems to indicate that the city of Jerusalem,
now under Jewish control, will eventually be
captured by Gentile forces. Antichrist will put
into effect certain economic policies. that will
create economic hardship, especially for those
who are believers in the true God. Daniel tells
us that he will attempt to change both natural
and moral laws. In other words, he will try to
replace any vestige of the Judeo -Christian heritage
of the Western nations. An example of this might
be pointed to in what happened in the French
Revolution. when the leaders then, a couple of
hundred years ago, attempted to create a ten
-day work week rather than the seven -day work
week. It did not succeed. You see, there was
an attempt to change the very timing that men
have lived by through these years, since the
very beginning of time, as a matter of fact,
when God ordered seven days and one day of rest.
It's that sort of thing that Antichrist will
attempt. but he likewise will not ultimately
succeed. Now the scriptures indicate that things
will go his way. It doesn't say this in Daniel,
but we learn from other portions of scripture
that for three and a half years this fellow will
appear to be the nicest guy who's ever been born
in the face of the earth. He will be charismatic,
he will be intelligent, he will be brilliant.
He will be a great orator. He will be a military
leader par excellence. He will be able to bring
together political coalitions that have been
impossible. He will be a gifted individual. All
of this, of course, because he is empowered by
Satan. But he himself will come off as the nicest
guy, the kind of a guy you would want to have
as your brother or your father. But then, in
the midst of the tribulation period, after three
and a half years, he will change entirely. And
his true nature will be exposed. And that seems
to be the period that is in view in verse 25,
when it talks about a time, times, and half a
time. It doesn't say whether that's a minute,
an hour, a month, or a year. But as we compare
Scripture with Scripture, it seems very clear
When Daniel uses the term time, he's talking
about one year. Times is two more years. So that's
a total of three. Then he talks about half a
time, which is half a year, which is exactly
one half of the entire tribulation period. Well,
we've said quite a bit here about Antichrist.
The most important thing, however, is yet to
come. And that is that Antichrist will be judged
by Jesus Christ. He will not succeed, though
he will be on the verge of success. Ultimately
he will be judged. It says court will sit for
judgment. His dominion will be taken away, annihilated
and destroyed forever. In Revelation chapter
20 we see that the beast, the Antichrist, and
the false prophet, this religious leader, who
charmed the apostate church into giving antichrist
worship will both be cast alive into the lake
of fire. They are the first two inhabitants of
that eternal place of damnation and will be there
alone for a thousand years before others then
come to join them. But they are judged and put
there for their eternal punishment. Then it says
in verse 27, then the sovereignty, the dominion,
and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the
whole heaven will be given to the people of the
saints of the highest one. His kingdom will be
an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions
will serve and obey him. And so the kingdom is
then given to Jesus Christ and to those who are
his, and they reign in him. And so Daniel gives
us quite a broad, expansive vision as he records
this seventh chapter of his book. It goes all
the way back to when the times of the Gentiles
began with Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. It takes
us through successive kingdoms, through Rome.
Daniel does not see the extensive age that we
call the church age, the age of grace, that time
in which we live now. That was not clear to him.
That was not revealed to him. But he saw that
fourth kingdom ultimately in the form of ten
kings, ten nations, and the rising up of the
Antichrist. He saw all of that. And then the
destruction of Antichrist and that fourth kingdom
and all the Gentile kingdoms before it all together,
their destruction he sees, and the establishment
of the kingdom of the Son of Man and the saints
of the Most High. Now, Lord willing, next week
in chapter 8, we're going to talk about another
vision that Daniel had that fills us in on some
details that are given to us rather in broad
sweeps in chapter 7. But as we close, I just
want to ask this question. Jesus Christ, friend,
is going to reign. There is no question that
the dominion will be given to him, but the question
is this. Does Jesus Christ reign in your life
tonight? Is He tonight your Lord and your Savior?
You see, your well -being, not just for life,
but for eternity, is at stake by your answer
to that question. Make no mistake about it, one
day Jesus Christ will return, just as every detail
of this book has prophetically been fulfilled.
So one day everything will come to pass. Every
jot, every tittle, as Jesus said, will be fulfilled.
There's no doubt about that. The question is,
what is my relationship, what is your relationship
to this eternal God and His Son, Jesus Christ,
who will reign forever? And if He is not tonight
reigning in your life, then don't go on living
for what is soon to pass away. But live for Him.
Give your heart. Give your life to Him. And let
Him be the Lord and Savior of your life. Let's
pray together. If tonight you sense a spiritual
need, if there's not a right relationship between
you and God, if you're on the wrong side of this
equation, you do not belong to Him who will reign,
but you belong to Him who will be destroyed.
Will you tonight change your allegiance? Will
you turn? to Jesus Christ in faith and trust
Him. If I or one of our staff, one of our elders,
can talk with you afterward or even sometime
this week, please do not hesitate to talk to
us. Would you stand with me please as we close
in prayer? And now, Father, dismiss us, I pray,
with the joy of the knowledge that we have from
your Word. May the assurance that you are in
control, even in these times, especially in these
times, fill us with great hope and anticipation.
Lord, I pray that you will help us to read the
newspaper and listen to the news in light of
the Word of God. Keep us from jumping to conclusions
that are unwarranted, but Lord, may we be wise
and understand the days in which we have been
chosen to live. And may we be faithful to be
the saints of the Most High in our day and represent
you well and declare your gospel to a world that
is headed for judgment. In Jesus' name, amen.
Good night.