The Coming Antichrist | Daniel 7-8 | Gary Hamrick

Daniel 7 if you need a Bible raise a hand the ushers are coming up and down the aisles and you can take a Bible from them and it's page 876 in those church Bibles let me give a little backdrop to this story before we start reading here in Chapter 7 you'll notice the way that chapter 6 ended if you are new to Cornerstone we just go straight through the Bible cover-to-cover and last week's story was Daniel in the lines and one of the most familiar stories in all of the Bible but if you'll notice the way chapter 6 ends verse 28 it just simply said this so this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian well that actually tells us this is the conclusion of Daniels life and ministry in fact back in Chapter 1 of Daniel verse 21 it tells us when it gave an overview of Daniels ministry that he served the kings of Babylonia and Persia up until the first year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia well chapter 6 ends with the first year the reign of King Cyrus so it tells us basically that chapter 6 ends the historical narrative on Daniels life in ministry he had a very prolific career if he can use that term obviously was a calling by God but for 65 years he ministered to various kings in Babylonia and Persia being used by God as a as an instrument to really touch the hearts of these kings and and to really for all intents and purposes promote God to to these pagan kings who otherwise probably would never have heard about God or understood him let alone beheld his glory in different ways and so and so we have no record of Daniels death nor do we know where he is buried but chapter 6 concludes the historical narrative narrative of Daniel 65-year career serving all these various kings so then now we're here in chapter 7 and the whole Book of Daniel pivots right here and we're only halfway through and so if if the first six chapters are that really the conclusion of Daniels life and ministry then what's the rest of the book about well I'm glad you asked the question here in Chapter seven there's this dramatic shift where the narrative pivots from the historic to the prophetic so those of you who love Bible prophecy you're gonna love the last half of the Book of Daniel in particular because we're looking future now we're looking forward and and so really the Book of Daniel can be seen as having two halves the first half chapters one through six the second half chapter seven through twelve and this is how it breaks down for you note-takers Daniel one through six is an historical narrative and it covers the life of Daniel roughly 65 years from the time that he was taken as this Jewish teenager as a captive of war and 606 BC and transported from Jerusalem all the way to Babylonia where he is groomed as this advisor to the king and he will serve various kings over the next 65 years that's chapters 1 through 6 all this historic narrative about his life in his ministry then chapter 7 through 12 is really a prophetic journal Daniel is going to write an addendum that he attaches here to his book and so the last half is basically a large addendum and it's a compilation of various dreams that God gave him and visions that God gave him of things that are yet to happen and I'm talking yet to happen even in our lifetime there are things prophetically here between chapters 7 and 12 that have not yet been fulfilled even in our lifetime we're gonna talk about it today but because of its high prophetic content in the Book of Daniel the Book of Daniel has often been referred to as the little revelation of the Bible you have the book of Revelation in your New Testament and the Book of Daniel is somewhat the apocalypse of the Old Testament in it and it just talks about a lot of things that even Stephens very similar to what the book of Revelation talks about it is important to note as we head into chapter 7 through 12 now over the next couple of weeks to note with me that these chapters are not in logical order again this is an addendum that is attached to the historic narrative and and thus they're kind of random they're random dreams and random visions that Daniel has recorded he's made a journal of these things and then he attaches it as one lump sum one addendum here at the latter half of the Book of Daniel and so it doesn't follow any particular order every dream and vision that we read about in Chapter 7 through 12 happens sometime in Daniels life between chapters 1 through 6 even though it points to stuff way in the future ok so it's not in prophetic order rather rather chronological order for example just look here at chapter 7 verse 1 we find out that this dream that he has occurred in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon well Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar died in chapter 5 of Daniels so again he's attaching this prophetic journal and he's saying here's some various dreams and visions that God gave me and the first one he's gonna tell us here in chapter 7 happened sometime before chapter 5 because bill Shazzer dies at the end of chapter 5 so everything we're about to read now from this point forward in the Book of Daniel from chapter 7 through 12 are prophetic and these prophecies were given to Daniel at various times over the course of his life his life of course recorded in the first six chapters the future events that Daniel sees and records in the second half of this book are so intense and so overwhelming to him so dramatic that it affects him physically he gets physically ill when he sees these things than when he writes these things down in fact you could just take a glance at chapter 8 verse 27 in chapter 8 27 he just concludes all of this by saying chapter 8 verse 27 and I Daniel fainted and was sick for days afterward I arose and went about the King's business I was astonished by the vision but no one understood it so see it he says you know this stuff was so overwhelming to me it made me physically ill and and so we're gonna take a look here at what trouble Daniels so much and what made him so physically ill and by the time we get to the end of our study today you might be feeling in a similar way and and I'll and I'll beat you to the punch line more so than you normally are when you sit through one of my teachings okay now the reason why this is so overwhelming to him what we're going to note in today's study through mainly Chapter seven but I'll refer to chapter eight a little bit is that Daniel writes here in these two chapters about the new world order that is coming he doesn't use that term but that's that's what he describes there's a new world order that is coming in terms of world powers and world dominance the Bible tells us this and as part of the new world order there will arise a person on the world scene that the Bible refers to as the Antichrist he is coming he may perhaps already be here he might be in the political wings or maybe he's not even been born yet depends on you know the the timeline of some of these things but it wouldn't be surprising if he's here if he exists I I don't know because I don't know how close we are to the return of Christ and some of these things obviously have to transpire prior to the return of Christ but there will be a real person who will be possessed by the spirit of Satan who will come onto the world scene and be a world dictator and the Bible refers to him as the Antichrist so this is what Daniel is giving us a glimpse about and so we're going to be talking about this today Daniel is shown a vision of one who will be empowered by Satan who will arise from a new world order to dominate the world who will oppose God and everyone who worships God and who will demand to be worshipped himself that's part of what the Antichrist is about Paul writes about him in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 John writes about him in first John and the book of Revelation and Daniel writes about him here in Chapter seven eight and actually some in the chapter nine so let's read a little bit here from Chapter seven and then we'll pray and we'll we'll talk about this today so Daniel chapter seven I'm going to start at verse one down through verse eight in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed and then he wrote down the dream telling the main facts daniel spoke saying i saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea and four great beasts came up from the sea each different from the other the first was like a lion and had eagle's wings i watched till its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man and a man's heart was given to it and suddenly another beast a second like a bear it was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth and they said thus to it arise devour much flesh after this I looked and there was another like a leopard which had on its back four wings of a bird the Beast also had four heads and Dominion was given to it and after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible exceedingly strong it had huge iron teeth it was devouring breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet it was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns I was considering the horns and there was another horn a little horn coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots and there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words jump over further in the chapter to verse 21 I was watching and the same horn was making war against the Saints and prevailing against them until the Ancient of Days came that's that's the Lord and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High and the time came for the Saints to possess the kingdom thus he said the fourth beast shall be a fourth Kingdom on earth which shall be different from all other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth trample it and break it in pieces the ten horns are ten Kings who shall arise from this Kingdom and another shall rise after them he shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings he shall speak pompous words against the Most High this is the Antichrist he shall persecute the Saints of the Most High and shall intend to change rhyme times and law then the Saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time meaning three and a half years but the court shall be seated and they shall take away his Dominion to consume and destroy it forever then the kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people the Saints of the Most High his kingdom this is the Lord's Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey Him this is the end of the account as for me Daniel my thoughts greatly troubled me and my countenance changed but I kept the matter in my heart let's pause there and pray lord thank you for your word and though this is somewhat mysterious there's a lot of symbolism here we pray for wisdom that we would be able to dissect this and understand it and to the best of our ability lord impart wisdom by your Holy Spirit help us Lord to take these things to heart and and at the same time to not let our hearts be weighed down because in the end Lord always our eyes are on Jesus and we thank you that our redeemer lives and he will come again and we shall be with him forever but we thank you that you've given us a glimpse that we might know about these things that are to come that we might be ready that you might find us faithful pray these things in Jesus name and everyone said amen so this is somewhat heavy stuff I will also say at the onset of this Bible study that I I don't want to be dogmatic about these things I'm gonna do the best I can to give some interpretation this is kind of a collective interpretation of various Bible scholars this is not to say that this is the only way that the symbolism can be interpreted but this is my slant on it and so this is this is how I'm going to present it based on the context and and the best we can in using Scripture to balance Scripture with Scripture what we do know this much is that chapter 7 begins with this description that daniel has of four beasts and he talks about these beasts which he mentions as like a lion like a bear like a leopard and then like a beast this unknown undescribed animal and and what we find out from verse 17 is that these are not actual animals these animals are just representative of something and what we find is that they represent kingdoms led by four kings this is what verse 17 says it says those great beasts which are four are four kings which arise out of the earth and and so what Daniel sees is that there's going to be a certain climate a certain condition of the earth at the time that the Antichrist rises to power and prominence and so Daniel is describing through this vision of the kind of characteristics of the world and world powers at this time when the Antichrist will arise and so he's describing it with this vision of having these four beasts now it appears in the language that he's not talking about successive world powers like was the case back in chapter 2 remember Nebuchadnezzar had this vision the statue with metals that were more precious at the top and got less precious and less valuable at the feet of this statue and those those were empires that were progressive it started with a Babylonian Empire and then the medo-persian Empire and then the Greeks and then the Romans okay that was a progressive thing and it was it was successive empires and kingdoms it doesn't appear to be that way in this case it appears that he sees all these animals all at once all these animals represent four kings / kingdoms that are concurrent that are contemporary at the time that Antichrist comes to power and so what are these these contemporary world powers that seem to be in play at the time that the Antichrist is revealed or comes into prominence so the first one that he speaks about here is like a lion and again this is somewhat speculative but trying to put together tie together symbolism and Bible prophecy best guess is that when he speaks about the lion well the lion probably portrays a british-american alliance which we currently have I mean the Brits are some of our best allies in the world and vice versa the lion obviously is a national symbol of Great Britain and it's interesting that the national symbol of Great Britain the lion is standing on its hind feet like a man which is exactly what verse 4 says that the hind legs the lion is standing on its hind legs upright like a man and that this lion has wings of an eagle but that the wings get plucked and get separated from the Lions so it could be this biblical symbolism of the United States where we eventually separated from Great Britain the American Revolution in 1776 it's as if the the wings of the eagle were plucked from the back of the lion obviously our national symbol is an eagle so it's likely that it speaks here that the America the the United States will have a strong alliance as we currently do with Great Britain that's gonna be one facet of world power at the time the Antichrist arises and then the next animal that he sees here this next beast is a bear and of course we have to blame Russia for everything these days and so we're gonna blame them for the end times too because it appears here that the bear represents Russia I mean six since the 16th century a bear has been the national symbol of Russia the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union and the present-day Russian Federation and then it gets a little trickier the next animal that he sees that is a picture of a world power a world Kingdom is a leopard with four heads it is likely that this leopard with four heads represent some kind of Alliance among four Islamic states either Central Asia or the Middle East some Bible scholars say it could be an African conglomeration of four Islamic states we don't really know but best guess is it's probably in that in that area of either either Asia or Middle East some alliance between four Islamic nations and and then we notice he he also sees here this fourth beast that is not really an animal person dove this amalgam of a creature and it has ten horns and this last creature that we just called the Beast in this in this story has these ten horns which seem to point to a ten Nation European Confederation now this is exactly what the book of Revelation talks about as well that there will come a time when the world will be divided into ten geographical regions dominated by ten Kings or ten dictators of some kind now I know it seems a little far-fetched for us right now but I've never lived in a time you've never lived in a time when there's been more talk about the dissolution of national borders as we're hearing today that it's almost like borders are offensive to people and therefore there's this great debate in our own country about a wall or no wall because you know after all walls seem to send a message that our arms are not open and so maybe we should just get rid of borders this this is the kind of talk that is happening not just in our country but really around the world case in point jean-claude juncker who is the president of the European Commission which is the executive branch of the European Union Carl jean-claude juncker has suggested that countries in Europe get rid of national borders when he said on August 22nd 2015 and I quote borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians and quote at a speech at the Outback European forum in Austria in 2016 mr. Juncker used the word anti nationhood and was in favor of moving the EU toward what he called quote globalization so there is this movement afoot that is going to play right into this ten nation Confederation the Bible says is going to happen in the world where it's just going to be let's get rid of national borders and let's divide the globe into these ten geographical regions it's not just jean-claude juncker who is suggesting these kind of things even in the United States we're hearing some politicians and former politicians saying things along these lines in fact in 2013 ABC News reported that in a leaked email sent by Hillary Clinton to a Brazilian bank she wrote this according ABC News she wrote quote my dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders end quote so this is the kind of mentality that is sweeping our world right now it's gonna it's going to play right into the hands of this ten Nation Confederation but what Daniel sees here in verse eight is that out of these ten horns emerge a little horn and revelation tells us that the ten nation Confederation will turn and give their power to one among them and so in verse eight here of Daniel 7 the verse simply says this I was considering the horns and there was another horn a little one coming up among them and there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words and so out of the ten Kings will come one who will speak proud boastful blasphemous words and this one who emerges to be a world dictator isn't another than the Antichrist there are three more times that Daniel emphasizes the boastful words of the Antichrist in Chapter 7 verse 11 verse 20 verse 25 one of the characteristics of the Antichrist is he's very anti God now he's super religious he's going to be a very charismatic he's going to be very political very spiritual religious guy but he has no allegiance to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in fact he's Antichrist he's opposed to the things of Christ he's opposed to the things of God and this fits exactly with what revelation 13 tells us up with the verses on the screen revelation 13 verses five and six and he meaning the Antichrist was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and he was given authority to continue for 42 months that's three and a half years and then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those who dwell in heaven and so out of this ten nation Confederation will emerge one political religious charismatic very charming figure that the Bible refers to as the Antichrist and first John as the beast in Revelation 13 and other names like the son the man of sin and the lawless one in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 now three things about the Antichrist in the remaining time we have understanding I'm gonna give off three things real quickly we're going to talk about real briefly the mission of the Antichrist the ambition of the Antichrist and then finally the condemnation of the Antichrist and first one first the mission of the Antichrist is to rule the world and to establish peace under his unifying leadership now we'll be a false peace it will be a temporary peace but it will be a piece that everybody is longing for you have to consider you know when you hear things about what is happening in the Middle East and things are gonna ratchet up even more it gets to a place where people become war weary and we understand this people get battle fatigue it people get so tired of of having lot of rockets lobbed in their direction and then lobbing rockets back and forth that eventually people want peace at almost any cost and people will be willing after such battle fatigue to embrace just about anybody who can bring a peace plan and so the Jewish people in particular those who do not presently believe that Jesus is Messiah are still looking for a messiah and one will come on the world scene who's going to be this very charming political charismatic geo global leader and and they're going to believe that he's Messiah and they're going to love the fact that he provides a peace plan because the Antichrist is going to do just that you know currently on the Temple Mount there is no temple for the Jewish people since 70 AD for almost 2,000 years there's there's not been a Jewish temple was destroyed by the Romans the only temples the only sacred places on the Temple Mount are two Muslim sanctuaries the al-aqsa mosque and the Dome of the rock and so the Jews are longing for the temple to be rebuilt those who don't know Jesus as their Savior and so in comes Antichrist and in Daniel chapter 9 you don't need to turn there I'm just going to reference it in Daniel chapter 9 it tells us that he will initiate a seven-year peace treaty and he will bring together Muslims and Jews and he will allow and convince everybody that it's good for the sake of ecumenical unity for the Jews to rebuild their temple right alongside the Dome of the rock and al-aqsa mosque in fact there's enough room presently on the Temple Mount for the Jewish temple to be built without disturbing the Dome of the rock or the al-aqsa mosque you might ask why is it that the Jews haven't already done that after all these years because after all in 1967 after the six-day war they gained Jerusalem as part of the territory of Israel well here's here's what happened in 1967 more should Dayan who was then the minister of of defense for it for Israel negotiated a peace deal with Jordan that said basically this we we by force have taken Jerusalem it's ours but in order to secure peace we will allow you Jordanians but in particular Muslims to administrate the control over the Temple Mount but but the territory will be within the borders and boundaries of Israel it was one of the worst deals ever made in fact for that reason more should Diane has no statue or portrait in Israel today because when the Jews captured when the Israelis captured Jerusalem they gave up the administrative right to it and so the Muslims dictate what what happens to this day on the Temple Mount area but there's going to come this Antichrist who shows up in psych hey I got a peace deal and everybody's going to agree to it and the temple will be rebuilt there is a group of people right now called the temple Institute in Jerusalem I've been there many times myself I've taken a few groups there over the course of the years until until I was kicked out but that's another story but um there's a group called the temple Institute a Jewish people Zionists who already have refashioned all the Articles of Temple they're there all of the priestly garments they're ready to go so that as soon as the temple is built they're going to re-implement the sacrifices they're going to put up the the the articles of the temple and they're going to reinstate the priestly service the reason why I had a little falling out is just because I asked them one day you know this is this is wonderful you have this ambition but you know the temple has not existed since 70 AD how do you atone for your sins because scripture says you can only atone for your sins by the blood of a sacrifice now I wanted to get their eyes pointed towards gee that's right so that they would realize yeah that's true we have no blood sacrament no animal sacrificial system so the the director of the Institute said well our rabbis tell us our rabbis tell us that all we have to do is pray and do good works and we're good to go to heaven I said well with all due respect to your rabbis that's not what your own scriptures say at which point I was shown the door but anyway so this is what happens Antichrist makes a peace deal Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 and then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week literally for seven but in the middle of the week in the middle of seven years he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering listen to what NIV says and on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him now Jesus picks up that in quotes Daniel in Matthew chapter 24 and Jesus says when you see the abomination that causes desolation that which was spoken to by the prophet Daniel flee to the mountains in other words the abomination that causes desolation is when the Antichrist goes into the temple and he proclaims himself to be God and wants to be worshipped which is point number two the ambition of the Antichrist is to be worshipped as God and the reason is because the Antichrist is a real person but he's going to be possessed by the spirit of Satan Satan has always wanted to be worshipped as God it's a very reason he rebelled against God because he exalted himself and wanted to be like God and wanted to be worshiped as God and so he was kicked out of heaven along with a third of the angels who rebelled with Satan otherwise today known as demons and so there is this instinctive desire of the Antichrist to want to be worshipped because he's possessed by the spirit of Satan and Paul says in second Thessalonians two three and four the man of sin the son of perdition meaning the Antichrist opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that He is God and so that's what happens he appoints himself as God halfway into this seven-year peace deal he shows his true colors and then the Jewish people realize that they've been duped to the in fact is not Messiah but he's been a charlatan this whole time the Prophet Zechariah talks about how their eyes will be open and then the Lord returns and they will look on the one that they have pierced and so all Israel will be saved because the Jewish people have this great epiphany when they see Christ bearing still the marks of his crucifixion when he returns but all of this is going to play out in the end times friends now the good news though at the end is the last point is the condemnation of the Antichrist it it tells us in the scriptures that he will eventually be taken captive and cast into the lake of fire and the kingdom of our Lord will reign forever and ever can I get an amen on that if you'll if you look real quickly here in your Bibles at Daniel 7 verse 11 Daniel says I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the which the horn was speaking the Antichrist was speaking I watched till the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame you see the power and rule of the Antichrist will culminate with the Battle of Armageddon Jesus returns and second Thessalonians 2:8 says that Jesus returns and overthrows him by the splendor of his coming so when Christ returns he defeats the Antichrist and the Antichrist ends up eventually being thrown into the lake of fire I will read in closing from revelation 19 now I saw heaven opened John writes and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true this is Jesus talking about when he comes again and in righteousness he judges and makes war and he has on his robe and on his thigh a new name written king of kings and Lord of lords and I saw the Beast the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army and then the Beast was captured the Antichrist and with him the false prophet who were signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone so that's their ultimate condemnation and judgment and if you're still here in Daniel 7 read verses 13 and 14 I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of man see Daniel sees the return of Christ coming with the clouds of heaven and he came to the Ancient of Days that's God the Father and they brought him near before him then to him was given Dominion and glory and a kingdom this is Jesus that all peoples nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed amen and amen and amen let's pray father we thank you for the ultimate hope that we have in Jesus and even though these things are given to us in your word that we might know what is to come our hearts are not weighed down Lord because we lift up our heads we look up and we know that our redemption is near that our hope is in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior so Lord if nothing else may these kind of things stir us to be more passionate about the lost that we would always be mindful of the mission field out there we want others to go with us to heaven and when we see that the time is drawing near may you stir our hearts to be winners of souls to love the Lost to share Christ with people who need you Lord you open heaven wide do all who would believe where you find us faithful on that day and may we take as many people with us as possible we love you and we praise you in Jesus name Amen amen god bless you all

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 126,328

Rating: 4.8009143 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Chapel Leesburg Va, Bible, Sermons, Teaching, Faith, Christian, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Gary, Hamrick, Calvary, Chapel, Biblical sermons, salvation, Pastor Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Connection, end times, whats going to happen at the end of the world, daniel 7-8, the 4th beast of daniel 7, the book of daniel chapter 7, teaching on daniel 8, How can i be saved?, how can i know im saved

Id: JM_O-xKEsWE

Length: 35min 44sec (2144 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019