Daniel at the Zoo

Seven. Alright. Daniel chapter seven. See if I can get everything situated here. Alright.

Daniel visits the zoo only in his dreams. And not just any dreams, but dreams given him by God, dreams that pertain to you and me, to our past, Daniel's future, and our future yet to come, and in coming chapters in our present time as well. So before we read in verse one, we leave the section of Daniel that is largely historical narrative and enter the prophetic section. And you see a stark change here from chapter six to chapter seven. While still containing some biographical info on Daniel, it is recording what Daniel, where he was, what he saw, a few things he said, but it's mostly prophetic.

Concerns events happening in the present, His present, and in the future. This along with Daniel chapter two comprised the most significant and unarguably accurate prophecies of Scripture. This is why many skeptics want to post date Daniel. In other words, the prophecies that are recorded here by Daniel in around May so accurately portray events that happened five and six hundred years later that the skeptics who just refuse to believe that it is God's word, who refuse to believe that the prophecy is prophecy have no choice but to try to find some way around it. And so seeing they can't disprove it because of its accuracy, they try to postdate it, which means they try to teach people, well, it wasn't written when Daniel said he wrote it.

It wasn't written by Daniel. It was written by somebody else who lived six hundred years later. But there's no evidence of that. A matter of fact, the details that Daniel gives of the city of Babylon and what is taking place there could only lead one to believe that he is actually living there at the time. The only reason to believe that maybe this was written later is because the people reading it refused to believe that this is prophecy.

That's the only reason. Why? Because it is so accurate and so clear. And we'll see that as we go through. One line on top another, one prophecy after another, they add up.

And what seems maybe to be a little bit unclear at times as we go through will be the picture will become clearer and clearer and clearer, particularly if you take the scriptures of Daniel and you also look at parallel passages in prophecy from the gospels and Revelation and Thessalonians and places like that, the picture becomes quite incredibly clear. Why? How? Because this is the word of who? It's not the words of Daniel, it's the word of God.

And God who is beyond time and space has no problem seeing what's happening a thousand years from now. For God, one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is what? One day. That's not to say that there's some prophetic formula where one day equals a thousand years. That's not what Peter meant when he said that.

What Peter meant is God is not bound by time. Time means nothing to God. We are creatures of time, he is not. So we see these prophecies beginning in Daniel seven in particular and back in Daniel chapter two. Up till now, Daniel has been writing in chronological order of events in his life, but when we get to Daniel chapter seven, we take a step back.

Remember, we left Daniel in Daniel six in the court of Darius and eventually Cyrus in the court of Persia, the Medes and Persians in Babylon. Now he's going to go back in time and when he begins to write chapter seven, he's writing about something that happened still back in the court of Belshazzar. Now, remember Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Okay? And he was ruling in Babylon when Babylon was taken by the Persians.

And so you look in Daniel chapter seven verse one, it says, in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and his visions of his head upon his bed and then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matter. So there is your explanation about what is to come in chapter seven and a time frame for when it happened. It wasn't following the events of chapter six, it was preceding the events that we find in Daniel six going back to when Babylon was still being ruled by Belshazzar and Persia had yet to take it. If you continue on in verse two, Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea. So often the great sea in the time of Daniel was a reference to the Mediterranean Sea.

So what he's seen, that's his frame of reference, is the Mediterranean Sea, which if you were standing on the shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea, it's like standing on the shoreline of Gulf. You can't, it just seems to stretch out forever. You can't see the other side, okay? It's a huge sea. So, verse three, the four and four great beasts came up from the sea diverse from one 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 to 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, it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it. And they said, thus unto 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, the dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly. It had great iron teeth that devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns.

I considered the 10 horns. Behold, there came up among them another little horn before whom were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. And behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things. So we'll stop there for just a moment. So what does Daniel see?

Well, he sees a sea in prophetic terms that usually is depicts the earth. The sea was being tossed about by the wind from every direction. And out of this tempestuous sea, nations striving against nation, this sea of humanity comes these four beasts, one right after another. It is made clear to us in verse 15 that these four beasts are four kingdoms of the earth. So there's really there's no question here that what these four beasts represent.

They represent four kingdoms over the earth in succession to one another. Daniel seven fifteen, I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit. Midst of my body, the visions of my head troubled me. I I would imagine I might be troubled too if I saw the the zoo that he had seen. I came near unto one of them that stood by and asked him the truth of all this.

So, he told me and made known made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. What are the four beasts? They represent four kings, four kingdoms that arise out of the sea of humanity and establish themselves as four kingdoms upon the earth. Their depiction here is quite distinct from chapter two, probably as David Jeremiah points out because of perspective.

If you go back to Daniel chapter two and the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, it had a head of what? A golden chest and arms of silver and waist and belly of bronze and legs of iron for kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Quite impressive, quite magnificent, pictured in the form of a man created in the image of who? God. Quite impressive, quite magnificent.

Nebuchadnezzar, the world dictator, the head of what? Gold. Would have pictured the kingdoms of men in this fashion. He would have seen himself and others before and after him as being magnificent and majestic and powerful. In chapter seven, we don't have the description of these four kingdoms from man's perspective, but from whose perspective?

From God's perspective. So rather than being made out of precious metals in the form of a mighty man, these kingdoms are depicted portrayed as wild, depraved creatures, powerful yet brutish and vastly inferior to who? To God. Similar also to their counterparts as we will read later in chapter eight. So to Nebuchadnezzar, God gave a dream.

The kings of men were depicted as Nebuchadnezzar would have anticipated. But here in chapter seven, more as God truly sees the kingdoms of men. Indeed, the history of mankind, particularly their leaders, is more rightly portrayed by wild beasts than it is by magnificent statues of gold. Despite the facade of decency man projects of himself today, we see how quickly that can be ripped off and man exposed for who he really is. Back on October 7, just before October 7, things seemed to be going fairly well in Israel.

And then the night comes and then the facade is ripped off as hundreds or thousands pour across the border and commit indescribable, unbelievable, immoral acts upon their fellow human beings. That sadly is more descriptive of humanity at heart than the humanity we would like to see. And that is sort of the way they are portrayed here in Daniel chapter seven. You would think after thousands of years of hostility and killing and coveting that man would learn from war and would make war no more, but that's not the case. That is not the case.

At heart, man is sinful, selfish, power seeking, and not very interested in bowing to the authority of the Almighty, unchangeable God in heaven. So, we see these kingdoms depicted as these four beasts here. The first one is a lion with wings. And as these seem to be in chronological order, as Daniel in this chapter, at this time when he gets this vision, is still in still living in Babylon that is under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar's family, it only makes sense that the lion with wings is representative of who? Of Babylon and the reign of the royal family of Nebuchadnezzar.

Represented by a winged lion. Maybe picture this. I don't know if anybody recognizes that picture. You may have seen when you were a kid Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on TV. And this this lion with wings is the keeper of the island of misfit toys.

I I don't know if anybody else remembers that but me. But when I was reading this about the lion with wings, I remembered, hey, I think there was a lion with wings in Rudolph, and Lo and behold, there he is. I wonder if the people that wrote this script, maybe somewhere along the line, had read their Bible a little bit and came up with a lion with wings. I don't know. But I don't think that's a real great depiction.

He looks kind of cuddly, and I don't think that lion was very cuddly in Daniel's dream. But he sees a lion with wings, a lion indicating, indicative of its great power and dominion over men. Not only does it run to get you, it can fly and get you from overhead. This is a formidable foe, this lion that Daniel sees. But then what happens to the wings?

They're torn off. The lion falls to the ground. It says, verse four, first was a lion, eagle's wings, I beheld to the wings thereof were plucked and it was lifted up from the earth and made a stand upon the feet as a man and a man's heart was given to it. This is very similar language to Daniel four where Nebuchadnezzar has another dream. And in his dream, there's this beautiful tree, it grows up, it it fills the picture in his dream, spreads way out.

The birds of the air nest in it. The the the beasts of the ground rest under it. They eat of its grass, and and then all of a sudden, an angel is sent from heaven. It cuts down the tree and all that's left is the stump and the roots. But that tree that is cut down doesn't die.

Instead, like this, that it's given the heart of a man and it flourishes once again. We know from Daniel four and Daniel's interpretation, the tree is Nebuchadnezzar. And God deposed him for seven years because he would not acknowledge the sovereign rule of the king of heaven. After seven years, Nebuchadnezzar humbles himself, comes to his senses, acknowledges the Lord of lords and the king of kings, and he's restored to his throne. Restored to his throne, a different man than seven years previous and one who was very bold in a pagan kingdom to give glory to the true king of heaven.

That would also seem to be the depiction here. The lion with wings is Babylon and its king Nebuchadnezzar. His wings are plugged off. He lives as a crazy man and an animal for seven years before he is restored and given the heart of a man and once again takes his throne. The second beast is a bear, a voracious bear.

Again, not a cuddly thing, not a teddy bear, but something like a grizzly bear. It is kind of lopsided a little bit. It has three ribs sticking out of his mouth and depict, you know, three nice clean ribs. I don't think that's the picture here. The picture is that they are ripped out of something and it's a very disturbing picture.

Have you seen this bear with, you know, meat hanging from its mouth and blood dripping down? Not very pretty picture. It is very dangerous, powerful in appearance, and bloodthirsty as it is portrayed. It's lopsided as it arises from an alliance between two. In this case, the king that followed Babylon is the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians.

An alliance of the two, brings about the kingdom as they combine their armies and their power, they overtake their enemies. But it isn't too long that Persia takes over the Medes. And in history, the Medo Persian Empire is mostly known as the Persian Empire because Persia becomes dominant quite quickly. Thus, it is raised up on one side. The three ribs, well, that could just be speaking of general hostility and voraciousness, but it does mention three.

And it is interesting, the three ribs could represent three kingdoms that the Medes and Persians devoured and took over. These are the kingdoms of Lydia, which today is the area we call Turkey. Egypt, which, well, you all know where Egypt is, and Egypt is a very ancient world power, and then the kingdom of Babylon. So Persia took over those three kingdoms and those three combined along with Persia itself became the Persian Empire. Still future to Daniel when he's writing this because though Persia was on the rise, they had yet to take over Babylon.

It's a few years later into the reign of Belshazzar when that comes about. The third beast, the third beast here, verse six. Behold, after this I beheld and lo another like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl and the beast had also four heads and dominion was given to it. So illustration, leopard foreheads. This illustration only has two wings.

I guess the other, you know, three or two are hidden somewhere. But this is something similar to what Daniel is seeing in his vision. What is next to be on the world scene? You have Babylon, you have Persia, and the next you have Greece or Macedonia seen Alexander the Great actually came from Northern Greece, which is called Macedonia. And he and his kingdom are represented by a leopard.

Leopards are swift predators and this leopard had four what? Four wings. So that made it even swifter. Alexander the Great was known for what? The swiftness with which he took over.

Vast amounts of humanity conquering Persia in a very small time frame, very short time frame. His armies, though vastly outnumbered on many occasions, time and time again outsmarted the enemy, taking over extensive territory at an unbelievable rate. He died in his young thirties. He conquered the world in just a few years. His strategies have been adopted by many military strategists since then.

Sadly, Hitler learned from Alexander the Great termed this type of attack as blitzkrieg. Alexander, as I mentioned, only lived to be in his young thirties. While he was a great military strategist, he was not very good at discipline disciplining himself and his life. Alcohol, among other things, seemed to have gotten the better of him, and he dies at a very young age. What happens to his kingdom?

His kingdom is divided among his four top generals. And so, though the Greek empire actually lasted for several hundred years, it was only a united kingdom under one head for like ten years. The rest of the Greek empire was divided among four generals for the next several hundred years before Rome took them over. And thus, the leopard with wings has what? How many heads?

Four heads. Why? Because for the most of the Greek empire's existence, it had four heads. The generals and their descendants. Later visions will expand considerably on this era of human history, particularly as it pertains to the nation of Israel, but we're not there yet.

Beast number four. Beast number four. After this, I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly. It had great iron teeth that devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns.

So the fourth beast, if we're going in chronological order, must be the empire of what? Rome. The Roman Empire. The beast is not likened to any other animal in the zoo. Not likened to a lion or an eagle to a leopard or bear.

It was grotesque. It was unique. It was ravenous. It was strong. It was wild.

It ran over any that dared to stand in its path. With its iron teeth, it ripped apart anything it grabbed ahold of. Like a bull, it stomped upon its defenseless prey. It was scary. A true monster with 10 horns on its head.

Now, I don't have a picture of that because, well, there isn't an animal like it. This beast with 10 horns upon its head. While it is clearly symbolic of the next empire to come on the scene, the Roman Empire, which ultimately was the greatest army probably the world had ever seen. Now, they didn't have the technology we have today. Certainly, with our technology, we can do things far vastly superior to the Roman Empire, but for an army of men, the world had not seen an army like Rome's.

Rome did not lose. For the first two or three hundred years of their existence, eventually Rome always got the better of its enemy. It just kept coming until it what? Until it won and it tore apart the enemy and stomped on the residue of what was left. It held on to the most territory for the longest period of time in all of human history.

And when Rome attacked, it destroyed from Carthage to Jerusalem and left little behind. You dare not stand up to Rome as civilizations time and time again found to be the case. This is this terrible beast that Daniel sees in his dream. And while he might could have seen the Persian Empire coming, He would not have seen Alexander the Great coming with human eyes or insight. And he certainly would not have seen a village on the side of the Tiber River in what we call Italy today taking over the world and holding onto it for a thousand years, but that was Rome.

In the image here depicted, Rome had this beast had 10 horns, just like the 10 toes of the image in Daniel chapter two. This depicts a piece of Roman history yet to be written, it would seem, because there was never a time that Rome consisted of 10 connected yet somewhat disconnected empires. But yet, at the conclusion of this vision and at the coming of the ancient of days that we'll read about in a minute, this image, this beast is depicted as having 10 crowns as the image 10 toes connected yet not fully one making up the kingdom of Rome. David Jeremiah pointed out in his book, while other kingdoms have come and gone and just been completely wiped out of existence, Rome was not really in such a way completely wiped out of existence. Much of Europe and the nations that surround Europe today still have connections in some way to Rome.

Even the Catholic church and the Pope, a false church to be sure, with great power has its capital where? In the city of Rome and still wields power over the nations of the world. Rome has not completely vanished away in its power and evidently, it won't. And as this vision comes to conclude in the ancient of days as seen in the picture as we will see, There are 10 kings and there is one who rises to power in supremacy over the others. If you look in verse eight, 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 roots.

And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things. This little horn, as we will see, as we continue on, we won't spend a great deal of time on today, but this this little horn represents who? The Antichrist who rises in power, opposes God, sets himself up as God to be worshiped in the temple during the tribulation time. In second Thessalonians two, if you want to turn there, it it tells us a little bit about this little horn, this man and his time. Second Thessalonians two verse three says, oops, I have to be in second, not first.

There we go. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come. That is the day of the Lord's return, his second coming. That day will not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, where perdition means lawlessness, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things and now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity doth already work.

Only he who letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. The word let there actually means, restricts or holds back. It's kind of the opposite of our understanding of the word let. That which resisteth the Antichrist will be taken away. I believe that is the work of the Holy Spirit in the church which will be taken away in the rapture, but that's a sermon for another time.

And then shall the wicked be revealed. That wicked, that is the antichrist, that little horn, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. This is a comfort to the Christians in Thessalonica and a warning to the unsaved who say, I'll just wait and see. Don't wait and see.

It'll be too late if you have a wait and see attitude. But the antichrist is coming. His day is not yet, but I do believe it is very soon. Europe has been growing in power. Our attention is being drawn to the Middle East.

There's a great deal of prophecy that has to do with all of that as the pieces fall in place for the coming of the Messiah. We could continue on, but we're going to leave that for another day. And we're going to jump to verse, verse nine. What happens after the fourth beast? We have something completely different than enters the picture.

I beheld, verse nine, till the thrones were cast down, that's the thrones of men, And the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool, thrown, was like the fiery flame and his wheels is burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousands, thousands, thousands ministered unto him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The judgment was set and the book was opened. And I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain, that is the fourth beast, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flames.

As concerning the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. So we'll stop there for just a moment. So now the ancient of days comes into view. See how these brutish animals, these these beasts that that reign and devour and conquer and make a big mess. They're wild.

They're depraved. But then the ancient of days, you lift up the picture and there he is. It's not as though he just appeared on the scene. Really, he's been there. He's been there all the time.

He is the ancient of days. This is the only time this phrase, this title is given of God, it depicts Him as being the eternal one who is above all else viewed in the dream, looking down over the sad affairs of men from his exalted perch. The the kings of the earth, they rebel against the Lord and the Lord laughs from his throne in heaven. He will have them in derision, Psalm two. This is the eternal God, the supreme sovereign one of the universe, existing before time, after time.

Psalm 90 and verse two, it says, before the mountains were brought forth forever, thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God. The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the the end. He is the essence of purity as we've re depicted him whose garment is as white as what? White as new fallen snow.

You've ever lived where there's snow, when that snow first settles on the ground before animals get into it or anything falls on it or there isn't anything much wider on earth than new fallen snow as it covers the ground. The purity of God, the wisdom of God, the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame. He is the judge and he will judge. His wheels is burning fire.

His judgment will come. It is coming. Fiery stream issues issued and came from before him. Thousands minister under him. 10,000 tens thousands stood before him As Daniel sees in his vision and he looks up to see the ancient of days, he sees him sitting upon his throne robed in white, pure white hair, fire all around him, and before him is a vast sea unable to be numbered of 10,000 time 10,000 worshiping before the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

These beasts have nothing to compare to the power and the majesty and the glory of God. They are mere beasts by comparison. And I saw in the night visions and behold, one like the son of man came forth with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory, kingdom, and all the people and nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away in his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.

Back to the last phrase in verse 10. It says, the judgment was set and the books were what? And the books were open. For the ancient of day appears in a courtroom setting. The accused are brought before him.

In this case, specifically, the accused are the kingdoms represented by the beasts that we read of in this passage. And they are judged out of the books. The Bible often speaks of the books of God, of the record that he is keeping. His eyes see all the evil and the good and he is keeping a record. Nothing escapes his sight.

You may fool others, but you will not fool who? You will not fool God. And the judge of the universe will set in judgment. We read of a similar scene in Revelation chapter 20. They saw a great right throne, him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.

I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. The books were open, another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books according to their works. The sea gave up the dead which were in it, death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. They were judged, every man according to their works, and death and hell was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was kept into the, what, lake of fire. God is keeping a record, record of the works of men for which they will be judged, sentenced, and executed. And another book called the book of what? The book of life. And all those who come to Christ in faith, their names are written there.

And they will not be judged out of the things written in the other books because those were nailed to Christ's what? Those were nailed to his cross, and he died there to pay the price for them, for those who receive him as savior. So we come back around as we read just a moment ago to the Son of Man. So the ancient of days gives way to the Son of Man in our scene as he steps before the ancient of days to receive his kingdom, his kingdom, the kingdom for which he died, the kingdom which He conquered by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. The Son of Man approaches the ancient of days.

He is called the Son of God in Scripture to stress His deity. He is called the son of David to stress his royalty and he called the son of man to stress his humanity for he was one of us. It tells us that the saints will possess this kingdom For we are one in who? In Christ Jesus. And what is his kingdom is also what?

Our kingdom also. These voracious scary beasts are cast off, and the king of kings and Lord of lords hands the crown to Jesus, and he takes his rightful place in his kingdom, our savior. Like the stone in chapter two that was carved out of the mountain and hit the image at its feet of the kingdoms of men, and they turned to what? Dust, and they just blew away in the wind. That stone becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth.

So will the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of the son of man, the son of God, and of David, the Messiah. As foretold by David in Psalm two eight, ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Jesus will rule it all. Revelation 15 foretold by John, and the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. And Isaiah foretold in Isaiah nine:six, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

The government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Not the will of Satan, not the will of man, but the ancient days. The lion of Judah, the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world will receive his kingdom.

The beast will be destroyed. The false prophet and antichrist will be thrown into the lake of fire, we are told, at the return of Christ in Revelation. And Christ's kingdom will come to to earth. I wanna read just a few thoughts in closing from David Jeremiah's book. His kingdom supersedes everything we have seen in any kingdom, past or future.

It is toward his kingdom that we look as Christians to the future. All other governments and world leadership will ultimately fail, even our own. We live in the kingdom of this world. It is limited in scope, but the king of Christ is without limitation. Number one, his kingdom without limitation.

It is forever. He is absolute monarch of the world. He will rule with a rod of what? Iron, not limited in any manner. Secondly, the kingdom of Jesus Christ is unique.

It is a kingdom that has abounded the aura of the Godhead. It is filled with deity, a glorious kingdom. There have been times in the history of the world that have been considered the golden ages, but we have never seen anything like what God has in store when he sets up his kingdom. Thirdly, the kingdom is unified. While the kingdoms of the world are torn, as we've looked at the book of Daniel, we have seen chaos and disruption in government.

This has never stopped. One day, I read the newspaper and see that a country has won a war. The next day, I find out the war is still going on and no one is victorious. One day, there's truce somewhere. The next day, the truce isn't working.

When Jesus comes to set up his kingdom, it's it is going to stretch from the East to the West, from the North to the South. It is going to cover every corner of the globe. His kingdom will be unending while the kingdoms of the world are temporary. Finally, the scripture tells us it is unconquerable. His kingdom shall never be destroyed.

When we get excited about the kingdom of Jesus Christ, we are going to become sick of the kingdoms of this world. When we see what God has in store for those who love him, it certainly helps us to understand what is going on in our world today and not become paranoid by it. Although he had been given a glimpse of the glorious kingdom of God, Daniel said, I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. It's no wonder for the next frame would disturb any of us. In it, we see the ugly, perverse, and true meaning of the fourth beast.

So next week, we get a closer look at beast number number four. As Daniel wants to know more about that beast because that beast is the one that exists right before Christ returns. And that beast hasn't finished its work in our present day that is still yet to come. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you, Lord, that we serve the king of kings and the Lord of lords, that you are our father, our savior, our friend, our Lord.

And we thank you that we are serving and bowing before and praying to the one who is eternal and almighty and who has already won the victory, that we are on the winning side. Lord, we look in faith not to the kingdoms of men, for they all will fall. They all will face their day of judgment. We thank you, Lord, for how you've intervened in our land, the blessings that you have bestowed upon us, the freedom that we have enjoyed. But Lord, we thank you that a better day yet is coming.

And we look in faith to you and to your kingdom and the joy that we will see and enjoy on that day. Thank you, Lord, that you are on the throne and that you are in control. And the greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. Amen.