Daniel chapter seven, Revelation chapter 13. Daniel seven, Revelation 13. So last week, we looked into Daniel's vision of the four beasts, which the angel clearly identifies as four earthly kingdoms, one arising after the other. They're not given names here, but it's pretty clear in scripture what these represent. The first one, the king with the lion with the wings represents the kingdom of Babylon.

It is followed by the Medo Persian Empire, the bear that's raised up on one side because the Persians become stronger than the Medes. Next comes the leopard with foreheads and wings which speaks of the swift campaigns of Alexander the Great, but his his death at an early age, which resulted in his kingdom being divided between four of his generals. We'll talk more about that in a later passage that does play a a big role in what happens to the nation of Israel in the intertestamental period. And then the 10 horned beast, and I there are different representations you can find online or but the Bible doesn't give us real thorough description because it just says it's different from all the others. And it doesn't look like anything that Daniel was familiar with.

And this was to to grab his attention. This kingdom is unlike the other kingdoms in several different ways. And so we have the 10 horned beast and after the 10 horned beast comes, the ancient of days. And he takes that 10 horned beast that has been in power in some manifestation for a very long period of time, and he destroys it. And he casts it into the fire, and then he hands the kingdom over to who?

Over to his son and over to the saints. And we will rule and reign with him for a thousand years and then into all eternity. The beast has already been judged. The sentence just hasn't been carried out yet. The 10 horned beast.

After a brief explanation, let's see. Now, in Daniel seven beginning in verse 19, Daniel wants to know more about this beast. It troubles him, maybe because he doesn't recognize it as something in particular. It's different from everything else. It's of scary looking.

It's a monster. He wants to know more about this beast. Verse 19, then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, nails of brass, which devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet. Of the 10 horns that were in his head and of the other which came up before whom three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things whose look was more stout than his fellows, I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them until the ancient of days came and judgment was given to the saints of the most high, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse, different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread upon it and break it in pieces.

The 10 horns out of this kingdom are 10 kings that shall arise, and another shall arise after them. He shall be diverse from the first and he shall do subdue the three kings. 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. They shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of a time. That translates into three and a half years.

One, two, and a half. So three and a half times or fairly well understood to be years. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it in the end. And the kingdom and dominion and 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 dominion shall serve and obey him. Hitherto is the end of the matter.

As for me, Daniel, my cogitations were troubled much troubled me and my countenance changed in me, but I kept the matter in my heart. So Daniel was knew that that was all he was gonna get and he was satisfied sorta, but he was still a little bit troubled by what he saw. And indeed, what a vision it was. Now stand as a standalone prophecy, the fourth kingdom and the little horn which grows out of it may seem a little elusive to identify as it, I think, was a little elusive to Daniel. That's why he's not quite satisfied here with the explanation.

But today, we have other prophecies with which to compare it. And we have one in we have a couple more in Daniel, which we will get to, which do clear up the subject a little bit more, especially the time, times, and a half time and and these things. But I want us to look also in Revelation chapter 13. In Revelation 13, John has a vision. And guess what?

John's vision sounds a lot a lot like whose vision? Daniel's. That's because the same subject is being dealt with here in Revelation 13 as we see in Daniel chapter seven. The two are most definitely connected. So, let's read Revelation 13 and verse one.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea and I saw a great beast rise up out of the sea. Now that sounds familiar at the beginning of Daniel's vision in Daniel seven. He's looking out over the sea and each one of these beasts come up out of the of the sea representing the earth and the people of the earth, the kingdoms of the earth. Having seen, he goes on, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and how many? 10 horns.

Okay? So that's equal to Daniel's vision there, the 10 horns part. And upon his horns, 10 crowns. Well, Daniel mentioned that the 10 horns were what? 10 kings, so that makes sense.

And upon his heads, the names of blasphemy. In other words, these are not on the side of the king of kings and Lord of lords. They represent not his kingdom, but the kingdom of the what? Of the enemy. The beast which I saw was likened to a leopard and his feet as the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.

Now isn't that interesting? The the beast that that that John sees that has the 10 horns and the seven heads also looks look bit like a leopard and had feet like a a bear and a mouth like a lion. Well, that's what's that? Well, that's that's these in reverse order. Alexander the Great's kingdom, the leopard, the bear, and the what?

And the lion. Okay? So those kind of make way for this fourth kingdom we see here in Daniel and they're incorporated into the image that John is seeing. These these kingdoms of men, these kingdoms of the Gentiles that make up the image in Daniel two that Nebuchadnezzar saw, they're they're also seen here. Well, that makes sense.

God's consistent and it's His word. And the vision He gave Daniel, similar to the vision He gave John. Continuing on in verse two, and the dragon gave him his power. Now the dragon in scripture is who? Well, the dragon is clearly Satan.

The power behind the beast is Satan. He gave him his power, his seat, and great authority. I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power under the beast. Well, would be Satan.

And they worshiped the beast saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. Power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. How long do you think that is?

Well, that's a time, times, and a half time. That's the same amount of time that we got in Daniel seven. That's three and a half years. He opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and then that dwell in heaven. It was given unto him to make war with the saints and overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of the of the lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Verse 16, if you go down to verse 16, and he calls us off both small and great, rich, and poor, free in bond to receive a mark in their right hand and 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. Here's wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 600 threescore and six. So who is represented by the beast in Romans 13?

Well, the Antichrist. It's pretty clearly as you go through Revelation who John is talking about. The antichrist and his kingdom. In Daniel chapter seven, the fourth kingdom we read about there is representative of the kingdom itself, the fourth kingdom. The little horn that comes up specifically represents the antichrist that is part of this kingdom that in the end will take it over and will control it all for a time, times, and what?

And a half time for three and a half years. So the fourth kingdom. We've had Babylon, we've had Persia, we've had Greece. The fourth kingdom, if it is consistent with the image in Daniel two, is the kingdom of Rome. The kingdom of Rome.

In its various manifestations over several eras of time. You have Babylon, you have Persia, you have Greece, and then you have Rome, and then you have Rome by extension. Rome kind of under the under the radar, so to speak, But it pops up with two feet and 10 toes at the end of Daniel's image. And here as a beast with what? With 10 horns corresponding in Daniel two to 10 what?

To 10 toes. The Roman Empire. Beginning as a single empire, it divides into two, the western and the eastern represented by the two legs in Nebuchadnezzar's image. Foretold by the legs of bronze in Nebuchadnezzar's dream and, as history declares, two empires which last for centuries as the legs are longer than the rest of the body before disintegrating into smaller nations and people groups throughout Europe and The Middle East. In Revelation, this beach with beast, which is clearly connected, has seven heads, which are identified as seven hills upon which the harlot representing the false religious cult of the Antichrist sits.

Okay, so Revelation 17 and verse nine. And here is the mind which hath wisdom, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. So we know the seven heads are seven mountains or seven hills. Rome is famously known as the city of how many hills you want to guess? Seven.

Or it could be seven nations would have which arose from the Holy Roman Empire, in Europe. Either way, this connects the beast with the city of Rome and the Roman Empire, which is the fourth kingdom that comes after Greece that is connected, maybe somewhat under the radar to the feet and the 10 toes and to whom? To the anti Christ. Rome being the seat of power of the antichrist kingdom and the false religion he promotes. Maybe it is coincidence and maybe it is not that the seat of the Roman Catholic church, the Vatican, still resides where?

In Rome. I don't know all the ins and outs of that. I haven't seen the future other than what God has given us here, but it seems that the two are connected. For what has continued in power over the past fifteen, sixteen, seventeen hundred years, and that is the power of the pope residing in The Vatican in Rome. Rome, in some manifestation, will make a return to power in some form clearly connected with the Antichrist.

A kingdom made up of 10 kingdoms allied together in some union, which will eventually be taken over and used by the antichrist to control the world. 10 toes, 10 horns. A looser connected kingdom of 10 allied kings to start with, at least before the Antichrist takes it over. Ever heard of the European Union? Is Europe that disconnected or is it connected?

Well, I dare say it's still connected. At present, the European Union is made up of 27 countries, not 10. But the point is Europe, largely representing Rome, is still very much connected together. And it's not becoming less connected, but it's becoming more connected. And then we have the little horn.

The little horn that rises up in Daniel seven from the fourth kingdom, that that beast that Daniel sees represented represented by the beast in Revelation chapter 13. That little horn is most definitely the antichrist. He uproots three others somehow and then eventually takes over the whole the whole shebang. So who is he? Who's the antichrist?

Any guesses? Do you think I'm going to tell you tonight who the antichrist is? Probably not. Down through the centuries, a lot of people have made a lot of guesses. And well, so far, they've all been what?

They've all been wrong. Through the years, the pope has been identified by many different people as the antichrist. From many disgruntled Catholic groups to many Protestant reformers, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, William Tyndale, all identified the pope as the antichrist. But the pope that was pope then is not pope now. So could be a pope, but it wasn't that pope because that pope is gone.

We don't know. And there's some things God doesn't tell us. And I figure God's got a good reason for that. He says, in regards to the rapture and the return of Christ that no man knows the what? The day, the hour, but my father which is in heaven.

We can read the signs of the times and see what is coming down the pike, I believe, very, very soon. Jerusalem is now once again the capital of Israel as the Bible foretold. We can see focus going back onto Europe as well as The Middle East, and these things starting to turn around. The fact is we don't know if the antichrist is a pope or if he's another religious leader. We don't know if he is a politician or the head of an economic forum.

We don't know who the antichrist is, but he will be and he may be now. We just may not may not have revealed himself yet. In second Thessalonians two, it says that the antichrist, the the son of perdition, the man of lawlessness won't be revealed until that which with is withholding him is taken out of the way. I believe with all my heart that that is the church. And only when we're taken away in the rapture will the antichrist be revealed.

So if that's the case, then we're probably not gonna know who he is until we see it from up there. That is if you know who, If you know Christ as your Lord and savior. But we do know a lot of things about the antichrist. We can read about his titles which are many. He is called here a little horn, a symbol of authority and power.

He is a king of fierce countenance in Daniel eight twenty three. He is the ruler who will come in Daniel eight twenty six. He is the willful king of Daniel eleven thirty six. He is the man of lawlessness or the son of perdition in second Thessalonians two three. He is called the antichrist in first John two eighteen, which is the title we we usually give to him because he is a false Christ.

He is not the true Christ. He is a false Christ. He is a counterfeit. He is in always the opposite of Christ. He is the beast out of the sea in Revelation thirteen one that we just read about.

He will be a master communicator, a charismatic leader, and one who will blaspheme the God of heaven and turn the hearts of men against their creator. I'm read from my David Jeremiah book. In several places in the seventh chapter, we read in the King James version, he has a mouth speaking great things. A mouth that spake very great things. Verse 20, he shall speak great words against the most high.

Verse 25. In the thirteenth chapter of Revelation which is the comparative study to the seventh chapter of Daniel, it says, and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things. One thing is for certain and that is the antichrist will be a great master communicator, orator, an eloquent speaker who can hold men's attention and sway their thinking without much effort at all because the mouths the words coming out of his mouth are put there by the greatest deceiver who ever lived. He is a monster like the representation of his kingdom here, but he can appear as an angel of light. The antichrist will not appear to the world as a monster.

He will appear as an angel of light. He will be a great speaker that will hold people's attention like none other. His words will make sense to a world that is hurting, a world that is probably suffering from war as we're told in Matthew 24. There will be wars and rumors of wars. We can see some of those wars coming upon us today.

In times past, people like Hitler were thought to be the antichrist. Well, they came with great wars and rumors of wars. Hitler was a dynamic speaker. These just because someone has a eloquent speech doesn't make them the right person to follow. And a matter of fact, oftentimes, the most eloquent of this world are being empowered by the greatest deceiver.

He will have an attractive stature and a magnetic personality. He will be a politician of politicians. There's certain politicians that I've heard people say they walked in the room and everybody stopped. They just had that aura about them of confidence and power. But be careful.

Don't be led astray by the person who walks in the room who seems to have all the confidence and the power. That will be him and he will be liked. He'll have a magnetic personality like many cult leaders that just draw people to them. He will have his way with men. He will, by some political move, maneuver or power, take out three of the kings of this 10 king confederacy that makes up this this final manifestation of the Roman Empire.

He will establish a covenant with who? With Israel for seven years. Of course, he'll break it in the middle. Notice the three and a half and three and a half there make up seven. But for seven years, he'll he will sign this treaty with them and Israel will be deceived.

They'll think he is their Messiah, many. He is their savior, at least politically speaking. He will do what nobody else has been able to do, bring peace to where? To Israel. Well, we're right in the middle of that again, aren't we?

Just when you think there's a little peace in Israel, everything just falls, just comes apart at the seams. But he'll do it. They'll sign the treaty. He is a politician of politicians. He will be a cunning intellectual, an elitist.

We see here that he is a horn with eyes that are looking around, symbolic of intelligence, craftiness. Or like his master, he will be crafty and he will be looked up to as an elite that everybody should follow. He has all the what? All the answers, all the education, all the degrees. More and more, we live in a world today where the people with all the degrees are considered the ones who know it all.

And while there is honor in knowing this area and this area and that area and being able to help others with it, though there is great help in education, we can't just trust people because they have a degree from such and such university. Because while they're smart and while they may know a lot, they may have a different what? Agenda. They may have a different agenda. He'll be an intellectual.

He will be impressive. I went off to Bob Jones University as a physics major. I was into science. And the science field, particularly astronomy, is full of people like this. They're intelligent.

Their names are Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Thomas Gould, Niles Eldridge. I can't I can't remember the guy that's in the wheelchair that Dawkins. Dawkins. Stephen Hawkins. That's the one in the wheelchair, not Richard Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins is another one. All of those men are so much smarter when it comes to IQ than I will ever be, but they have led the world astray with evolution. And people believe it because they have all the PhDs behind their name. I expect the antichrist will be the same. We're getting set up for that today.

He is a cult leader of the most expansive cult cult the world has ever seen. Have you ever watched a video of Watts' face, Scientology. So L Ron I forgot his name. That's good. But, if you've ever watched a few months of L Ron Hubbard, it will make your skin crawl.

He is mesmerizing in all the wrong way. But these people are like that, likely because the words coming out of their mouth are empowered by the serpent you can't see behind them. And this man will be the most mesmerizing that ever was. He will set up his own image to be worshiped in the temple. He will cause it to speak or the false prophet who is with him, his partner.

All the inhabitants of the earth minus those written in the book of life will fall down and worship him and will take his what? And will take his mark. All those whose names were not. Only one defense against the antichrist and that's Jesus Christ. Only one defense.

If you don't have Jesus, if you don't come to Jesus, well, then you will come to who? You will turn to the antichrist. Halfway through the tribulation, when he defiles the temple, when he sets his image up in there, the choice will be clear. Which will you choose? The vast majority of the world will believe the lie and follow the antichrist.

He will turn the world against the believers in God and begin to exterminate them. He'll start with the mark because you won't be able to buy or sell anything unless you have the what? Unless you have the mark. Now, what is the mark you ask? Is it a chip that goes under your skin?

Is it a mark that goes on your outside of your skin? The fact is, I don't know. Could very well be a combination of both. The word in Greek that's that is translated Mark in Revelation 13 means Mark. So it seems to me that it will actually be a a mark.

But today, you can put a mark on somebody like a chip under their skin as well and you can learn a whole lot about them by reading the mark. One of those things, Jerry, I had you make one to put on one of our a QR code. Yeah. QR code. Just a little mark.

Boy, you can get to a whole lot of information by scanning the mark. Well, he'll use that against those who refuse him because they won't be able to buy food. They won't be able to buy clothing. They won't be able to to have housing. But that's just the beginning of his persecution against those who refuse him.

He will wear out the saints, the Bible says, which means it will appear that he is going to what? That he's gonna win. But the Bible says, Jesus said, the gates of hell will not, what, prevail, and the gates of hell will not prevail, not against his church, not against his kingdom, not against his son. Or the saints that are saved, redeemed during the tribulation, and there will be many, they will endure till the end. Some of them will endure in heaven, some of them on earth.

But like Satan trying to take out Job and destroy his faith, those whose names and written in the book of life will will endure and Satan will lose. He will set about to reorder the world quickly in opposition to everything God has ordained. If you look back in Daniel Daniel seven, It says in verse 25, and he shall speak great words against the most high. He shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws. They shall be given into his hand until a time times and the dividing of a time.

A few for a few brief periods in history, dictators have tried to get rid of the seven day week. Why? Because it is a testimony to the creator of the world. For every time we look at a calendar and every time we live our life ordered by seven days, we give credence. We we show, even if we don't realize it, that there is a God who made the world in six days and on the seventh day he did what?

He rested. Why is evolution so insidious among other things? Because it tries to destroy that which gives testimony to the power, creative power of God. Well, the antichrist will try to do this. He'll try to change the month, the way you order days, and he'll change the natural order of laws, and he'll do great miracles.

The the horn in Revelation 13 that is injured will appear to come back to life. All with the power not of God, but of Satan. The great copycat, the great deceiver who will be defeated. But he isn't done yet. That that great monster is coming.

The great dragon is still at work trying to reorder the world in his image and not the image of its creator God. I've heard on the news a few times in the past few years a a term bannered about called the great. What comes after that? Anybody know? Reset.

The great reset. It's coming out of the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization. These are place groups that meet, guess where, in Europe. That want to reset the world. They started talking about that after COVID.

Well, you know, COVID kind of messed everything up and we're gonna take the opportunity now to reset. I don't believe that is coincidence. That is certainly what Satan would like to do and it's certainly what the antichrist will set about to do. And for three and a half years, for forty two months, for half of the tribulation, which we will get to in Daniel nine, he will seemingly succeed. He will wear out the saints.

The world will bow and worship the beast and the horn of Daniel seven. And we may not know who he is, but we can see his type. The Bible says his spirit is already among us. First John four three, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world. First John two eighteen, little children, it is the last time and as you have heard that the antichrist shall come even now are there many antichrist whereby we know that it is the last time.

And it is the last time. But as Christian, understand this. A, the rapture's coming. That's not here in this passage, but the rapture's coming. But b, the kingdom's coming, and guess who's gonna be part of it?

And guess whose kingdom it's gonna be? It's the kingdom of our savior. And the beast and the image will be destroyed and in its place will be Jesus Christ. In 2627 of Daniel seven again, but the judgment will sit. The judge will sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it until the end.

The kingdom and dominion of the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints, the most high, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him. I don't think Daniel should maybe has been as troubled as he was at the end of this. I think maybe he was focusing on the wrong part, maybe a little. Like Peter when Jesus said, I'm gonna go Jerusalem and they're gonna kill me and I'm gonna rise again on the third David. He didn't quite grasp the what part?

The rise again part. To close, in Revelation nineteen twenty, it says this, And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image. These posts both were cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Jesus will have the last say. And if you know Jesus, you're on the winning side.

Let's close in prayer. Lord, thank you for this opportunity tonight to be reminded and of your coming kingdom and also be made aware of what is going on maybe under the surface that we don't quite see, but Lord, Satan is at work. The dragon is real. The beast is real, but you will defeat them both. And Lord, thank you that though we live in the kingdoms of earth, we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

And our victory is in Jesus Christ, our savior. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.