Ministry on Daniel 2-11 in several ministries

… This is a very long chapter and we won't read all the chapter. Daniel, chapter 2. And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep break from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live forever. Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me. If ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts, and rewards, and great honor. Therefore show me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you. For ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof. And of course it goes on to state how that they weren't able to, of course, to tell the king the dream. And the king gives the decree. And verse 13, The decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He answered and said to Ariok, the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Ariok made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishiel, and Azariah, his companions, that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven according to this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a might vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might of his. And he changed the times and the seasons. He removed kings and set up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee, for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. And then Daniel is taken into the king's. And he says there in verse 30, As for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, as the margin says, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O king, sourced and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sourced till the stone was cut with our hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chap of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, but no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream, and we will tell the anticipation thereof before the king. Now we'll read that part when we come to it. Now I want to go back just a little and refer to what we had on Slaw's Day evening, the first chapter. The first chapter is introductory, and as our chapter says, it gives us the moral condition suited to enlightenment in the ways and counsels of God. Separation maintained. And we notice that that gives us a key to the understanding of the book of Daniel, really a key to the understanding of all prophecy, and we might also extend that and say it's really a key to the understanding of the whole word of God. That is that we must be in a right spiritual state. And there we have the test that Daniel and his companions were put to. They refused to defile themselves with the portion of the king's meat and with the wine which he drank. They stood for God in an evil day, and God honored them for it. And as a result of standing for God, God gave to them enlightenment in his secret. We have the same principle in the first psalm where we have the contrast between the godly and the ungodly. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. We also have it in the beginning of Psalm 119 where it says, Blessed are the undefiled in the way that walk in the law of the Lord. When we turn to the first chapter of Revelation, we have the same principle. John was in the isle of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. He was bearing reproach for Christ. He was in the path of faithfulness and he was in the spirit on the Lord's day. And the Lord revealed to him the future, the prophetic history of the church and what is going to take place after the Lord takes the church away. Now, the book of Daniel doesn't take up the church. It takes up largely the Gentile nations because Daniel really deals with the times of the Gentiles that began with Nebuchadnezzar. And of course, it also deals, though, with Israel in connection with this. That is, the Gentile nations in scripture are only mentioned as they play some part in connection with God's people, Israel. No notice is taken in scripture of the Gentile nations that have nothing to do with the nation of Israel. But the Gentile nations are mentioned as having either been favorable or unfavorable to God's people, Israel. And of course, the times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar and they end with the coming of the Lord Jesus to establish his reign. So that's why the book of Daniel, for us, is really very important as taking up these things. And as the chart tells us, we see that everything that we have in these various chapters is a picture, we might say, of something that will take place in the time of the end. And in the meantime, we have, since the death of Christ, until the Lord's coming to take the church away, this parenthetic period called the present age or church period from the cross to the rapture. And this is a dateless period. We cannot set a date for it. We know that many things show us that we're drawing near to the close of this period. But no one can say when the Lord will come. No one can say what year he'll come, what day he'll come. Many people have tried to set dates, and they've failed because you cannot bring dates in in connection with the church. Dates have to do with Israel. And these dates are suspended, we might say, during this period. We'll see that very plainly when we come to the prophecy of the 70 weeks when we get down there to the ninth chapter. Now, in connection with this first chapter, with this second chapter, rather, I want us to turn to two verses in Jeremiah. Go back to Jeremiah, and the first is in the 25th chapter. In the 25th chapter of Jeremiah, in verse 1, it says, The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Now, we're told there that the fourth year of Jehoiakim was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. Now let's turn over to the 36th chapter of Jeremiah. In the 36th of Jeremiah, it tells us in verse 9, And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed the fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came out of the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. And while they were there at that fast, we find that Barak, who is Jeremiah's servant, he's called in before the king, and they ask him, it says in verse 17, Tell us now, how didst thou write all these words at his mouth? Because he'd written what Jeremiah said. Then Barak answered them. He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in a book. Then when we get down to the 22nd verse, it says, The king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the house burning before him. And it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the house, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was upon the house. That's what the king did. Now here we have something that took place in the fifth year of Jehoiakim. And the fifth year of Jehoiakim, of course, was the second year of Nebuchadnezzar. Now let's turn to our chapter in Daniel now. And it says, the first verse says, In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep break from him. Now you see the connection. The second year of Nebuchadnezzar is the fifth year of Jehoiakim. The very year that the king of Judah shows how he despises the word of God by slashing it with a knife and throwing it into the fire. That's the year that God, we might say, officially sets aside his throne on earth. The kingdom of Judah is officially set aside that year. And the times of the Gentiles begin. Nebuchadnezzar comes to the front. This is the very year that Nebuchadnezzar dreams these dreams. And he's told that he is the head of God. Now the times of the Gentiles have begun. It's a very significant thing, is it not, that the times of the Gentiles begin with God setting aside Israel because in the person of their leader, in the person of their king, they are cutting and burning the word of God. You know, that is what was characterized the times of the Gentiles right down. And even today we find those who would cut the word of God. Modelism would cut pieces out of the word of God. Romanism in many countries, as we know, in South America and these places, burns the word of God. That is what was characterized the times of the Gentiles. It was true of Israel, but are the Gentiles any better? No. And God's word is still despised by those who do not want it. So Nebuchadnezzar now is coming to the front. The times of the Gentiles are beginning. And the Lord causes this man, Nebuchadnezzar, to dream a dream. And then the Lord causes him to forget the dream. Of course, this is all part of God's plan to bring Daniel to the front and that Daniel might be the instrument to make known the interpretation of the dream. We don't find in the New Testament God using dreams so much as he did in the Old. He used them a great deal in the Old Testament times. That is, and even in the New Testament before the Holy Spirit came. But we don't find dreams so much in the epistles, although God does sometimes speak through dreams. But back in these days it was a very usual way for God to speak when he had to make known something very important. And the king cannot think of what this dream is. He's conscious that he dreams some very, very important dream. Some very strange dream. And he calls in all of the Chaldeans and these sorcerers and all these wise men. They're supposed to be able to interpret dreams and all these kind of things. So the king says, well now, you've got to tell me not only the interpretation of the dream, you've got to tell me what the dream is. Why they say king? It's never been known that any king has ever asked his wise men to tell the dream that he dreams. We can always tell what the interpretation is if you'll tell us what the dream is. The king says, well you're just a lot of frauds. That's what you are. That's practically what he says. Of course you can tell me what the, you can make up something to tell me if I tell you what it is. But if you're really what you claim to be, you tell me what the dream was and I'll believe that you really understand what you're doing. And of course they couldn't do it. And the king was so incensed that the word went forth that all of the wise men in Babylon would be killed. And of course this included Daniel and his companions because they had been prepared to be brought in to be counted as the wise men. As we saw last evening, they had, after they refused to eat the king's meat and drink his wine, they'd asked to have pulse and water given to them and it had been proved that they looked better than the others and so they were allowed to have this food. And then when, at the end of the time when they went into the king, the king found that they really had wisdom. They had God-given wisdom because they lived in fellowship with the Lord. And that's a wonderful lesson for us. A Christian, even though he may lack certain advantages that a worldly might have, if he's living in communion with the Lord, that more than makes up for what he lacks because he has a God-given wisdom and an understanding as to matters. And we should always remember that. God gives us wisdom even in our daily occupation and God uses Christians sometimes in that to have right judgment on matters because they're walking in fellowship with the Lord that even becomes a benefit to their employers and the employers will recognize that. Well, Daniel says, when this Arioch comes to take them away, to execute them, he says, well, why is the matter so hasty? And he explains to Daniel and Daniel says, well, give me time. He went into the king and he pleaded. He says, you give me time and we'll make known to the king the interpretation. And then what did Daniel do? He called a prayer meeting. Daniel called his three companions. Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the wise men of Babylon. You notice in this book of Daniel, it speaks of the God of heaven. Whenever we have the God of heaven mentioned, that is specially connected with the times of the Gentiles. When God's throne was on earth and when the Lord recognized the throne of David as it was set up there in Jerusalem, he was the God of earth. You remember when, and even before that, you remember when the children of Israel crossed the river Jordan? It said that that was the ark of the Lord of all the earth. And they had recognized that the God of the children of Israel was the God of all the earth. God made himself known as the God of the earth. But when he removed the throne, in the times of the Gentiles, he's known as the God of heaven. This shows that Daniel had intelligence as to God's dispensational plan. He speaks of God now as the God of heaven because God is not recognizing his throne on earth anymore. He's allowed Jerusalem to be taken captive and he's allowed men like Daniel and the others who were of the seat of the royal seat, he's allowed them to be carried away, captured into Babylon. But he still rules in the affairs of men. God has not abandoned the earth even though he's the God of heaven. He's over all. And so Daniel goes into the Lord and asks the Lord to make known this thing. And the Lord answers their prayer. What a fervent prayer meeting that must have been. There's the sword hanging over their heads, as it were. And there they are, fervently praying that God's purposes will be worked out. And Daniel, no doubt, in perfect peace of mind, having prayed about the matter, he's in perfect peace. He doesn't lie awake on his bed worrying about it. He goes off to sleep. And in his sleep, the Lord reveals the dream to him. The Lord causes Daniel to dream the same dream that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. And the Lord also gives Daniel an understanding as to what the dream means. Then what does Daniel do? Does he wake up next morning and say hallelujah and immediately rush off into the king to tell the king about it? No. Daniel takes time to have, now, a praise meeting. They'd had a prayer meeting and now they have a praise meeting. You know, there are lovely lessons in these things, beloved brethren, for us. Even though we don't, in our problems that we have, the destinies of empires are not at stake like they were in this thing and our lives are not at stake like they were with Daniel, yet there are lessons for us to learn. When difficulties come, let's get before the Lord and pray. And when the Lord answers our prayer, before we do anything else, let's praise and thank him. And that's what Daniel did. It says there in verse 19, then it was the secret revealed unto Daniel in the night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the signs and the seasons. He reproves kings. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might and has made known unto me now what we desired of thee, that thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. What a wonderful time of praise Daniel and his companions had. The Lord has answered their prayer and they thanked the Lord. Then we find that Daniel went to Ariok, the executioner, and made known to him. He went and he says, Now don't destroy the wise men. The Lord has made known unto me. Or rather, Daniel doesn't tell him that the Lord has made known, but he says, Bring me in before the king and I will show the king the interpretation. And you notice that it says there that Ariok brought him in in haste before the king. Doesn't that remind us of Joseph? You remember when Joseph was in Egypt and the king dreamed the dream about the seven fat cows and the seven lean cows and he couldn't know what it meant. And finally the chief butler tells him about Joseph who's in jail who interpreted his dream and it says that they made, I just forget the exact words, but anyhow it says that they caused Joseph to go running. They made him to get out of jail in haste and they shaved him and cleaned him up and everything and they hurried him into the king. And so it is here. You see, Daniel doesn't hurry. He takes time to pray and he takes time to praise. But the executioner, he hurries him because he realized that the lives of all these wise men were at stake. You know these same wise men really owed their lives to Daniel under God and yet they didn't show a praiseful spirit after it as we'll see as we go along. And he comes in before the king in haste it says and says thus unto him, I found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known to the king the interpretation. You see, Daniel is identified as one of the captives of Judah. His nationality isn't hidden. And it was known that Judah, the people of Judah, the Jews were the people who worshipped the Lord. They were the ones that worshipped Jehovah. They were those who were known as having the true God. And so Daniel's whole testimony is connected with the knowledge of the true God. So the testimony of God as originally established in Jerusalem is now being made known to Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel himself testifies for the Lord. He doesn't take credit. Daniel answers in the presence of the king the secret which the king has demanded cannot the wise men and astrologers the magicians and soothsayers show unto the king but there is a God in heaven that reveals the secrets. Daniel doesn't take credit to himself. He gives the credit to the Lord. The God in heaven, Daniel said. And he says a very important thing in verse 30. I think verse 30 is a very important verse. This secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living. But, the marginal reading says but for the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. God revealed this for two reasons. That the interpretation might be made known to the king and that the king's own thoughts might be revealed. And you know that's always true when God makes something known to us. If God makes something known to us from his precious word it is because he wants us to understand what his word says. But it's also that he wants our own thoughts to be revealed. That is, he wants us to be exercised as to what our attitude is towards the thing that's been revealed. This thing's made known to Nebuchadnezzar. That's a wonderful thing. Not only to Nebuchadnezzar, but we might say for the blessing of the whole human race it's recorded in scripture and it's been here right now that we might know this truth throughout the times of the Gentiles. But also, what is Nebuchadnezzar's attitude to this revelation? It seems that it puffed him up as we go on in his history. And instead of humbling him it made him proud. He took a wrong attitude to the revelation of God. He wanted to use this fact that God had given him an important place as the head of the Babylonian Empire for his own self-aggrandizement instead of taking a humble place before God. And beloved, what a lesson there is for us there. We can use the word of God to make ourselves important or we can use the word of God to allow it to search us and to take a humble place ourselves that God's word might be used for blessing to others. So you see, our own thoughts are manifested by the attitude that we show to the truth of God as he reveals it to us. Then Daniel goes on and explains about the image. And of course, here we have on our chart we have a picture of this great image here. As it says, Thou, O King, source and behold a great image. This great image whose brightness was excellent stood before me. The form thereof was terrible. This, of course, is the artist's idea which I think is a very poor one. It must have been a very amazing thing, this image. The image's head was a fine gold and that represents the gold, of course. His breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs of iron, this is the parenthetic period comes in here, the legs, of course, come right down to here, and his feet, part of iron and part of clay. Till thou saw'st that the stone was cut without hands, that represents the stone, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away and no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Really it was a marvelous dream. Then Daniel goes on and tells the king the interpretation. And the interpretation of this dream is that this image is that it represents the whole period of the times of the Gentiles from Nebuchadnezzar's day down to when the stone smites the feet of the image. And the stone, of course, as we know from other scriptures, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And isn't it a remarkable thing, it says, that when this whole image comes down, that is, the whole of Gentile rule comes to an end, all the dust of this whole thing is carried away like the chaff on the summer threshing floor. There's none of it left. Man's rule will completely disappear from the earth. And the stone that smites the image becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth. That is, that the Lord Jesus Christ, His reign is what occupies this whole scene. Now, as Daniel interprets it, we can see the meaning of these different kingdoms. He says, Thou, O king, art a king of kings. For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hands and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of God. We notice a very important thing in connection with these kingdoms, that the idea is just the opposite to what we are taught as to politics today. We've been schooled, especially in America and in our modern so-called democratic countries, we have been taught from our childhood that the democratic form of government is the highest form of government. Now, that's not what Scripture says. Scripture lets us see that the autocratic form of government is the highest form of government. That to have one man to rule and to be an absolute ruler, that that is the highest form of government. And the reason is that that's the divine form of government. But why is it that we don't like that form of government? And why is it that that form of government hasn't been proved to be a successful form of government on earth? Because man has not been able to produce the right man. Any man who gets into that position seems to get drunk with power, image, and is not able, many of these men have not been able to govern themselves, much less govern others. So we might say that God's form, the highest form of government, is a one-man rule. But the riddle is, find the man. And Adam's race hasn't been able to produce him. God will produce him in his own time. And he's none other than the one that we were referring to on the Lord's Day, the lion of the tribe of Judah, who became the lion because first of all he was the lamb, the one who went down into death, suffered weakness and defeat, and is the one who has the right to reign. So Nebuchadnezzar's reign represents the highest form of government. That's why we get gold there. You see, we find that these metals, while they may increase in strength to a certain extent, but they decrease in value. Gold is not a strong metal, but it's a very valuable metal. And this is letting us see the value of the thing, as it were, before God. It's how man sees these things, but it's also letting us see how God sees them, what the rule means. The gold is the highest form of government, this autocratic rule. And that's what Nebuchadnezzar was. He was an absolute monarch. Whom he would exclude, and whom he would have kept alive. If the wise men displeased him, off with their heads. No one had anything to say about it. The king's word was absolute. What he said had to be done. Nebuchadnezzar had a wonderful opportunity. Seeing that God had put him in that position, he had a wonderful opportunity to honor God. But he didn't honor God. And we have known that men in history, even in our own day, who have the privilege, if we might call it that, of being heads of nations and have a wonderful opportunity, and they have used their power. And where are they today? Where's a man like Hitler? He was practically absolute in his rule in a certain sense, and he could have used it for good, but he didn't. He got drunk with his power, and he used it for evil. And, of course, God's judgment came upon him. Then, it says in verse 39, After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee. That's the silver. The arms and the breast and the arms of silver. And that represents the kingdom of the Medes and Persians that followed the Babylonian kingdom. We have the two arms because it was a dual kingdom. The Medes came, the Medes first, then the Persians came in afterwards and they really became greater than the Medes. We have, further on in Daniel, some more reference to the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. We have, of course, these four kingdoms referred to here in the eighth chapter as four beasts. That really gives us their true character in the sight of God. And then we have the Medo-Persian kingdom referred to in this ram with two horns. And the one horn longer than the other and the longer horn came up last. The first horn representing the kingdom of the Medes and the second horn representing the kingdom of the Persians. It was the kingdom of Medo-Persia. It was an inferior kingdom to the Babylonian kingdom because the laws of the Medes and Persians were that once a law was made it couldn't be changed so that the king didn't have absolute power. And that was tested out, you see, when Daniel was cast into the lion's den. The king made a law that anyone who worshipped any other god save the king would be cast into the den of lions. And these wise men that wanted to get rid of Daniel had got the king to sign this law and the king was bound by the law that he'd signed and he couldn't alter it. He was not the absolute monarch that Nebuchadnezzar was. It was an inferior form of government in that sense although maybe they thought it was a progress. It was giving more people the opportunity of having part in the government. God looked upon it as an inferior form of government. Well, that passes away. The kingdom of the Medes and Persians also came to an end. And then there comes the Grecian kingdom. That's the third. Verse 39 it says, And another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth. This is the Greek kingdom. And of course the great Greek conqueror was Alexander the Great. And Alexander the Great is represented here in the 8th chapter by the he-goat with this one horse and he comes along and he kills this ram and tramples on it. It represents Alexander the Great coming from the west because Alexander the Great represents the first time that the reign of the times of the Gentiles passes from the east to the west. The Babylonian Empire and the Medo-Persian Empire are empires that are in what we call now the Middle East. But Alexander came from the west, from Europe. These others were from Asia. Alexander is the Greek conqueror. And the Gentile kingdom now comes, Gentile rule now passes to Greece. And the Greek Empire of course was a great empire. And that's represented in this image by the leopard with the four wings because when Alexander dies, his four generals, the kingdom is divided up among his four generals. We'll see that as we get along to it. And then we find, following that, it says in the 40th verse, And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things and as iron that breaketh all things shall it break in pieces and bruise. And there you have the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire that was in existence when the Lord was born. And of course the Roman Empire was a very, very strong empire as far as conquering was concerned. It was an empire of iron. And a much inferior metal as to value, yet a much stronger metal than the gold. But we see there's been a deterioration in the value of these metals showing that man's government has deteriorated in God's sight, although no doubt man thinks he's made a great deal of progress in his own sight. But then that's not all. We notice in connection with this, with this Roman Empire that it divides into two legs. And of course that fits in with the history of the Roman Empire that it divided up into the eastern and the western section. Rome became the capital of the western section and Constantinople or Istanbul is where our brother John comes from became the capital of the eastern section of the Roman Empire. But then as we get right down to the time of the end here we realize that the feet were the pure iron, the feet are a part of iron and a part of mirey clay. And this of course is something very unusual to have the iron mixed with the clay. It tells us that. It says, verse 41, Whereas thou saw'st the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou saw'st the iron mixed with mirey clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken or brittle. And whereas thou saw'st iron mixed with mirey clay, they shall mingle themselves with the feet of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. In a certain sense, the Roman Empire passed away, but in another sense, the Roman Empire has not ceased to exist. That is, it hasn't existed exactly as an empire, but the institutions of Rome have existed among the European peoples, that is, among the people who once formed part of the Roman Empire right down through time. And from other scriptures, from this scripture, and from what it tells us about this beast here in the last days, that it's going to have ten horns on it, and from what we read in the book of Revelation, we believe that after the church, after the Lord takes the church away, that there will be seen a revival of the Roman Empire in a ten-kingdom form. That is, ten nations will form again the Roman Empire, but with this great difference to what the Roman Empire was before. There'll be a great weakness in it. It won't just be an autocratic rule, or we might say, even where there is a republican rule as there was in Rome, there'll be a weakness there. And the weakness, I think we can see where the weakness comes in. That is, in the clash of the two forms of government that people have in mind. We have it perhaps to a certain extent even in the United States. We have republicanism, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. And it's well known that the Republican Party is more favorable to all the government as we would expect to see it in scriptures, whereas the Democratic Party is more favorable to trade unionism and socialism. And it kind of leans a little bit more, as they say today, to the left. The Republican Party leans to the right. The Democratic Party leans to the left. I'm not entering into politics. Of course, I'm just stating what's the truth. And we can notice these things. Even though we Christians should keep out of politics, yet we can form a right appraisal of these things that go on around us. And so, there's a weakness. And there'll be a great weakness in this revived Roman Empire for that very reason. The iron and the clay won't mix with each other. And it says there, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. And I believe that means that the it means that the ruling peoples, the ruling classes, will mingle themselves with the what are known as the common people, the people that haven't been the ruling people. And that's where you get weakness. We have people elected to the governments that really have no right to be in government because they don't know how to act. They're not really suitable. But because they're elected and because the majority rules, they have to be there. And yet, they're not fitted to be there sometimes. And that's where the weakness comes in in a democratic form of government. It's the rule of the people. Well, someone might say, why is it that our so-called democratic forms of government have been successful in a large measure in our, at least in our English-speaking countries? I believe the reason is that we've never had, in England or America, we've never had pure democracy. We've never had just the rule of the people by the people and for the people. We've had men, even though they were elected, who held their office under God, who realized that even though they were elected by the people, they realized that they just weren't there to please the people. But they were there to carry out right moral principles. And some of them exercised even to carry out scriptural principles. So I believe that we can say that where so-called democracy has been successful, it has been because it has in a measure been a theocracy. Where those who rule have sought to rule under God. And we know that that's been true in a large measure in the early days of this country. Those who rule realize that God put them there. And that's why there was success and blessing. But in a country like France, where they really had a pure form of democracy, that the people are just there because the people put them there, they never can keep a stable government. It's well known that if a government can stay in for 12 months in France, well that's a very, very long time for the government to stay in power. You see? There's not the fear of God there like there has been in the countries that felt the benefit of the Reformation. But sad to say, we see our countries departing from that today. And so many are just in office to please those that put them there. And that brings, of course, a degeneracy. Well, these 10 toes then, they represent the last stage of the Roman Empire. After the Lord takes the church away, we'll see a revival of the Roman Empire. And I believe, brethren, it seems that today we are seeing the beginning of that. Perhaps this European, this economic market, known as the Rome Treaty, by the way. It was a treaty made in Rome. Perhaps this is the beginning of what will eventually become the revived Roman Empire that will develop after the Lord takes us away. But these things cannot develop in their fullness as long as the church is here. And after the Lord takes us away, there will come a period, a certain period, then the Lord will be the great stone that will come without hands and the whole of man's rule from the head of gold right down to the toes will be completely and swept away with the judgments of God. And the Lord Jesus will take unto himself his great power of reign. …

… The third chapter of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three score cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the councillors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the councils, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud, to you it is commanded, O people, natures, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sax, basque, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore at that time when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sax, basque, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews, and they spake and said unto the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sax, basque, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackcloth, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made well. But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the fall of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to mine Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosem, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's command was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. We'll read as far as there now, we'll read the other later on. I want to turn back now for a minute without losing the place, to the 36th chapter of Jeremiah. Now excuse me, it's the 29th chapter of Jeremiah I should have said. The 29th chapter of Jeremiah. Here we have a word from the prophet Jeremiah, in verse 20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Of Ahab the son of of Coliah, and of Zedekiah the son of Matthias, which prophesied, lie unto you in my name. Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. It says Nebuchadrezzar, it's just another way of saying the same name. Sometimes he's called Nebuchadnezzar, and sometimes he's called Nebuchadrezzar. Verse 22, and of them shall be taken up a curse by all, by all the captivity of Judah, which are in Babylon, saying, the Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbor's wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them, even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord. Now I read this, as you can see, it's very evident that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not the only ones who came under the king's displeasure, and were cast into a burning furnace. Apparently these two men, of whom Jeremiah speaks, they also were treated in a similar way. They were roasted in the fire. Such was the so-called justice that was meted out in those days. But with this great difference, in our chapter tonight, we find that these three men, who were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace, were cast in because of their faithfulness to the Lord. But these two mentioned here, Ahab and Zedekiah, of course this isn't the kings of that name, but two other men of that name, who were false prophets, and who had prophesied false things, and also had done many things against the Lord, and rebelled against the Lord. The Lord allowed them in his chastening upon the people of Israel, and his judgment on these two men for what they did, the Lord allowed them also to be cast into the fire. But they were not delivered, whereas the men in our chapter were delivered. And here we have the difference between these who were faithful to the Lord, and those who were not faithful to the Lord. Of course this doesn't mean to say that the Lord always delivers out of the hand of the difficult things. Sometimes the Lord has allowed those who've been put through persecutions like this to perish, and we have to accept whatever is God's will in the matter. But there's no doubt, there is a very definite lesson in the different treatment we find the Lord allow to these two men, between the two and the three. Because although the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are cast into this fire, we find the Lord delivering them out of it, as we shall see. Now, to get the background of our chapter tonight, when we come to this third chapter of the book of Daniel, as we have it pointed out here on the chart, we have the enforced worship of the image. Nebuchadnezzar makes this golden image. I'm inclined to think that because of this wonderful dream that God gave Nebuchadnezzar, that we saw last week, Wednesday night, in the second chapter, God in his wondrous grace had let Nebuchadnezzar, had given Nebuchadnezzar this dream of this golden image, of this image with the head of gold, which really portrayed the whole time of the Gentiles. Instead of Nebuchadnezzar learning the lesson from this, and realizing that God had put him in this position, and that was for him to humble himself before God and realize that he received this kingdom from the hand of God. Instead of that, he becomes vain in his imaginations. And instead of turning to worship the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar continues to worship gods, to worship idols. And not only that, he gets the idea, possibly from this very image that he's seen, of building a huge image of gold, and setting it up there in the midst of his kingdom, and ordering everyone in his dominions, at the time that they hear all of this music being played, to fall down and worship the golden image. And so it says that he made this image of gold, whose height was three square cubits, and whose width was six cubits, the breadth thereof was six cubits. That is, this image was about 100 feet tall, 100 feet high, and about 10 feet wide, and an image of gold. Think of the cost of it. Think of the value of a thing like that. And this huge image was set up. We might say it was Nebuchadnezzar's crowning idolatry, to set up an idol and to order everyone in his dominions to worship the idol. You know, men, dictators, men who were in a position of authority like Nebuchadnezzar, and many others since, have realized what has been called the unifying influence of religion. That if people can all be brought to believe in only one religion, even though it's a false religion, that that will enable them, the political rulers, to have a greater hold over them. And possibly that's what Nebuchadnezzar realized. But he didn't realize that Satan is at the back of idolatry. This was really, it was really a work of Satan. The devil was at the back of this. And it was an endeavor to blot out God's testimony that he was giving through Israel. Although Israel had been set aside by God, that is, Jerusalem had been destroyed, and the people of Israel had been carried captive into Babylon, yet God's testimony was still with the godly remnants even there in Babylon. Possibly a mass of the Jews in Babylon were unfaithful to the Lord. And these two, whom the Lord allowed to be roasted in the fire, they represent the unfaithful ones, and those who prophesied lies. But there were the faithful ones. God had a faithful remnant, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and others who were faithful to the Lord. And in the midst of all the corruptions of Babylon, they determined to be faithful. And so this is where the test comes. And beloved, all these things are a great lesson to us, because in all ages we find there's been a great departure, but God always looks for those who will be faithful. And those who are faithful are always found in the minority. When we were laboring in South America, where it was all Roman Catholicism around us, sometimes they'd say to us, you people must be wrong, and the Roman Catholic Church must be right, because why is it there are so few of you, and there are so many of us? And we used to say, well, if you read the Bible, you will find out that those who stood for the truth have always been in the minority. And it's far better to be with the few to the right than to be with the many that are wrong. And isn't that always true? God's truth is always with the few. We never find God's truth has been with the many. And but it needs a great deal of grace to go on faithfully, and the Lord gives it to those who are willing to stand for his precious truth. Now it tells us here in our on our chart that the enforced worship of the image and the preserved remnant are typical of the abomination of desolation and of the faithful remnant in the time of the end. That is what we see here is a little picture of what is going to happen after the Lord, after this present church age is completed, and the Lord comes, after the Lord comes to take his church away. It's a picture of what will take place during those seven years that have yet to run their course, the latter half of which is called in scripture the Great Tribulation. And this will be one of the stages of Gentile, Gentile and Jewish apostasy will be the setting up of an image. In fact we have two things. We have the setting up of the image here, and the endeavor to force, to force universal worship of the image. But when we come over to to the sixth chapter, we find here something that's even worse we might say than the setting up of the image. We find the deification of man, because here the order is that the king is to be worshipped, and those who don't worship the king are to be cast into the den of lions. We might ask the question, where was Daniel when these three men were cast into the burning fiery furnace? We might also ask, where was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when Daniel was cast into the den of lions? We don't know. But I'm sure there's one thing that we can be absolutely certain of. Daniel did not bow down to that image, nor did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego worship the king. But for some reason or other they do not come to the front. Perhaps Daniel was in a position, because, perhaps it was because of the position he occupied that he was not obliged to fall down to the image. He may have been sent to another part of the king's great dominions at that time, and so was not there. But we can be pretty sure that if Daniel was there, he certainly would have been there with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And similarly, when we come over to the time of the lion's den, of course this is a good many years later. Daniel is here an old man, whereas here Daniel is a young man. But still, in both instances, we find the remnant is faithful and preserved of God, and that is typical of the faithful remnant of Israel whom God will preserve during the time of the great tribulation. Now I want to turn over to a verse, first of all, in the end of the book of Daniel, the last chapter. It mentions there, in the 11th verse, Daniel 12 and verse 11, from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. I read this verse because it refers here to the abomination that maketh desolate. Now let's turn over to the Gospel of Matthew. And in the 24th chapter of Matthew, we have here an outline of what will take place in the land of Israel after the Lord takes the church away. It says in verse 7, nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. This isn't referring to the gospel of God's grace that we preach now. This is the gospel of the kingdom, that God's faithful witnesses, the true Jehovah's witnesses, not the false ones that we have now, the true Jehovah's witnesses will be the godly remnant of Israel who will preach the gospel of the kingdom in that day. And there'll be a witness to all nations. Verse 15, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains, and let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world till this time, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Now I read this because it refers here to the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, which we saw in the last chapter of Daniel. And in scripture, an abomination is always an idol. The Lord, whatever the Lord refers, uses the word an abomination, it means an idol. And this is speaking of an idol that is going to be set up in Jerusalem, in the place where the Lord should be worshipped. Now from other scriptures we learn that after the Lord takes the church away, he's going to begin working again with Israel. Now we have lived to see the nation of Israel established in their own land. A thing that the prophetic writers of the last century said had to take place from scripture, so that there could be Jews there in the land of Israel, in order for these things to be fulfilled. We've lived to see that first step. And we can see that the stage is set, we might say, for what will take place the moment the Lord were to come. Supposing the Lord were to come tonight and to take away the church, catch us to be with himself, as we have in 1 Thessalonians 4. Can't we see how very easily, very quickly, things could develop there in Israel? The nation's already there. The people already recognize them as a nation. God would begin to exercise some of these Jews there who've not heard the gospel of God's grace, and they'll be converted. The work of God's Spirit will begin among them. There'll be a moving among the dry bones, and they'll come together, as Ezekiel tells us. God will work in Israel, and souls will be saved there. But there will be the great mass of the Jews who will run after Antichrist. And we find that eventually, we'll see this in a little more detail as we go further on in the book, but eventually an idol will be set up there in the holy place, because the head of the Roman Empire will allow the Jews to re-establish their religion. That's why you can see that this is referring to Jews in the land of Israel. It refers to the holy place, and to Judea, and the Sabbath day. You see, they're back in their land, they're keeping the Sabbath, they have the temple built, and they have their sacrifices being offered in the temple. And those that are godly among them will realize the spiritual background of these things. But in the middle of that week, that seven years that's yet to run, the sacrifice will come to an end. The religious, the political leader in Rome, and the religious leader in Palestine will stop the sacrifices. And instead of that, an image will be set up. Now let us turn over to the 13th chapter of Revelation to fill this in. You say, well where do we get this? Where do we get that, that an image is going to be set up there? Well, we are told here that there's an abomination of desolation in Matthew. Now in Revelation 13, we get what coincides with this. Here in Revelation 13, we have the two beasts. We have, first of all, in the first verse, I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his head is the name of blasphemy. This is the political head of the revived Roman Empire. This man is typified further on in our, in our studies by this little horn. When we get on to take up the account of these beasts here, we'll see this little horn that comes up, that speaks great swelling words against the Most High. Then we go on to verse 30, verse 11, and we have another beast. I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. This is the Antichrist. The first one is the, we might call him the anti-god, the beast, the Roman head, the political head of the revived Roman Empire. The second one will be the religious leader in Israel, and he will claim to be Christ. And you notice what it says of him. It says, he has two horns like a lamb. That is, he, he comes along very innocent looking. You know, when people see a lamb, and they see a lamb with two horns on it, they think, why what? That's a, that's a nice innocent little lamb, because he, he's professing to be Christ. Christ is set forth in the book of Revelation as the lamb, right through, from the beginning to to the end of Revelation. The Lord Jesus is the lamb. This man comes up as a lamb, and if you just went by the appearance, you'd be deceived. Isn't that true today? You know, there are many anti-Christian systems in the world, and if you just went by the outward appearance, you'd be greatly deceived. Along comes the Christian scientists with all their lovely talk, you know, if you just got carried away by the appearance, you'd be deceived. Oh, but don't go by just by what, by your eyes. You listen to what they say. What, how does it say he talks? He looks like a lamb, but how does he speak? It says he speak like a dragon. Ah, that's, that's where we get the, to learn really where the truth or where the error is. The Lord says of his people in the 10th of John, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Yes, and you know, if we get, if we get our ears accustomed to listening to the shepherd's voice, beloved, we won't be deceived by the false voices. We'll discern. Do you know that the, that the sheep, that the sheep knows its master's voice and won't be deceived by any other? That's a well-known thing among, about sheep. The sheep knows the voice of its own shepherd. They say that in Palestine, when the, the shepherds are out on the Palestine hills, every shepherd has its own sheep. And at noontime, several shepherds with their sheep will gather together at a certain place, under a tree perhaps, and rest for the noon hour. And the sheep will all mingle together. But when the time comes for the shepherds to go off to their pastures again, one shepherd will stand, and he'll begin calling his sheep. And all of his sheep will separate themselves from the flock, and they'll go off after him. The other shepherd will call his sheep, they'll all go after him. The others will call his, and they'll all go after him. And so each shepherd will go off, and not a single sheep will go after the wrong shepherd. Each sheep knows the shepherd's voice. We need to know the shepherd's voice. How we need to read the word, how we need to be in prayer, how we need to be before the Lord, and become accustomed to the shepherd's voice. Why is it that so many people are led off after false things? It's because they don't get, learn to know the shepherd's voice. And they don't discern. And when this man comes up, it says he'll speak like a dragon. Now notice what else it says about him. It says in verse 12, he exercises all the power of the first beast before him. And he causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he hath power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword and did live. And he hath power to give life unto the image of the beast. That's not life in the sense of, of life as, as receiving life from God that we have. The margin says breath. That is, apparently, by some satanic means, he'll actually make this image speak. Perhaps by, perhaps it'll be by a demon dwelling in the image and speaking. He'll give breath to the image of the beast and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Now we have three things here. We have, first of all, that he causes the people to worship the beast. Now that we're going to see in more detail when we come to this chapter, that will be the worship of man. The Antichrist will cause people to worship the Roman beast. But further than that, he will cause them to make an image to the beast and to worship the image. And that's what we have typified here tonight in this, the worship of this abomination of desolation. They'll worship the image to this beast that is set up there in Jerusalem. And many, many will worship that image. But there'll be those who will be faithful and won't worship the image. What will happen to them? Well, some we know, as we read there in Revelation, there will be many of the Jews who will be reading their Bibles at that time. And when they see that abomination of desolation set up there in Jerusalem, they'll flee. They'll say, now that's the warning that God gives us in the book of Matthew. You know, we have two very remarkable scriptures in the New Testament with regard to Jerusalem. The one is in the 24th of Matthew. The other is in the 21st of Luke. And if you'll carefully read, and I would counsel every one of us to read these portions at home to get the full benefit. And to read the chapters in Daniel as we go along and even before the meeting on the chapter. But if you'll read carefully those two chapters, the 21st of Luke and the 24th of Matthew, you'll notice that they generally speaking deal with the same time. But there's a big difference. Luke speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem back in the beginning of the Christian era. Luke says, and Luke gives us the Lord's words to the Christians of that time, way back about 70 AD. He says, when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, know that the desolation thereof is mine, and then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains. And then it mentions there that the Jews would be led captive unto all nations, and Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And of course that's what's referred to here, the times of the Gentiles, you see. And it's a matter of history that that's what took place. That when Titus brought his armies against Jerusalem, he surrounded the city of Jerusalem with his armies. This was the year 70 AD. And the Christians that were in Jerusalem, when they saw the army, the Roman armies around the city, they said, this is just what the Lord said, we've got to flee. But how could they flee if Titus had the city besieged? Well, what happened was, history tells us this, there was some disturbance somewhere else, and Titus had to take his armies away to quell this disturbance. The Christians had their sign, they fled. And history also says this, that when Titus came back shortly afterwards, and put his armies around the city again, there was not one Christian left in the city of Jerusalem. The city was besieged, the people were starved out until they were eating their own children, and finally when the city was taken, even though the Roman general had given orders not to touch Jerusalem, touch the temple, a soldier threw a firebrand into the temple and set fire to it, and the gold all ran in between the cracks of the stones, and the soldiers became so excited about getting this gold, that they tore the whole temple down. Even though the general had given orders for the temple not to be torn down, the Lord's word, the Lord had said to his disciples, do you see these stones? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. And that's exactly what happened. And as the Lord said, the Jews shall be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Well, some say, well, the times of the Gentiles must be fulfilled now because the Jews are back in the land. No, not yet. Jerusalem, the old city of Jerusalem is still trodden down of the Gentiles. Isn't that a remarkable thing? Although the Jews have a large slice of Israel, they still don't have the old city, because the times of the Gentiles are not fulfilled. And they will not be fulfilled until, after the Lord takes the church away. I don't believe we're going to live to see Jerusalem, the old city of Jerusalem, in the hands of the Jews. It's still in the hands of the Arabs. The old part of the city of Jerusalem is still in the hands of the Gentiles. Now, that was what it mentions in Luke, but in Matthew, we don't find it says anything about Jerusalem being encompassed with armies. In the portion that we read, it says when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, because Matthew is referring to what's yet future. Luke refers to, in Luke, God gave his sign to the faithful Christians in those days. In Matthew, the Lord gives the sign to the faithful Jews in the day that's yet future. Luke doesn't say anything about the Sabbath day, but Matthew mentions the Sabbath day because the Jews will be keeping the Sabbath day, as they're now keeping it in the land of Israel. So Matthew gives us the sign, and I believe that those that are in Jerusalem will flee the godly Jews in that future day, just the same as the Christians fled in the past day. But apparently there will be some who are not able to escape this. Will they then bow down to that image and worship it? No. They'll be slain, rather than worship the image. And those are those, I believe, that we get mentioned there, whose souls are under the altar in the sixth chapter of Revelation, crying for vengeance. And the Lord says, you wait, there's still some of your fellow servants yet to be slain. And it tells us here that he causes all, both small and great. No, that's not it. It says he'll cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast that they should be killed. There'll be those who'll be killed, but there'll be those who'll be preserved. And I believe that this, that these, to go back to our chapter now, and we'll read the rest of our chapter in Daniel, in the third chapter. These three men who are cast into the fiery furnace, they're a picture of those who'll be preserved. Now it tells us, I think we read down to verse 21, didn't we? 22. Well, we read to verse 23. Verse 24, then maybe you could measure the king was astonished, and rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counsellors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. He answered and said, lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the son of God. Then maybe you could measure came near to the mouth of a burning fiery furnace and spake, and said Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire, and the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed. Neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then maybe you could measure spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no God that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. You see, the Lord preserved these three men. It was a wonderful miracle. It was a very definite miracle of the Lord. A furnace that is heated seven times hotter than it was that it's usually heated. So hot that the men that threw these three into the furnace were slain by the heat that came forth from that furnace. And yet those three men fell down in the furnace bound, and all the flames did was to burn the ropes that bound them, and free them. And what was more, the king says, he's absolutely amazed. He could apparently from where he was, see into that furnace. And he saw these three men walking around with some other person. And he says, the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods. The authorized version says, the son of God. But Mr. Darby said, it really is in Hebrew, a son of the gods. Or in Chaldean is really the language that this part of Daniel is written in. That is, it was the son of God. There's no doubt that the one, the fourth person there, was the one that we know as the Lord Jesus Christ. But of course, the king didn't know him as that. He thought of him as some heavenly being. Apparently he could see that he was a different kind of a person. He says, the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods. And of course, we know who the one is. It was the Lord Jesus, with his people, in the midst of their trial. It's a wonderful comfort, beloved, isn't it? We have learned to know the preciousness of being gathered to the Lord's name, and knowing what it is to have the Lord in our midst. But you know, the Lord is in the midst of his people, even when they're going through great trials. And here these three men were cast into that furnace. The Lord was with them, and he delivered them out of it. And this is a little picture of what will happen to the godly remnant of Israel in the great tribulation. They will refuse to bow down to that image. They will rather die, than dishonor their Lord by bowing down to that abomination that is set up there in Israel. And the Lord will deliver them. They will be brought through the tribulation. The Lord will be with them in it, and he will deliver them out of it. And if some of them are not delivered and have to die, well, they will form part of the first resurrection. But these men, the way they answer, is always the answer of faith. They said, our God is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us out of our hand, naturally. Even if they perished in the flame, God was delivering them out of the king's hand. He couldn't do any more to them, could he? Even if they died, they were delivered out of the king's hand. But if not, oh king, even if God doesn't deliver us out of your hand, even if you cast us into the fire and we perish, we still won't worship the image. There was no equivocation with these men. That's the language of faith. And it's referred to in Revelation, excuse me, in Hebrews 11. It speaks of those who by faith quench the violence of the flame. And I believe that that phrase refers to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. All was an example to us. Beloved brethren, isn't it true that there are times when we are put to the test? We don't know how great a test we might be yet put to. Even Christians, even in this day, the Lord's people in Columbia, some of them, have been put to the test. A few years ago, when that great persecution was going on among the saints in Columbia down there, Christians were told this. Their houses were invaded. The man, in some cases, the father of the house was brought out. And the representatives of Rome said to him, will you renounce the gospel? Will you have your children baptized in the Catholic Church? Will you go to Mass? And will you own that the offering of the Mass is the true body and blood of Christ? If you'll do that, we'll spare your life. If you won't do that, you'll be killed. And what did they answer? The majority of the Christians down there, there were a few who weakened and gave in, professing Christians, but those who were really the Lord's, they said, we'd rather die than deny our Lord. And in some instances, they were shot on the spot. There were instances down there of some of our dear brethren who were, the men were killed in the front of their wives and children there. And then the wife was made to bury the grave, to dig the grave to bury the husband in. Just because they refused to bow down to an image was really what it amounted to. And the result of that today is that we have such an interest in the gospel in Columbia. There's the old saying that the blood of Martha's is the seed of the church. And that's proving true. So these things are going on, even though it's not the day of the great tribulation. There are no doubt Christians in Russia who, rather than profess their belief in atheism, will die for their faith in Christ. And as I said, we don't know, even though we live in a land of great liberty, we don't know when these liberties might be taken from us. So let us see that we faithfully, we're faithful to the Lord, and we're willing to witness for him. And also, as we get a little picture of what's coming, let us not be surprised to see things developing the way they are. God has given us the picture, beloved. So we have valuable, a valuable lesson for us to strengthen our faith today, as well as a picture of what is going to take place. Man thinks that he's going to bring in a wonderful new world by all the great modern inventions. But God says that he is going to judge this world. This world yet has to answer to God for the murder of his beloved son, because that's what the world is guilty of, crucifying the Lord Jesus. And this world will never become, will never become great in God's sight until it's purged by judgment. And God is going to bring in the reign of Christ in his own way, but it's going to be brought in by judgment. But of course, in the present time, as long as the church is here, God is still saving souls. God is not converting the world. He's calling out from the nations of people for his name. And so as long as we're here, the Lord would have us faithfully live for Christ in separation from what's displeasing to him, and he would have us to be a witness to those around us of the saving grace and the keeping power of our Lord Jesus Christ. …

… Therefore I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dreams. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And before him I told the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in thee, and no secret trouble of thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the height thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all. The beast of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. And I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher, and a holy one came down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit. Let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven. And let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. And thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof. For as much as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation, but thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. We'll read further as we proceed. In these talks that we've been giving on Daniel, we have seen in the introduction the condition necessary for the understanding of this book. We noticed a similar thing in the beginning of the book of Revelation. In fact, in the first chapter of Revelation, we have two conditions brought out there that we need, or that anyone needs, I should say, any person needs, in order to understand the book. And the same principle applies to the book of Daniel. In fact, that principle applies to all scripture, because the whole of the Bible is really a parable. It's a riddle to those who are not initiated, we might say. And the two things, the two conditions that we get in the first chapter of Revelation are, first of all, that a person needs to know what it is to be washed in the precious blood of Christ. We need to be saved. We need to have passed from death unto life. Without that, we do not have the Holy Spirit, and therefore cannot understand the scriptures. And the second prerequisite for the understanding of the prophetic scriptures is, we need to be willing to suffer reproach for Christ. Daniel knew what it was to suffer reproach. Daniel and his companions took a definite stand, and they suffered reproach. We were seeing last week that Daniel's three companions, because of their faithfulness to God, they were not ashamed to declare that they would only pray to him and they wouldn't bow down to this image that had been set up, and they were even willing to be cast into the burning fiery furnace. God in his grace delivered them, but they were willing to suffer reproach. Daniel, right through his life, suffered reproach for the Lord. And John in Revelation tells us that he was in the isles and was called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. For his faithfulness as a Christian, he was willing to suffer reproach. And, beloved, we must be willing to suffer reproach for Christ. I take it that everyone here tonight knows the value of the precious blood of Christ to cleanse from sin. That's the first thing we must be clear on. The second thing is, we must be willing to take an outside place for Christ. And sometimes it even means that we have to take an outside place with regard to religion. We'll find those that are religious without being saved, and even sometimes those that are saved, but who don't want to obey the word and want to follow along lines that the scripture doesn't teach, that they look down on those who want to simply follow the scriptures. But if what we have is worthwhile, we shouldn't mind it costing us something. Sometimes it costs us even friends. Sometimes we find that those that we least thought of would despise us and not understand us just because we want to follow God's word. So that's a very important thing. Then we saw in chapter 2 this image which gives us a picture of the four great empires that have existed on earth since the Lord took away the kingship from Israel. From the days of David right through to the days of Zedekiah, or at least to the days of Jehoiakim, we might say, God recognized the throne in Israel, in Jerusalem. That was the throne of the Lord that was there. God was ruling on earth and God's throne was set up there. But since the days of Jehoiakim, that man who despised God's word and who cut it with a pen knife and cast it into the fire, we find that the Lord allowed the rule to pass to the Gentiles. And there have been four great empires of the Gentiles. The first was the Babylonian empire, prefigured by the head of gold, of which Nebuchadnezzar was the king. And in our portion tonight, we are still in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned about 70 years. Nebuchadnezzar didn't, but the Babylonian kingdom lasted about 70 years. Then we had after that the Medo-Persian kingdom, represented by this part of silver. Then we had the kingdom of Greece, the Grecian empire. And finally, the Roman empire. It was during the time of the Roman empire that the Lord Jesus was born. And finally, we have the toes of the feet that will be when this empire is revived at the time of the end. This is the present church age in which we are now, getting very near the end of it, because we're getting near to what is known here as the time of the end. Last week, we saw that because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the image that had been set up, they were cast into the fiery furnace. But they were preserved in it, and they are a type, they were types, or they were a type of the godly remnant of Israel that will be preserved in the time of the end, through the great tribulation. That fiery furnace is a type of the great tribulation. The church does not go through the great tribulation. I know there are many that teaches it does, but we don't find in scripture, I believe, that that can be substantiated, because the church is going to be taken out of this earth. The church is going to be taken away before the tribulation comes. But after the Lord takes the true church away, what's left of Christendom will just be apostate. It will head up under Babylon the Great. That will be judged by the Lord. But God's testimony will then pass to Israel again. God's testimony was with Israel in the past, in the Old Testament. And after the Lord takes the church away, he will begin to save people from among the Jews. Of course he saves people among the Jews now, but now they come into the church. Now they form part of the church with those of us from the Gentiles who are saved. Today the church is composed of the saved out of Jew and Gentile to form the church. The Lord will still continue to save Jews after the church is taken away. Perhaps there will be some of the saved who have not heard the gospel, because those who heard the gospel now and refused it will be lost. It tells us that in 2 Thessalonians 2. It says that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. So those saved afterwards will be those whom the Lord will reach who have not refused the gospel, have not heard and refused the gospel at this time. And no doubt there may be many people living today who have not accepted the gospel because they've really not had the gospel put before them. The Lord then will take up Israel and Israel will be his testimony at that time. And there will be a faithful remnant. The mass of the Jews will be apostates then. No doubt they'll just go in for making money and doing all they the same as they're doing today. But the Lord will save those out of them and they will be greatly persecuted, but the Lord will preserve them as he preserved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the burning fiery furnace. Now we come to the fourth chapter, Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. This is later on in Nebuchadnezzar's life. We're not told in scripture exactly how many years Nebuchadnezzar reigned because we know that the kingdom passed to his son and then to his grandson and that 70 years of the Babylonian kingdom ended with Belshazzar who was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. And we have the account given of him and his blasphemy in the fifth chapter. Now in our chapter tonight, Nebuchadnezzar gives this account of this dream that he had. And we might say that this chapter gives us the close of Nebuchadnezzar's testimony. We don't have any more in the book of Daniel about Nebuchadnezzar after this chapter. So it's very important and as I said it seems as if it comes on more toward the close of Nebuchadnezzar's life. He's had a very remarkable history. He's told by this first vision that he had, this wonderful dream that he had, that he couldn't even remember the dream. And Daniel, the Lord revealed to Daniel not only what the dream was but also the interpretation of it. And Nebuchadnezzar knew that that head of cold represented him and that he had been, he was chosen of God to be the first head of Gentile power recognized by God after the kingdom of Israel had been set aside. And it speaks, when it speaks about Nebuchadnezzar and the times of the Gentiles, it speaks about the heavens ruling. You see the kingdom of God, we might say in a certain sense, was on earth only in prophecy when the Lord recognized Israel. Jehovah's throne was set up on earth but because of Israel's faithlessness and her unfaithfulness it was set aside. We don't have any throne of God on earth today. I know there are some people that say there is but there's no evidence of it. God is ruling today from the heavens. God still rules from the heavens. It seems at times, many times perhaps, that God's forgotten all about the earth. That's what it looks like. People say, well God's just forgotten. Evil men get worse and worse. People do all kinds of things. God doesn't stop it. But God still rules and we have that brought out in this chapter. Three times in this chapter it says, the most high rule within the kingdoms of men and he giveth them to whomsoever he will. And it tells us in the 17th verse it says, and he sets up over it the basest of men. Sometimes God allows good men to rule nations. Sometimes God allows evil men to rule nations. We might say, well does God allow Khrushchev to rule in Russia? Yes he does. And scripture tells us that the powers that be are ordained of God. And it is our duty to pray for the powers that be. Like whether our brethren prayed tonight for the president of this country. We mightn't agree with the president in a lot of things. Perhaps we don't. But he's the one that God's allowed to be the ruler of the country. So we should pray for him and for all those who are in authority. Even now to the policemen. They're all authorities that God's allowed to be there. And the Russian Christians would feel it their duty to pray for the powers that be in Russia. Because those are the powers that be that God has ordained there. And so that in every country the Christians should be those who pray for the powers that be. Because there's no doubt even though Russia has an atheistic government still it is a government. And it keeps order. And no doubt that the evil doers are punished in Russia. And people that don't obey the laws of the country are punished. And people that get out of hand they have to pay the penalty. And that's something that is good. Otherwise it would just be anarchy. It would just be chaos. So that's what governments are for. Governments are to keep order. And it tells us that very plainly in the 13th chapter of Romans. And therefore it's the duty of the Christian to obey the powers that be and to pray for them. In fact the real Christians are the only ones that can truly pray for the powers that be. Because they're the ones that have access to the throne of God. So God still rules in the kingdoms of men. But it's still the times of the Gentiles even today with us. And God is, God is overall, he's apparently not interfering on earth. But at the same time he's overruling things. And when when people get into power even in so-called democracies it seems that they get in by popular vote. But God could cause a snowstorm so that nobody could go to the polls or hardly anybody went and completely change the vote if he wanted to. So we've just got to always recognize that those that get in, God has allowed them to be in the face of authority for the time that they're there. And it's our duty to uphold them in prayer and to pray for them. We might have thought it would have been a lot better if a different man got in for governor yesterday in California. But God allowed the man to get in that he did allow to get in. So we have to accept that as the powers of God as the powers of me that God has ordained for this particular time. Now Nebuchadnezzar had this dream. It seems that that was something Nebuchadnezzar was having a great many of. He was always having dreams. But God spoke in the Old Testament through dreams much more than he speaks through dreams now. Why doesn't God speak to us usually through dreams? I believe it is because we have the word the complete word of God in our hands and we Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Maybe unsaved people get spoken to more through dreams. And I believe illiterate people in countries where people cannot read or write and therefore haven't don't have access to the to the word of God like we have, God perhaps speaks to them more through dreams. But he doesn't usually speak to us through dreams today when we have the completed word of God in our hands and we have the Holy Spirit. But they did not have the completed scriptures in those days and Nebuchadnezzar probably was completely ignorant of the scriptures. He didn't know anything about them. He would only know what Daniel might have told him. Perhaps toward the close of his life he came to understand something of the Jewish scriptures that were existed up to that time. But he certainly wouldn't know anything before. So God gives him another dream and he recounts this dream. You notice that the other dreams that we have Daniel records them. But this dream Daniel is recording it of course but it's a dream that Nebuchadnezzar apparently himself gave the record off so that Daniel could take it down because it starts off and it says Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all people. Apparently this was originally a letter that Nebuchadnezzar sent to all his people that he ruled over and to let them know God's dealings with him. I believe that as the result of what we have in this chapter Nebuchadnezzar became a really converted man and he came to truly believe in the true God toward the close of his life. And so he sends this message to all people and let's remember Nebuchadnezzar was an absolute monarch and he ruled over the vast Babylonian empire of that day and the people of all languages that were under him, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, they were all part that we might say of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. You know when the Lord Jesus reigns in the eighth psalm it tells us that as son of man the Lord Jesus is going to reign when Gentile dominion is abolished and Christ's kingdom is established in the future after the great tribulation. When Christ reigns he will have dominion over everything. It says all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. Even a greater dominion than Adam had because I don't think Adam has ever really had control over the fish even before the fall. And of course man still has control over the animals to a certain extent but God has allowed since before certain animals to be untamable and to let man see that he lost the control that God gave Adam. But Christ will will regain that. He will have control over all when he reigns. Now Nebuchadnezzar he had control over these things but he had it only partially too even though he was an absolute monarch. He did not have the complete control over every created thing that Christ will have. But he sends this letter to the people of all the dominions and he tells them the dream. What was the dream? Well Nebuchadnezzar in this dream he saw a great tree and here we have the tree. Here we have the tree represented here, this great tree. The people of all languages lodged under the shade of it. The beast of the field sheltered there. The birds of the air nested in it. They all received some benefit from the tree. And this great tree was cut down. And so here it shows the tree cut down. And let us see that this tree really represents a person because as we come on it says verse 16, let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him. So it shows that the tree represents a man. Now a great tree in scripture always represents either a kingdom, that is a nation, or the head of a nation. We find a tree represents both. A tree represents the head of some great nation, a great giant tree, a very important person. A tree is something outstanding in creation. It's something very majestic about a great tree. We go up to Yosemite or to Sequoia and you see those huge trees. There's something very majestic about them. Well a tree in scripture, a great tree like that represents authority, some great person in authority. And that's just what Nebuchadnezzar was. He was a man who was in authority. But you know Nebuchadnezzar, although he had been told in these previous dreams that he'd had, although he'd been told that the true God, the creator of heaven and earth, that he was the true God, Nebuchadnezzar continued with his idol worship and continued to act in independence of God and continued in the pride of his heart. Very, very few people can be placed in a place of great prominence without it going to their heads. They become what has been called power drunk. And that's what happened to Nebuchadnezzar as it's happened to many, many people since. They get into a place of a little bit of prominence and it seems to go to their heads. And that's what even Christians have to watch. Because even in the law, even Christians with in connection with serving the Lord, the only way that we can be blessed of the Lord is by being humble. If we allow any ability that God has given us to go to our heads, well, then our ministry will be ruined and God won't be able to bless it. Because in spiritual things, the way to go up is to go down. And the Lord is able to use those that are of a humble and contrite spirit and the tremble of his word. Well, the lesson that God wants to teach Nebuchadnezzar from this is told him by Daniel. Daniel tells him that he is this tree. This tree represents him. And it tells us in verse 19 that when Daniel gives the interpretation, Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar was astonished for one hour and his thoughts troubled him. I believe that Daniel, realizing that he has to give the meaning of this dream and not knowing what it meant, he must have been very, very excited and he got before the Lord in prayer. He was astonished for one hour. That means he was really amazed and he got before God about it. And you know there's a wonderful lesson here for us as individuals. Every one of us in our lives has times when we have to face some difficult situation. This is a very difficult situation for Daniel. He has to give the interpretation of this dream. Well, you might say that was an easy thing. Why, Daniel interpreted this dream here and couldn't he easily interpret this dream? Well, the fact that God gave him the answer for that other dream wouldn't necessarily mean that he could answer this dream just because of that. He sought God's face. Daniel and his companions had a special prayer meeting to ask the Lord about what this image meant. And Daniel was not just, as it were, he hadn't received any endowment of ability to interpret dreams. He needed to be dependent on the Lord for this dream. And so it is with us, beloved, just because we have God's help in some special thing in the past time, that doesn't mean to say that we don't need to be before God about the present difficulty that we might have. Every time something comes up in our life that is a problem, we need to take that thing specially to the Lord. And that's what we find with Daniel. Daniel was a man of prayer, but he brought every thing to the Lord specially. When every new test came up, Daniel went to the Lord about it. They prayed right in the very beginning, when they didn't want to eat the meat and drink the wine that had been offered to idols. They prayed about this image, this dream. And now Daniel's in prayer again, and the Lord reveals to him the dream. And it tells him, he says to the king, verse 20, The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto heaven, and the size thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair, and so on, it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong. For thy greatness is grown and reaches unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. That was Nebuchadnezzar, a great king over a vast empire. Whereas the king saw a watcher. Now, we get this word watcher mentioned three times, in verse 13, in verse 17, and in verse 23. And I looked this up in the concordance, and this is the only place, this chapter is the only place where this particular word is used. And I believe that it's referring to Daniel's, excuse me, to Nebuchadnezzar's understanding of an angelic being. He calls him a watcher, but it was a messenger from the Lord. The Lord sent a messenger, but Nebuchadnezzar calls him a watcher. But no doubt he was that. The Lord was watching Nebuchadnezzar. Just something like in the book of Revelation, it says the Lord is the one that walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He is discerning what people are doing. He discerns what his people are doing. And the Lord, even today, he is watching. And he has his agents, as it were, his angels, they're watching, even over the kingdoms of the world. And they're seeing what those are doing, who he's allowed to be in places of prominence. No doubt in this country, God is taking notice of what's being done. He's taking notice of what those that are in the place of authority are doing. They have to give an account to God. If the powers of me are ordained of God, those men have to give an account to God. It's not a question of whether they're converted men or whether they're not. It's a question of if God's allowed them to be in the position of responsibility. And while they might think that they're only responsible to the people that elected them, they're not. They're responsible to God. That's why, as we were saying the other night, the only countries where democracy has been a success are the countries where those who rule not only realize that they're there because they've been elected to the office, but they realize that they have a responsibility to God. But in countries where those who rule just try to please the people who elected them, we don't find that democracy works at all, because then it's just the rule of the people and there's not the fear of God. Those who rule must rule under God, and if they don't, their rule is not successful. So there are those who watch, and it says here, whereas the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, Hew the tree down and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him. This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the king, that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Now notice what Daniel advises the king to do. He says, Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. Or the margin says, it may be a healing of thine error. Daniel says to the king, This is the interpretation of the dream. You're going to be cast out Nebuchadnezzar. You're going to be treated like an animal, until seven times, which taking the word times in other parts of the scripture means a year. For instance, it mentions three times, times and time and a half for the great tribulation, which is three and a half years. We take it that this means seven years here. But Nebuchadnezzar would be cast out of his kingdom for seven years, until he came to his senses and recognized that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men, and he gives them to whomever he will. The Most High is a millennial title. It will be used of heights in the millennium. And that's why, let's just see that this is really a type, as it says there, typical of the subjugation of all Gentile power in the time of the end, and the recognition of Christ's reign. And Daniel's advice to Nebuchadnezzar is, Nebuchadnezzar, king, O king, he says, this is going to come upon you because you're not honoring God. You're continuing on in your sin. You've not heeded the testimony that God has given you. You know, beloved, every person has a certain testimony given to them. You might say, well, what about the heathen in the middle of Africa? They have a testimony. True, we've got to go and give them the gospel. God holds us responsible to do it. But they even, they have the testimony of creation. We have a far greater testimony. Every person has some testimony. Every one of us here tonight knows what the gospel is. And if people hear the gospel and refuse it, God holds them responsible. Nebuchadnezzar had had a testimony given him. He knew that the God of Daniel was the true God. He'd been told that he'd been exalted to that high position by the true God. And yet, and he'd also said that there was no one who could interpret dreams like Daniel, because it was the spirit of God that was in Daniel. And yet he continues to worship idols. He continued on in opposition. We might say he was stubborn. He would not accept the testimony that God had given him. And so Daniel says, this is a voice from God to you, O king. Leave off your sins by righteousness and by iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Maybe God will have mercy on you, Daniel said. But no, what does Nebuchadnezzar do? Does he heed this? Not at the first. And it tells us in verse 28, all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, God gave him 12 months of grace. Just imagine. People say that God is merciful. God is always merciful. He's not willing that any should perish, as Peter says, but that all should come to repentance. At the end of 12 months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? Think of the boasting. This great city. They say it was a wonderful city. Why, the king's wife had come from the hill country of Media and she just longed for the forests of her own land. And the king, at great expense, built those great hanging gardens of Babylon so that she could walk around among the lovely trees there. Must have cost an awful lot. No, they have to work with many, many slaves to do that. The king built all that and he was boasting in what he'd done. This is the great Babylon that I built by the might of my power. He didn't bring God into it at all. Well, you know, we've heard people talk like that today. In fact, the fab premise today, beloved brethren, that with all the great achievements of man that we have, that man is able to shoot rockets off and send missiles to the moon and send these wonderful contractions that he's making around the earth in orbit and all that kind of thing. Do we read in the papers about God being given the glory for all this? No, man is boasting about what he does. Aren't these the wonderful things that we're doing? There is some recognition of God. One is thankful that from some of these men, even, that you hear some little recognition of God. Some of these astronauts have really given testimony that they of their faith in the Lord and trust in him. But generally speaking, we find very, very little recognition of God's hand in all these things, but rather a boasting of man's great achievements. And just as God's judgment came upon Nebuchadnezzar because of his boasting, God's judgment's going to come upon this civilization of our day because it's a civilization of man's boasting about all the wonderful things that he does and leaving God out. God is being just bowed out of his own universe by his creatures who want to leave him out and just go on their own way, forgetting that the very genius that they have to do these things and to invent these things has been given them by God originally and that he gives them the power to do it. While the world was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken that kingdoms departed from thee and they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field and they shall make thee eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until thou knowest the most high rulers in the kingdom of men and given it to whomsoever he will. And that's what happened and it goes on and tells us. Now what happened to Nebuchadnezzar? I believe that Nebuchadnezzar lost his reason. God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to go crazy and then they drove him out and there he was put out in the field and it tells us that his hair was grown like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws. They didn't have any places where they took care of these kind of people in those days and so they just drove these people out. They said they're acting like animals, well that's where they should be put and they put him out with the animals. And apparently he was there for seven years and at the end of seven years God had dealt with him sufficiently that he was willing to listen to the voice of the Lord and God allowed his reason to return. And it's a remarkable thing, it says in verse 34, at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes to heaven and mine understanding returned to me. You see that lets us see that he'd lost his understanding, he lost his reason. My understanding returned to me. Do you see animals lift up their eyes to heaven? The animal always looks down and Nebuchadnezzar was looking down but at the end of the seven years he looked up. He lifted up his eyes to heaven and the looking up, lifting up of his eyes I believe is expressive of the fact that he lifts up his heart. Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his heart to God. God allowed his reason to return, he became a rational being again and his kingdom was restored to him. And then he says in the, in verse 34, continue, mine understanding returned to me and I blessed the most high and I praise and honor him that liveth forever whose dominion is everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And he goes on and gives his testimony of faith in the Lord. And the last verse says, now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and honor the king of heaven. All his works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he's able to abase. This is Nebuchadnezzar's closing testimony. Isn't it a lovely testimony that that great man who was so great yet because of his his pride and his arrogance God brought him down but that was the means of his salvation. And this is a little picture of the fact that all Gentile authority will eventually be brought down to recognize the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar is a little, Nebuchadnezzar being the first Gentile monarch to be owned of God in the times of the Gentiles and the way he ended his, the way his life ended in the recognition of the God of heaven is a picture of the fact that all Gentile rule will eventually be brought low before God and will have to recognize that God rules in the kingdoms of men and that man doesn't rule. Man, man wants to leave God out. God is going to put them through the great tribulation and all the Jews especially will have a great trial through there but that all Gentile nations will be affected by it. And this is really what we see tonight is really the type of the Gentile power being brought into subjection to God. But the godly Jews of the time of the end will have a part in it because Daniel represents them. Daniel was the man of God who was the testimony to the king. Today the true Christians, those who know the Lord as their savior, they're the testimony to this world. In the future after the Lord takes the church away, the godly remnant of Israel will be the testimony. Men like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they will be the testimony, those who will be a testimony for God to these arrogant Gentiles of that day who will eventually be brought low and have to say yes, the God of heaven is the one who has a right to rule and the king, the Lord himself is going to take his great power and reign. This world will be a wonderful place when the Lord Jesus reigns over everything and every government of this earth during that millennial thousand years reign of Christ is going to be subject to the Lord. He is going to be king of kings and lord of lords. That means king of those that rule and lord of those who exercise authority. He'll be over them. There will be rulers, every nation will have its rulers, even in the millennium, but they'll all be ruling under the Lord and he will be over them all and they'll all be subject to him. There will be one empire on this earth, it'll be the empire of our Lord Jesus Christ. That'll be a wonderful time. But God has something for us better. This will be in the earthly side of the kingdom, but we who belong to the church, we're going to be with Christ in glory in the heavenly side of the kingdom because the kingdom of God during that time will have the earthly spear and the heavenly spear and we who compose the church now, we're also called the bride of Christ and we're going to be reigning with him. He will reign over the earth as king and we'll be with him as his consort, as it were, associated with him in his reign. What a wonderful privilege will be ours and yet it's all through his grace because none of us would have any connection with him at all except by that grace that saved our souls on the basis of the work that was finished on Calvary's cross when he shed his precious blood for our salvation. In the 20th chapter of Isaiah, we won't turn to it, I see our time has gone, but in the 30th chapter of Isaiah we have there, if you'll read it over when you go home, we have there the Gentiles recognizing the reign of Christ and they will come to own him as the rightful king and that's what it points out here. I said Isaiah 20, no, Isaiah 60, the 60th chapter of Isaiah, from verses 12 to 16 especially, we have a reference there to the Gentile nations owning the Lord Jesus. You know, there are those who preach or those who teach rather that this world is going to be converted to Christ through the preaching of the gospel but that's not true. The preaching of the gospel isn't to convert the world. The preaching of the gospel from the day of Pentecost right down until the Lord comes has as its aim the taking out of the world of people for Christ's name so that wherever the gospel goes there are souls saved but there are also those who refuse to be saved but the whole world is going to be converted when the Lord's judgments come. It's not through the preaching of the gospel that this world is going to be brought to submit to Christ. It's through judgment. That's the uniform teaching of scripture and the great tribulation is the great time of judgment that's going to come on this earth and it's that that will make men turn to God and those who don't turn to him will have to be judged by him. It says there's a verse that says when God's judgments are in the earth then will the inhabitants of the earth learn righteousness. It's a sad thing. God has given this earth 1900 years over 1900 years now of the preaching of the gospel and as we were mentioning before someone was saying you know a Christian was talking to a soap manufacturer and he said to gave he spoke to this man about the Lord and this soap manufacturer said well I don't think much of the gospel has been preached all these years now and there's a lot of unsafe people yet and so the preacher says well he says I've seen a lot of dirty people around here too he says that doesn't seem that your soap is very much good oh he says the soap's all right he says but people are not using it people don't use it well isn't that true there's nothing wrong with the gospel and the gospel is not a failure it's because people don't accept the gospel that they're not saved and sad to say God's grace does not bring them to repentance but thank God everyone who does submit to the law in the through the testimony of the gospel is saved as Nebuchadnezzar submitted and he was saved you see we have Nebuchadnezzar's personal life and how he came to own the Lord in the end and then we have Nebuchadnezzar's political life we may say and he's here we see him as a type of gentile power there's just one more thing I want to say these seven times have sometimes been interpreted to mean possibly taking seven times 360 360 days being the the the prophetic year and seven times that would make it 2520 years and some have thought that that gives us the length of the times of the gentiles and because of that you know there are those who teach that Christ came in 1914 that that was the end of the times of the gentiles because from 606 which is the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's reign until 1914 if you just count the years 1914 that gives us 2520 years but then we don't have prophetic years of 360 days now our years are 365 and a quarter days so you really can't make it fit and I believe that's where people make a mistake in trying to set dates for these things as I was saying in the beginning this period of the church age is dateless we know we're getting near the time of the end but God hasn't given us dates connected with this there are dates up to that time as we'll see in the 70 weeks down there in the ninth chapter and there's that we know definitely the seven years that got to run after the rapture but we have not given dates for this so all we could say about that 2520 years is that it may represent perhaps in general terms a period but you can't make it fit to any particular time that we know now and those who've set dates God has always allowed the dates to go past and then these people who set dates for the Lord's coming at certain times have had to be ashamed of themselves or else try and make some other explanation so we cannot set dates we know the Lord's coming's near everything around points to it things are developing at a rapid rate and man is going on in his folly but it's true as we have here the most high still rules in the kingdoms of men gives it to whosoever he will and sets up over it the basis of men and God is going to fulfill his purposes no matter what men does and what we need to do is to be exercised before the Lord to serve him faithfully and live for him realizing that the time is short and that the coming of the Lord draws near …

… Reading from the first verse, Daniel chapter 5, Daniel chapter 5, verse 1, Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand and rode over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loose, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and the king spake and said unto the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonished. Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king, and his lords, came into the banquet-house, and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever, O king, live forever! Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him, whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. For as much as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, and interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. Then was Daniel brought in before the king, and the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jure? I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But they could not show the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make the interpretation, and dissolve doubts. Now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. Tonight, in our continuing our studies on the book of Daniel, we're taking up, as has been read, the fifth chapter. We've, we saw the introduction in the first chapter, and we have studied these successive chapters, and in each one we saw that there was something typical of what will take place in the time of the end, at the close of this present church period in which we are now. We know, of course, that, we believe at least, that we're very near the end of this period. This undefined period that comes in since the death of the Lord Jesus, and will end with what we often refer to as the rapture. That is the rapturing away, or the catching away of the saints, to be with the Lord, as we have it in 1 Thessalonians 4. That event that every real Christian is looking on to, and it's that that we look on to also, every Lord's day, when we gather to remember the Lord. Because when the Lord instituted the supper, he said, as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, or rather the Lord didn't say that, but the Apostle Paul says, in the revelation given to him in 1 Thessalonians 11, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. It's till he comes to take us to be with himself. That's what we're waiting for. Now, in the portion that we have tonight, we have a further picture of conditions at the time of the end, conditions that will prevail on this earth, after the Lord takes the church away. And I might say that as we see these conditions that are typified in these portions, and we look around on the world today, we can see that these conditions are largely prevailing today. That's why God has given us prophecy. Prophecy is given to us so that we might see what is the end of every movement that is around us, and that we might not be carried away by the movements of men. We might be able to judge them by the scriptures, by this precious word that stands as a rock, that we've just been singing about, the precious word of God, that the Lord has left us as a lamp to our feet, and a light unto our path. Now, this chapter starts off with telling us about the King Belshazzar, and it mentions that he is the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Actually, he was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. In the scripture, the terms father and son do not always mean just the direct father or son. Often, a man refers to his father when he means his grandfather or even his ancestor. The Jews used to speak of their father Abraham. That is, in the sense that they were descended from Abraham. So, a man is sometimes called the son of someone else when he might have been his grandson or his great-grandson. This was a great puzzle to students of scripture a hundred years ago, as they read this, because one of the things it says here was that the king promised Daniel that if he could interpret this dream, he would make him the third ruler in the kingdom. And there were those who criticized the scriptures. They said, well, the Bible is not right. Why does it talk about Daniel being made the third ruler in the kingdom? If Belshazzar was the king, who was going to be the third ruler? Well, you know, the Bible's always true. And if there's something that seems a discrepancy or that seems that it can't be explained in the Bible, those who were true Christians who believe in the inspired word of God, that the Bible is inspired and that the very thoughts and the very words that were given to the writers of scripture were inspired of God, they always rest on what the word says and says, well, even though it may be that even secular history doesn't bear it out, we know that what the Bible says is true. But it happened that they discovered some documents over in Babylon that showed why it is that Daniel was going to be made the third ruler in the kingdom. And that is that Nebuchadnezzar had passed away, the king that we spoke, we referred to on Wednesday night, who finally came after seven years of being a lunatic, came to recognize Jehovah as the true God and his reason was restored to him and he was restored to his kingdom and he truly came to recognize the God of heaven, which is a type, of course, as of hell. All Gentile dominion will come to recognize the true God in the time of the end. Nebuchadnezzar had died and his son Nabonidus had taken the kingdom. He's not mentioned in scripture but he's mentioned in secular history. And now apparently he was an old man and incapable of exercising the kingship, so his son Belshazzar was reigning, we might say, as a regent. So that was why Daniel was to be made the third ruler in the kingdom. Nabonidus was the first ruler, Belshazzar was the second ruler, and he really was, he was the real ruler. That is, his father was not capable of ruling, so he was ruling as a regent, but his father still had the title. They were going to make Daniel the third. He would be the one that would come after Belshazzar. I just mentioned that to explain, so that whatever it says, the king thy father, when Daniel speaks to Belshazzar about the king his father, the margin of some of our Bibles puts in the word grandfather, because that's what Nebuchadnezzar was. Now the chapter opens with this king Belshazzar making a feast to a thousand of his lords. This man is a very ungodly and impious man. He knew, as Daniel reminds him, and we'll read this portion later in the latter part of the chapter, he knew what had happened to his grandfather. He knew how the God had spoken to Nebuchadnezzar. He knew the story of Nebuchadnezzar, how he had lost his reason for seven years, that God had taken the kingdom away from him, and that God had restored it to him again when he humbled himself, and although he knew that, he chose to ignore it. He deliberately chose to ignore the revelation that God had given to those kings at that time. You know, dear friends, it's a very, very serious thing to ignore the revelation of God for our day. In every stage of the world's history, man has had a revelation from God in some way or another. God gave to the people of Israel the scriptures. In Moses' day, God gave them the first five books. Before that, God revealed himself to men like Abraham, oracularly, and to Noah also. God spoke to Noah. Noah, he did God's revelation. He built an ark when God told him to build one, and he built an ark for the saving of his house, it says. Abraham believed God when God spoke to him and told him to leave his country and to go into a land that he would tell him of. When God gave Israel the first five books, which are the books of Moses, we get the laws that God gave his people Israel. They were responsible to obey them, and as we go through the history of God's earthly people, the Jews, we find that successively God added to the revelation he'd given. The historic books, the poetic books, the Psalms and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, the prophetic books, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and this book of Daniel that we're reading tonight, and so on through the minor prophets. In the New Testament, God revealed himself through his son, the greatest of his revelations. He actually walked as a man on earth. He came to make God known. Man in that day was responsible to heed what the Lord Jesus said, those in Israel were. Then God made known, sent his apostles out of the gospel, and we find the gospel going into all the world. And now with the addition of the writings of the apostles, the gospels, and the epistles, and the book of Revelation, we have in our hands the completed revelation of God. And today we are responsible, friends, to heed this word. We who live in these United States, where we have the complete religious liberty, and where we have access to the word of God, God holds us responsible to heed what he tells us in this word. This is God's revelation to us, and we're responsible. This man didn't heed God's revelation. He said, I'm not going to take any notice of it. I've made up my mind to go my own way and to do as I like. Have we ever heard people talk like that today? We've heard it, haven't we? You see, we have today the people that just do the same thing as Belshazzar. And the judgment came upon Belshazzar, just so surely judgment is coming on those who deliberately choose to ignore the word of God and to go their own way. Friends, we cannot go our own way. We're responsible to heed what God tells us. And if we're unsaved, if there's anyone here unsaved tonight, dear friend, the Lord grant that you might have your heart touched to listen to his gospel, the way of salvation that he's made known through the Lord Jesus Christ. And for those of us who have trusted the Lord as our savior, we are responsible to obey the word of God in our daily lives, in how we live day by day, to obey the word of God as to how we meet together with his people, to obey the word of God in our testimony to those around us. The Lord has made the pathway very plain in the scriptures, and it's very simple for the heart that is willing to follow him. It all depends on the state of our heart and the state of our will, whether we are really willing to do God's will or whether we want to do our own will. Now, a Christian should not be one who wants to do his own will. The language of the Christian should be the same as the language of the Lord Jesus to his father when he was here, not my will, but thine be done. That was the language of our blessed savior, and that should be our language, not my will, Lord, but thine be done. Now, Belshazzar made up his mind to go his own way, and so he makes this great feast to a thousand of his lords. And he says there, he gathers together there his princes, his wives, and his concubines. And I suppose as they began to make merry, the king thought he would outdo himself and all other kings in his blasphemy by showing how he despised the God of Israel. You see, they knew that the God of Israel was the true God, and Nebuchadnezzar had been allowed of God to take Jerusalem captive and bring away the captives out of Jerusalem. As we saw in the first chapter, Daniel and these others were among them as young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But Nebuchadnezzar also had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, when it was destroyed, all the golden and silver vessels of the house of the Lord. And they had been stored up there in Babylon. And Belshazzar thinks, I'm going to show how I despise the God of Israel, and how I worship and praise and believe in the idols of gold and silver and of wood and of stone and of earth, by drinking the praises of these idols out of the vessels that my grandfather took out of the house of the Lord. Now, this was really an impious act. It was a blasphemous act. It was really an act of blasphemy against the God of heaven, because God had revealed himself as the God of heaven. And Nebuchadnezzar had given a decree that everyone was to worship the God of heaven. And Belshazzar knew that. He chose to ignore it. He said, I don't believe in the God of heaven. I'm going to go my own way. We believe in these idols that we worship. These idols that we worship allow us to do as we like. But the God of heaven wants to make us do what he wants, and we don't want to do what he wants. That's the same attitude that men take today. With this great difference that in our enlightened land, people don't bow down to idols of wood and stone and gold and silver like they did there, but they nevertheless bow down just as much to an idol. They have a God that they've created in their own minds that they want to follow. And it's really just the same thing that they refuse to recognize the true God as the one who should be worshipped. So that's what Nebuchadnezzar, that's what Belshazzar did. These vessels were brought, and it says they praised these idols that they had there. In verse 4, they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. But God's patience sometimes comes to an end. You know, God is a very long-suffering God. It tells us in the second epistle of Peter that God, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, that is the promise of his coming, but is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God is very long-suffering. When we think of the blasphemy of men, how patient God is that he puts up with it. But God is not always going to allow men to act in this blasphemy. The day is coming when his patience comes to an end, and he came to an end with this man, Belshazzar. And in that very same hour, when they were doing all this, no doubt many of them in a drunken stupor, it says there appeared the part of a man's hand writing on the plaster on the wall over against the candlestick. See, they didn't have electric lights. Even 50 years ago, we didn't have electric lights anywhere in the world. That's just a modern thing, that they had the candlesticks, all the big lampstands. I suppose there were wonderful big chandeliers that lit up this great room that they had there. And so the Lord causes that hand to write there, right where the light shines on it, so that it can be seen. And there just appears a part of a man's hand. And here's the writing on the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Ufason. And the king, as he looks at that, he trembles. It says, we can imagine what it was. It says there, the king's countenance was changed, his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king is really afraid. Just imagine a thing like that. You know, this was the power of God. There are two great supernatural powers in this world. There is the power of God, and there is the power of Satan. Now, Satan has a great deal of power. Sometimes it appears that he knows as much as God. He really doesn't. But he does know a great deal, and he is a very, very great power. Why God has allowed Satan and evil to be here is one of the mysteries that we'll fully understand when we get into the Lord's presence. But we have the power of Satan. Well, we know that there are certain things that are done in the world by the power of Satan. Satan isn't omnipresent, but he has under his control myriads of evil spirits who are in communication with one another throughout different parts of the world, and they know what's going on, so they can communicate. And this is the thing that's absolutely forbidden in the Word of God to have anything to do with, because it puts us under the power of Satan. But we also find that when God wishes, he manifests his power in supernatural ways. And this was a direct intervention of God. The Lord sent one of his messengers, no doubt, to put that writing on the wall. This was a message to this man, Belshazzar. And as he sees it, he doesn't understand it. It's very possible that he understood the words, but that he didn't know what the words meant. And so he calls in all these wise men. Now, you notice Daniel's not called. We noticed, as we were studying Nebuchadnezzar, that Daniel was one of the head ones among the wise men. In fact, he had saved the lives of the wise men by being able to tell Nebuchadnezzar the dream about this image. Nebuchadnezzar had even forgotten this dream. And Neb Daniel was able to tell him what the dream was and also tell him the interpretation. And because of that, the wise men were not killed by Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel, as we go through Nebuchadnezzar's life, we see that he occupied a very high and prominent place. But now Daniel is in the background. I believe there's a reason for this. This man, Belshazzar, who was a wicked man and an ungodly man who wanted to go his own way, no doubt he didn't have any use for a man like Daniel. He didn't like to have a man like Daniel around him even. It would remind him too much of his sins. And so Daniel is left in the background. I'm sure that didn't worry Daniel. Daniel was living his life in fellowship with the Lord. The fact that he was not put into a prominent place would not be something that would worry him. He was serving God. And beloved, that's the important thing. The important thing for us is not to be in a prominent place. The important thing for us is to be where the Lord puts us and to faithfully serve him there. And when God's time comes, if he has some special work for us to do, he'll see that we have the opportunity of doing what he wants us to do. And we can imagine what a commotion there was in that room among these thousand people. Every eye must have looked, of those thousand people who were in that room, every eye must have looked at that handwriting on the wall. And the Chaldeans come in and they can't interpret it. We can imagine what a hubbub there was. There was so much noise going on, it says that the Queen heard the noise. Now, who was the Queen? If the King had his wives and his concubines all with him, drinking the wine, who was this Queen? Well, she must have been, I think, the Queen Mother. She would no doubt be the wife of Nebonidas. That is Belshazzar's mother. Possibly she may even have been his grandmother, either one or the other. She could have been the widow of Nebuchadnezzar. But at least she must have been, at least she wasn't the wife of this man Belshazzar. She was either his mother or grandmother. And she comes in and she says, there is a man in your kingdom that can interpret this dream. And in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, he was one who made known these things. She says that in verse 11. There's a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him. Whom the King Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the King, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, chaldeans and soothsayers for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding and interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in Daniel. You know, there are two things here I want to comment on. It says that an excellent spirit was found in Daniel. I read somewhere that someone was writing this and they made a typographical error. And they, instead of, instead of putting, rather they were setting the type for it, and instead of putting that Daniel had an excellent spirit, they put that Daniel had an excellent spine. But somebody says, well, he wasn't, they weren't so far wrong after all. He did have a good backbone. He did have an excellent spine. The second is, it calls Daniel, it says of Daniel that he was able to dissolve doubts. And someone has remarked on that, that there we have the words D.D. You know, the words D.D. is sometimes put after men's names and it means the doctor of divinity. Well, but Daniel was a D.D. In the fullest sense of the word, he was able to dissolve doubts. The Lord gave him wisdom. And you know, dear friends, that's what we need as we, as we listen to the Word of God. If we have any doubts, just as Daniel was able to dissolve doubts in his day, we have the Word of God in our hands and we have God's Holy Spirit to explain the Word to us, to dissolve our doubts. And we needn't have doubts about spiritual things when we have God's Word to turn to. Well, Daniel's brought in. It's, and when he comes in, the king says, well, is all this true? And Daniel, he says, if you can, if you can tell me what this, what this writing means, he says in verse 16, I have heard of thee that thou hast dissolved doubts. Make interpretations, if thou canst read the writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about thy neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Scarlet was the robe of royalty. A chain of gold about his neck was the mark of the special office that he would be in. And then he was to be made the third ruler in the kingdom. You'll notice Daniel's answer. Daniel says in verse 17, then Daniel answered and said before the king, let thy gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another. Daniel had little respect for this man. And Daniel knew that the reward that the king was offering him was of no value whatever, because this man's kingdom was coming to an end that very night. And he didn't know it. That very night, Daniel knew when the Lord revealed to him what this meant, that this very night that the kingdom of Belshazzar was coming to an end. In fact, the whole kingdom of the, the whole Babylonian empire came to an end that night. This head of gold was, was being terminated by the judgment that fell that night upon this very wicked king Belshazzar. Now we'll go on and read from the portion that our brother Montgomery read up to, he read up to verse 16, then verse 17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let thy gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive and whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him. And he was driven from the sons of men and his heart was made like the beasts and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till he knew that the most high ruled in the kingdom of men and that he appointed over it whomsoever he will. Now we noticed in the fourth chapter that that expression is used three times in the fourth chapter. The most high ruled in the kingdom of men and he appoints over it whomsoever he will. And it even says that he sets up over it at times the basest of men. And God has allowed this man Belshazzar to be in this position. And thou his son, now notice, and thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this. As we said before, Belshazzar knew that Nebuchadnezzar's heart had been lifted up in pride and because of his pride God had put him down. And although Belshazzar knew all this, he hadn't humbled his heart. He'd gone on in the pride of his heart. Oh beloved, what a terrible thing pride is. Do you know that pride was what caused the fall of Satan? And pride is what is the greatest sin, I believe, of the human race. When we think of the manifestation of the heart is pride. Pride caused Satan's fall. His heart was lifted up with pride because he was the most important angel in God's universe. He wanted to lay his hand on the throne of God and that's where his fall came. And that's why in connection with the church of God, in connection with the elders, those that take responsibility, it says, not a novice, less being lifted up with pride, he falls into the condemnation of the devil. It's that that ruins men and women and especially those who get into any place of prominence. They get puffed up with pride and that's what it was with Belshazzar. He didn't humble himself, even though he knew what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar, but lifted up myself against the Lord of Heaven. You see, he really did what Satan did. He was going to defy the God of Heaven and his impiety reached its climax this night in drinking wine and praising the gods of gold and silver out of the gold and silver vessels of the house of the Lord from Jerusalem. And lifted up myself against the Lord of Heaven and that brought the vessels of his house before me. And thou and thy lords, thy wives and my concubines have drunk wine in them. And thou hast praised the gods of silver, gold of brass, iron, wood and stone, which see not nor hear nor know. And the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified. Isn't that an indictment? What a wonderful statement that is. The God in whose hand thy breath is, the true God, the creator God, the God of Heaven, in whose hand thy breath is, who held in his hand the breath of Belshazzar and who holds in his hand, beloved, the breath of every one of us. And decrees how long we shall live on this earth and when he's going to allow our life to be taken from us. He says that one, you haven't glorified him, you've despised him. Yes, Daniel is very faithful. So we see that even though he's standing before a monarch, he's faithful in declaring to him the truth. Then was the part of the hand sent from him and the writing was this. This is the writing that was written. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Yufasa. And he says, now I'll tell you what it means. This is the interpretation of the thing. Mene, the word Mene means numbered. These words really mean numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. Even though the king might have known what those words meant, he couldn't understand the interpretation. Although it seems that he really didn't, he couldn't apparently understand what the whole thing was. Numbered. What does this mean? Numbered, numbered. Mene, Mene. Daniel says God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. That's what that word Mene means. Your kingdom has been numbered. We talk about people, we say, well their days are numbered. I believe it's taken from this. You know the influence of the Bible. The Bible has had a great influence on our speech and often we use biblical phrases and biblical words without realizing that those things come from the scriptures. And this man's days were numbered. His kingdom was numbered. Our days are numbered. Do we know how long we're going to be here? None of us knows. Not a single one. We don't know whether the Lord might come tonight and take his own to be with himself. If he doesn't come, we don't know how long we're going to live down here. Sometimes it's not always that the oldest go first. Sometimes we think, well now somebody passed away, who's going to be the next passed away? Well there's brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so. They're getting on in years, you know. And the Lord takes the younger one away altogether. We don't know. Our days are in God's hands. How important it is that we should be exercised before him, that we might be right with God through faith in Christ and that we who are the Lord's should be living our lives to please him. Someone said to John Wesley, well he said, if you knew you were going to die tomorrow morning, what would you do? He says, I'd go to a certain place where I'm going tonight to preach and then I'd do so and so. He had his life, he was living his life so in fellowship with the Lord that he wouldn't have changed a single thing. He would have just kept on doing those things that he was going to do. He would have his sleep and when he got up the next morning, well then he'd be ready for the Lord to take him to do with himself. That's how it should be. We should be living our lives day by day so in fellowship with the Lord that if God says now your number's up, the time has come for you to go, well we'd be ready. And we wouldn't have to think, well I've got a whole lot of things I've got to get ready first. I've got a number of spiritual difficulties that I've got to get straightened out. I've got to get right with so-and-so. There's some brother that I offended and I've got to go and ask him pardon. I wouldn't like the Lord to come and take them before I got that settled. Well there may be many things and of course if a soul doesn't know Christ the Savior, why? The first thing that one would have to do is to think, am I really ready to meet God? And so many they leave these things to the end and then they don't have an opportunity. We can't decide when we're going to get right with God. We've got to get right with God when he speaks to us. This man didn't get right with God when he had the opportunity and now it was too late. God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Your kingdom's come to an end, Belshazzar. Tikal, thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. God has his scales and God has weighed this man in his scales and he says you're found wanting. He didn't have the Lord. You know if God weighs us in his scales and the Lord Jesus is not our Savior, thus the side is going to go down very very heavily against us. The only way we can be weighed in God's scales and not found wanting is that we have the Lord in our lives and we've really given our lives to him and we're serving him. But otherwise we'll be found wanting. This man was found wanting. And the last one is you fasten. Daniel says pieris. Some have said well why does it say you fasten and when Daniel gives the interpretation he says pieris. Well it's another part of the same verb. Like we have the verb to be and yet part of it is am and part of it is is. And you might say well if we say the verb is be why do we say am or why do we say is? Well it's just that it's just different tenses of the same verb and so that's what this is. Pieris means divided or you fasten the same thing means divided. That is my kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Divided or separated. God is separating your kingdom from you. You're not it's not going to be your kingdom anymore. God is separating it from you. He's taking it from you and he's going to give it to the Medes and Persians. And so there was the writing on the wall. Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. You're weighed in the balances and found wanting. Your kingdom's divided and given to the Medes and Persians. This kingdom of Babylon was coming to an end. The Medo-Persian kingdom that's typified by this, the arms and the belly of silver. That is the kingdom that's coming into power. And it is typified here by this bear. The Babylonian kingdom typified by the lion in this chapter that we'll come to eventually. This has come to an end and now the Medo-Persian kingdom is what is coming on the scene. It says then commanded Belshazzar and they closed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. And how tersely the chapter ends. It says in verse 30, in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about three score and two years old. That very night. Do you know what was happening? Do you know what history tells us was happening while Belshazzar was going on with all that feast? The army of the Medes and Persians was already outside the wall. They had the city besieged. And Belshazzar was so sure that they couldn't get into the city because it was so strongly fortified that here he was completely indifferent to it all praising the gods of gold and silver. But what the Medes did, you know, the river, the river ran right through the city of Babylon, the river Euphrates. They, the Medes dug a great canal and they diverted the river. They diverted the waters of the river. And then the soldiers were able to come up the dry river bank underneath the, the, uh, the sluice gates that were across the river. They were to get right up underneath them. And while this very feast was going on, history says their soldiers were coming in and they came into this very place and slew Belshazzar that very night. God's judgment fell upon him. And that is a picture. That is a picture. As it says here, it's typical of the impiety and doom of Gentile power in the time of the end. We have it brought out in from the 17th to the 19th chapters of Revelation. After the Lord comes to take his church away, the Gentile nations, including the United States, all of our Gentile nations, when the Lord takes away from them, the true Christians, they're just going to go into a state of impious blasphemy against God. It's growing now. In fact, many people are becoming alarmed about the, even in this country, the trend toward atheism is coming in. I don't think we Christians should be troubled about that. We should realize that it only shows that we're near the time of the end. The Lord is continuing to take out of the nations of people for his name. He's saving souls. And that's our work, is to preach the gospel. But as we see these things around us, in every Gentile nation, and especially the European nations where there's been the greatest life, because the European nations that had the benefit of the gospel, of the Reformation, especially the Anglo-Saxon nations of England, Britain, and Germany, and Holland, and Belgium, and Switzerland, and we, of course, in America, are their spiritual heirs, we might say, of that great blessing that came through the open Bible, the power of the Reformation. We have had the greatest life. And we, therefore, are more responsible before God. And our nations, I believe, will have a greater judgment because of having had a greater life. And that's what's going to happen. And our countries are going to end up like Belshazzar, sad to say, and will receive the judgment of God. That's what's going to happen after the Lord comes and takes the Christians away. He'll take every Christian out. Of course, God will still have his testimony. God has his witness here. Daniel was hidden. Daniel was not brought into a place of prominence. They didn't want Daniel. And Daniel is typical of the godly remnant of Israel at that time in the future, who will be despised, but who will give God's true testimony to the Gentile nations. And there will be those among the Gentiles who will be saved. The seventh chapter of Revelation lets us see a great multitude that no man could number, who will come out of the great tribulation. And it says, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the land. And God will have his faithful witnesses in Israel. But the mass of the nation of Israel and the mass of the Gentiles will turn away from God and will become apostate. And the judgment of God will come upon them. Christ is going to establish his kingdom and he's going to reign for a thousand years. But that kingdom will be ushered in by the Lord Jesus. That very same one who came in lowly grace was born in Bethlehem and suffered on Calvary's cross for our sins. The one who is coming to take his church, coming to the air to take his church out of this earth to be with himself, that very one is coming back as the judge. And he's going to judge this world. And then blessing and true righteousness will be brought into this earth when Christ establishes his kingdom. When Christ establishes his kingdom, he's not going to establish it in New York and he's not going to establish it in Rome. Those are the two great capitals now that the world wants. The United Nations, of course, has got its capital in New York. And before that, the League of Nations had its capital in Geneva. And of course, there are many who want to make the world's capital Rome. And I believe Rome will be the capital of the revived Roman empire for a while. But the Lord's capital that he will establish will be in Jerusalem. And it tells us in the book of Ezekiel that every nation on earth during the reign of Christ will have to send their representatives up to Jerusalem every year. Every nation will have its rulers and they will recognize the sovereignty of the Lord. He will be king of kings and Lord of lords. That is, he will be king of those that reign. Every country will have its rulers, but over them all will be the Lord and he will be recognized. King of kings and Lord of lords. King of those that reign and Lord of those who exercise authority. It'll be a wonderful place. But as I said, it's going to come in through judgment because man is going on his own way in defiance of God. But as we think of all this, doesn't it make us realize the importance, beloved, of the days in which we live. The need of being right with God. And I want to stress that as if any, if there are any have doubts about salvation. Just as God gave Belshazzar a testimony and he refused it, God has given us a testimony. And it is that salvation is through his son. And we have forgiveness of sins and we have eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our sins are washed away through that precious blood that he shed on Calvary's cross. And those of us who know the Lord, may we be stirred up to greater faithfulness as we realize the seriousness of the days in which we live when the coming of the Lord draws nigh. …

… Daniel, chapter 6. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole kingdom, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find none occasion nor fault, for as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said unto him, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live forever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes, the councillors and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore, King Darius signed the writing and the decree. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber, toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou assign, but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was saw displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. Then the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. And the stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music brought before him, and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me. For as much as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought those men which accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions. Then their children, and their wives, and the lions had the mastery of them, and break all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den. Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and steadfast forever. And his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who have delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. This is possibly the best known chapter in the book of Daniel, because it's the deliverance of Daniel from the lion's den, is something that even the very small children delight in. Because it's one of what they like to call now, in these days, it's a human interest story. But it also has some very, very precious lessons in it. First of all, from the personal point of view, we noticed on Lord's Day evening, that the Babylonian kingdom came to an end with the ungodly and impious King Belshazzar. Belshazzar was slain on that very night, that he so impiously brought the golden and silver vessels that belong to the house of the Lord, and drank wine out of them, and praised the gods of gold and silver and of wood and earth. And this Darius was the first king of the Medes and Persians. The Medo-Persian kingdom is represented on this image here, by the arms and the belly of silver. And we know silver is an inferior metal to gold. Now Nebuchadnezzar and the kings of the Babylonian empire, they were absolute monarchs. And we were noticing, when we were taking up this second chapter, that absolute monarchy is really the highest order of government. But, as we also said at the time, the problem in the human race is, find the man capable of governing. God's idea of perfect government is, to have a perfect man and have him govern. But Adam's race cannot produce the man. But God has a man in view, and that's his beloved son. And that is going to be the class of government that we'll have on this earth, or that will exist on this earth, when the Lord Jesus is king. He will be king of kings and lord of lords. He will be the absolute king, and all of his laws will be obeyed. And so we noticed, when we were studying King Nebuchadnezzar and these other kings, especially both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar of the Babylonian kingdom, that they failed because they had weaknesses that are inherent in the human race. Belshazzar even more so than Nebuchadnezzar. But when we come to the Medo-Persian kingdom, we find that there is a deterioration in the form of government, just the same as metal is an inferior, silver rather, is an inferior metal to the gold. Because the law of the Medes and Persians was that once a law was made, it couldn't be altered. And even if the king made a law, he couldn't alter his own law. So you see, he was not the absolute monarch like Nebuchadnezzar was. Of Nebuchadnezzar it was said, whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive. And had this been in Nebuchadnezzar's day, if he'd been induced by these wise men to pass a law by a stratagem as it was, he didn't want to, he didn't realize the implications that it was going what it was going to mean to Daniel. And so he signed this law into effect. I've no doubt that the pride of Darius was greatly touched by this, that they weren't to pray to any god or any man except to him for 30 days. You see, that really affected the pride of his heart. And he thought, what a wonderful thing that'll be. No one is to pray to anybody except me. He was going to be a very important personage. He was really being deified for 30 days. And so he allowed himself to be deceived. And what was more, these men told a lie. They told the king a lie. They said all the presidents have agreed. Well, Daniel was the chief of the presidents. And he hadn't agreed to this, we can be sure. So that they really deceived the king. And as I was going to say, had this been Nebuchadnezzar, he'd have said, well, that law doesn't stand. I signed that law, it's true. But now I rescind that law. But the Medes and Persians couldn't do that. And even the king was bound by his own law. And when the king realized what had been done, and that this was just a device to get rid of Daniel, because Daniel, you'll see, just went and prayed to his god, as he did aforetime, the king tried all he could until the evening to see if there was not some way whereby he could change this law. And these men came to him and they said, you can't change the law, oh king. The law of the Medes and Persians is that once the law is signed, it has to be carried out. And so the king was bound to implement this law. Why was it that these men wanted to get rid of Daniel? I've no doubt it was jealousy. You know, there are some people that cannot bear to see somebody else in a little place of prominence. And there, that's what we find with these men. Daniel was put into this place of prominence because he was fit for the position. Daniel had proved himself under the kings of Babylon. And now he was proving himself under the kings of Medo-Persia. And the king realized the worth of Daniel, and he was going to set him over the whole realm. And he made him the chief of the princes. And they tried to find some fault in Daniel in connection with his work, and they couldn't find anything. It says an excellent spirit was in him, and it says he was faithful. So they said, well, the only way we're going to be able to find some fault with Daniel is in connection with his religion. And they noticed that Daniel prayed three times a day. And it says he prayed with his window open toward Jerusalem. You know, I believe that Daniel learned that that was the right thing to do from the reading of Solomon's prayer. In Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, he said to the Lord that if the Lord would disperse his people and for their sin take them away to another land, and they prayed toward this place, that is toward Jerusalem, God would hear them. And the reason was that Jerusalem was the place where the Lord set his name. That was where the temple was, and that was the place where God was worshipped. And it was the only place, it was the only sacred place where God was worshipped on earth was at Jerusalem. That is the only place where God set his name. Of course, we don't have that now. The Lord said to the Samaritan woman in the fourth of John, the hour is coming and now is whether neither in this mountain, that is in Samaria, nor in Jerusalem will men worship the Father. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And we don't worship God now in places made with hands. We meet in the building, but we don't believe that this building is any more sacred just because we happen to meet in it. It's the people who gather together that are the church and not the building, and it's the Lord's presence in the midst of his people that gives the sense of holiness. And the Lord is present in his people even if they were meeting out under a tree, or no matter where they were meeting, because the Lord says where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. So Daniel, realizing that Jerusalem was the place where God put his name, even though Jerusalem was in ruins, and even though the temple was broken down, but he still entered into the spiritual thought of it, and he prayed towards Jerusalem. As he did aforetime, the king's decree didn't change Daniel. Daniel was in the habit of praying three times a day, and so he just continued on as he was doing. He was a consistent man, and we learn many precious lessons, beloved, as we read the life of Daniel, and we have one here. Daniel stands out in this chapter as taking a stand for the Lord, even though it meant that he might lose his life just as much as his three companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did here in the third chapter, when they were threatened with being cast into the fiery furnace because they wouldn't worship the image. The difference is with the three men in the third chapter, it's the worship of an image. In the sixth chapter with Daniel, it's the worship of a man, and we find that both of these things will have their counterpart at the time of the end. Before we go on to that, I just want to finish speaking about Daniel's being cast into the lion's den. Daniel's cast into the den, and the king, he says to Daniel, just as Daniel is going to be cast in, he says, thy God, whom thou serve continually, is able to deliver thee. Darius recognized that Daniel worshipped the true God, and so he gives these encouraging words to Daniel, but you know, I always think that Daniel passed a much more pleasant night than the king. Daniel had a good conscience. Daniel knew that he was in fellowship with the Lord. Daniel was walking with God. The Lord was with Daniel in the lion's den, and Daniel was, I believe, passed a very tranquil night. It's very possible that he lay down and slept. The Lord sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths, and they weren't able to touch him, but the king, he passed the whole night, no doubt, pacing up and down and worrying about Daniel, and very early in the morning, he goes to the mouth of the den and calls out to Daniel and asks him if his God's been able to deliver him, and Daniel's able to give the answer, and of course, Daniel is taken up out of the den, and his enemies, the very ones that plotted against his life, they're cast into the den. Of course, all this, as we said before, is a picture of what's going to happen in the future, but there's one important lesson we learn for our spiritual life in this, in connection with Daniel, and that is that when we're walking in fellowship with the Lord, we need not allow circumstances to trouble us. Daniel was not occupied with the circumstances. Daniel was occupied with the Lord, and you know, this is a lesson that we so often, even we Christians, find very hard to learn, because so often we allow our state to be governed by our circumstances. We allow our joy to be dampened when the circumstances are against us. If we're truly walking with the Lord, we'll have him before us, no matter what the circumstances. As the hymn says, pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to thee. And that's what we find with Daniel. You're going to be cast into the lion's den, Daniel. That doesn't matter. Daniel was praying to his God as he always did, and I've no doubt that when they went to cast him in, he wasn't worried about it at all. Daniel thought, if the Lord pleases to allow me to leave, to finish my course on earth this way, it's something that he's allowed. And if he wishes to preserve me and keep me, he's able to do it. So it didn't matter much to Daniel. It's just the same as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They said, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. But if not, O King, we'll not bow down to the image which thou have set up. And so, in both cases, we find that they weren't perturbed or disturbed by the circumstances. What a lesson to us. And I believe it's a lesson for us, if we can only take it onto our hearts, that we have in the Epistle to the Philippians, where it says, be anxious for nothing. That's really what that word means. The Authorized Version says, be careful for nothing, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That's what Daniel experienced. Now, we find, as we were saying, that these men, in persuading the King to pass this law, that no prayer could be made to any person or any God save the King for 30 days, they were really deifying the King. They were making a God out of the King. It's true that the King didn't want it. The King didn't want it. That's very gratifying to see, as far as Darius was concerned, that when he really came to see what was at the back of it, he was sorry for the whole thing. And yet, at the same time, no doubt his vanity was tickled when they came to him with it, and he consented to it. And it shows that he really was not a man who knew the true God, and he wouldn't have consented to it. He admired Daniel for Daniel's belief, but he really didn't know the Lord himself. Whether he truly came to know him afterwards from the decree that he made, we don't know, but at least it was a wonderful testimony to him. But at any rate, the King was made a God, and that is what we find is going to take place in the last days, that man is going to be deified. Now let us turn over to 2 Thessalonians. In the 2nd epistle to the Thessalonians, we have a reference here to this man who is called the man of sin, who is going to come up in the last days. It is the same person that is referred to over here in the 7th chapter as the little horn, who comes up there, the ten horns come up, and then another little horn comes up and subdues three of those horns or kings. And this is what it says in 2 Thessalonians 2, let no man deceive you, that is in the 3rd verse, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, that is the day of the Lord, the day of judgment, or that really means the day of the great tribulation, that day shall not come except there come a falling away, or an apostasy first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, all that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. You see, it shows us that the day coming on this earth, it mightn't be very far off, if the Lord were to come tonight and take his church away, things would develop very rapidly, and this man who will claim to be God, and will be worshipped as God, is going to come upon this scene. Now the worship of Darius, for those 30 days, is a little type of what is going to take place here, when this man comes up, and he as God, it says, will sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Of course, we know from other scriptures, that the Jews are going to have a temple built, there in the land of Israel, and they're going to establish their sacrifices again, and we have lived to see the day when Israel is a nation back in the land. When I was a boy, we used to talk, you know, that the prophetic scriptures speak about the Jews returning to Palestine in unbelief, but in those days, Palestine was in the hand of the Turks, and they certainly didn't want the Jews to go back there, but first of all, the first world war from 1914 to 18, and then the second world war, that all of us can remember, they have completely changed the political situation in the whole of the Middle East, and it's resulted finally, after the last war, in the formation of a Jewish state, and the Jews are back there, in unbelief. It's true they don't have the land, they don't have the city of Jerusalem yet, that is, the old city is still in the hands of the Arabs, it's still in the hands of Gentiles, but after the Lord takes the church away, things can develop very rapidly, and we believe from other scriptures that they'll rebuild their temple, and that they will establish their sacrifices there, all in unbelief, and then in that very temple, this man who will be the head of the revived Roman Empire, will go over there, and sit there, and be worshipped as God, and also the Antichrist in Jerusalem, will cause an image to be made to this man, and so we're going to get the twofold thing, the worship of the image of the beast, because this man will be called the beast, he's called the beast in scripture, and the worship of the beast himself. Now let us turn over to the 13th chapter of Revelation, and we have a little bit more light on this subject. In Revelation 13, it speaks about the same man, and it calls him the beast out of the sea, and I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his head the name of blasphemy. Now notice what it says down in verse 5, or verse 4, and they worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast. Now the dragon is Satan. The dragon is one of the scripture names for Satan. Satan is called that old serpent, the dragon, the devil, and Satan. Those are the four names by which he's known in scripture, and right here in the book of Revelation. They worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast, and who is able to make war with him. So here we have a man being worshipped, a man who is satanically inspired. You know, man talks about the wonderful progress that's being made, but people don't realize that as civilization is advancing, and God is more and more being left out, it's only opening up the way for Satan to come in. Man cannot, man cannot worship nothing. You know, God has made man a religious being. We must have some outlet for this desire that God has given us to worship, and if people don't worship God, it ends up that they go to worship the devil. They may, they mightn't realize that he's the one that they're worshiping, but that's what it is, and we find that as God is being left out of modern civilization, Satan is gradually coming in, and it's going to head up after the Lord takes the church away, and after the Holy Spirit leaves here, in a man being an object of worship. Just the same as a man was an object of worship there in Daniel's day, this man had to be worshipped and prayed to, no one else could be worshipped or prayed to for 30 days save King Darius. So there's going to be a man coming. With this great difference of course, Darius was tricked into this thing and allowed himself to go into it too by the vanity of his mind, whereas this man that's coming in the future, he is a man who will be satanically inspired, and he will desire this worship, and he will receive it, not for 30 days, but for as long as people want to give it to him, or rather I should say, as long as God allows it, because God is not going to allow it for more than three and a half years. We find that, we'll notice that as we go further on in the book of Daniel, when we get right along here to this portion, and we'll take up that question of the time, what is known as Daniel's 70th week, and we find there's that seven years that's to run its course, the last half of which is spoken of as the great tribulation, and it's during that great tribulation is the time that that man is going to be worshipped. Now Daniel preserved, cast into the lion's den, and preserved and brought out of it is a picture of the godly ones of that time who will be preserved during the time of that great tribulation. We saw it also over here with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were cast into the fiery furnace. God preserved them and brought them out because they refused to worship the image. Daniel's cast into the lion's den. God preserves him and brings him out because he refuses to worship the king, and these are both types of the godly remnant of Israel and also others from among the Gentiles who will refuse to worship either the image or the beast himself at that time. Now let us turn back to Jeremiah. You'll notice that on our chart there it's got the quotation there, the 30th chapter of Jeremiah, in the ninth verse. I'm making a turn to a few different scriptures tonight, but it's good to see what the word itself says. In Jeremiah 9 we have a statement that fits in with this very thing. It says, in the seventh verse rather, let us read from the fourth verse to give the connection. Jeremiah 30 in verse 4, and these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus said the Lord, we have heard the voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. Ask ye now and see whether a man doth travail with child. Wherefore do I see every man with his hand on his loins as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them. And down in verse 11, for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. He's saying this to Israel. Though I make a full end of all nations, whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. You notice in verse 7, it says it's the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. Now this is the great tribulation that's being referred to. And Jeremiah calls it the time of Jacob's trouble. Jacob, you know, is another name for Israel. And the nation of Israel is going through this great time of trouble. But you notice it says, but he'll be saved out of it. We might say that the lion's den was the time of Daniel's trouble, but he was saved out of it. God allowed him to go through the trial, but God brought him out of it. God will allow the godly remnant of Israel to go through the trial, and he'll bring them out of it. And the reason why he allows it is, it seems that that great tribulation is what God is, what is necessary for God to use to bring the people of Israel to their senses, and to bring them to realize their great sin in the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here. And there'll be many among them who'll turn to the Lord, although sad to say there'll be many among them who won't. There'll be many Jews in that day who will worship the beast, and who will worship his image, and they will go down to a lost eternity. But those who are faithful, God is going to preserve them. Some will pay with their lives, but the majority will be preserved through this great tribulation. And it says in verse 11, I will correct thee in measure, and not leave thee altogether unpunished. God will correct them. He'll use this as a correction for them, as a punishment, and yet he's going to bring them out of it. Now Daniel himself, if we just turn along to Daniel, Daniel himself refers to the great tribulation in the last chapter. In the 12th chapter of Daniel, it says, the first verse, at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one of them that shall be found written in the book. It says this is Daniel's people, the Jews. This is looking right on to that time too. A time of trouble such as never been, it says. Then, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. You know, there have been some great times of trouble on this earth. This, many nations have been through very great and sore trials. But what any nation and any people has been through in the whole history of this earth is nothing compared to this great tribulation that's coming upon this earth. It's referred to also in Matthew. In 24th of Matthew, we find the great tribulation referred to. In Matthew 24, in verse 14, when you see, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, whoso readeth let him understand, then let them which be in Judea fleet into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes and woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. Now notice verse 21, for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect sake, those days shall be shortened. So here we have another reference and it's distinctly a Jewish scene. It mentions the holy place in verse 15. It mentions Judea in verse 16. It mentions the Sabbath day in verse 20. It's the people of Israel. This great tribulation will come upon them. And when it begins, when they see that abomination of desolation, that idol set up in Jerusalem, that's the sign to them to flee. And they've got to escape so quickly that anyone that's in the field is not even to go back to the house to get anything. Otherwise he won't get away in time. It's something that is coming upon them. A judgment of God will come upon this whole earth and Palestine, the land of Israel, is going to be the vortex, is going to be the center of this terrible judgment. Now finally, let us turn over to the seventh chapter of Revelation. We have again a reference to the great tribulation. You see it's referred to in a very large number of scriptures and to others even that we don't have time to turn to this evening. In Revelation 7, we have two groups mentioned. Revelation 7 is, by the way, a parenthesis. It lets us see that God always has his portion out of this earth, no matter how difficult the conditions are. No matter how terrible the conditions are, God, the devil never has everything his own way. God receives his portion. And this chapter comes in as a parenthesis letting us see what God is going to get out for himself of the great tribulation. And we have from verse 1 down to verse 8, we have here the sealing of 144,000 out of the tribes of Israel. 12,000 out of each tribe. You know, there have been various cults in Christendom who claimed that they were 144,000. And of course, the folly of their claiming such a thing is apparent when we see that it mentions here that there are 12,000 sealed out of each tribe of Israel. This is referring to the people of Israel. This isn't referring to Gentiles. This isn't referring to people of our nations. It's referring to what God is going to do there in the land of Israel, among the people of Israel, after he takes the church away. He's going to call out a number out of each tribe of Israel. It might be questioned whether this 144,000, 12,000 out of each of the 12 tribes is literal or whether it's just a symbolic number. And I don't think that need concern us. The thing, the point to see is that God is going to have out of Israel those that he will redeem and will be his witnesses at that time. In fact, I believe that these 144,000, they can be truly called, or will be truly called in that day, Jehovah's witnesses. They will be the Lord's witnesses at that time. We have a group called themselves Jehovah's witnesses, and as a dear Spanish brother that we know very well comes and gets tracks from us, he always calls them Jehovah's false witnesses, los falsos testigos de Jehovah, he always calls them. And that's what they are. Here we have the true witnesses for the Lord to Jehovah, which is Israel's God, who will be his witnesses at that time. And it says, you notice the first verse, after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on any, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were sealed, and they were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Now, these four winds, about to blow on the earth and the sea, represent the judgments of God, about to fall upon this earth. That is, the great tribulation is about to begin. But it's just as if the Lord says, hold it back until I have sealed those that I'm going to call out of Israel. And so, the Lord lets us see that before this terrible judgment comes, he's going to call out those who will be his witnesses and whom he will preserve. The Lord had Daniel there before this king, before this law was passed that the king was to be worshipped. God already had his witness there at the very court of the king. Daniel was the Lord's witness at that time. God never leaves himself without a witness. Even when we read the history of the dark ages of the church, the middle ages, when Rome, it seemed, controlled practically everything. You read the history of those times, and you find that God had his faithful witnesses, his faithful testimony. God always has a witness. And even in the dark days of the great tribulation, God is going to have his witness. And so, he had Daniel as the witness there at the very time that Darius was being worshipped. God would have his faithful witnesses when this beast is being worshipped during the great tribulation. And they will refuse to worship him. And some will pay with their lives. And many, the Lord will allow them to escape. And he will preserve them because he will need them as his future witnesses, or rather he'll need them as the nucleus of the nation of Israel that will go into the millennium to be God's witness for the whole earth during that time. So he will preserve them as he preserved Daniel in the lion's den. But not only do we have those that the Lord is going to save out of Israel, it says in verse 9, after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood around about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, or that word beasts really should be living creatures, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered saying unto me, What of these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation. And this word great tribulation, or these words great tribulation should have the article before them. It's really these are they that came out of the great tribulation. Well I think the new translation puts it, Mr Darby's translation says, The tribulation, the great one. Marking it out as the special great tribulation that's referred to in other places. They came out of the tribulation, the great one. Tribulation, the great. That's it, yeah. And have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So here we see that not only the Lord is going to have as the result for himself as that that he'll have for himself during this time, a people from among the Jews, a remnant from among the Jews. He's going to have a great multitude that no man can number from among the Gentiles. Other scriptures lead us to believe that these Jews will be called out first and then they will go out when they're scattered from Jerusalem. When they have to flee from Jerusalem at the time that this tribulation comes. According to Matthew there when they'll flee the Lord says for them to get out when they see the abomination of desolation set up. That they will go back into the very Gentile nations that they were living amongst before they went to Palestine. They'll go back there with the message of salvation. And maybe many now in Russia who are deprived of the privilege of hearing the gospel of God's grace now and other countries will have an opportunity of hearing the message of salvation through these godly Jews. And so at the end of the tribulation we see a great multitude that no man could number save from among the Gentiles. Because it says that they are from among from the different, it mentions the nations here. In verse nine. Of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. You know I've often thought what good missionaries the converted Jews will make in that day. Because the Jew if he's anything he's a linguist. Wherever the Jews go they very quickly learn the language. And they they're the most adaptable people. You can go to any country in the world and you'll find the Jews seem to fit in and adapt themselves. And when they're when these Jews are converted. Men like Moses, men like Daniel, men like these prominent men we find in the scriptures. Dedicated to the Lord with all that ability that God has given them. Completely dedicated to him. What witnesses they're going to be at that time. Yes and God will use them to gather out during the time of the great tribulation a great harvest for himself. So you see the devil's not going to get it all his own way. God is going to have his portion even out of the great tribulation. And these will be those who will inherit the new earth. We belonging to the church we're going to be on the heavenly side of the kingdom when the Lord reigns over the earth. And these that the Lord saves during this great tribulation they're going in to inherit the new earth. And they will be the Lord's people here on the earth at that time. So Daniel faithful to the Lord and preserved in the lion's den and brought out of it to continue to be a witness to the king. And the king himself giving honor and praise to the God of Daniel is a little type of the godly remnant of Israel preserved during the tribulation to be God's testimony. And the result of it the gentile peoples themselves being brought to recognize the true God. The God of Israel and the true God. And finally in the millennium when Christ reigns the whole earth being brought into subjection to him and owning him as rightful king and Lord of all. …

… Daniel chapter 7, starting with the first verse. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven stroll upon the great sea, and four beasts, the four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, and they sit on to thus onto it, arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld and lo, another like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl. The beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, and it devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the root, and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousands, thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their life were prolonged for a season in time. I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion and glory in a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." So forth. Tonight in our series of studies in the book of Daniel, we have reached the seventh chapter, and as we've followed the reading, you notice that these pictures of the four beasts describe what our brother has been reading in these first 14 verses of chapter 7. You notice that on the chart there is a reference here, Psalm 49 12. You can turn to it if you wish, but I'm going to quote it. It says, "...man who being in honor and abideth not is like the beasts that perish." Man who does not abide in the place in which God has placed him, when God has placed him in a place of honor, the word says he's like the beasts that perish. And I believe that that fits in very well with the description that God has given in this prophecy of these four great kingdoms, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman that referred to in this chapter. Now when we were back in the in the second chapter, we saw this great image that the king dreamed about, and this image also spoke of these four kingdoms. The head of gold was the Babylonian empire, the arms and the breast of silver the Medo-Persian, the thighs and the belly of brass the Greek, and the legs of iron the Roman empire. And of course the feet are of iron and clay, and there are the ten toes which come in the time of the end. And of course we have something here about the time of the end also that we'll look at presently. The difference between these two visions is this. This gives us God's viewpoint of these kingdoms, but we might say that God is giving them as man looks at them, something that seems great and that looks great in this world. You know an empire is a wonderful thing in the eyes of man, but what is it in the eyes of God? In the eyes of God we find that these kingdoms have degenerated, and we would think, I mean man today would think that they have progressed in their form of government. They have changed from absolute autocracy. Nebuchadnezzar was an autocrat. Right down until we find down here we have democracy, and of course we are taught to believe that democracy is the highest form of government. It's probably been in Christian lands one of the best forms of government, not because it is pure democracy as we've said before, but because those who rule even though elected by the people have ruled in a measure in the fear of God. But if you had just democracy without the fear of God it would just lead to anarchy. So that God's idea of perfect government is a one-man rule, but we might say puzzle, find the man, and the human race hasn't produced him, nor will. There will be a man, we're going to see a little bit about him tonight, he's called here the little horn. He will be the ultimate that man will produce, but he will be a man who will defy God and receive judgment from God. Then, when this highest that man can produce has been put down by God in the judgment, God is going to establish his kingdom. And that's what we have said for here, that Gentile dominion abolished, Christ's kingdom established, righteousness triumphant, and God will have one man to rule over this universe, and he will be the perfect man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And his will be a perfect rule, because as it says in Isaiah, he will not rule after the fight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the world and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. The Lord will be a righteous rule. So we will have a one-man rule, but it will be a completely righteous rule, because that one will be the Lord Jesus Christ, and everyone in obedience to him. And there is a sense, dear friend, in which each one of us individually now, to be right with God, must submit to the Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to him in recognition of our need as sinners, and accepting him as the only one who can save our precious souls, and then submitting our lives to him as Christians. The only way that we Christians can live lives that are really fruitful for God, are lives that are subject to the Lord Jesus. He must be the one who rules our lives. He must be the Lord of our lives. We mustn't allow others to rule our lives. We must allow Christ to rule our lives, and as each of us is allowing Christ to rule our lives, they will be lived in obedience to the will of God, and they'll be fruitful for him. So whether it be the individual now, or whether it be the nation then, God's man is his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just briefly to go over these kingdoms, we find that it tells us in the 15th verse of the chapter following the verses that Brother Montgomery read for us, I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall rise out of the earth. But the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass, which devoured, breaking pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet, and of the thin horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, before whom three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows, etc. And then we find that the interpretation is given. First of all, I want to say that this chapter really begins the second section of the book of Daniel. Up till now, we've had the visions that have been given to these different kings. This division was given to Nebuchadnezzar. The vision here was given to Nebuchadnezzar. And here we had a revelation given to Belshazzar, the handwriting on the wall. Here in chapter three, we have the three men who were cast into the fiery furnace, because they refused to bow down to the image. And in the sixth chapter, we saw that Daniel refused to worship the king for those 30 days, and he was cast into the lion's den. But now we have the visions that were given to Daniel himself. Dreams that Daniel received, or rather visions that he received, in which the Lord made known to Daniel. Certain truths concerning these great kingdoms, and concerning the future, and concerning the final reign, the final triumph of righteousness, the final reign of the Lord Jesus. In chapter eight, we have another vision that Daniel saw. Then we have the message given to Daniel of the 70 weeks. And so on, what is revealed in the further chapters 10, 11, and 12. Also, these were all special visions given to Daniel. Of course, Daniel is the one who's responsible, under God, for giving us this whole book. And he records even the visions given to these kings beforehand. Now, when we come to the interpretation of these beasts here, we find that the first part of the chapter is divided up into three sections. We really have three visions. We have from one down to verse six, the first vision. And you notice it starts with Daniel had a dream and vision. Then down in verse seven, after this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast. And then finally, in the 13th verse, I saw in the night visions, and behold one like unto the Son of Man. That is, we have a vision, we have a vision given to Daniel of these three, the first three beasts. Then we have a separate vision given to him of this fourth beast. And this is what we really want to talk about tonight, is this fourth beast. Then finally, we have the final vision given of the reign of Christ in the end, when the Lord's reign is established. The rest of the book is taken up with the interpretation of these three visions. And very little is said about the first three, because you see we've already had quite a lot about Babylon and Medo-Persia up till now. And in the following chapter, we'll have something more about Medo-Persia and Greece, when we come to the ram and the he-goat. And I won't go into that tonight, because that'll be another subject that we'll take up, and it's really a very important one. But it gives us certain things concerning the kingdom of Medo-Persia, and more concerning the Grecian empire. Now when it tells us here that these beasts are kings that shall arise, the word king doesn't just always mean in scripture what the word king means to us today. When we think of a king, we think of a monarchy and a king reigning over it. But the word king here really means a government, or a form of government. For instance, in biblical language, the United States would be looked at as a kingdom, and the president of the United States would be looked at as the king. It's not taking up the questions of different kinds of government, but it is establishing the fact that there are governments in the world, and the scripture calls them kingdoms, because that's the that was the the form of government, of course, that was known. So when we read about these kingdoms, or about these kings, for instance, it says that this lion with the eagle's wings represents a king. Well, it represents a kingdom, or an empire, or a form of government that God allowed to be established in the earth. It was the beginning of the times of the Gentiles. Back here it was the head of Gauls. And isn't it a remarkable thing that today even, we find that the lion and the eagle are still representatives, or are still the symbols used to represent nations. The symbol, the symbolism for Britain is the lion. The symbolism for the United States is the eagle. And if we take those two, the lion is the most regal, we might say, of the animals, and the eagle is of the birds. And yet the lion and the eagle, the lion is an animal of prey, and the eagle is a bird of prey. And even our modern governments are represented by wild beasts, or by wild birds. And it's the most remarkable thing to see that. It says that this, the wings were plucked off this lion, that means it lost its power to be what it represented, what it was supposed to represent. And it says a man's heart was given unto it. And in thinking over that, of why, what is meant by a man's heart being given unto it, I believe it just means this. God, God established this kingdom, when he took the kingdom away from Israel, he allowed the times of the Gentiles to begin. And the times of the Gentiles began with the Babylonian empire. And even today, since that time, and right down to the present day, because we're still in the days of the times of the Gentiles, and we will be right until after the Lord takes the church away, these powers that be are ordained of God. We need to remember that. We need to remember that even the Russian government is ordained of God. And the Christians in Russia, no doubt, realize their responsibility to pray for the power that God has allowed to be over their country. We noticed that when we were back here in the fifth chapter, it says that God sets up over the kingdoms of the world the basest of men sometimes. He gives the, he gives the, he rules in the kingdoms of men and gives them to whosoever he will, and sets up the basest of men. Many of us might wish that we had a different president in the United States, but President Kennedy is the man that God has allowed to be the ruler of this country. And therefore we're responsible to pray for the powers that be, no matter who they are. The Christians in the Apostle Paul's day were told to pray for the powers that be, when Nero, who was a pirate who persecuted Christians, was on the throne. And yet they were to pray for the powers that be. God allows the powers that be sometimes to be persecuting powers. And I believe that the thought that the, that the man's heart was given to this lion just means this, that Babylonian empire did not represent God as it should have. No, no government represents God as it should. That doesn't say we shouldn't recognize it, we should recognize it as established of God, yet it has failed. No parent, I believe, fulfills all the responsibilities of a parent as he and she should. Yet children are responsible to obey their parents, because the parents are not perfect. It doesn't say that their responsibility is taken away, but they have to give an account to God for how they take up their responsibility and how they fulfill it. And that is the same in every sphere of responsibility in which God has placed man, and it's true of the nation. But seeing this was the first Gentile nation that was given this highly exalted position by God, after he took the rule away from Earth and he transferred it to Heaven, because God now rules from Heaven. He ruled on Earth from Jerusalem. He's going to rule on Earth again when Christ establishes his reign. But now God rules from Heaven. He's ruling indirectly, we might say. Not interfering directly in the affairs of men, but ruling indirectly. And therefore the Babylonian empire did not measure up to the fullness of the position that God gave it. That is, it should have fully represented God, so it is a man's heart was given to it. It did not manifest God's heart. It proved that it only had a human heart after all, that couldn't rise above its source. And so we find in these, each of these has lessons for us. When we come to the Medo-Persian, very little said about it, but it corresponds to this one here. And we find that it says that the bear raised itself up on one side. Now the Babylonian empire was very swift. We find that the Medo-Persian empire was like the bear, more slovenly and slower, and it raised itself up on one side. It devoured, it had three teeth on each side of its mouth, and says, arise, devour much flesh. That is, it embraced many other lands around it. And the fact that it raised itself up on one side is also represented by the ram here in the next chapter that had one long horn and one short horn, because the kingdom started off with being the Medo, the kingdom of the Medes. And then, but it was the kingdom of the Medes and Persians really, only the Medes, the first king was a Median king. But then the Persians came to the front, and they became the dominating factor in the Medo-Persian kingdom. So you see, one side, we might say, was more uneven. There were, the Persians were much stronger and exercised a much greater influence in the kingdom than the Medes did. Then we have following them the leopard with four heads and four wings. And of course that is represented here by the heath goat as we'll come to the next chapter. And I just want to say briefly about the Greek empire. It started with Alexander the Great. And if we read history, we know how Alexander as a young man rose to great prominence and completely overthrew the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. And he established the Grecian empire. And for the first time, these world empires were transferred from the east to the west. The Babylonian empire was an eastern empire. It was in Asia. The Medo-Persian empire was an eastern empire. It was in Asia. But when the Grecian empire was established, the center of government was transferred to Europe. For the first time, we find world government in Europe, in the country that most of our ancestors come from. And following that, we find this nondescript beast. It's not exactly like any other beast. And I've no doubt that the artist has tried to represent it here, but he's failed to give a true representation of what this terrible beast must have looked like to Daniel as he saw this beast. I just want to refer to it again. It says, it says in verse 7, after this I saw in the night visions and behold the fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it. And it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it. And it had ten horns. This is the last beast. And this, of course, represents the Roman Empire. Over here is represented by the legs of iron. And that's exactly what the Roman Empire was. It was an empire of iron. And if we read history, we find out what a very strong empire that was, that spread over the whole of Europe and embraced, of course, parts of Asia as well. Now we're not going to take up anything about that except to take up something about these ten horns that came up at the time of the end on this beast that are seen here. And I want to explain for those who haven't followed us in these lectures that we've been giving on this chart, that this section here, as you'll notice it says, it represents the present age or church period from the cross to the rapture. Revelation of the mystery, a dateless parenthesis in God's great plan. You know, many people have tried to set dates in connection with prophecy and in connection with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every system of date setting has failed. It's a very remarkable thing that God has allowed all the dates that people have set to pass. Way back in the last century there, there was a man named Miller who set dates for the Lord's coming. And they went out with palm branches onto a mountain to wait for the Lord's coming. And the Lord didn't come. He had misunderstood the scriptures. In mind there was an important, prominent system of theology, a false system of theology. And their leader predicted the coming of the Lord in 1914. But the Lord didn't come in 1914. And so all these dates have been set. And the reason is the scripture does not give dates connected with this period. Dates are given in connection with these empires up to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we find that and we'll see very definitely when we get further on in what is known as Daniel 70 weeks. There we actually get a period of 490 years mentioned and 487 of those years were fulfilled on the very day that the Lord Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on an ass. But there's a seven-year period of one week or seven years yet to be fulfilled. And we don't know when that's going to be fulfilled except it will be fulfilled after the coming of the Lord to take the saints away. And in between there and here this period has come in that's lasted now over 1900 years. Since the death of the Lord Jesus and the preaching of the gospel worldwide this period continues on right up to the coming of the Lord. And beloved the next great event that we Christians are looking for is the coming of the Lord. And we believe it's getting very near. We're beginning to see developing around of things that show us that we're very near the time of the end as we've seen all along in these in these various chapters that we've already looked at. We've seen that the things that happened there were prophetic of the time of the end. And the time when these ten forms will be seen on the beast and another little horn will come up and subdue three that's going to take place after the Lord's coming. And we can already see the shadows casting them the the event the shadows of the events being cast beforehand especially in Europe. And it lets us see that we must be getting very near to that time when the Lord is going to fulfill what he says in the 14th of John I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. As we have in first Thessalonians 4 the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Well now let's just look a little at this what it says about these ten horns. Verse 19 says I would know the truth of the fourth beast Daniel is asking which was diverse from all the others exceeding dreadful whose feet were of iron and his nails of brass which devoured break in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet. And of the ten horns that were in his head and of the other little horn that came up and so on and this is the answer that he got verse 23 thus he said the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth which shall be diverse from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces and the ten horns out of this kingdom of ten kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three kings. Now we're told here that this is the fourth universal kingdom that was to be on the earth. Well you say how do you fit that in with this at the time of the end because the roman empire existed hundreds of years ago and for many many hundreds of years the roman empire has been non-existent. How are we going to fit that in with the fact that it says that this would be the last kingdom and that it all fits in with the time of the end? Well i believe that's explained in this way. It's true that the roman empire in its outward form broke up but all the elements of the roman empire still exist in europe and you know we have lived we have lived in our day to see the beginning of the reformation of the roman empire. It was a very remarkable thing to students of the prophetic word to notice how the nations of europe were lined up at the close of the last world war. Do you know how it was? The allied armies of the of the british empire and the united states and the western european nations of france and so on they defeated germany and president roosevelt went over there and they had that meeting at yalta and the the heads of britain and united states and russia made an agreement how they were going to leave things when the cessation of hostilities came that wherever the armies were there that's where they were going to stay and you know it's a matter of history this is well known that the allied armies could have gone much further east they had the they had the ability to do it but because of this agreement that's been made they didn't do that they could have driven the russians right back if they wanted to a lot further or other they would have driven the germans much further back and the russians would have to stay right back in in on their own side but because these agreements had been made the lines were drawn exactly where things were at the time they marked time as it were why was all that done god rules in the kingdoms of men and gives it to whomsoever he will god overrules these things these men no doubt they were very perhaps honest men no doubt president roosevelt thought he was doing the best he could for united states and for the rest of the world and so did churchill and so did stallion although it seems that stallion had some very ulterior motives that the others didn't recognize but anyhow there it was that when the war is over what do we find the boundaries of the nations are drawn practically along the lines of the roman empire the rhine and the danube were the the rivers right in the danube were the boundaries roughly speaking of the division between the roman empire and the other nations to the to the east and the north and that's where the line was when the last war was over russia had the control of the part of the of the europe that was outside of the old roman empire and the united states and britain and france they controlled the part that was inside the roman empire the result is that the former republic of germany divided into two sections the east and the west and it still is and i don't believe as i read the prophetic scriptures that it's ever going to be any different until the lord establishes his reign because that is the line that was the old roman empire and what we are seeing in europe today is that the old roman empire is being reformed so we say well as the roman empire ceased to exist in a certain sense it ceased to exist but it's still there it tells us that these beasts have their lives taken away from them but they were preserved god allowed them to be preserved and so all the elements of those nations still exist the elements of the old babylonian empire still exist of the the persian and the metan persians still exist of the greek empire still exists and of the roman empire and but the roman is the one that's coming to the front now it says in the time of the end this beast will be seen with ten horns on now this is the final stage we don't find that back in history rome was divided up into ten kingdoms there was one empire in the past when we read the history of rome but at the time of the end after the lord takes the church away this empire is going to be revived and it will be seen to be composed of ten nations there will be ten nations who will compose the revived roman empire this is also in keeping what we have in revelation in the 17th chapter revelation it speaks about the beast there that has ten horns and it says these ten horns are ten kings who've received no power as yet but who will receive power one hour with the beast and the beast there in revelation is the same person as this little horn is as is spoken of here so here we have this this nondescript beast which represents the roman empire and at the time of the end it will be seen to be composed of ten nations and it seems that that is what's beginning to happen in europe the the european nations are joining together you know for for centuries it's well a well-known fact the french and the germans could never get along together the french didn't like the germans and the germans didn't like the french and they've had wars and uh all of those european countries they had they became extremely nationalistic they couldn't get along with one another what has made these nations willing to get together and form a union the great fear of russia has and communism is what is joining them together and so we're seeing a revival a political revival of the roman empire and this european economic account economic council it's not composed of ten nations yet but if that is what we think it is of course we've got to be careful when we're interpreting prophecy not to prophesy ourselves we can only give an opinion on this but it looks to us now as if europe is really getting ready uh by this uh european economic council in these nations joining together that the ten the ten horns of this beast here and the ten toes of the scene here which is the same thing and the ten horns of the scene on the beast in revelation that these ten nations are coming together and another very remarkable thing beloved friends is this this is very little is said about this publicly you don't read it in the papers i've never read anything about this in the newspapers here and that is that the real name for this european economic council is the rome treaty the treaty of rome this is something that was made in rome and was signed in rome and it's the most remarkable thing that rome is coming to the front and no doubt will take the place will come in and will really be the capital we might say of this revived empire the rome treaty and and i believe that the those who really studied it have seen that it's really the real aim of it is not only an economic union not only a union for the sake of trade that's what the the trade idea is what is is causing the nations to want to get into it but it's really the leaders of it or the designers of it they're looking for a political union and the nations that go into it each nation will have to give up some of its own sovereignty and to uh and recognize the uh the supreme authority of the uh of the leading uh of the rulers that we might say of the leaders of this nation just the same as in the united states each state has had to give up some of its some of its own authority to the the federal government the united states the the constitution of the united states is such that one state in itself can't go along on its own each state has to recognize the authority of the federal government in washington and each each country which is in this revived roman empire will have to recognize the authority of the government of rome now it goes on and says here in verse and i'm going to go a little over time tonight because i want to really just round out this chapter it says in verse 25 of this one that will come up afterwards verse it says he shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of time now we find that after this kingdom is established and i take it that the next great event as we were saying is the coming of the lord to take his saints away the rapture of the church very quickly things will then develop in europe and in israel we already see the jews back in the land of palestine we already see the european nations federated and i believe that they will end up with being a union of 10 nations there in europe now britain wants to get into it now israel wants to get into it and just exactly what the nations are that will be finally into it of course we can't predict the certainty but it looks as if spain and portugal and those nations that were part of the old roman empire will again be in it will be in this this union of roman nations and there will be the 10 nations then another person is going to come up because each nation will have its will have its head russia germany already has adenauer and france has the goal and those two men in a certain sense are really very powerful men they're almost if we might say dictators in their own country they have a great deal of power and each nation will have its have its ruler another person is going to come up energized by satan and he's called the little horn when we get over to the next chapter we see there's a little horn here he's the grecian little horn it's a different person we don't want to confound these two this is the roman little horn he's a little horn because he'll come up as being a very insignificant power at first a horn in scripture always represents a political power that's why we have these nations represented by horns political power that comes up and exercises authority so a little horn comes up and he looks it says he looks more stout than his fellows he's very small but he does seem stronger and he soon manifests his power he's going by a sudden coup d'etat to overthrow three of the nations we're not told what three they are and he will become a dictator and i believe that it's generally agreed that linking this up with other scriptures he is the same person as is called the first beast of revelation 13 he will become as a dictatorial head of the revived roman empire you say well how can a man like that come up and suddenly take control of things and and really become a dictator do we need to ask those of us who've lived for the last 20 years or more when we see how men like hitler and men like mussolini were able to jump into the saddle as it were to seize the reins of government and to to control the nation and do all the damage that they did we needn't be surprised i believe that god has allowed us to see these men in our day and generation as a little foreshadowing of what's going to come both of those men capitalized on the the uh the confusion that followed the first world war and no doubt after there'll be a great deal of confusion after the lord comes and takes the church away you imagine the confusion that's going to take place on this earth when every christian is suddenly removed you take every christian man and woman out of los angeles all the christian people that are in businesses suddenly removed all the christian people that are in financial circles all the christian people that are in any circle of business will take it out take it all away what confusion is going to take place a man energized by satan an intelligent person who is out for his own interest and his own self-aggrandizement will be able to step in and take advantage of the situation to exalt himself into a place of power and that's what's going to happen and this man is going to be energized by the devil himself and he is going to take his place as the head of the revived roman empire and you notice what it says it tells us three things here it says in verse 25 he shall speak great words against the most high he's going to defy god the church shall be gone god's testimony as we've already seen in men is going to be with the godly remnant of israel and this man will blaspheme god he will claim worship himself as we saw typified by the king who passed the decree king darius that no man could pray to any god or man for 30 days save him this man will claim divine honor and all worship of god will be prohibited and he will insist that he be worshiped and it says he will wear out the saints of the most high god god will have his testimony in that day these godly jews who will be the lord's witnesses at that time after the lord takes the church away he's going to take up israel again he's going to save some out of the nation of israel and use them as his witnesses and they will be the lord's testimony and this man is going to wear them out he's going to persecute them he's going to oppose them he's going to he's going to kill some of them and many of them will escape out of his hand but it says he's wear out the saints of the most high and the third thing is it says he'll seek to change times and laws that is he will dare he will deliberately endeavor to change the times and the laws that the jews will be carrying out because the jews back in palestine will rebuild their temple you see the jews in palestine today who've gone back they're still not in jerusalem jerusalem is still trodden down of the gentiles and it tells us that in the 20th in the 21st of luke it says jerusalem would be trodden down to the gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled and although israel is in palestine they still don't have old jerusalem the jerusalem that the jews have today is the new city but the old city where uh that was the original city in david's day where the temple was built is still in the hands of the arabs and in the the site of the temple there is a a muhammadan mosque but the jews are going to rebuild the temple there they're going to get possession of that maybe we won't see that i doubt that we'll see it but after the lord takes the church away they'll very quickly get it no doubt and they will establish their worship and they will be allowed to establish it and then this this beast this man here he's going to come in and he's going to change and endeavor to proscribe all religious worship it's a it's going to be an effort to do away with god you see the communists are not the only ones that are going to try and do away with god in this world the western gentile nations are going to do try and do away with god i believe that the day will come after the lord takes the church out that will be an effort in the united states there will be an effort in britain there will be an effort in all of our gentile nations to completely shut god out and you say well how can this take place so quickly it's already taking place the very fact that evolution has been taught in the schools and that the generation has been schooled to believe that the word of bible isn't worth reading that it's only a it's only a lot of folklore and that man is as offended or descended or however they like to call it from apes or from little bits of protoplasm and all that that these are being taught to the children and the generations are being schooled to believe all this this thing's already begun and it'll come it'll be it'll come to its fruition after the lord takes the church away there will be endeavor to block god out and it will be headed up by this man he'll seek to change the times and law as it says they'll be delivered into his hand that is god will allow him to do it but only for a certain time god said to god says to the waves god says to the waves of the sea thus far shalt thou come and no further he doesn't allow the waves to overflow the land he says you stay there god's put the boundaries for the sea scripture says and god said to the church at smyrna thou shalt have tribulation 10 days that meant they wouldn't have 11 days and god says to this man i'll allow you to go on in your blasphemy for the fulfillment of my purposes because i'm going to chastise the earth but you'll only continue a certain time a time and times and time and a half that's a very significant period of time what does it mean if we take other references in revelation we find that revelation speaks uses the same expression time times and time and a half it also uses the expression 42 months and it uses the the expression three and a half years and the year the prophetic year in scripture is always a year of 360 days so 42 months is three and a half years and time times and time and a half time is one year times two years and a half is three and a half years that's the time that god will allow that man to continue that is the period of the great tribulation that we're referring to uh last wednesday night god will allow him to continue that time and no longer and then it says verse 26 but the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it under the end and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all the minions shall serve him now who are the people of the saints of the most high they are the godly jewish remnant god will give them the kingdom and the lord jesus will be recognized as the king and he will establish his kingdom as we have here gentile dominion abolished christ's kingdom established righteousness triumphant that is what's going to take place and you notice in quotes here it is very chapter 7 chapter 7 13 and 14 the lord's kingdom will be established in the earth and everlasting righteousness will be brought in in this earth we might well say may may that day be hastened and dear friends it's it's coming to pass not many years hence i believe this day will be seen here on this earth we're getting very near to the fulfillment of this the first thing as we said the lord is coming to take the church away i wonder if there are any here tonight not ready for this great event the lord's coming for his church would you be left behind when the lord comes you know it's something that we've been that i myself have heard about since i can write back since i my memory carries me i can never remember a time when i was not told about the coming of the lord that the lord jesus was coming and i'm 60 years of age but the lord hasn't come yet and it seems to my parents no doubt when i was born that they thought the coming of the lord was near why hasn't the lord come yet peter tells us he's not flat concerning his promise as some men count slackness but his long suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repent him if the lord were to come tonight and he could come before this meeting's over i wonder if every seat would be empty here if there's one not sure about salvation or dear friends may you take the lord as your savior tonight may you close in with god's offer of mercy don't say well i'm going to put it off because wait till i get a little older you don't know that you're going to get any older and if we if we all were sure that we might live many years none of us is sure of the moment of the lord's return and he could come tonight and close the day of grace so how important it is to take the lord jesus and accept his offer of salvation trust in him as your savior then you'd be ready to go with the lord's people we'd all be caught up to be with the lord in the air i trust that when the lord comes that if he were to come while the meeting's on in this room that every seat here would be empty and then the unsaved are going to wake up to the reality that they've been left but it'll be too late for them then this awful time is coming and finally the establishment of righteousness on the earth after the lord's judgment because god's judgment is going to be poured out on all this these blasphemous men the beast this man that's called the little horn here and the false prophet scripture says they're going to be cast alive into the lake of fire two men went two men went to heaven without dying enoch and elijah and two men are going to be cast into hell without dying it's going to be bad enough to be cast into hell after having died it's going to be an awful thing for a person to be cast into hell without even going through death and that's what scripture says is going to take place for these men because of their awful blasphemy against god but thank god it's still the day of his grace and we trust that each one of us will know him as our savior and we who do may we live faithfully as we realize that we're in the last days and that the coming of the lord draws nigh let us pray gracious god our father we thank thee for thy precious word we thank thee for the prophetic scriptures and all that thou dost give us in them help us to understand them we realize father that we understand some of them and there's perhaps a great deal here that we do not understand because thou art infinite and we are finite but all we thank thee the what for what we do understand and we thank thee above all for the gift of thy son the lord jesus and we desire our gracious god that we may each one of us live for him and serve him faithfully as we are waiting for his return we thank thee for this lord's day and now we commend us into thy care as we give thanks in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ amen …

… Daniel chapter 8, in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared unto me, even unto Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision, and it came to pass when I saw that I was in Shushan, in the palace, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram, which had two horns. And the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. That's what we have, of course, here. And I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand. But he did according to his will, and became great. And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Here we have the goat. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with collar against him, and smote the ram, and break his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken. And for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And the pleasant land here is the land of Palestine, the land where the Jews were. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, that's the Lord Jesus. And by him, or from him it really is, and from him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression. And it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. And it came to pass when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then behold there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the ewe-line, which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid, and fell upon my face. And he said unto me, Understand though son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Now as I was speaking with, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground, but he touched me and set me upright. And he said, Behold I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be. The ram which thou sawest having two horns of the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. And he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true. Wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted in the six certain days. Afterward I rose up and did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Last meeting, that is on Lord's Day evening, we took up the seventh chapter, and we saw how that we have these four empires, four great world empires, that were referred to or that are typified by this image in the second chapter, also set forth under the type of these ferocious beasts. And at the time of the end, a little horn is going to come up who will play a prominent part that is after the Lord takes the Christians away and takes the church away, we're going to see a union of nations in the territory that was originally the Roman Empire, a union of ten nations, and then one man, a kind of a dictator, will suddenly rise up and subdue three of those, and he will really take his place as a dictator over all ten. And this seventh chapter, we see that this is what is going to take place in what we know as the West, that is in Europe. But this evening, we have a little picture of something that is true both in the West and the East, but a little horn comes up here at the time of the end, and this is something that is going to develop in the East. We saw when we were looking at the second chapter that it definitely tells us that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was the head of gold. Now we're told the names of these, this was the Medo-Persian, and the bear was the Medo-Persian kingdom, and in our chapter tonight, the Medo-Persian kingdom is mentioned again as typified by the ram with two horns. It definitely says that in this chapter. It says in the, as we read there, in the 20th verse, the ram which thou saw'st having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, and the two horns because it was a dual kingdom. It starts off with the king of the Medes, and then Persia comes to the front. You remember it was Darius the Median that took the kingdom from Belshazzar, but then Cyrus the Persian is the one who comes to the fore, and the Persian part of the empire becomes greater than the Median part, so that's why one horn is much higher than the other. Then it also tells us here that the he-goat with this notable horn between his eyes, that this represents the king of Greece. It says that there in verse 21. The rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now you know this is all the more remarkable that Daniel is giving this prophecy, or rather that the law gives this prophecy to Daniel, and the interpretation is given also to Daniel, many, many years before these things took place. Daniel is living now, when he writes this, in the days of the kings of the Medes and Persians. The Grecian empire hasn't yet come upon the scene. It was going to come upon the scene quite a little later, and it's well known that what what this represents, this he-goat with this notable horn between his eyes, coming across with such swiftness, and with choler, it says, that is great anger, rushing against the ram of Medo-Persia, and trampling upon it, and completely destroying it. And then the goat, as it were, taking, prospering all around. It's an accurate picture of what actually took place later on, after Daniel had passed away, and had gone off the scene. That's what took place. Back into history. This notable horn between the eyes was Alexander the Great, and we know Alexander the Great as a young man of 30 years of age, he sat down and wept, because he had no more wealth to conquer. And he was the founder of the Grecian empire. And of course, we know also, that with the advent of the Grecian empire, the gentile sovereignty passed from the east to the west. The king of Babylon, the Babylonian kingdom, and the Medo-Persian kingdoms, they were eastern kingdoms, or Asiatic kingdoms. But with Alexander the Great, we find that Greece, which is a European country, comes to prominence for the first time. And the gentile sovereignty passes from the east, from Asia, to the west, to Europe, where it has remained ever since. And we know that Rome, of course, succeeded Greece, and Rome also, with the European power. And the revival of Rome in the last days is the revival of Europe. And that's what we believe that we're beginning to see now. But now we're going to see that there's a very important reason why a special chapter is devoted to what took place after Alexander the Great had died, after this notable horn was broken, and four more horns came up, and another horn comes up in the midst of them. It tells us, the chapter goes on and gives quite a little detail about this little horn. Perhaps I should explain the historical side of it first. History tells us that when Alexander the Great died, there came into the kingdom, into the country of Greece, quite a squabble, if we might call it, as to who was to take his place. You know, when a great man dies, unless he's made provision for a successor, and even sometimes when he does make provision for a successor, there's quite a little difficulty as to who is going to take his place. And there came, there became quite a lot of trouble. Different ones wanting to take the headship of the government of Greece after Alexander the Great died. He died, as history tells us, at a very early age. He died a drunkard. He went down to a drunkard's grave, even though he was such a genius, and a great conqueror, and a great man. He died at an early age. I might say, before I go on to speak about him, that history tells us that the Greeks had a great hatred against the Persians. The Persians had invaded Greece and inflicted a lot of indignities upon the Greek people. And the Greeks never forgot it. So that when Alexander actually went with his army against the Medes and Persians, they not only went on a conquering expedition just to try and beat them, but they went with hatred in their hearts against the Persians because of the way the Persians had treated the Greeks. And that's exactly what it says here, that the he-goat went against the ram with choler, with anger. Well, to come to what happened after Alexander died, it came to pass finally that the whole of the Greek empire was divided up among Alexander's four generals. And that is what these four horns represent. And that is what the four heads represent on the leopard and the four wings. You see, the kingdom, the whole of the empire, is divided up into four sections. There was the king of the north, the king of the south, the king of the east, and the king of the west. The west was that part that we now know as Greece, as Greece proper, Greece and Macedonia. The north was what we now know as Turkey and Syria. The east was the old Persian part, Babylonian and Persian part of the empire, and the south was Egypt. And then it goes on and mentions here that there came up another little horn between these horns. And this man came up in the northern section, that is in the part, it came out of Syria, that part that was to the north of Palestine. In history, this man that came up is known as Antiochus Epiphanes. He was a very, very clever man. And he especially took an interest in the Jews to oppose them. His idea was to turn the Jews away from their religion. And if you want to read a history of this, you can read the book, the first book of the Maccabees that the Roman Catholics have included in their Bible. Or perhaps what's even better still is a little book called The 400 Silent Years that was written by Ironside. He gives the historical account of what took place between the book of Malachi and the book of Matthew, what is known as The 400 Silent Years. And he tells about what took place at that time and that covers this. And this little, it tells us of this little horn here. It says in verse 9, out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land. Now the pleasant, the south was Egypt and the east was Persia. That is the old territory of Persia. And the pleasant land is Palestine. That is a term that applies to God's land where God had his people, Israel, his witnesses at that time. Because up to the time that the Lord Jesus was crucified, Israel was the Lord's witness. Now the church is the Lord's witness. But when the Lord takes the church away at his coming, he's going to take up Israel again as his witness. And in a wonderful way, the Lord will come in and reach souls in Israel. That's a question as to how they're going to be reached. But they'll have the word of God as they have it now, and no doubt the Holy Spirit will begin a work in the hearts of many Jews after the church is gone and lead them to see their great sin in rejecting their Messiah. But at this time, Israel, they were God's people. Well, this man, this Antiochus Epiphanes, he decided that he was going to make the Jews turn to idolatry. And history tells us that he set up in the temple in Jerusalem an idol, an idol to Jupiter, Olympus. And in order to, and he tried to force the Jews to worship this idol. He persecuted those who even circumcised their children because he wanted to get them right away from all the Jewish ceremonies or who offered sacrifices. And in order to scandalize the Jews yet more, he himself went into the holy place and took away the holy objects there, the ark and that. And he offered up a sow. He got a great big sow and he offered up the sow on the altar of burnt offering, the place where the sacrifices would be offered the Lord. He offered up an unclean pig just to show how he despised the Jewish religion. And the sad thing was that there were many Jews who were more or less sympathetic with him because the party of the Sadducees had come to the front at that time and they were rationalists and they were quite sympathetic with what he was doing. But there were also many godly Jews, many who'd followed on from Ezra and Nehemiah's day and were faithful to the Lord. And among them were those that were known as the Maccabees, Simon and Judas Maccabeus. And they really stood for God. And the history tells us that there were, that there were those who were tortured with all kinds of unbelievable tortures by this man in order to try and force the Jews to give up their belief in the Lord. Well, that's the historical part. That's what took place up here. Well, you say, what's that got to do with what takes place down here? Well, I'm going to turn over to the 11th chapter because this 8th chapter and the 11th chapter fit in together. And we're going to read a little bit in the 11th chapter. We read from the first verse. Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now I will show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all. And by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Grisha. And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion, and shall do according to his will. And when he shall be, when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled. For, for his kingdom shall be plucked up even for others beside those. And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes, and he shall be strong above him, and shall have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. Now you see it tells us in verse 2 that Daniel is told that there are going to be yet three kings in Persia, and the last one would be the greatest of them all, and he would stir up all of the Greeks. And then a mighty king would come along who would be the first Greek king in verse 3, and that corresponds with what we saw in the eighth chapter. The mighty king that was going to come along and be the first Greek king was Alexander the Great. And then it says that when he died, his kingdom would be divided among four, as it tells us in verse 4. That's exactly of course what we saw back in the eighth chapter, that the kingdom was divided up among the four generals of Alexander. And then of these four kings, the two that are mentioned right through this chapter are the king of the south and the king of the north. Now I'm not going to read this chapter, most of this was fulfilled. In fact it was all fulfilled, although it took place long after Daniel's day, it was fulfilled to the letter. And if you have time, it's very very interesting to read this chapter, and it's confirmed everything that it says here actually was fulfilled. So much so that people who've read this chapter, who don't believe in the inspiration of the scripture, they say it's impossible for Daniel to have prophesied what we have in this chapter 11, because it's such a description, a true description of the things that actually came to pass. But you know the Lord Jesus himself called Daniel, not Daniel the historian, you remember? He called him Daniel the prophet in the 24th chapter of Matthew. So that this is a prophecy of Daniel, and he mentions the king of the south in verse 5, and over in verse 13 he mentions the king of the north, in verse 14 again the king of the south, in verse 15 the king of the north, and there in verse 17 it mentions the daughter of women, and of course that's Cleopatra of Egypt. And then this, in connection with the territory of the king of the north, we're going to pass over now to the 21st chapter, it says, and in his estate shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Now this is the same Antiochus Epiphanes. He comes out of the territory of the king of the north, and it calls it here the Grecian little horn in the time of the end of which he's a type. So what we see is this, this man Antiochus Epiphanes was a special enemy of the Jews at that time between Malachi and Matthew, and he is a type of a special enemy of the Jews that is going to come to the front in the future. Now if we go back for a minute to the 8th chapter again, I just want to connect to show how that this little horn in chapter 8, and this man who comes into this vile person in the territory of the king of the north in chapter 11, is a type of what we're going to have in the future. Now notice what it says in verse, chapter 8 and verse 19. Behold I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be. You see, he's letting him see that this has a meaning as to the future. And verse, then it tells us who these beasts represent, and in verse 23 it says, in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up, and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall of course craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true, wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days. Now when it speaks about the vision in the evening and the morning, that's referring back to the 2,300 days with regard to Antiochus Epiphanes. When this man Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the sanctuary, 2,300 days went by before the sanctuary was finally cleansed. After he died, the faithful ones among the Jews, they set to work to restore things. And they wouldn't, they felt that the altar was so defiled that they couldn't even cleanse it, so they built a new altar. And they finally rededicated the whole temple. And that was the origin of the Feast of Dedication. You remember it says Jesus walked in Solomon's porch and it was the Feast of Dedication. That was kept by the Jews every year in memory of when the temple was rededicated after it had been defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes. But that 2,300 days only referred to that time, it does not have a prophetic significance. And it tells us that, you see it says in verse 26, the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true. But it also says to Daniel, thou, instead of wherefore it should be thou shut up the vision for it shall be for many days. That is, this is only a type of something in the future. And the future is what it tells us in verse 23, that in the latter time of the kingdom a man of fierce countenance shall stand up. And when we come over to the 11th chapter, we get a similar thought. We get told about all of these kings, the king of the north and the king of the south and what they did. And it tells us in verse 30, prophecy starts in chapter 11 in verse 36, where it mentions the king that will do according to his will, that will be the Antichrist in Rome. And you'll notice that when he turns against God, it says in verse 40, at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. He also shall enter into the glorious land, that's the land of Israel, and many countries shall be overthrown. Now from these prophecies we understand that, and also others, we understand that after the Lord gathers gathers the saints home to be with himself and he has the Jews back in their land, there will be a special enemy of Israel will come out of the countries to the north of Israel. A man typified by this man Antiochus Epiphanes, a man who will hate the Jews and who will do his level best to destroy their belief in God. And yet he will apparently by his very frateries and his cunning deceive many of the leaders among the Jews. That is what we gather in the account that we get here in the eighth chapter, where Antiochus is a type of him, because it says there in verse 10 of chapter 8, speaking of this little horn that comes up, it waxed great even to the host of heaven. And the host of heaven here mean the leaders among the Jews. They're those who were responsible to God. And it cast some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them. Yea he magnified himself even to the prince of the host and from him the daily sacrifice was taken away and in the place of his sanctuary cast down. Antiochus did that. He deceived the Jewish leaders and his aim was to destroy their faith in God. Well that's what's going to be repeated in the future. This little horn is a type of the future little horn that will come up as a further enemy of Israel. And he's the one that's called in the 11th chapter the king of the north. Now we have in this prophetic scriptures three references to a northern enemy of Israel. We have here in Daniel 8 this man that was typified by Antiochus epiphanies. He's called in the 11th chapter the king of the north. And if we turn back to Isaiah for a minute we'll find that right through Isaiah and the other prophets he's called the Assyrian. And you know the Assyrian was Israel's enemy in the past also. And he's a type of a future enemy of Israel. In Isaiah 10 the Lord says in verse 5, O Assyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is my indignation. And he says in verse 24, Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his staff against thee after the man of Egypt. For yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease and mine anger in their destruction. Well we could turn to many scriptures that speak about the Assyrian. I'll just turn to this verse in Isaiah the letter C that the Assyrian was Israel's northern enemy. Now when we come over to the book of Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39 we find that it mentions there also a northern enemy of Israel. And that we believe is Russia. That's the Gog. And it speaks about the land of Magog and the prince the prince of Rosh of Meshach and Tubal. Our bible says the chief prince but that word chief is really a word Rosh from which we get the word Russia. And Meshach was the ancient name for Moscow and Tubal was the ancient name for Tobolsk. And Tobolsk is the capital of of Asiatic Russia and Moscow we know is the capital of European Russia. So there we have Russia identified. Now it seems it tells us here in in verse chapter 8 and verse 24 referring to this little horn in the time of the end it says his power shall be mighty but not by his own power. So what do we learn from all this? That in the time of the end there's not only going to be a dictator in Europe who will seek to dishonor the Lord and to persecute the people of Israel to break his covenant with them after he's made a covenant with them for seven years then break it in the midst and that will of course be what the what will bring about the great tribute or rather the great tribulation will begin in the middle of that week but also there will be another enemy of Israel. In fact Israel is going to have three enemies in those days. They will have the head of the revived Roman empire in Rome. They will have an enemy in their midst who will be the antichrist and he's the one that's called the the king who does according to his own will in in chapter 11 and verse 36 the willful king the one who seeks to exalt himself and yet he professes that he's their messiah and then they will have in the country to the north in the old territory of the king of the north a very clever and cunning man who will arise and who will seek to to destroy the belief of the Jewish people and he will really be a very much opposed to them. He'll arise perhaps out of the out of the Mohammedan countries because you see they are the those we speak of today as the Arab countries are the ones that are so opposed to Israel and it wouldn't be be surprising with these scriptures in view to see a very clever and prominent man arise up in those Arab countries. Now the only prominent man that has risen up in the Arab countries so far has been from the territory of the king of the south and that is Nasser of Egypt and maybe he thinks he's going to be the one that is going to chase the Jews out of Palestine because that's what he said he was going to do and he's tried to form a union of Arab countries to do that and he formed the united Arab republic by getting the Syrians to go in with him well Syria occupies the territory of the king of the north and those of us who understand the prophetic scriptures we have not believed that this union of Nasser's would succeed because Nasser is in the territory of the king of the south and scripture at the time of the end puts the king of the south and the king of the north against one another not in union with one another when the when antichrist sets himself up there in the land of Palestine he's going to have the king of the south pushing at him and the king of the north coming against him and of course this man that we're referring tonight he's the king of the north he is the northern enemy of Israel a man who will rise up in the territory to the north of Israel perhaps in Syria perhaps in Turkey but he will be he will uh he'll be one who will seek to plot the destruction of God's people Israel first of all by flatteries and by cunning and by deceiving them and causing many of them to turn away from Judaism and to take up with his ideas maybe it'll it'll be a kind of a modified communism that he'll seek to deceive them with and we know that many of the Jews are already rather favorably inclined toward communistic ideas so you can quite see how a man like this would deceive them and even deceive the leaders among them and that would be certain attempt to to do away with any faithful testimony for God but the Lord will have his faithful witnesses I believe the Lord will allow that as a test to see who in Israel really is willing to listen to the faithful message of the Lord that he will raise up there by his servants because we saw in the seventh of revelation that the Lord is going to gather out 144 000 of all the tribes of Israel to be his witnesses and that the mass of the nation will refuse them they'll either go after antichrist those that want to be religious and not truly believe in the Lord will follow antichrist and those that want to throw off all religion no doubt they will go after the king of the north and in the end he'll prove to be their enemy because he will come against the antichrist and he'll come against the land and that really when he and his people invade the land that also will take place when the great tribulation begins so we can see what a terrible time Israel's in for they will they will have they will have the head of the roman empire make a league with them and then in the middle of the seven years he'll break it and try and force them to worship to worship him and to worship his image as we were seeing at the same time this northern enemy will seek to come against them and the man that they've got in their midst the antichrist he will seek to get them to be occupied with himself god will allow a terrible persecution to go on in the land that the the this king of the north will be backed up by another power and when it says he'll be strong but not in his own power all students of these things have come to the same conclusion that there's only one power there only can be one power as we see it in the scriptures and as we see it in the geographical uh setting of the nations that would back up the king of the north and that would be the power of russia just something like russia has been at the back of castro in what he's been doing we get little foreshadowings as it were in our day of how these things can take place russia will be at the back of it i believe russia is eventually going to meet her doom but scripture the the prophets if we had time to go into them we could turn to a number of scriptures to show this but i just want to mention this that the scriptures show us that israel or rather the land of palestine is going to be invaded twice from the north the first invasion the lord will allow to succeed and that's the invasion of the king of the north and that's what's referred to in the 11th chapter we'll just turn that over to the 11th for a minute and refer to it it says here in the 11th chapter verse 41 he shall enter also into the glorious land and many countries shall be overthrown but these shall escape out of his hand even edam and moab and the chief of the children of ammon he shall stretch forth his hand upon the countries and the land of egypt shall not escape now this lets us see that the king of the north and the king of the south are not not united because the king of the north will come down against egypt but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of egypt and the libyans and the ethiopians shall be at his steps but tithings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many and he shall plant his tabernacles of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him and it tells us in the eighth chapter it ends up something similar it says in verse 25 at the end of the verse he shall also stand up against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without hand of course when we read in revelation it tells us about that great number that will come across from this from the region of the river euphrates and possibly this refers to the same thing an invasion that will come down against the land of palestine and it says that the land in the book of micah no in the book of nahum it says the land is as the garden of eden before them and it is a burning death desert behind them if they'll come in with a scorched earth policy and this is what god will allow as his judgment upon an apostate israel because they've they've worshipped the image of the beast they've been worse they've been following the dictates of antichrist they've allowed themselves to be deceived by this little horn and god is allowing the very ones who've deceived them to come against them and to be his chastisement he calls the assyrian the rod of his anger god god used the assyrian in the past to chastise israel and then he chastised the assyrian then he judged the assyrians because they did that to his people god will allow these this invasion from the north as a chastisement upon his people and then he himself will deal with them because they they had it in their hearts to do away with god's people they'll seek to destroy them it's the same principle today if any unsaved person seeks to harm a christian the lord will deal with that person but god will use the the thing that the unsaved person does to chastise him if god allows an unsaved person to do something against one of his own what does the christian got to do retaliate no he's got to take it from the lord and accept it as something that god has allowed as a chastisement but the lord himself will deal with that person that's done that in his own time and that's what he does with israel we find the same thing with hitler and mussolini those men they set out to destroy the people of israel the jews and god allowed what they did as a chastisement upon those very people for the way that they've been acting in rejecting the lord and yet the lord himself takes in hand to judge the very people who do that you know the jewish people today they're like cain god put a mark on cain and yet he wouldn't let anyone touch him he said if anyone touches cain vengeance shall be taken sevenfold and the jew has a mark on him wherever he is he's known and he's uh he's the subject of the judgment of the chastisement of god as a nation because they rejected the lord and yet anyone who tries to interfere with them they have the lord's chastising hand upon them and that has been proved right down through history and we'll see the same thing there in the final chastisement of israel the scripture calls the indignation and the great tribulation god will allow the king of the north the assyrian these nations that are backed up by russia to chastise his people and when the chastisement is finished god will deal with them it says that this man and his armies they'll not only go right through the land of egypt of israel they'll go down to egypt and apparently they'll conquer egypt and then they'll come back again and and he'll put all his tents between between uh jerusalem and and and the and the sea and between and the mediterranean sea and it says he'll come to his end and none shall help him it tells us that he's going to come back into palestine from egypt because he'll hear tidings out of the east and out of the north and some think that the tidings here is that when the western nations learn that that these northern enemies have come down against palestine that they will move that the nations of this little horn here that they will move over they'll bring their armies over to to the north of palestine to try and and forestall this but the god is going to allow all of these different ones to be there to be dealt with by him at the same time the king of the north and his armies will be judged by the lord and when the beast comes across with his armies to fight against them they're all going to find the lord there and the lord is going to deal with them now you say well what about what about russia well this brings us into another prophecy that it's not taken up in the book of daniel we've got to turn to ezekiel for that but i just want to mention that if we read the 38 39th of ezekiel we find very plainly there that there's going to be another invasion and the only place that it seems we can really put that in is that it'll take place immediately after the lord himself comes and establishes himself in jerusalem the lord will will destroy these and will establish himself there and then it seems there'll be a second invasion but it will be this time by the armies from russia itself and that's when the lord himself is going to fight against them with pestilence and with disease and with all the weapons that he has at his disposal and it tells us there that they'll be there'll be seven months burying the dead and there'll be seven years burning up the firewood that of all the instruments of war we might wonder how that's going to take place with all the modern instruments of war that we have but that's what scripture says so it must be that in some way or another when this final battle takes place that that they're going to actually use wooden instruments of war that's going to take them seven years to burn up but god himself is going to come in and deal with every nation of people at that time of the end and it seems that that final destruction of the northern powers god and may god will take place after so we haven't got to we haven't got to mix up those two we have the king of the north typified by antiochus epiphanies who will come against israel in the in the last days just before the lord's coming to be dealt with by the lord when he comes and then we have the russia coming down against the land later and being dealt with by the lord also that will be the final judgment on them and the lord will then establish his kingdom and he'll reign in righteousness over this sea of course the great event that we're looking for is the event that's going to end this period here the church period the coming of the lord we have lived as we've said in these lectures before we've lived to see in our day israel back in back in the land in unbelief at least a remnant of them so the stage is set for the lord to be to take them up and allow them to build their temple and to to begin their sacrifices again in unbelief we're also beginning to see europe forming into shape as it were for the revival of the roman empire and and the the condition in the in the church of god itself the great apostasy the turning away the we've lived to see rome religious rome coming to the front and this ecumenical council that's being held in rome now they're really courting all of the the of the nominal protestants to try and gather them into the church of rome that'll head up in babylon the great we live dear brethren in remarkable days and it all lets us see that the lord's coming's near so may we seek to be faithful and we might say well what what does the lord give us all this information for why has the lord told us these things he's told us these things for a very good purpose he's let us know what is going to be the end of every movement that's going on around us are we surprised when we see jews going back to palestine are we surprised when we see anti-semitism even coming up in this country are we surprised when we see religious rome coming to the front are we surprised when we see the european nations federating into into what looks is going to be a union of 10 nations we shouldn't be surprised we should say well this is what the lord has told us in his word and the lord enables us as we see all this to keep separate from it all and to go on in the pathway that he's marked out in his word for us to seek to serve his interests faithfully realizing that very soon our day of opportunity here will be over so let us see that we make use of our opportunities because very soon the lord is coming to take us to be with himself let us be faithful in living for him and in speaking to others about him and in serving him and may the cry of our hearts be as we see the days growing darker and darker even so come lord jesus the hymn we sang to open the meeting was in hope we lift our wishful longing eyes waiting to see the morning star arrive you know when the lord establishes his kingdom that will be the day when the sun comes forth in the full blaze of glory but he's coming for us as the morning star to usher us into his blessed presence into the blaze of his presence there and when he comes and establishes his kingdom on earth we'll come with him but in the meantime while these judgments are taking place on earth we're going to be with him there and then we'll come back with him in his triumphant reign when he comes forth to reign and he will give us the privilege of having a part in the administration of the kingdom when he reigns over this earth so that is another incentive to us to be faithful while we're waiting for his coming again …

… Daniel Chansey has movement, a divine mind to the early church, to church, to christian, a co-prophet, says, to the old people, according and healing the pit, coming is boundless, he then, coming at the beginning, he gave those as we saw, all the surviving days of the Epstein and Stott, the Lord's at the end of that, all the time, but that's all he'll be allowed, half years with miracles, why on earth, science, says if he's gonna have his getting ready, he's getting ready, but they have getting ready, but he's fine, till three whole weeks were fulfilled, and in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hithikal, then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man, clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphaz, his body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of a lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polish brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude, and I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves, therefore was I left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I saw no great power, and strength, yet heard I the voice of his words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep of my face, and my face toward the ground, and behold a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees, and upon the palms of my hands, and he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words of I speak unto thee. and he saw unto thee am I now sent, and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling, then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten myself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, and I see that Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I left him there with the kings of Persia, now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days, and when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground of Israel, the remnant, reading down the verse, from verse twenty, the God that is not the Antichrist, when the church we expect that he's the Antichrist before it, to see him tonight. The prince of Persia, in connection with the coming of Antichrist, I see that scripture speaks, and of whom is, and of that, we are not going to his notice, it's to him, in his day, already here, and it was here, the false prophet, manifest now, so how much more, they'll see him as, impossible, recognize these lies, they will see him as opposed to, studies when the apostasy is, or rather the day, in our studies, there would be no to him. Daniel, tonight we have reached right up here to the last panel, and I just want to say a few words on this tenth chapter, it's a very important chapter, because we have something revealed here, as to what goes on behind the scenes in a spiritual sense, that we don't get anywhere else. Now, first of all, we notice, that this chapter starts off in a somewhat similar way to the ninth chapter, in the ninth chapter, Daniel is taking his place, humble before God, as he considers the condition of his people, and that they're not ready to go back to the land, and behind the scenes, confessing their sins. Now, this chapter starts off, with Daniel, it's a terrific warning, he's going to be, in heaven, he's going to tell us here, what he's praying about, like the ninth chapter does, but we find Daniel, as it says, was mourning three full weeks, but we gather, that it's really concerning the condition of his people, Daniel is really concerned, about the condition of the people of Israel. And, he's wondering, what is coming, that's why, do you know, what their future's going to be? He's read, no doubt, some of the prophecies, Isaiah speaks of the glorious future, the reign of Christ, and as Daniel sees the people of Israel in that miserable condition in which they are, and as he realizes, as the Lord already told him in the previous chapter, that they were going to be restored, he just is, no doubt, wondering in his mind, about all the details that will be filled in, in these times to come. So, the Lord really gives Daniel, especially in the eleventh chapter, a wonderful prophecy of the future. In fact, we have in this eleventh chapter, as we saw when we were studying the eighth chapter, uh, we saw in the eleventh chapter, referring to the eleventh chapter there, um, uh, that the, it links in with the eighth chapter as giving us the details of what took place between Malachi's church to the prophet, and the silent years, during the time of people, of course, coming in, he is bound in coming in. At the beginning, as we saw, he gave those exercise, the importance of that, the Lord steps in and stops, at the end of that, but that's all the time, in a half years he'll be allowed, with miracles, and why on earth, is getting ready, as if he's going to be ready, for is getting ready, getting ready, to have a heaven, but he's finally cast out, all weeks were fulfilled, three whole, fulfilled, four and twenty, a special messenger, and we get the account of it, as he lifted up his eyes, in verse five, as he was by the river Hiddekel, that's the, what's now the Tigris, and he sees this certain man, clothed in linen, fine gold, a heavenly visitor, this is a special, angelic being, that is sent, to give Daniel, uh, this prophecy, and, uh, the, uh, the people that are with Daniel, they don't hear the voice, reminds us somewhat, this was converted, it says they heard the voice, and saw no man, and it says of these people, that were with Daniel, in verse seven, I Daniel alone saw the vision, the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves, their humbleness was corruption, uh, they all fled, and Daniel is there left alone, and a great fear comes on Daniel, uh, they're in the presence, of a, of a heavenly being, they're in the presence of a special messenger sent from God, and it says of Daniel there, that his humbleness was turned into corruption, he real, realized, no doubt what a, what a poor thing it was, for a, for a human being to be so, and stand before the evil nature, that even we Christians have, and that Daniel had, even though he was a child of God, to be in the presence of a, of a, of a being, that sent directly from the Lord, and, but then he's, he's, he's, the messenger speaks comforting words to him, and tells him, that he's greatly beloved, we see that in verse eleven, we saw it back in the previous chapter in verse twenty-three, uh, the angel said, angel Gabriel said to him there, thou art greatly beloved, and this messenger, whose name isn't given, he says to Daniel in verse eleven, he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and then later on in the same chapter, down in verse nineteen, we find again, he says, this one, uh, that comes to Daniel, he says, O man, greatly beloved, fear not, the God, the Antichrist, strong, we expect, spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, let my, to see, connection with, the Persia, they see that man, becoming a man, of whom the scripture speaks, and as that is noted, we are not going in his day, to him, and already here, the false prophet, it was here, so manifest now, that how much more men, in, see him, as recognized prophet, they will see him, as he's laughed, so as opposed to, the theologians, when the apostle, in our study, or rather, the devil, would be, the is, but Daniel, to him, I've been hindered from coming for three weeks, now this is a, this is, I believe, a very, very important thing to understand, why was this messenger hindered from coming with the answer to Daniel, who hindered him for three weeks, he tells us, he says, verse thirteen, the prince of the kingdom of Persia, withstood me, that we don't get a literal sense, now, we notice, that one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained all the way to the night, with the kings of Persia, is taken to Daniel, he says, uh, verse twenty, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee, now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia, and with, and when I'm gone forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come, so, this lets us see, that there are princes, in the heavenly sphere, where Satan is, that are under Satan's control, I believe these princes referred to here, are, are, are, uh, diabolic, uh, uh, they're diabolic principalities, they, these are the principalities and powers, that are referred to in the sixth of Ephesians, where it says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against, uh, but, but against, uh, wicked spirits, in the high, in the heavenly places, there are, Satan has a host of evil spirits, and apparently, apparently, he will condition them, as he realized, I've already told of it, in this chapter, that I told him in the previous story, that we're going to be, he just, uh, he pulled out one, note, and about ordering in his mind, that it be filled, that every nation, has assigned to the Lord, a certain evil spirit, in the eleventh, a certain very powerful evil spirit, whose work is, to seek to influence, all the disturbance, of the, of the nation, to, uh, to do Satan's will, referring to the eleventh, uh, uh, chapter there, uh, that the evil, a special evil spirit, uh, that is, uh, pointless to detail, uh, to be the evil, the, uh, to be the prince of prophets, he churched to his, uh, as there was in those days, there was a prince, there was a, there was a spirit, he be the prince of Persia, he's bound in it, then, as we saw, at the beginning, the empire has fallen, so there's no need for that anymore, the Persian empire comes, at the end of that time, this is the prince, because there's still, he'll be allowed, an empire, who is, who is, out, ready, for everything that's of God, and he says down there in verse, twenty, where all weeks were full, the Persia's gone, he says, when I'm gone, twentieth will fill, shall come, because he can't, Persian, the, the Medo-Persian kingdom was just about to fall, and, the Grecian empire was, was coming, and he sees this, and clothed in linen, certain man, iron gold of Greece, of course, was a nation, and no doubt had a special spirit, there is a special spirit to it, and Satan seeks to govern the nations of the world, that's why Christians are taught to pray, pray for the powers that be, that they might be led to do the things according to God, and I believe here we get the great importance of prayer, that by prayer, we strengthen, as it were, the powers of the, the principality, of the good principality, because they're not only principalities and powers under the control of Satan, there are principalities and powers under the control of the Lord, and Michael, the archangel, seems to be the one who is over, the, and there left alone, the angel, great theocracy, are there, to serve the purposes of God, in the present, and we strengthen their hands, I believe, when we pray, in fact, there've been some, sent from God, messengers, and it's their case, there, that of Daniel, well, his coming trip, in, when I was, in Windsor, and, no doubt, was a, no poor thing it was, of those that were concerned, that, one night, back in this country, or up in Canada, I think it was, that there were, they had a prayer, and, even though Daniel had, of God, and, in the present, in the prayer meeting, of, of a being, of a, indirectly, had laid on their hearts, to specially pray for them, but then, and this missionary, he was back in, giving a talk in this country, about, his, we see that, and he told them about this particular, night, when they, they were in this, they were in great danger, they were encamped in a certain place, where the communists, there are, communists, the, the, this, isn't given, whose name, before they took up, he's, a child, when the missionary still had access there, he said unto me, oh, and, a man in the, under, under the, words that I speak, a word, well, he says, and, then, down in verse, say it right now, it concerns what you're saying, he says, what was the date, that, that particular thing took place, he says, oh, remember the date, I says, I thought so, you're not, of it, the Antichrist, pray for you, we expect, strong, I was strengthened, spoken unto me, he prayed for you that night, well, when the missionary went back to China, he went back to that very place, and, he has noted, to get in touch with the leader of this communist band, that, was going to attack them that night, and, he was telling him about it, he says, you thought you were very brave, sleeping up on that hill there, that particular night, we would have killed you, but, there were seven giants with drawn swords standing around you, and, that's why we didn't dare go near, so, you see, for each prayer warrior at home, the Lord sent an angel, to protect the missionary, and, an important thing to all fits in here with this, of course, this lets us see how, that the Lord has his, the Daniels, his, his angelic beings, even his servants, he says, he tells us, verse first, the prince, of Persia, of the kingdom, panic, principalities, seeking to influence the destinies of nations, to help me, came, and I remained away, but, also, there are, Persian, servants, and, they're there to see, what is carried out, and, God's will was carried out, will return to God, his answer, Satan, no doubt, would have done anything, to stop, that Daniel, from receiving these communications from the Lord, but, the Lord, sought to it, that Michael, was able, to retrieve, so, that this eight messenger, could come forth, to give Daniel the answer to his prayer, I believe, you never know, what's going on, behind, our, our, you hear, our, our, and, in prayer, and, we pray, for the Lord's people, their, principality, diabolic, these are the princes, they're, in that, we're, in, we're, in that way, we are in fellowship, with the Thesians, rest for nothing, it says, we are, his flesh and blood, servants, the angelic being, but, spirits, serve his interests, now, I want to go on, and, just briefly, touch on, has our, Satan's spirits, a host of him, and, apparently, and, as he realized, the condition, and, gives us the history, of the rest of the Persian empire, and, of the Greek out, one, in port, and, the beginning of the Roman empire, in, when it brings in this, about the, the king of the north, and the king of the south, of course, that was what took place, under the Greek empire, and, when Antiochus Epiphanes, that very wicked man, persecuted the Jews, and, and, desecrated the holy place, and, offered up a sow, on the, of the broth of it, he sprinkled it, all around the holy of holies, so, that, the, the law, the, the Jews, had to completely cleanse the temple, when they finally got the victory over this man, he was killed, by the way, in church, to, in those days, as there was, there was a, there was the, come in, but, from the time the sanctuary was desecrated, he's bounded, as we saw, then, exactly, 2,300 days, and, they had a feast of dedication, that the Lord refers to, in John's gospel, the feast of dedication, was the Persian empire, the, of the Allah, who is, kept, in commemoration, of the cleansing of the temple, at that time, and, of course, that is a little type, down there, in the old weeks, were, of the king of the north, the Persians, on twentieth, the enemy, in the latter days, now, we spoke of him, the night, that we referred to the eighth, and eleventh chapters, so, tonight, all, I want to just refer, briefly, to another person, that's mentioned this, after, and, that's what we have, in verse thirty-six, down to verse thirty, is a special satancy, and, history, it wasn't history, when, world, Daniel, all of this was prophecy, when it was given to Daniel, it was all future, things, according to, the verse thirty-five, has all been fulfilled, verse thirty-five, was all fulfilled, in, as it were, with, this, portion, that we have, the principle, of, the good principle, of the, because, they're not, out of this, satan, and, what we have, in verse thirty-six, is referring, to what will take place, after the rapture, archangel, takes us away, and, things begin, the, is over, for the nation of Israel, and, is going to be, in the land of Palestine, a man, in the present, purposes of God, here, in verse thirty-six, believe when we, and, the king, sent from God, according to his will, messengers, he shall exalt himself, and, man, of Daniel, above every God, and, shall speak marvelous things, against the God of Gods, and, shall prosper, till the indignation be accomplished, back, for that, that is, in this country, shall be done, and, there were, to speak about, that, this king, in the present, and, the king of the mortal, of a being, and, the king of the, of a, on their hearts, had laid only, pray for this, the special, and, but, then, and, this mission, and, and, and, and, and, and, give, now, who is this king, that's referred to in verse, about, and, he told, we see the king here, who shall do according to his will, we sometimes refer to him as, because of it says he'll do according to his will, the willful king, he, this, head of the Jewish state, perhaps the president, I just like to say, in the, prophecy, when it speaks of kingdom, come to me, kings, it doesn't necessarily, down in verse, that, that, that they're kings, in the sense, that, that, that we speak of a king today, he says, oh, he's a government, and, the head of the government, for instance, in scripture language, the United States would be a kingdom, and, President Kennedy would be the king, there's the government, and, the head of the government, that's, that's the, the language that's used, but, of course, when the Bible was translated, that's all there was, with regard to countries and governments, that every country had its king, so, the head of a nation was looked at as the king, and, that's the sense, in which the word is used in scripture, so, there will be a king in Palestine, or, rather, there will be a head of the government of Israel, at that time, and, he will be recognized, so, you see, apostate Jews, as the Messiah, but, he's really not Christ, at all, he is Antichrist, and, so, this king here, will be the head of the Jewish state in Palestine, now, let's turn back to a few more scriptures, he tells us, in Revelation 13, it's a sea-horse panic, of the kingdom, as the seeking to maladies, the destiny's influence, to help me, in scriptures that refer to this man, so that we, but all, see who he is, servants, Persia, they're there to see, and, they're carried out, as will one, and, God returns us, when we were speaking about the little horn, you remember, this little horn, that came up, in, in, chap, with a, stop, there, to, from, reset, Daniel, that little horn, the beast, out, from the law, but, now, over, in verse 11, of, of, Michael, seen, it says, and, I beheld, another beast, so, that, this, I, ought, to, could, come, the answer, to his, give, Daniel, I believe, and, he spake, as a dragon, and, he exercised, all, the power, of the first beast, before him, or, in his presence, and, cause, of the earth, and, them, which dwell therein, to worship, the first, earth, these, are the prince, diabolic, pill, then, in that way, in, in, we're, in, fellowship, we are, wrestle, not, against, Ephesians, but, it says, we, earth, by, the means, of, those, miracles, which, he had, power, to do, in the sight, of the beast, saying, to them, that dwell, on the earth, but, I want, to go, image, to the beast, which, had, the wound, by the sword, and, did live, and, he had, power, to give, life, to the image, of the beast, or, breath, and, so, on, now, this, beast, out, of the earth, is, the same, as, the king, the willful king, there, in, Daniel, 11, he, is, the antichrist, that, the Lord, Jesus, rather, the apostle, John, refers, to, he says, that, we, you know, that, antichrist, will, come, this, is, antichrist, now, some, people, wicked, man, any, prophetic, teachers, and, in fact, most, of them, outside, of, brethren, teach, that, the head, of the Roman, Empire, is, antichrist, you, you, get, some, books, written, by, some, of these, especially, Bible Institute, people, are, perhaps, very, good, in, much, of the, much, that, they, say, but, they, nearly, always, mix, up, these, two, beasts, and, they, call, the first, beast, antichrist, the first, beast, is an, antichrist, he, but, for me, Curie, was, desic, as, we, saw, post, a, gen, actually, two, down, the, second, beast, who, is, the, feast, of, dead, in, Jerusalem, the, head, of, the, Jewish, state, he, is, antichrist, the, feast, in, Empire, a, Jew, to, be, antichrist, the, person, has, to, be, a, Jew, who's, apostatized, though, but, the, the, Jewish, people, would, not, reckon, all, weeks, were, for, down, there, in, as, as, as, there, are, four, and, twentieth, of, Persia's, God, even, though, he's, a, false, Messiah, of, the, government, of, Afghanistan, of, Israel, the, nighttime, time, the, apostate, will, be, reckoned, I, want, to, get, all, as, the, most, but, he's, recent, let's, mention, to, another, person, at, all, this, and, what, we, have, in, antichrist, and, so, this, king, here, so, this, king, the, head, is, a, special, state, in, palace, the, head, back, to, a, few, it, was, scriptures, back, to, a, few, all, was, given, to, Dan, uh, in, rep, we, hail, it, was, all, few, the, verse, thirteen, according, to, all, been, fulfilled, five, has, all, second, beast, I, just, want, to, turn, to, the, dictionary, I, just, want, to, refer, to, this, man, so, that, we, will, uh, all, the, the, first, birth, of, this, we, have, in, verse, thirteen, the, first, birth, we, looked, at, this, the, sick, is, we, will, take, we, looked, at, this, king, about, the, little, horn, you, archangel, church, eh, and, up, in, in, chap, the, first, beast, the, revelation, thirteen, is, that, the, revelation, that, little, horn, the, beast, that, is, going, to, be, in, the, present, Palestine, a, man, of, of, the, revelation, thirteen, I, beheld, another, beast, uh, uh, uh, out, of, the, earth, he, hath, two, horns, and, he, he, shall, exult, like, a, land, a, dragon, and, up, above, ever, since, he's, before, him, the, first, the, honest, things, against, big, marvel, gods, against, the, god, of, prosper, whose, dead, worship, the, first, beast, and, back, whose, dead, wonders, so, that, he, makes, fun, and, he, doth, great, earth, in, the sight, higher, come, down, to, men, the, earth, in, the sight, of, them, that, and, this, the, earth, dwell, upon, the, earth, by, the, means, of, those, merely, have, power, of, the, girls, which, he, saying, to, in, the sight, of, them, that, dwell, saying, they, should, make, an, on, the, earth, but, which, ever, saw, them, did, have, the, wound, by, live, and, he, hath, power, beast, or, breath, and, so, to, the, image, of, the, and, so, on, now, this, out, of, this, be, earth, in, the, willful, same, as, the, king, who, shall, to, his, will, do, according, he, is, the, antis, do, according, to, his, cause, of, it, says, he, willful, king, refers, to, he, know, that, and, he, says, he, says, did, Christ, do, state, them, again, now, some, this, is, antichrist, many, prophetic, people, many, many, prophetic, and, in fact, down, in, verse, it, doesn't, necess, teach, brethren, in, the, sense, that, there, is, antichrist, that, that, we, Roman, empire, by, some, of, these, things, are, governed, by, some, books, written, some, books, written, perhaps, very, friendly, good, in, much, perhaps, very, they, say, much, as, that, much, that, always, mix, up, but, they, need, and, they, call, these, to, be, all, the, first, and, they, call, the, first, be, an, empire, be, the, head, of, the, revived, Roman, Christ, he, apostate, Gentile, the, second, regard, who, is, the, willful, king, and, beast, it's, king, so, of, the, Jewish, son, the, head, he, then, and, that's, the, same, antichrist, and, he, a Jew, so, to, be, antichrist, a, a, Christ, a, person, or, rather, the, the Jew, apostatized, though, but, of, Israel, as, the, would, not, recognize, a, Gentile, Jewish, people, and, he, as, their, their, messiah, as, the, most, of, the, government, even, though, hell, at, that, is, a, falseness, of, time, that, Israel, time, antichrist, will, be, record, the, apostate, Jews, will, be, record, but, he's, real, as, the, most, but, he's, real, but, he's, real, at, all, really, not, Christ, antichrist, and, so, this, king, here, then, so, this, king, the, head, the, head, son, now, let, more, scriptures, back, to, a, few, back, to, a, few, son, now, let, uh, in, rest, in, scriptures, that, but, all, and, so, that, we, uh, see, uh, servants, having, mentioned, second, beast, is, carried, out, and, there, odds, will, one, uh, will, return, to, and, talking, about, the, look, when, we, were, speaking, remember, this, look, uh, see, of, chapter, seven, the, first, birth, the, first, birth, we, looked, at, this, when, we, were, speaking, but, now, over, into, the, law, little, horn, your, little, horn, your, dean, it, says, I'm, Michael, up, in, in, chapter, seven, the, revelation, the, revelation, the, revelation, that, little, horn, the, beast, out, of, the, sea, the, beast, out, of, the, exercise, and, of, the, first, be, another, beast, more, in, his, press, before, another, beast, up, out, of, the, earth, he, had, two, horns, like, a, lamb, there, into, and, he, and, he, spakers, and, a, diabolic, in, that, way, is, before, him, of, the, first, be, wrestle, not, against, the, earth, and, cause, of, whose, dead, where, it, says, we, the, wound, was, he, worship, the, first, cause, which, he, the, wound, was, he, it, wonders, so, and, he, doth, greater, come, down, earth, in, the, site, earth, in, the, site, earth, in, the, site, of, men, earth, dwell, upon, the, dwell, upon, the, earth, either, means, have, power, of, of, those, mere, beast, or, breath, same, on, now, v in the, site, same, which, they, should, make, a, they, should, make, a, king, which, and, he, had, power, live, eleven, and, so, and, so, and, so, on, now, these, out, of, this, being, earth, earth, same, as, the, the, willful, eleven, the, willful, will, come, he, is, of, Jesus, Rebus, any, prophet, of, Jesus, Rebus, that, the, Lord, teaches, rather, than, know, that, and, he, says, he, says, that, teach, now, some, will, come, Antichrist, this, is, people, by, some, of, the, some, books, written, and, in, fact, most, of, them, outside, of, brethren, be, good, in, much, the, head, of, the, Roman, Empire, is, Antichrist, Roman, Empire, you, you, get, by, some, of, the, some, books, written, some, books, written, by, Lewis, that, you, perhaps, may, perhaps, may, but, from, who, we, saw, much, of, the, much, the, but, they, need, you, and, they, call, and, they, call, these, to, be, feast, of, dead, in, an, Empire, an, Empire, in, Jerusalem, state, the, sepia, he, is, an, Empire, the, sex, who, is, the, a, Jew, Christ, a, person, had, to, be, Antichrist, who, is, a, past, to, be, a, Jew, though, but, apostatized, rich, people, state, a, Jew, and, he, ought, to, be, Antichrist, be, an, apostate, four, and, twentieth, as, there, are, even, though, the, purges, of, the, government, file, as, there, are, who, whose, upon, whose, upon, eyes, a, gentile, would, not, reckon, only, he, who, now, I, want, to, get, will, let, as, the, most, and, we, know, some, must, mean, to, let, is, the, old, English, word, means, that, the, what, we, have, in, now, hinder, it, will, hinder, and, in, here, get, out, of, the, way, and, then, shall, that, wicked, be, revealed, for, scriptures, God, shall, consume, of, his, mouth, and, shall, destroy, with, the, brightness, of, his, coming, even, the, verse, is, after, the, all, been, fulfilled, power, and, signs, and, lying, wonders, turn, to, the, difference, further, this, righteousness, in, and, so, that, we, receive, not, that, they, might, be, and, for, this, cause, in, them, strong, delusion, that, they, should, believe, a, lie, now, here, it, says, he's, called, here, that, wicked, that, means, that, wicked, one, and, the, word, wicked, really, means, lawless, here, he, is, the, lawless, one, or, the, wicked, one, the, one, who, takes, the, definite, stand, against, God, against, the, Lord, and, is, the, antichrist, I, believe, that, the, man, of, sin, in, verse, three, is, the, head, of, the, Roman, empire, and, that, wicked, one, in, verse, eight, is, the, antichrist, in, Rome, so, here, we, get, these, two, men, prosper, and, the, one, worship, the, first, the, one, that, is, called, that, wicked, or, lawless, one, signs, and, wonders, of, me, here, in, the, section, with, him, as, we, have, them, in, in, verse, in, Revelation, thirteen, but, by, the, means, of, verse, have, power, to, turn, back, to, Zechariah, and, I, think, to, them, that, twelve, rounds, out, that, they, should, make, an, incest, to, him, well, there, is, a, verse, in, John, where, it, says, he'll, come, in, his, own, name, that's, and, so, him, too, but, in, the, to, the, image, of, the, Zechariah, he, is, called, there, this, big, shepherd, that, is, in, Zechariah, eleven, he, is, the, ante, Zechariah, do, according, to, his, a, chapter, willful, king, he, he, says, end, of, the, chapter, see, Christ, the, Lord, says, there, woe, to, this, is, now, some, many, prophetic, leave, of, the, flock, some, people, Mr. Darby, reads, there, woe, to, the, worthless, shepherd, in, the, sense, the, brethren, there, is, antichrist, the, sword, shall, be, upon, his, that, we, and, upon, his, right, eye, some, books, written, arms, shall, be, cleaned, dried, up, and, be, good, in, money, shall, be, utterly, they, say, now, always, mix, up, and, I, think, this, is, and, they, call, like, to, all, the, first, there, will, be, a, judgment, of, God, will, come, upon, this, antichrist, by, the, fulfillment, of, this, he's, called, the, worthless, shepherd, he, pretends, to, be, the, shepherd, of, the, flock, he, pretends, to, be, the, Christ, who, is, shepherding, God's, people, Israel, but, the, prophet, here, says, woe, to, him, he's, a, worthless, shepherd, and, instead, of, feeding, the, flock, it, says, he, leaves, the, flock, and, God's, judgment, is, going, to, fall, upon, him, by, them, seeing, that, his, his, arm, shall, be, dried, up, and, his, right, eye, shall, be, darkened, that'll, be, a, sign, to, them, no, doubt, that, he's, the, one, that, the, prophet, speaks, of, and, then, his, end, is, that, he's, to, be, cast, into, the, lake, of, fire, you, hear, said, I, am, come, in, my, father's, name, and, ye, receive, me, not, back, to, a, few, others, shall, come, in, his, own, name, and, him, ye, will, receive, and, that's, this, and, so, that, we, so, you, see, he's, second, this, have, him, mentioned, for, representing, scripture, he's, and, they, will, return, to, willful, kinking, about, the, look, and, go, into, this, little, righteousness, in, them, that, per, see, because, they, say, that, they, might, be, so, God, shall, send, for, this, cause, to, believe, a, lie, illusion, that, they, can, them, strongly, get, that, will, hear, that, which, he's, caught, up, in, in, jacket, that, be, one, one, is, lawless, he, lost, one, is, the, lawyer, he, the, thief, a, wicked, one, one, who, take, a, wicked, one, the, first, be, one, who, take, his, daughter, standing, and, his, Christ, the, ante, the, ante, was, like, a, lamp, tree, in, in, verse, and, a, wicked, one, in, the, and, that, which, liar, is, before, a, wicked, one, in, the, antichrist, in, it, it, it, doesn't, give, us, the, end, of, the, of, the, antichrist, we've, got, to, look, elsewhere, for, to, see, their, judgment, and, we, find, it, in, the, book, of, revelation, but, of, course, Daniel, does, say, about, the, king, of, the, north, that, comes, down, to, the, north, it, says, he, shall, come, to, his, end, and, none, shall, by, the, means, but, even, there, you, get, the, same, tales, when, we, come, into, they, should, make, any, prophecies, but, it's, really, wonderful, to, see, how, these, prophecies, dovetail, together, and, so, and, so, the, various, references, in, the, various, east, out, of, the, together, you, see, how, that, the, you, get, a, complete, picture, of, how, these, the, willful, different, personages, of, Jesus, readers, at, time, that, the, Lord, Jesus, reader, be, he, says, know, that, and, will, be, the, attitude, of, the, God, teach, Antichrist, people, this, is, they, will, refuse, him, they'll, recognize, that, he, is, not, the, outside, of, they'll, recognize, Roman, empire, the, head, of, the, they, are, they'll, have, these, various, Roman, empire, of, them, that, we're, reading, tonight, and, as, that, some, books, written, perhaps, Mary, this, is, the, man, who, we, saw, scripture, speaks, we, are, not, go, and, they, call, and, they, call, they, will, not, recognize, the, Antichrist, they, will, they, will, see, him, as, the, false, prophet, they, will, not, recognize, the, beast, they, will, see, him, as, opposed, to, all, that, is, of, God, some, of them, will, pay, with, their, lives, Israel, shepherding, Israel, when, the, go, to, him, starts, as, we, saw, the, shepherd, he's, over, instead, of, feet, and, this, is, the, man, who's, eating, the, flock, only, he, is, going, to, try, and, force, the, people, in, palace, and, to, worship, the, image, of, the, road, that, is, uh, by, them, what, we, have, in, his, will, hinder, by, some, means, I, shall, be, die, you, will, make, this, image, talk, and, then, be, revealing, the, one, that, the, prophet, healed, the, one, that, the, prophet, and, then, his, end, of, this, image, was, actually, talk, and, reply, you, I, am, coming, is, after, the, God's, name, and, you, in, my, father, not, you, receive, me, and, that, in, his, own, name, name, receive, and, so, that, we, same, person, and, that's, this, so, you, see, he's, same, person, in, scripture, for, represented, by, many, different, he's, among, you, by, miracles, of, here, that, which, here, is, that, wicked, by, wicked, hands, of, crucified, and, slain, his, lawlessness, to, recognize, the, Lord, Jesus, as, the, true, Messiah, the, miracles, and, signs, the, different, that, that, against, God, and, that, he, was, of, God, but, only, one, the, anti, those, miracles, and, signs, three, antichrist, is, going, to, use, satanic, miracles, and, signs, to, try, and, prove, that, he's, of, God, when, he's, of, Satan, and, prosper, I, believe, that's, why, one, of, the, reasons, why, we, have, to, be, aware, of, so, called, miracles, and, signs, in, this, we, have, them, in, days, of, the, church, and, revelations, the, world, is, getting, ready, the, religious, world, has, power, and, ready, for, satanic, miracles, and, to, them, that, dwell, God, that, they, should, make, and, miracles, out, with, miracles, and, signs, in, connect, come, in, his, own, teaching, of, the, gospel, and, so, in, days, of, the, dispensation, he, gave, that, at, the, beginning, there, he, is, called, the, shepherd, that, he, was, the, messiah, coming, and, healing, the, people, of, course, he, is, to, the, old, testament, prophecies, do, according, to, his, he, gave, some, faithful, king, church, to, he, he, says, as, the, christ, movement, the, jews, need, the, lord, said, they, wouldn't, believe, that, this, thing, was, of, God, after, having, been, taught, that, judaism, was, right, for, a, time, end, is, going, to, end, what, there, goes, to, to, convince, shepherds, this, really, was, will, be, the, end, that, these, are, healing, only, remnant, of, israel, some, books, written, to, this, man, clean, dried, up, and, that, this, was, a, God, that, this, was, a, work, of, the, holy, spirit, that, God, doesn't, give, those, signs, is, not, the, when, the, church, the, antichrist, says, that, he's, the, end, the, the, free, judgment, of, God, by, the, foolish, antichrist, connection, with, the, coming, of, and, they, see, that, man, and, the, man, of, whom, the, he, of, the, flocks, which, to, him, Christ, is, already, here, it, was, here, in, his, day, and, but, the, manifest, now, so, prophet, he, has, seen, him, as, prophet, that, the, shepherd, eating, the, flock, instead, of, he, leaves, but, he, will, see, him, as, and, days, when, the, apostasy, is, over, some, of, them, will, pay, that, there, would, be, the, seeing, is, to, him, arms, shall, be, drawn, especially, the, shepherd, saw, in, his, right eye, and, eating, the, flock, and, eating, the, flock, horse, will, be, is, going, to, is, going, to, Antichrist, is, full, in, palace, and, the, law, is, to, be, cast, this, is, is, said, intelligent, spiritually, as, to, what, our, pathway, is, and, seek, to, walk, faithful, to, our, Lord, Jesus, and, discern, ye, will, never, is, that, and, that's, this, of, Satan, we, have, that, these, two, great, powers, for, represent, having, mentioned, the, this, this, eleventh, this, tenth, chapter, really, gives, a, little, insight, into, the, great, warfare, spiritual, warfare, that's, going, on, behind, the, scenes, and, in the, in the, to, believe, a, lot, chapter, a, revelation, we, are, told, there, that, there's, finally, going, to, be, a, terrific, war, in, heaven, that, is, not, heaven, as, the, above, is, the, law, the, the, sea, the, the, the, the, center, as, it, were, with, the, abode, of, God, but, the, heavenly, places, where, Satan, has, access, as, we, see, in, the, the, Antichrist, there's, going, to, be, a, war, in, war, there, in, in, verse, three, angels, are, going, to, fight, against, the, devil, and, his, angels, and, the, devils, go, to, Antichrist, and, get, one, in, verse, and, that's, what, begins, the, end, of, this, we've, got, to, look, out, Christ, do, you, know, swear, for, knowing, that, his, time, is, short, why, we, have, the, book, of Revelation, called, Mary, he's, been, doing, say, about, all, these, years, as, it, is, but, he's, on, all, that, says, he's, not, heaven, yet, he's, ready, but, he's, ready, for, he's, getting, ready, he's, getting, ready, as, if, he's, going, to, have, signs, why, on, earth with, miracles, a, half, years, he'll, be, allowed, but, that's, all, the, time, at, the, end, of, that, the, Lord, steps, in, and, stops, in, days, as, important, as, the, days, as, we, saw, he, gave, those, how, the, coming, then, he, is, bound, in, coming, and, healing, the, people, according, to, the, old, prophet, that, the, Lord, Christian, church, to, church, to, rise, to, the, early, a, divine, movement, as, of, the, God, movement, they, wouldn't, believe, and, may, we, see, having, been, after, and, was, of, God, I, believe, the, things, that, are, taking, place, around, us. …

… Now for our closing address on the Book of Daniel, we're going to turn to the Book of Revelation and read a portion there that gives us some details of the closing days that the Book of Daniel doesn't give, but that fits in because Daniel and Revelation, they go together and we have details in the one that we do not in the other. We might say that Daniel generally takes up the Gentile nations and their connection with the Jewish people, whereas Revelation gives us, added to that, the last days of Christendom, that is, of that which is which professes to be the church here on earth and God's judgment of her, as well, of course, as of the Gentile nations. Let us turn, then, to the 19th chapter of Revelation. In our hymn we were singing, All the saints attending in the air shall meet the Lord Jesus, then the kingdom glorious. Thou shalt reign upon thy throne, ever more victorious, worthy one alone. And, of course, we know the next event that we Christians are looking for is to meet the Lord in the air, and then there will be unfolded on earth a series of events that we've been looking at in these lectures, in these talks, and will end with the Lord Jesus coming to establish his kingdom and to reign victorious. Let us read from the 11th verse of Revelation 19. We have, from this verse down to the 8th verse of chapter 21, a series of eight visions. Each one of them begins with the words, And I saw. And we want to speak on these tonight, tying this in with what we've already had in the book of Revelation, and in some, in the book of Daniel, rather, and with some other portions in Revelation. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Then we have the second vision, And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Then we have the third vision, And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, and with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the remnant was slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. We'll read the other visions as we come to them. We noticed when we were going through the book of Daniel that in connection with the Gentile nations and the four great kingdoms that were to rule, beginning with Babylon and ending up with the Roman Empire in its future revised state, that there is a stone, a stone cut without hands, that smoked the image on its feet, and the whole image fell down and crumbled, and was blown away as charp on the summer threshing floor, and then it says that this stone filled the whole earth. And the interpretation given is that these Gentile kingdoms were to pass away, and that the kingdom would be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. Or rather I think that's the expression that's used there, but it speaks here about the stone that's cut without hands, filling the whole earth. And then in connection with the seventh chapter, it says that the ten kings and the one who's over them, the little horn, who is the beast, would be destroyed and the kingdom given to the people of the saints of the Most High. So in both of these, which refer to the Gentile kingdoms, we find in this one, the stone which speaks of the Lord Jesus, we find him taking the kingdom and establishing his kingdom on earth, and here we have referred to that there would be others who would be with the Lord in the administration of the kingdom, referred to there as the people of the saints of the Most High, which will be of course the Lord's people on earth at that time, but connected with those who will be in heaven, because we find that when the kingdom is established, there are two sides to it. That's referred to by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians, when he speaks about all things being headed up in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. The Lord is going to have a people reigning with him in heaven. These will be the people that he has come to take up to be with himself, which we believe will include the church, but also will include the Old Testament saints who will be raised at the Lord's coming to take us to be with him. That's the great event we're looking for, and we will reign with Christ when he reigns. Then the Lord will have a people on earth, and they will be the spared Jewish remnant who will be the administrators of his kingdom, and there are many scriptures in Isaiah and in other books of the Old Testament prophecies that refer to that, that the Jews being the center, the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be the capital of the whole earth at that time, and every nation will recognize the reign of Christ and the administration of God's people Israel in connection with his reign over this earth. The Lord will be recognized then as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now to come back to our portion in Revelation, I just want us to notice that these eight visions that we have here, they fit in between two very important statements. Now we notice that that in the 19th chapter, the beginning of the 19th chapter, we have in verse 7, you see in chapter 17 and 18, the false church is destroyed. Then it tells us in the 19th chapter, verse 7, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, that's the Lord, the Lord God omnipotent who's reigning, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean as white, for the fine linen is the righteousness, righteousness as it really is, of the saints. Now here we get referred to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have the false church destroyed first, and then we have the Lord recognizing the true church, that is those the saints who've been caught up to be with him. And that's a very noticeable thing, that before we get a reference made to the marriage supper of the Lamb, we have this system that is referred to in chapter 17 and 18 of Revelation, which is called there Babylon the Great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And in that same portion, she's spoken of as the great whore. You know, it's the most remarkable thing that here's a word that we don't, that people don't use in polite company, and yet that is the word that is used to set forth what this system is, that professes to be the bride of Christ. But she's just the opposite, and she receives her judgment at the hand of the Lord at that time. It tells us how it's going to be brought about in the 17th chapter and the 16th verse. It says, The ten horns which thou sawest and the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire, for God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God should be fulfilled. That is, the Lord will allow the very nations that this woman has deceived to turn on her and to destroy her. And then of course they in their turn will take a stand against the Lord, and the Lord will deal with them. But we see here that the Lord is not going to deal with the false church as it were personally himself, but he's going to allow the very nations that she has deceived to destroy her. I've no doubt from the reference given here in the 17th chapter that Babylon the Great is very definitely the Roman system, because it mentions there that the woman is identified as being the woman that sits on the seven hills. And we know that there's only one city in the world that has ever been called the seven hills city, and that's from time immemorial, and that is Rome. But I believe that it won't just only be Rome as we know her today, but it will be Rome gathering to herself, perhaps a great many others in Christendom, and we see the movement toward this already commencing, that will be known after the Lord takes the true church away as Babylon the Great. Possibly everything in Christendom that still wants to remain religious, after the Lord takes the church away, will go in with Rome. And those who don't want to be religious, they will become more and more openly atheistic. I believe that's what's going to develop, and we're going to see it developing more. I believe in all of our western lands, we're going to see developing these two things more and more. That which will head up in Babylon the Great, arrogating more and more to herself the place of religious prominence on the one hand, and those who don't want that, becoming more and more atheistic on the other. Until when the time comes that we have this judgment poured out on the beast and the ten kings as we have it here, they will be just as atheistic in their opposition to the Lord as the government of Russia is today. That is, the western governments, the governments of the revived Roman Empire, probably the United States and the other countries that will be identified with them, because I think the whole world is going to line up under one or the other. I believe as we read these scriptures, we're going to see that the whole world is either going to be lined up with the west or the great northeastern confederacy, and one will be just as opposed to the Lord as the other at the time of the end. Our countries will be just as atheistic and just as blasphemously opposed to the Lord as the northeastern countries will be. Now that mightn't be a very pretty picture for those people who like to be patriotic, and I'm not saying we shouldn't be patriotic because I believe we should be. The Christian should be the best citizen of the country in which he lives, but we cannot close our eyes to the trend in our western countries that they're turning further and further away from God, and those who want to be faithful to the Lord will have to take a more definite stand and realize that they cannot consent to everything that's being done, but yet be faithful, because as long as the church is here, the powers that be are ordained of God, and we're still responsible to pray for them. But scripture gives us the end of these things. Now, as we said, we have the marriage supper of the Lamb mentioned, and at the end of this portion, in chapter 21, after verse 8, we have the Lamb referred to again, the bride, the Lamb's wife, in Revelation 21.9, and we have her referred to as a great and high mountain, the holy city Jerusalem. The false church is spoken of in the 17th chapter as Babylon, and the angel takes John to the desert to see her, but when he wants to show her the true church, he takes him to a great and high mountain, and there we find she is referred to as a city also, but she's referred to as Jerusalem, the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. So in between, after the destruction of the false church, and in between these two references to the true church, and the glory that she's going to have with Christ, we have this parenthetical portion that brings in these eight visions, and these eight visions take us from the Lord's coming forth from heaven, to judge and to reign, right on into what we call the eternal state, that is referred to in the first verses of chapter 21. Now to take up verse 11, it says, I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him was called faithful and true. Who is this rider on the white horse? In the sixth chapter of Revelation, a rider comes forth on a white horse, and we believe that that rider gives us the first appearance of this little horn, when he comes forth first, and goes forth conquering and to conquer, after the church is taken away, right at the beginning there of Daniel's 70 weeks. But this is a very different person that comes forth here. This is a person coming forth from heaven. Heaven is opened here. We don't get heaven opened in many portions of scripture, but this is one of the places where heaven is opened. In the fourth chapter, we find the door was opened in heaven for John to look in, which corresponds no doubt to the rapture of the saints, the Lord taking the church away, because after that the church is never seen on earth, she's seen in heaven. But here heaven is open to let the Lord come out. And the Lord comes out of heaven here, as the rider on the white horse, and the rider on the white horse always speaks of a victorious conqueror in scripture. The Lord comes forth as the victorious conqueror to establish his rights to the earth. Satan has disputed his right to it all along. And now the blasphemy of man has reached its greatest height in these men, this beast and this false prophet, who blaspheme the Lord, as we've been seeing. So the time has come that the Lord is coming forth. And this coming forth of the Lord corresponds to the close of Daniel's 70 weeks. The Lord has cut short the great tribulation, as we saw when we were studying this. After three and a half years of great tribulation, and cut short, as it seems there, one month. And then right at the very end of this 70 weeks there, of the last seven years, this door is opened in heaven, and the great conqueror comes forth. The Lord comes. And it says here, he that sat upon him was faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he hath a name written that no man knew but he himself. I think that means that it sets forth that which is true as to the deity of the Lord Jesus. Everything about his humanity has been revealed, but there's something about his deity that's still not revealed. And he knows what it is. Possibly he'll make it known to us in his own time, but it's still not fully revealed. But he comes forth as the one who is going to judge and to make war. And it says, it tells us that he's clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. This is not setting him forth now as the one who died on Calvary, while that was true. He's not coming forth as the savior now. Being clothed with a vesture dipped in blood speaks to us of him as the one who's coming to judge. He's the one who is coming to tread the winepress, as it were, the judgment. And this speaks to us of him as the judge. And then it tells us what his name is, the Word of God. The name by which he's made known in, by which John made him known, this very same John who wrote this, this revelation, made him known there in his, in his gospel. In the beginning was the Word. He's the Word of God. There's no doubt as to who that, this one is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God from all eternity, the eternal Word, become man, and now coming forth as man to judge and to take his rightful place and reign over this earth. And it tells us there that of those who accompany him, verse 14, it says the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Who are these armies that follow the Lord? It says they're clothed in linen, and we notice there back in verse 8 that when it speaks about the saints of the present dispensation, the Bride of Christ, that they're clothed in fine linen. And this, this will be the saints, the saints of the present dispensation, who will come forth with the Lord and accompany him when he comes forth to judge. The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. These are those who were saved during the present dispensation. I believe, beloved brethren, that we, the Lord's people of this time, we're going to be with him when he comes forth here. They too, it says, come forth on white horses. You know, it says in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians, we shall judge the world. And that's one reason why the Apostle Paul is pointing out to the Corinthian saints that they should not be seen judging one another before the courts of this world. He uses that, the very fact that we are going to judge the world and that we're going to judge angels as a proof of that. And I believe this shows this, that we're coming forth with the Lord, accompanying him when he comes forth to judge the world. The fourth chapter shows us already caught up, according to 1 Thessalonians 4. This chapter shows us coming with the Lord when he comes to judge. And it tells us, in verse 15, that a sharp sword goes out of his mouth. Isaiah says that he'll smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. You know, the sharp sword is the Lord's own word. He only has to utter the word and judgment falls. Of course, we know these things are symbolic. The white horse is symbolic. It speaks of a conqueror coming forth. And I don't believe that the Lord is physically going to be seen on a white horse, and he's physically going to be seen wielding a sword. We've got to distinguish in scripture between what is symbolic and what is spiritual. But the symbolism is a conqueror coming to conquer. And the sword is the word that goes out of his mouth. The Lord just has to utter the word. You remember when they came to take him in the garden? When they asked him if he was the one that they were looking for, and he says, I am, it says they went backwards and fell to the ground. And had the Lord wished to use his power right at that time, they'd have all been dead men right there. And that is how the Lord is going to judge this earth when he comes forth. He's going to judge it with the rod of his mouth. It says he'll smite the nations with the sword, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. It doesn't say that those are with him tread that winepress. That's his work. I believe that the saints will help in connection with the judgment, the meeting out of the judgment. But when it's a question of the vengeance, the treading of the winepress, that's the Lord alone. The Lord meets out the vengeance on his enemies. And then in connection with the judgment, the saints will be helping him in the administration of it. And then it says that he had on his vesture, on his fire name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, King of those that reign and Lord of those that exercise authority. He will take the supreme place and be owned as the supreme ruler. What a picture. Then we have the second vision in verse 17. I saw an angel standing in the sun. You know, the sun is the place of supreme authority, and it's the place of light as far as this earth's concerned. And he is an angel standing there. He is in a place of authority under God, where he sings. And what's he doing? He's calling to the fowls to regale themselves of kings and captains and mighty men and horses and of all men, both bond and free. What an awful slaughter is going to take place on this earth. And before the judgment comes, these birds are called to come to regale themselves of what there is there to eat. It's just a little picture of the warning, as it were, of what is going to come. And then in the next section, verse 19, we get the beast. And the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. Now, in that connection, I want to turn back to two other scriptures in Revelation. The first is in chapter 16 and verse 13. This is what took place under the sixth vial. It says, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And verse 16 says, and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. You know, people often refer to the battle of Armageddon. Well, beloved, this that we have in our chapter here in this third vision, this is going to be the battle of Armageddon. And it says that these people will be there because these spirits that come out of the mouth of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet are those that are going to gather them there. Now, the other night we saw that the evil spirits that are behind the scenes, even at the present time, influencing governments. But when we come to here, these evil spirits are on earth influencing governments. Satan has come down knowing that his time is short and he sends his evil spirits into all the world to gather the heads of the nations to come up against the Lord and to destroy him. Let us look again at another scripture. And that is in the seventeenth chapter, which gives us the destruction of the whore. But I just want us to notice what it says there in verse 14. Well, we read from verse 12. The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, but received power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of lords and king of kings. And they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. And of course, they that are with him are these others that come forth on white horses. And that's one reason this scripture is one of the reasons why we believe that they are believers, Christians of the present dispensation and not angels, because angels are never referred to as being called. To be called in scripture, you must be one who's a sinner who has been saved. Only saved sinners are those that are called ones. And those there, those that are with the Lord. But notice what it says about this, these kings. It says they'll make war with the lamb. Well, this is what this is what they're doing. They're making war with the lamb. So in verse 19, it says they gather themselves together, the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. We believe the sequence events will be something like this as far as we can see. We have at this time, or there will be at this time on earth, the king of the north, who is the northern enemy of the Jews, who will come down against them during the great tribulation. And the Lord will allow that invasion to be successful. They will overrun the land of Palestine and they will go down to Egypt. And then their leader will will hear news that will trouble him out of the east of the north and he'll come back. And it says he'll plant his tents between the Mediterranean Sea and Jerusalem and he'll come to his end there. The Lord will deal with him. The Lord will deal with Israel's immediate northern enemy, the king of the north, the Assyrian, as he's called in Isaiah, and also the little horn of chapter eight, as we saw near the Grecian little horn, that's the same person he'll be dealt with there in the land of Palestine by the Lord. Now, it seems that just about this time, possibly just immediately following this, the western nations gather themselves together. It's very possible that the western nations have already destroyed the great whore. You see, it seems that during the first half of Daniel's 70 weeks, the woman rides the beast. The woman is Babylon the Great, the one spoken of as the harlot. She will be riding the beast. And because she's riding the beast, she will no doubt be governing the beast to a certain extent. But her dominion over the beast becomes intolerant. The political powers will get tired of the domination of the religious power, and they're going to throw her off. And it seems that by the time the great tribulation begins, the woman has already been practically destroyed. She's thrown off. And then the beast and the ten kings become openly apostate and atheistic. They've destroyed the false church. There's still something left that is a testimony for God, because from the time that the Lord takes the Christians away, there's nothing left for God in the church, in what professes to be the church. God then takes up Israel as his testimony, and the Lord will have the godly remnant of Israel at that time. And we know that some of them will be slain. I'm inclined to think that those who will be slain in the first half of the week will be slain by the Babylon, by the great whore. And those that will be slain in the second half of the week, of course we're distinctly told that they're going to be slain by the beast and those under him, because they refuse to worship the image of the beast. We have them referred to in the next chapter. So it seems that having destroyed the false woman, the false church, the beast and the ten kings, that is the western confederation, they will decide that they're going to fight against the Lord. And in order to fight against the Lord, they come up against the land where the Lord's testimony is, because Jerusalem will then be recognized by the Lord as the center of his testimony again. And so they'll think, we can't get rid of God out of the earth without destroying the Jewish people, because they know that they're professing to be God's witnesses. They will be. There'll be a godly remnant who'll be God's witnesses scattered around among the nations, but recognizing that there will be a temple in Jerusalem there where their worship has been allowed. The beast is going to stop that worship and he's going to endeavor to completely blot out this people. And the Lord looks upon this as a definite endeavor on Satan's part to destroy every testimony for God on earth. And so they're going to come up against the land. And when they come up, that's when the Lord comes out to meet them. As it says here, they gather together to make war against the Lord. He's spoken of as the lamb and he's also spoken of as the conqueror. But you know it's a remarkable thing that right through revelation the Lord's referred to so many times as the lamb. But he's the lamb in all, he was the lamb in all weakness on Calvary's cross. But he's going to be triumphant at last, because he's going to come forth not in his lamb-like character now, but we might say in his lion-like character. He's going to come forth now as the conquering victor, to put down all enemies and destroy them. There's nothing namby-pamby here. No, this is the Lord judging and it's a very, very solemn thing. And what does it say? In verse 20, the beast was taken and within the false prophet. The false prophet is the one that we referred to on Wednesday night. He's the one who's called the king in there in the 11th chapter of Daniel, the willful king, the king who'll do according to his will. He's the one who's referred to as Antichrist in John's first epistle. He's the idle shepherd or the worthless shepherd. He's called in the 13th chapter of Revelation, he is the one that's referred to as the beast out of the earth, that has two horns like a lamb and looks like a dragon. And he's the one who's called here the false prophet. He will be the religious leader in Jerusalem and the other man, the one who's called the beast here, he will be the political head in Rome. It's very possible that this religious leader will be a more cunning and clever man even than the political head, but he will endeavor to make the people worship the beast in Rome. But the two of them are just tools in Satan's hand, completely possessed by the devil. And what's their end going to be? A terrible end. They're going to be cast alive into the lake of fire. It seems to me it's an awful end. Other people that we read about in the end of the end of the millennium that are going to be cast into the lake of fire are going to be cast in there after they've been judged, after they've had a trial. But these two, it's just as if they're taken in red-handed rebellion against God, and they're taken just right as they are, committing the crime as it were, and the evidence is so great against them that there's no need for them to have a trial. And so they're cast as they are into the lake of fire. And we find that when the devil's cast in there a thousand years later, it distinctly says where the beast and the false prophet are. They've already been there a thousand years. It seems, as far as I can gather, that these are the first two to be cast into the lake of fire, unless there are already some angels there, which we're not told. We know that that's where they're eventually going to be, the fallen angels I mean, but Satan certainly is not there yet. You know, a lot of people think he is. If he were there, we wouldn't have the troubles we're having on earth. It's because he's not there, he's still in the heavenly places, guiding these evil spirits, that things are like they are in this scene. And it's because he's cast down to earth and will be here, that things will be as they are in the great tribulation. That's where he's going. But these two men are cast in. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. There's going to be an awful slaughter when apostate christened them. And that's because that's what it's going to be. It's going to be the countries of Western Europe. I believe that this revived Roman Empire will comprise the European nations that were in the Roman Empire, perhaps more or less, but were not in the previous Babylonian and at least not in the Babylonian and Greek and Persian Empires, because these were Eastern Empires. The Western Empire or European Empires began with Greece and then followed on with Rome. But the Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires were Asiatic Empires. And it doesn't seem that that interferes in to the revived Roman Empire, so that there were parts of those in the Roman Empire that are still in Asia. But this looks like, from what we have here, as if this is going to be a union of European nations. And what are the European nations? The nations that have had the greatest light of Christianity within the last several hundred years. The nations that had the opportunity of receiving the Protestant Reformation. And, of course, the two greatest nations, of the larger nations at any rate, that became great because of the Reformation were Britain and Germany. And, of course, the United States, which is linked with those countries nationally because of our population. Also, we've inherited that light of the open Word of God. And yet the sad thing is that these are the very nations that are going to be so apostate that they'll make war with the Lamb, because they've turned against the light. And can't we see it? It's growing every day around us. The light, the precious light of the Gospel is being refused, and people are either turning away from God altogether, or else they're taking up with all kinds of false religions, which is another method that Satan has. For those who want to be religious, Satan has a religion. And for those who don't want to be religious, well, Satan has an atheistic concept, and there's not too much difference between them. It doesn't seem to me that there's very much difference between being religious and dishonoring the Lord with a lot of false ideas about Christ and giving up all pretense of religion. In fact, I think those that give up all pretense of religion are perhaps more honest than those who pretend to have, to pretend to honor God by religion and have a false religion that denies everything that is true about the Gospel. At least there's a greater measure of honesty with them in their thinking. But this, it's only what we see going on around us and what's going to head up in this terrible thing that we get here. So those that left, when the Lord comes to take the church away, they'll either, if they're religious, if they don't accept the testimony of the godly, those that live at that time, of course, those that are left when the Lord takes the church away, they'll all be destroyed. If they refuse the Gospel, they'll either be destroyed when the Lord destroys Babylon the Great, or else they'll be destroyed when the Beast and the Ten Kings are destroyed. And those who have not heard the Gospel in this day of grace and who refuse the testimony of the godly Jews, they're going to meet their judgment at the same time. Really this earth is in for a terrible time according to these scriptures. Now we go on to the 20th chapter. I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. We notice here that it doesn't leave us in any doubt as to who this person is. We have the four names that are given to him in scripture. The dragon, which speaks of his cruelty, that old serpent, which speaks of his guile and his subtlety, the devil, and which speaks to us of him as the accuser, and Satan, which speaks to us that he's the adversary. And these are the four names by which Satan is known in scripture. And he's taken, the Lord sends an angel down to bind him, and he's cast into the bottomless pit and shut up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season. Now in this, in these two visions we have here, we have the words a thousand years mentioned six times, and the word millennium means a thousand years. Sometimes people say, well you talk about the millennium, but the word millennium isn't in scripture. The word isn't, but the, the, what the word means is because millennium, even in Spanish we say mil años, which means a thousand years. Mil means a thousand, and enium just comes from the Latin, as the very Latin word, from which we get our word annual, which means a year. A thousand years, that's just what the word millennium means. It's the reign of Christ. Now the prophecies are full of this. Isaiah time and again refers to the time when Christ will reign, when Jerusalem will be the center of blessing for the whole earth, and when the Jewish people will be the center of God's government on this earth. But none of the prophets tell us how long this kingdom's to be, but here it tells us how long it's to be. It's to be a thousand years long, is this reign of Christ. And during that period, Satan is bound. The angel comes down having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. The key, the key of course is symbolic. It means he's going to be locked in, and the chain means he's going to be tied up. The thing means, it just means this, that Satan is going to be put where he's not able to deceive anybody for a thousand years. God is going to give this earth a thousand years without the devil. We might say, well why doesn't God cast the devil, if he's the instigator of all this, why wasn't he cast into the lake of fire when the beast and the false prophet are? Why does God leave him here and then let him be loosed out of his prison a little season to do a little bit more of his dirty work at the end of the millennium? Because God has a purpose, and this lets us see perhaps a little reason why God has allowed the devil to be here all this time. God has certain purposes to be worked out, and he allows these people and these individuals to be his instruments in the working out of them. Satan is going to be loosed out of his prison at the time of the end because there's still a work that God has to do, and it's necessary for Satan to be there, that this might be done as we're going to see. But in the meantime, we find in this fourth vision that Satan is bound a thousand years. Then the next vision tells us, I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Now, we get three groups here. We get thrones and they that sat on them is one group, and these are the same ones we believe that come forth with the Lord on the white horses to judge. When the Lord establishes his reign over this earth, there will be those who will sit on thrones with him. That's where we will sit. The twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Lord is going to give each one of us some position in the kingdom according to our faithfulness to him and to his precious word while we're here. And beloved, when we think of this side of it, we should remember that we're responsible, and it's not what we do outwardly and what men see that's going to count in that day. It's what the Lord sees in our hearts. This is going to be the reward for our faithfulness here, as we'll be apportioned out of the judgment seat of Christ. And maybe some that are very apparently very successful outwardly in what they think is religious work, the Lord will have to be able to give them a very very little place there because they've not done the Lord's will. And some perhaps that mightn't have been taken much notice of on earth, but have been faithful to the Lord and to his precious truth, the Lord will be able to entrust to them some very important part of the kingdom when we sit with the Lord and he reigns over this earth and we're going to reign with him. Then we get two other groups, we get the souls of them that will be headed for the witness of Jesus, that's those that are mentioned there in the sixth chapter, you remember their souls are seen under the altar crying for vengeance, those that are slain for their faithfulness to the Lord by the great whore, and then we get those that would not worship the beast. Now why do these come in here? Well, they lost out in the millennium. These were faithful ones who were saved after the rapture of the church and ordinarily should have lived and have gone into the millennium and partaken in the millennial reign of Christ on earth, but they were slain for their testimony. They were faithful and rather than give up their testimony, they were killed. So while they lost out in the earthly side of the kingdom, the Lord gives them the privilege of being in the heavenly side and so they're mentioned here as associated with the heavenly saints. It only mentions their souls here, but no doubt they'll be raised in glorified bodies, just when they'll be raised is not known. Some think they'll be raised when those two witnesses are raised and some think that they're not raised until after we have it here. Well, that's not so very important. The important thing is that they're seen there reigning with Christ and of course they won't be able to reign with Christ unless they have glorified bodies like the rest of the saints. So they're all grouped together as the first resurrection. We have Christ the firstfruits. That's the firstfruits. Then we have at the Lord's coming the great harvest, when all the dead that have died from Adam down will be caught up because the rapture is the rapture of the church, but it's also the rapture of the saints. It'll include the Old Testament saints as well as the church. And then we have the gleanings, these who were slain during Daniel's 70th week. These two groups, they'll be the last ones that come in. And while this first resurrection has three parts to it, Christ's own resurrection, the great resurrection at the Lord's coming, and then the time when these martyrs are raised, yet it's all grouped together as the first resurrection. And it's as blessed and holy as he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. For if there's anyone here unsafe tonight, dear friends, may you see that you get right with God because if you don't have part in the first resurrection, there's absolutely no hope for you because those who'll have part in the second resurrection, that is the resurrection of the wicked, which will take place at the end of the millennial reign, it tells us there that they're cast into the lake of fire. Terrible doom for all those who are unsaved at that time. Well, we must hurry on. But it does tell us then, in verse 7, that when the thousand years are loosed, Satan's, expired, Satan shall be loosed and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Now, I just want to mention something about Gog and Magog here. We know that we have today in the earth another great confederacy, which we call communism, that's headed up by Russia. The great northeastern confederacy, as it's sometimes referred to, because we have Russia and all her satellite nations, mainly to the north and east of Palestine. And China, and it's very possible that Japan and India will finally, will ultimately be found in this great confederacy. And this is another great movement that we see in scripture, and we've not taken up this in these scriptures, in these lectures, because Russia has not been referred to only incidentally in the scriptures that we've explained. But we did notice in Daniel there, that it speaks of the king of the north, that he shall be strong, but not in his own power, showing that there's going to be some other power that will back him up. And when we turn to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, we get this power mentioned. Our version speaks about Gog and the land of Magog, and the prince of, the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal. But it's recognized by everybody that that should be the prince of Rosh, Meshach and Tubal. So here in Ezekiel, Russia is named, Rosh was the old name for Russia. And yet when Ezekiel was written, it was written hundreds of years before Russia was known by that name. So there we have a prophecy. Meshach is the old name for Moscow, and Tubal is the old name for Tobolsk. And we know that Moscow is the capital of Russia at the present time, although Petrograd, St. Petersburg was for many years, but now Moscow is. And, and Tobolsk, of course, is the chief town in Asiatic Russia. And so here we have this nation mentioned. And I, and I believe that, that if we study this carefully, we find that this group of nations are also going to meet their doom in the land of Palestine, but possibly just a little later than the others. They're not brought in here in Revelation, and they're not brought in in Daniel directly, but they, they're certainly mentioned in Ezekiel. And it seems that after the Lord establishes the kingdom, then it is that these nations are going to come down from the north. And they're going to have the same idea in their minds that the Beast and the Ten Kings from the West had in theirs. They're going to blot out the name of the Lord too. And they're going to meet their doom at the Lord's hand there. When, when Russia was interfering in Korea, students of the word said, that's just not, that's nothing very important. Russia is not going to meet her doom in Korea. Now we see Russia interfering in Cuba. We know that Russia's not going to meet her doom in Cuba. We know from scripture where she's going to meet her doom. She's going to meet her doom on the land, in the land of Palestine. And it's going to be a similar thing to what it tells us here, that these birds of heaven will be called upon to another great feast, to feast upon the dead that are slain when the hordes from the north come down against the land of Palestine. The Lord will deal with them as he dealt with the others. And it tells us that they're going to be seven months burying the dead. And they're going to be seven years burning up the instruments of wood. Well, that's something for us to figure out with our modern armaments is how it's going to be that they're going to have instruments of wood there when they come down. And that's always been something that has puzzled students of prophecy. But it mightn't be so very difficult as we imagine. It may be that these armaments that we have, that it'll just be impossible for them to be used because of certain discoveries, and they'll have to go back to instruments of wood, because the scripture can't be broken. And the word of God is always true. And that's exactly what scripture says. I just mentioned that to round out the subject, to see how all are going to meet their doom when they come up against the Lord. The Lord is going to establish his kingdom. But then it tells us here that there's going to be another Gog and Magog at the end of the millennium. Christ will reign for a thousand years. It's going to be a wonderful reign of peace. If a man dies a hundred years old, he's counted as a child that has died. And at a hundred years of age, a man dying is because he sinned. Satan won't be here to tempt. And therefore, if people sin, it's just because of the evil of their own hearts. I believe that every scripture shows, the scripture makes it plain in Isaiah, that every one of the Jewish people who is born during that time will be saved. But it doesn't seem that that's true of the Gentile nations. Every Gentile who enters the millennium will be saved. But there'll be many born during that time who will only render feigned obedience. They won't be truly saved. And at the end of the millennium, that's why Satan's loosed out of his little season to test who really have trusted the Lord as their savior. And who of those are only just going on outwardly with a sort of rendering a feigned obedience, and yet the Lord's yoke is irksome to them. You know, if people are going on in a thing that they don't believe in, they always feel as if they're constricted, and as if they're under a yoke, and they're never happy in the position that they're in. They're always kind of unhappy there. And then they look for an opportunity to break this yoke. Well, that's what's going to happen to many who'll be born during the millennium in the Gentile nations, and yet who've never been willing to accept the Lord as their true savior, because they'll need to believe in the Lord as the savior even then, and to believe in his work. And they'll never be born again. Well, when Satan's loosed out of his season, these will be the people he'll deceive. And he will go out to the four quarters of the earth. It won't be just the north this time. It'll be all over the earth in every land. There will be many to whom the Lord's yoke has been grievous. They've not been willing. They've been submitting to it just for fear that they'd be destroyed if they didn't. And they'll follow Satan. And it'll be the last great attempt to blot out the Lord's testament. And they'll invade the land of Palestine to seek to destroy it, just the same as this invasion from Russia was at the beginning of the millennium. And it says, fire came down from heaven and consumed them. That's all it says. That's the last judgment on earth. And then all of the left will be those who are truly believers on the Lord. Then we go on to verse 11. We have another vision there. It says, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And the seventh vision, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things that are written in their books. This is the judgment of the great white throne. This is the wicked dead. Before the millennium, there'll be the judgment of the living nations, the sheep and the goats, as we have them set forth in Matthew's gospel. But here we have the judgment of the great white throne, the judgment of the dead, the second resurrection. They'll be raised to be judged and the books will be open, containing the histories of every individual. And the book of life will be open to prove that their names are not there. You know, you and I, beloved, we won't be present at this unless a spectators. That is, we won't be those who are judged here. Our judgment was born by Christ on the cross. If there's one who's unsaved here tonight, beloved friend, and you don't turn to the Lord as your savior, you could possibly be here. If you're still alive when the Lord comes, you might be in the judgment of the sheep and the goats. Among those that the Lord says, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the veterans as angels. And if you die before that time, you'll be among these here who are raised to be cast into the lake of fire. What a terrible end. Then the 21st chapter gives us the eternal state. At the end of the millennium, those who were only pretenders are destroyed, and then we have the new heaven and the new earth. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. Now Peter tells us in his second epistle in the third chapter that the earth and all that's in it is going to be burned up. And there's one thing that scripture doesn't tell us, how those who are on the old earth at the end of the millennium are going to be transferred to the new earth. We're not told, but we know that God will tend to that, and I've no doubt at the same time he's going to give them glorified bodies, because all who go into the eternal state will go into it with glorified bodies. The eternal state does not begin until the end of the millennium. You see, those who die now are not in the eternal state. They're only in heaven in their spirits, in their souls, that's all. They don't even have the glorified bodies. And while we'll reign with Christ a thousand years, that is going to be the mediatorial reign of a thousand years, but it's still not eternity. Eternity begins when everything has been brought into complete subjection to the will of God, and that is not until the last ones are destroyed at the end of the millennium, and then it says, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. So that all who have died right up to that time, unsaved, will be raised to be judged at the great white throne, and then that's the end of the last enemy. Then everything will be brought into complete subjection to the will of God. All that we can put away, and the new heavens and the new earth are seen. The church is seen reigning with Christ in the new heaven, and the rest of the saints will be seen on the new earth, and everything will be in subjection to the will of God, and the Lord Jesus, and it says in 1 Corinthians 15, will hand the kingdom back to the Father. He has been given the work of bringing this rebellious scene into subjection to God's will. He became a man to do it, and the work of the cross laid the basis of it, but the work is not yet fulfilled, completed, and it will not be completed until the end of the millennium, and then everything will be brought into the will of God, and it's just as if the Lord says now, Father, I've done everything that you've asked me to do. I brought back this portion of your universe that was in rebellion against you. Now I hand it back to you, and it says then, and God will be all in all. What a blessed prospect we have. We're going to be there associated with the Lord Jesus, and reign with him for all eternity, and it tells here in verse 3, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. That's God dwelling with men. He wanted to do that with Adam, but sin came in, and he couldn't do it. Now we've got there. God dwelling with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. You see, these things, death, and tears, and sorrow, and crying, they'll be called the former things, which will pass away and will never exist anymore. What a lot of sorrow there is today. Death comes in. There's weeping. There's pain. There's sorrow. All these things have to do with the present state, but they'll just be the former things at that time. They'll all be done away with, and he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new, and he said unto me, for these words are true and faithful, and he said unto me, it is done, and then we have a solemn warning given in the verses that follow. The Lord still is offering salvation, and he's warning those who refuse the gospel what an awful end still awaits them. So how important it is that precious souls should turn to Christ while it's still the day of his wondrous grace. …