Daniel's Beast Kingdom by Keith Malcomson

in this bible study here tonight we're coming to daniel uh chapter seven to our seventh message in this series and as we've heard before we're dealing with the heavens rule that is the whole thing of the book of daniel to open our eyes to really see that amidst the affairs of men amidst empires coming and going king's coming and king's going that in the midst of that this book is given its prophecies its testimonies is given so that we can actually see that the heavens too rule it's not just a past history book neither is it just a future prophecy book but it's a book for you and i the church of jesus christ in this hour since if ever in this year if ever we needed to hear that the heavens rule it is this year my message here tonight as we come to daniel chapter 7 is daniel's beast kingdoms daniel's beast kingdoms not a very nice title here tonight but i assure you it is a biblical title that we are dealing with daniel chapter 7 and reading from verse 1. 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 son of the matters daniel spake and said i saw in my visions by night and behold the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea and four great beasts come up out of 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 the stand upon the feet as a man and a man's heart was given to it and behold another beast a second like a bear and it raised up itself on one side and it had three ribs in its mouth of it between the teeth of it and they said thus onto it arise and devour much flesh after this i beheld and knew another like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings of a foul the beast had also four heads the dominion and dominion was given onto it after this i saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast terrible and dreadful and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth it devoured and a break in pieces and it stamped the residue with the feet of it and it was diverse from all the base 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 roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouse speaking great things amen praise god as we come to this seventh message of our series let's pray and ask for god's blessing here tonight father i do pray that you show us the interpretation of this vision of this stream of this revelation from heaven not only concerning the past but concerning the future not only for daniel but for us here in this meeting tonight and all those that are gonna listen to this bible study afterwards father i pray that by your holy spirit that you would teach us that you would instruct us that you would show us the meaning of this dream that you gave unto daniel to be sealed up and to be revealed and fulfilled in the very last days before jesus christ returns to the earth again lord god we give you all the glory and we know that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of jesus christ would you lead us to christ tonight would you lead us to the son of man tonight would you lead us by the power of your holy spirit to the sinless spotless son of god who died for us at calvary my god i pray the power of prophecy knowing that you know all things that you have ordained all things that you work in all things would reveal our need of the lord jesus christ and salvation in jesus mighty name amen we come to our bible study here tonight in daniel chapter 7 and our message is daniel's beast kingdoms we see here in this vision we see four great beasts that we're gonna deal with tonight but as i said last week in preparing for this bible study read daniel chapter two and also read daniel chapter seven i believe these two chapters dovetail together and you don't understand one without the other they both go together these four kingdoms in daniel 2 and the four kingdoms in daniel 7 are the same four kingdoms i believe they go together there can be no doubt that the first kingdom in each chapter is the babylonian kingdom there can be no doubt of that the second kingdom has a jewel division or a jewel nature the third kingdom in both chapters ends up having a four-fold division and the fourth empire or the fourth kingdom in each of these chapter ends up having a ten full division at the end of its days also that tenth kingdom or sorry the fourth kingdom in chapter 2 and in chapter 7 here that we have read that fourth kingdom is marked by iron now these are only a few thoughts to show the chapter 2 and chapter 7 actually dovetail together what is stated in daniel chapter 2 is expanded in daniel chapter 7. in daniel chapter 2 we have each of the four kingdoms and we have a revelation of their governmental power and structure not their history there is no history as such in daniel chapter two what god has shown is four kingdoms and what is their governmental st structure why are they put together but here in daniel chapter seven there is an expansion on this and we begin to learn and this is about 40 years later in the life of daniel between chapter 2 and chapter 7 you have a period of about 40 years but here in chapter 7 we have an expansion of the vision in daniel chapter 2. now he goes back to the same four kingdoms and we begin to get details about their history about events in each one of these kingdoms and we begin to get information that we can recognize each one of them but listen to me more carefully here i'm giving you an overview of where we're going in the next six weeks as well this is daniel 7 where we are tonight but as we go forward from daniel chapter 7 to daniel chapter 12 we have six chapters we have already taught on six chapters we are now beginning to teach tonight the next six chapters and there is a distinction here the first six chapters that we have already dealt with they went in sequence chronology by year by year but here in chapter seven we're gonna go back in time again and we're gonna see that the visions and the revelations of the next six chapters that we're gonna deal with actually fit into the story we've already covered in the previous six chapters in other words they overlap the revelations from and prophecies from chapter 7 to chapter 12 in time sequence are placed in the previous six chapters let me just prove that as we come to daniel chapter seven verse one we are given the date then daniel chapter eight verse 1 we're given the date or the year daniel chapter 9 verse 1 we're given the year daniel chapter 10 verse 1 again we're given a year so for the next six chapters we are given four divine revelations and each of these revelations fit into our previous stories so all that we've already covered before we are going back in time in other words when we see daniel in the danes den of lions that is as old as we see him that is the last bit of history in daniel's life now we're going back in the life of daniel and he's no longer going to be speaking in the third person about the story happening now he speaks in the first person and he's given you the information of the next four revelations in six chapters i hope you're understanding this tonight because as we come to chapter seven here we're going deeper into chapter two what we've already taught and in fact after this week beginning next week from chapter 8 to chapter 12 we are then even gonna go deeper and gain more information and more facts and more details but listen to me tonight from tonight from tonight for the next six weeks as we cover the last six chapters of daniel there is a certain thing there really is do you realize that in the next four visions in the next six chapters there is an underlying thing god gives this revelation to daniel for a very specific reason now there's much information we're going to cover but there's something i want you to note here and i wanted to impress you here tonight that there's a theme from chapter 7 to chapter 12 and listen this is it it is the little horn or what we as the church through the new testament know as as the antichrist now i know that's going to shock and disturb and disappoint many christians because you know what we've been told don't focus on the antichrist don't teach the antichrist teach about christ i'm not looking for the antichrist i'm looking for christ i don't need to know about the antichrist all i need to know is about christ and you know what all through the church we hear constantly just deal with the real don't point out what's false do you realize that sounds very spiritual it sounds very correct it sounds very mature but it's totally unbiblical it is utterly incorrect with the bible do you realize the bible constantly if it's going to show you a real prophet it teaches you what a false prophet is if it's going to show you the real it also alongside it shows what is false all the way through the bible beginning with cain and abel all the way through to revelation where we see that mother of heart that's placed alongside the real bride of christ so here do not listen to those that say we don't need to teach on the antichrist we won't be here for it it doesn't affect us since we as a church in every generation need to teach about the little horn and that you might as well close your bible now and not read any further in daniel if you don't want to hear about the little horn because this is a vital theme but don't think that takes away from christ as we look at this we begin to see the reality and the power and the majesty of the lord jesus christ these are remarkable prophecies that we're going to deal with in the next six weeks they are extraordinary prophecies here tonight let's begin on these six chapters these four revelations or visions of daniel that are concerning the last day although he deals with history although he deals with prophecy some of which is already fulfilled all of it is to bring us to this hour that you and i are in now all of it is to bring us to prepare us to give us insight concerning this generation the last generation before jesus returns and i assure you this is biblical teaching this is god's teaching and don't you treat it lightly saying i don't need to know since you may play games with your soul if you play games with the word of god like like that my message tonight daniel's beast kingdoms starting with daniel chapter seven and verse one and it says here in the first year of belshazzar king of babylon notice here this is going back to the beginning of the reign of al-shazar remember we saw him on his last night in babylon in daniel chapter 5. now daniel takes us right back to the very beginning of this last king of babylon which is going to bring us to the end of the babylonian kingdom and it says in that year of the first reign of belshazzar daniel had a dream and a visions of the head notice here on this night he was upon his bed and at first says that he had a dream as he slept a dream is something you have as you sleep as he slept he had this dream and yet it goes on to say he had visions as well that means all of this began with the dream he had this dream when he was asleep when he was unconscious he had a clear dream then when he woke up he was still lying upon his bed and he began to have visions the exact same visions then it says while he's still on his bed he wrote the dream down and he told the sum of the matter or the main points of it the substance he didn't give everything that he saw but he gave the main information as inspired by the holy spirit it says in verse 2 daniel spake and said i saw in my visions by night and behold the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea notice here that in this vision as it begins to open you you've got the four winds of the heavens striving upon the great sea notice that that this is a vision that he's talking about in the vision he sees the great sea see that term the great sea in the old testament it always means the mediterranean sea that term is very specific and i could give you many scriptures that prove that this statement the great sea only speaks about the mediterranean sea so in his vision he is seeing the mediterranean sea as a specific bit of water and he sees these four winds blowing upon it are striving upon the water in other words stirring the water up do you know in the bible when it talks about these four winds of heaven there's almost 120 references to the winds of heavens in the bible 90 of these times are in the old testament and over half of these when it speaks about the winds coming from heaven usually means the divine influence of heaven in other words heaven's influence upon the earth now look with me this is all in the vision that he is seeing it and as these winds stir up the mediterranean sea stir up the waters and there's a great storm and a great shaken of the waters up out of these waters what does it say here in verse three and four great beasts came up out of the sea diverse one from the other when it says four great beasts it means huge domineering dominating beasts in other words you can ignore them you cannot ignore them they are dominating when they rise up each one of them dominates the entire scene and yet he says they're diverse one from the other they're distinct they're different you could never confuse one for the other they are so radically different and notice with me as we begin to deal with these four beasts it actually says they are like beasts as we begin to look at them in other words they're not normal animals are normal creatures these creatures are these animals they look like certain animals but they are not certain animals they're actually mystical so you get a lion with wings i don't know whether you know but there are no lands with wings so these are not normal beasts they look like certain animals but they are very different they are very unusual and look at it it is god's influence upon the sea you see i it says a little bit later that the sea um that this sea in the vision this great sea in verse 17 it says that it's the earth the mediterranean sea the great sea in the vision represents the earth or in other words the land mass in other words these four creatures that come up out of the mediterranean sea that's in the vision that when it's interpreted there are actually four kingdoms or four empires that come up out of the earth but there's a connection with the mediterranean sea i've got three clear points from this chapter for you tonight three clear points of what i want to deal with and this is my first one as we begin to understand since i'm taking you somewhere we already have chapter two as a foundation next week we're gonna begin on chapter eight through the chapter 12 but here tonight chapter seven let's hear what god says about this this is my first point four beasts from history four beasts from history what i'm dealing with as we look at these four beasts we're gonna identify them and we're going to say that they're four beasts not in the future but in the past in other words they were a prophecy in daniel's day but they were fulfilled before the first century or the beginning of the church of jesus christ these four beasts were beasts that were fulfilled in history it says in chapter 7 and verse 15 i daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body and the visions of my head troubled me as he looked at these four beasts you know after the vision after the dream this is the effect it had i'm sick to death with people's dreams and visions i've had dreams from god i've had open visions from god i was only once in my life caught up in a trance but i want to tell you i'm sick to death with people's stupid dreams and visions they're absolutely worth nothing they're not even worth listening to they don't have a clue what they've seen or what it means but look at daniel the effect when he had a real dream and a real vision it grieved his spirit seeing these four creatures engraved him in his inward parts deep within him his spirit was grieved but also his head was troubled then i came near unto one of them that stood by and i asked him the truth of all of this notice what daniel says when he's seen the dream in a vision he is a man gifted by god to interpret other people's dreams he could interpret king nebuchadnezzar's dream he could interpret the writing on the wall and yet look when he has a dream and a vision he is caught up in this vision and he doesn't understand what these four creatures are so what does he do he asks one that was standing by i believe this is an angel and we're gonna see this angel again at least in another two chapters the same angel but he speaks to this angel and he asked him the truth of all of this he's in a vision he's in a dream and he said so he told me you know a lot of people that do well to shut their mouths and go to prayer rather than talking about the dreams they had at night i assure you begin to ask god and he will show you and he asked him the truth of all this so he told him and he made me know the interpretation of these things in other words he opened it up he explained it he made it clear he made it obvious verse 17 these great beasts which are four are four kings which shall arise out of the earth then in verse 23 now notice with me what are the four beasts there are four kings verse 17 says there are four kings but then in verse 23 it says the fourth kingdom was diverse from the all the other kingdoms so we see in this chapter the interpretation what are these four creatures they are four kings no they are four kingdoms in other words each of these beasts represents a king but also represents an entire kingdom just like daniel chapter 2 each of those gold are the silver or whatever represented a king and a kingdom again each of these beasts represent a king and the kingdom each beast represents a certain man but more than a certain man an entire kingdom that that man was head over he was head over it since we are looking at something remarkable here and i want you to take you in this first point to four prophetic kingdoms that were fulfilled in history when daniel gives it he is in the midst of the first kingdom the other three do not exist they're not even on the horizon but yet he's given a specific vision of kingdoms that are going to replace each other one after the other in history and he's given historic information about them in fact he writes down information that you can identify them very clearly that's why daniel 7 is given so that beyond any shadow of a doubt you can recognize them let's look at these four kingdoms for a moment that came in history that are in the past first of all we see the first in verse four the first was like a land notice it says like alana doesn't say a lion it says like a lion and it had eagle's wings now that's the first thing i want you to notice notice of this first beast that it was like a lion but it had two wings like an eagle now what does this represent this represents king nebuchadnezzar and the babylonian empire the babylonian empire now nebuchadnezzar's father was the king of babylon in the year 626 shortly after that as syria that ruled over babylon fell in the year 612 and there was another decisive battle in the year 609 this nebuchadnezzar's father noticed the day the year 609 in 70 years time babylon is going to fall and there'll be the end of the babylonian kingdom in other words you see the rise of babylon with nebuchadnezzar's father 70 years before it will come to an end exactly 70 years in the year 609 what a remarkable thing here that we have in history but four years later in the year 605 his son nebuchadnezzar is at the gates of jerusalem conquering it for the first time when he gets news that his father has died back in babylon so he takes a small portion of jerusalem including daniel and he returns to the city of babylon and he becomes king of babylon nebuchadnezzar king of the babylonian kingdom this is the first empire that ruled over jerusalem it was the golden head of daniel chapter 2 but notice how nebuchadnezzar and babylon is depicted as a lion it looks like a land with the wings of an eagle like a lion but it has eagle swings do you realize that in jeremiah chapter 49 that jeremiah professon about nebuchadnezzar and the rise of the babylonian kingdom listen to what he says this phrase he shall come against jerusalem like a lion then a bit further it says he shall come up and fly as an eagle in other words years before jeremiah prophesied that nebuchadnezzar and the babylonians were like an eagle and also like a land do you realize both of these animals are are king are are the kings of both the air and the land the lion is the king of all land animals the eagle is the king of all flying animals also in ezekiel chapter 17 nebuchadnezzar and babylon is symbolized as an eagle nebuchadnezzar was a king of kings and what depicts his kingdom a winged lion that's what it is do you realize the old nebuchadnezzar's palace he had statues all through there of lions with eagle swings it was a fulfillment a bible prophecy if you go to the british museum you can walk through there and see statues from the palace and the city of nebuchadnezzar they are large lions with wings all through there this was all through the city of babylon in in that hour but what does it represent this beast represents something this is the history of nebuchadnezzar and of this kingdom you see this creature this lion with eagle's wings speaks about kingship royalty grandeur also the eagle can mount up and swoop down upon its prey do you realize this one city babylon became a great empire it was a city-state that swept out like an eagle that came roaring like a lion nebuchadnezzar was the greatest warrior king of the ancient world he ruled over the entire land mass and he made babel on the center of the world if you go and read the old cuneiform he said this is the center of the entire world culture babylon is at the center of everything since this first creature and notice daniel is getting a vision here as he draws closer to the end of this first kingdom notice what happens to this lion with eagle swings verse 4 i beheld till in other words he's speaking about the latter end of this kingdom he's talking about as it comes close to its end i beheld to the wings thereof were plucked in other words they were pulled off the two eagles wings were pulled off the body of a lion and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon its feet as a man and the man's heart was given unto it do you know what daniel is saying is the later history of the babylonian kingdom it's no longer going to be grand like a land it's going to become like a man it's gonna you lose its wings the ability to mount up to sweep in on its enemies he'll lose all of this ability the last 10 years of belshazzar's kingdom it was in a terrible condition they had lost their ability to fight or as a warrior nation they weren't conquering anymore that's what we see with belshazzar a drunken party and the people of babylon are sick to death of the entire system you know what it was no longer a god-like kingdom nebuchadnezzar was no longer dating but the whole thing political system was just like a man that's all it was in its end that's the first kingdom the second kingdom that's gonna replace babylon in verse five and behold another beast is second like to a bear and it raised up itself on one side and it had three ribs in its mouth of it between its teeth and they said onto it arise and devour much flesh now we said it was the medu persian empire and cyrus the great who replaced the babylonian kingdom now we know about cyrus the great that he became king in persia in the year five five nine ten years after that in 549 he conquered the larger greater midian empire beside him just 10 years after becoming king of the small persian tribes 10 years after that in the year 539 he conquered babylon the babylonian empire fell and in 539 as cyrus ruled into the city of babylon the medu persian empire rose up to power what a remarkable thing all through chapter six of daniel it's called the medo persian empire it is one empire it is one kingdom undivided joined together because ten years previously he had joined these two great kingdoms and made them one kingdom he also married a median girl who's whose father was next in line for the throne so he literally merged in marriage he made it one he caused them to be one empire that would march together against her enemies do you know what we read about cyrus's great army he started with a few thousand persian rebels just 20 years before that's all he had that's all he had when he marched against media he had almost no army at all but as he advanced on babylon he had 40 000 horsemen and 150 000 foot soldiers do you know some of the old riders say that he had an army of at least one million soldiers maybe as many as one and a half million the old writer said that with his army march it was like a great sea covering the land mass it was remarkable but since look how god looks at this history of cyrus and the middle persian empire what does he say another beast a second like to a bear cyrus and the middle persian empire from god's perspective is like a great bear a ferocious bear a very vicious bear do you know what a bear represents power power ferociousness i want to assure you don't you ever get out of your car if there's a bear around you better be sure it's maintained or it's changed that bear has enormous strength it has great size it is very heavy and it has an appetite that you couldn't even begin to imagine it is less swift than a lion it is not as glorious as a land but it is second to a lion notice here with this great ferocious large dominating base far bigger than alan it says here that it raised itself up on one side now what does that represent it is lopsided there's two sides to it persia and media but one side gets raised above the other and dominates the entire creature it is a very awkward creature but it is dominated by the smaller persia persia came later persia was far smaller and yet it dominates this great bear it also said that it has three three ribs within its mouth and it's the baron the flesh what's it talking about these three ribs represent kingdoms are nations of people listen to me cyrus and the middle persian empire to to arise as an empire conquered three other kingdoms first of all the kingdom of media in 549 then lydia in 546 and finally babylonia in 539 then she became the second base the second empire on the world you know what it also says here arise and devour much flesh see those three ribs in the mush show that it was not satisfied this creature this bear was not satisfied even after conquering the babylonian empire it was to arise and to devour much else cyrus's son conquered egypt then the next king darius reached all the way into india to the indus valley then xerxes the first he went the other way and he invaded greece look at it this bear is ferocious it has a heavy weight it doesn't move you know a bear can run fast short distance you you don't want to be around a bear and think you can outrun it you won't but it can only run like that for a short distance yes it's fast but only for a short distance nebuchadnezzar was fast over a long distance and so we see all of this do you know that this made of persian empire remained in place for 200 years it began in daniel's day and it continued all the way through to the year 3 3 1 in the days of alexander the great then verse 6 after this and behold and lo another a third beast what's it like it's like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings like a fowl or like a bird and the beast had four heads and dominion was given onto it now look closely this is the grecian empire just like daniel chapter two this third beast this leopard is the grecian empire of alexander the great isn't that funny how they're all called in our history books the great nebuchadnezzar the great cyrus the great now alexander the great see our world remembers these men the bible is accurate you know alexander as a young man was homeschooled he was a homeschool boy you'll go far if you get homeschooled that's a plug for for someone out there i can assure you up until the age of 16 he was homeschooled who taught him who was his personal teacher it wasn't his mommy it was aristotle one of the great greek philosophers in fact the greatest of his generation the greatest thinker the the greatest academic actually taught alexander the great until he was 16 years old do you know who trained aristotle plato do you know who trained plato socrates so we see these three greatest of ancient greek philosophers they poured all their learning down into this young boy this young man this soldier this fighter you know what god was preparing a leopard to be released against that old median persian empire and he found himself a young man called alexander it was in the year 336 that his father that alexander his father died he's just a young man two years later in the year three three four and listen this with an army of 32 000 foot soldiers and over 5 000 horsemen he crossed asia minor to begin to attack and conquer the persian empire this young whippersnapper this young man this young warrior was going to take on the greatest empire that the world had ever known 200 years and it was unconquered and yet this young man trained by aristotle is gonna go forward to fight against this empire you know the history books tell us that it was in the year just two years after he began in the year 332 that he took the city of jerusalem the following year he defeated the persians and he took the city of babylon and he made babylon his headquarters in a period of 10 years he conquered at great speed from macedon in the land of greece all the way through to india and on the way he stopped to defeat the middle persian empire the greatest empire the world had ever seen he died in the year 323 at the age of only 32 years old having conquered the entire known world what's the vision of alexander he looks like a leopard he's like a leopard what is a leopard it is marked by its swiftness you don't see fat leopards i want to tell you that i've never seen a fat one they're all very slender and swift they're agile they can run run long distances they have a swiftness of speed and movement they are agile and notice their size and their power now people say the leopard is related to the panther they're connected family wise and that this leopard can run 35 miles per hour at an easy pace without losing its breath but listen some say that it shouldn't be a leopard here it should be a cheetah if that is true then double the pace it can run at 75 miles per hour so whether it's a leopard or a cheetah in the greek language you know what it was a swift creature it had long legs long strides and this leopard with with its long strides one stride it could cover 20 feet in one single bound 10 feet into the air without a thought it was smart it was silent it was a predator and it could accelerate in three pounds it would be at full speed since i'm telling you what god says this empire you know when daniel got the stream and vision greece wasn't on the map they're all small tribes and yet god is saying there's going to arise a leopard you know what more than 200 years in the future would you like to protect and predict who's going to be ruling our world in 200 years some of you some of you smart alex are going to say jesus and you'd be absolutely right but imagine if history was going to go on who could ever prophesy 200 years ahead of time who is going to triumph and we're going to hear remarkable things about this next week but notice that this leopard on its back it had four wings of a fall or of a bird so it had wings on its back a quarter it's a fast animal but it's also got four wings it is swift extra speed the number four speaks about the universal or worldwide influence in other words this leopard is gonna dominate the entire world it's gonna have universal spread it is going to move very fast against its enemies this leopard represents its history notice as well it says the beast had four heads four heads the bear had one head the lion had one head but you know what this third kingdom is has got four heads now these heads don't represent kings horns represent kings what do heads represent heads represent headship what is jesus to the body jesus christ is the head of the body in other words he is the government he is in control he has authority the head represents headship or listen to me government in other words this leopard this grecian empire in its later stage is actually going to have four distinct governmental heads it's one empire one creature but it is going to have four heads this is prophesied 500 years before it happens the accurate history of alexander's kingdom do you know when he died as a young man at 32 years old he's lying there in the city of babylon he has four generals who are standing by aside ready to divide his kingdom for the next 25 to 40 years they're gonna fight for this and finally the grecian impart divides in four and it has four distinct governmental heads in other words four sources of government inside the same kingdom inside the same empire so exact isn't it then verse 7 to this fourth empire here tonight after this i saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth it divided and had break in pieces and it stamped the residue with the feet and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns since i'm going to show you this fourth beast and the interpretation of it it was this force fourth beast that meant more to daniel than any one of the other base it was a very important beast this was the one the division emphasized more of than the other three all the other three were in history and alexander's kingdom that was divided in four was going to be followed by a fourth creature or a fourth beast and here we see it a fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth down in verse 19 it says then daniel speaking to the angel then i would know the truth of the fourth beast do you realize daniel was more interested in the fourth beast than the other three he didn't ask about the other three he said i want to know about this fourth one it was this fourth one that caught his attention and he asked the angel i want to know the truth about it of this space that was different different diverse from all of the others and exceeding dreadful whose teeth were of iron and whose nails are brass which divide and break in pieces and stamp the residue with his feet and look at verse 40 and the fourth kingdom should be strong as iron sorry let me let me just backtrack there as we think back to daniel chapter 2 we think of that fourth kingdom that was represented by the iron legs and you know what it says about that fourth iron kingdom in daniel chapter two listen daniel 2 verse 40. it is exactly the same as this fourth kingdom this fourth beast in daniel chapter 7 is exactly the same as in daniel 2 listen to daniel 2 and 40 and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdues all things and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise now i want you to see this fourth creature this fourth animal we're not given what animal it is like do you know why it's not like any animal in nature it's not comparable to any natural creature look at it its teeth were of iron its nails on its claws were made of brass that means judgment it brings judgment its teeth were made of iron in other words they conquered its fight actually conquered you it wasn't like any other animal and although the fourth kingdom is not named in daniel in in the old testament you know the other kingdoms are mentioned grace is mentioned needle persia is mentioned babylon is mentioned but remember this is centuries ahead of room horizon but we know rome replaced great grace we know that but the name isn't given in the old testament neither is it given in the book of daniel but it is given in the bible we are shown who is this great king that's going to rise do you realize this fourth king and i hope i stir up your your inquisitive mind who is the fourth king of the roman empire that's gonna be like nebuchadnezzar like cyrus and like alexander he's mentioned in the bible but not in the old testament you see this fourth kingdom made of iron it is mentioned in the bible but we need to go to the new testament when we go to the new testament to the gospels it opens up with this fourth base it has replaced the grecian empire rome is identified and also its first great head our first great leader doesn't it make sense to have the man named in the bible and the kingdom name not just the kingdom but the man that made imperial room what it was listen closely in luke chapter 2 and verse 1 the gospel opens with the reign of the first roman emperor room had been there for centuries but it only became an imperial under this man and he was the first emperor do you know what his name is in luke chapter 2 caesar augustus augustus or octavin as was his original name was the first head of this kingdom of this fourth great world empire if you go back to the history books we see that the roman empire replaced the grecian empire that's what we see in the history books no other kingdom conquered the grecian empire it was the roman empire listen closely as i come down to the end of this fourth beast it was the roman soldiers who were rising when daniel gave this prophecy they were they were seven small communities in the city of rome they had a fence built around those seven hills was seven small villages with seven tribes of people all joined together they were nobodies they didn't even have power in their region or over all of italy yet this is hundreds years before that daniel is speaking about an iron kingdom that will conquer the entire known world what do we see as rome begins to conquer italy and it begins to arise in the year 63 bc before jesus christ it is the roman armies that conquer jerusalem and it was in fact general pompey who actually conquered it it was after this that augustus it was that very same year in fact that a young man was born called augustus now listen to me up until this point there were five types of government in the roman empire going right back to its initial history when they had seven kings it was kings were their initial imperial imperial rome had not come yet when augustus was born and jerusalem was conquered by the roman soldiers room is only beginning to arise but in that year 63 the romans take the city of jerusalem and augustus is born that year do you know who his great uncle was it was julius caesar julius caesar it was some years later that augustus as he rose to power he defeated queen cleopatra of egypt listen this in the year 31 bc in other words that was the very last portion of alexander's kingdom that augustus the great augustus caesar who is mentioned in luke chapter 2 he is the one who conquered the very last part of alexander's kingdom in that year 31 bc he become the sole ruler of the roman empire in fact he took over the political realm the military realm and the legal realm and he forged together a singular empire and he become the first roman emperor do you realize that the roman empire or the roman people had already had five governments or five different kinds of government and now this was going to be their sixth form of government that was gonna begin to rule now i'm going somewhere you better write this time because if you understand what i've just said there all a bible prophecy is going to begin to fall into place now who was this augustus caesar do you know his coins and i looked it up this afternoon the coins that they used in his day in the roman empire in the city of jerusalem under augustus do you know what was on the coins there was a picture of a woman riding a beast do you hear me she was the mother goddess called europa or some of them uh color artemias or diana she's riding a beast so what's the symbol of augustus as this fourth beast rise up it is a woman riding on the back of the beast i hope you understand what i'm actually saying here i'm saying the bible indicates the man who's the first primary leader of it and this beast that is arising up out of the sea the mediterranean notice all four of these beasts are connected to the mediterranean sea all four of them are connected to the city of jerusalem all four of them at some point conquered the city of babylon all four of them rose as great dominating empires that covered the entire land mass do you know that this empire spread and it ruled during the beginning of the first century of the church do you know who prophesied this daniel daniel can you imagine all the early churches reading the book of daniel and they can trace the history of this since i've lost my time here tonight and i'm i'm going to cut this short or i'll keep you here to 12 tonight i i didn't want to separate nights from chapters but i'm going to have to do it tonight because i want you to understand this next week we're going to go further and complete daniel chapter 7 a thing that i didn't want to do but i showed you the history of these kingdoms i've actually shown you these four great beasts that have come up in history and believe me what i'm about to tell you and show you next week is future it isn't our future in fact i believe it's at the door in fact i am fully persuaded it is just about to happen if daniel was accurate about those four creatures i'm gonna show you this roman beast remember like the other three we see them at their beginning we see them in their power and then we see them in their demise or at some later stage we are going to see the later portion of that fourth kingdom we are going to see it in its last days and what god reveals to daniel here daniel is revealed about the history of this fourth beast and you know what saints it seems to have disappeared from time all of us would say the roman empire's come and gone it's not here anymore many of us would begin to say that it fell in the year 410 remember go to your history books get the book off yourself go on wikipedia and you'll read that the city of rome the empire of rome fell in the year 410 whenever the barbarian armies invaded took over the city and rampaged it for three days something that hadn't happened in 800 years of roman history here these invaders come in and they bring room to its actual knees a little bit later in the year 476 romulus augustus the last roman emperor of the roman empire in the year 476 just a young man he was forced to officially renounce himself as the last emperor of the roman empire do you know what happened i believe like revelation 17 says and in revelation 17 you have the whole understanding of this and the whole explanation you can't understand daniel 7 without revelation chapter 17 and revelation chapter 13 and i'm gonna come back next week and explain it on to you and show you how it fits in here because daniel not only showed the roman empire rising in those early centuries after the christian empire but he shows it again and you know what after five forms of government you remember the beast in revelation how many heads it has how many heads does it have it has seven heads it actually has seven heads five of them had come and gone by the time augustus got power gus augustus smart the sixth head of the roman empire what happened to imperial rome it continued through to the fifth century and then it was slain the head of that beast was killed please do not tell me that the future antichrist the little horn is going to get assassinated and then be resurrected from the dead that is not true that is an utter wrong interpretation of the bible and we've all been taught it at some point but i want to challenge you the book of revelation does not say that the antichrist is going to get assassinated and raised from the dead do you know what it does say of that beast that last world government that's going to arise just before jesus returns do you know that that last beast that roman beast one of its heads were killed one of its forms of government where he killed when did that happen in the fifth century but we are told in daniel 13 that its head gets healed and it becomes a sixth head sorry a seventh head what is the seventh head we're going to look at next week and then there's an eighth head as well on that beast but it has seven heads this same base that daniel first told us about that has ten horns it's a roman beast it's gonna rise up out of the sea we're gonna see it come back and its head is gonna get healed and suddenly all the world is going to follow it and worship it and when we see it it's going to have 10 horns meaning 10 kings and it's going to have seven heads and that seventh head is going to be healed and you're going to see something do you know 2 000 years ago or 1500 years ago that head was imperialism but when it gets healed again i believe it's going to happen in the city of rome i can prove it i can show you i believe it's going to happen very soon i believe it's going to be identified at a time when 10 great world leaders are going to be 10 kings that rule over it will you pray with me i'm so sorry time has gone and i've got so much here i i don't want to lose you but i want to hold it here i didn't want to do this but i've got more to say than i can possibly fit in on these nights we we'd need about 50 nights to cover what i'd like to say to you but i tried to do it in 20 and 12 nights it's gonna take an another 13 since i'm telling you that everything the bible says is true bible prophecy is true every kingdom all the great kingdoms of history daniel's vision was accurate every detail historically accurate and we're going to see more in the weeks ahead but i tell you it's to bring us to a place in daniel 7 we're going to begin to see next week the little horn horizon you see all this information is going so we know they are we live in we know what's happening we know what's about to come and said i tell you it is all about to break upon our world will you pray with me tonight father we thank you for the word of god we thank you that you're the god of history we thank you that you're the god of prophecy that it's you that raises up kings it's you that removes kings that is not within the power of man it's not left within the hand of man but you as a sovereign god raise up and you remove men lord god we believe that you are the god of the times and the seasons of our world we believe that you are ordaining the seasons that you are in control that you have authority and we submit to you tonight as the church my god we're enraptured to think that daniel what he's seen envision what he's seen and dreams of the night that you showed him the history of the rise and fall of empires and also in this chapter you showed him what is just about to happen in our day we thank you that you're absolutely in control that the heavens do rule since as we close this seventh final important we're halfway through the book of daniel now tonight we're halfway through it we're right in the midst of it and i want to tell you the heavens do rule i want you to be persuaded that the heavens rule that god is in control and that we the church in this hour and this year we must believe this we must understand it and we must know what the bible says don't set the bible on your shelf saying it doesn't matter i promise you we live in an hour where it's gonna be very important that you know what i'm teaching you here and you know what it's gonna bring us to the lord jesus christ if you don't know jesus it's time to get born again if you look at these things and you're amazed at them it's time to walk with jesus christ it's time to put all your confidence in the one that's coming from heaven since i'm looking up i'm not scared this isn't my world i'm making ready for jesus i'm gonna get caught up to meet him in the clouds of heaven as is taught in daniel chapter 7 and many other portions of scripture there is a kingdom coming from hot on high and if you only have your eyes on the kingdoms of this world you're gonna get very discouraged but next week i'm gonna lift your eyes heavenwards but before we do we'll begin to look at this little horn god bless you here tonight in this bible study amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Keith Malcomson

Id: TPwtA4aHLOo

Length: 66min 38sec (3998 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2021