Services | Summary of Daniels’ Vision

Bulletin

FBCWest
October 14, 2018
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.”
“Meet Us Here”
SCRIPTURE READING – Isaiah 6:1 - 7

PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
MESSAGE Pastor Joe
“DANIEL – Living as Strangers in a Foreign Land: God Is Still Sovereign”
“Summary of Daniels’ Vision”
Time of Reflection
PRAYER TIME –

“Everlasting God”

GIVING OF SELVES AND OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER
SPECIAL MUSIC – By Pru Hungate
PRAISE AND WORSHIP
“This is Amazing Grace”
“Your Promises”
“Your Love is Extravagant”
Benediction “I Surrender My Life”
SERMON NOTES
Daniel 7:1 | Daniel wrote a summary of the dream/vision
Daniel 7:2 – 8 | Four beasts
Daniel 7:9 & 10 | The Ancient of Days
Daniel 7:11 & 12 | Beast Slain
Daniel 7:13 & 14 | Son of Man
Daniel 7:15 – 27 | Vision Interpreted
Daniel 7:28 | Daniel Alarmed, but Kept to Himself

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Scritpures

Daniel 7:1 | Daniel wrote a summary of the dream/vision

Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.

Daniel 7:2 – 8 | Four beasts

Daniel 7:2 Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

Daniel 7:3 "And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.

Daniel 7:4 "The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.

Daniel 7:5 "And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, `Arise, devour much meat!'

Daniel 7:6 "After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, 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.

Daniel 7:7 "After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

Daniel 7:8 "While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. The Ancient of Days Reigns

Daniel 7:9 & 10 | The Ancient of Days

Daniel 7:9 "I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.

Daniel 7:10 "A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.

Daniel 7:11 & 12 | Beast Slain

Daniel 7:11 "Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

Daniel 7:12 "As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. The Son of Man Presented

Daniel 7:13 & 14 | Son of Man

Daniel 7:13 "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.

Daniel 7:14 "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. The Vision Interpreted

Daniel 7:15 – 27 | Vision Interpreted

Daniel 7:15 "As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.

Daniel 7:16 "I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

Daniel 7:17 `These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

Daniel 7:18 `But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'

Daniel 7:19 "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet,

Daniel 7:20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates.

Daniel 7:21 "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them

Daniel 7:22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

Daniel 7:23 "Thus he said: `The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.

Daniel 7:24 `As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

Daniel 7:25 `He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

Daniel 7:26 `But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.

Daniel 7:27 `Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'

Daniel 7:28 | Daniel Alarmed, but Kept to Himself

Daniel 7:28 "At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself."

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Transcript of Service

Daniel said I was looking in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea so right off the bat we have a couple of images and so some people will say that the winds are from heaven that God is directing this stuff and other people say well winds are chaos and whatever so those are the two views of what the the winds are but since it's the four winds of heaven I tend to think that it's God in control and sovereign of what's about happening and we're stirring up the Great Sea now in my literal interpretation I would think Great Sea would be a sea would be the Mediterranean Sea however that's probably not the understanding because some of the things that we're going to see later doesn't come from the Mediterranean but comes from other parts of the world so others will say oftentimes C refers to the Gentiles so it's it's the Gentiles are being served up by God and four great beasts were coming up from the sea different from one another the first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle I kept looking until its wings were plucked and it was lifted up from the ground and made his stand on two feet like a man a human mind also was given to it and behold another beast a second one resembling a bear and it was raised up on one side and three ribs were in its mouth between his teeth and thus they said to it arise devour much meat so he gives us two different animals most interpreters view that the first one and I this I agree with talks about Babylon because on the temples and other places in Babylon you would see a lion with wings on it and so it kind of identified kind of like in America we kind of identify our country with the bald eagle so you we have certain animals that represent the country fortunately for our country Benjamin Franklin didn't have his way because Benjamin Franklin wanted a turkey to represent our country and now looking at the way we are maybe he was right but anyway video so the first one was Babylon now it's talking about kingdoms it's knocking not talking about kings so so some people's oh well it's obviously Babylon because it talks about plucking and rising up and remember Nebuchadnezzar when and he was acting like a beast and then he stood up and gave reason you stop talking about four kings he's talking about four kingdoms but it kind of matches what happens in Babylon so we're saying that first Babylon is going to be there then there's gonna be another Kingdom that's represented by a bear again Alliance ferocious and so is a bear and in this place it says this lot of this bear has three ribs in its mouth some people again the majority view is is that the bear represents the medo-persian Empire and the three ribs may represent their conquests of Babylon Lydia and Egypt others say no the bear represents the median Empire that the Persian Empire will be the fourth reason and the reason they give that as an explanation is that they say Daniels visions are so accurate and especially the one that's going to follow that we'll look at next week are so accurate that nobody could know this ahead of time therefore it had to be have written back in about 120 BC as opposed to five hundred and something BC because Daniel is too accurate now my opinion is this if the God who said let there be light and there was light and created everything out of nothing and his sovereign can tell her people what's going to go happen and so while Daniel may not know what's going on it is not Daniel who has given the vision Daniel was given the vision by God and therefore I believe that Daniel wrote this that it wasn't written some hundreds of years later but people will want to look in their own little box and say okay well there's no way this happened so we have to divide up the four kingdoms and the way to do that is to break off the medo-persian empire into two different empires although everybody else puts them as one and it says that and it raised up on one side and so some people say well this makes sense because the Persian Empire was a little stronger than the middle part of it and so it raised up and we kind of had this idea that the bear was like off balance a back side and a front side are also sides so the front side could rise up and that's what a bear does when it's angry it rises up and so I think it's not off balance I think it's being larger but then that's just me and after this I kept looking to behold another one like a leopard which had on its back four wings of a bird the beasts also had four heads and Dominion was given to it now everybody tends to believe and I agree that this is the Greek Empire and the reason is symbolized as a leopard or some

translations of Panther is because that's a well that's a meat-eating vicious animal it's also a quick animal and Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire very quickly and extended his rule all the way to India and he did it so quickly that most of you who are aware of history know that Alexander wept because he said I have no more world's to conquer he had done it at such a young age and so quickly that he just kind of felt like there was any more any purpose to his life and when he dies and some say he was murdered four kings arise from his rule we will talk about that next week and again it's it's showing that these four kings arise from that rule and so it had four heads and Dominion was given to it and after this I could looking in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong and it had large iron teeth it devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet and it was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns while I was contemplating the horns behold another horn a little one came up among them and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it and behold this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth during great boast now many people say that this one represents Rome because after all Rome was a strong Empire and defeated many people I humbly disagree and I will tell you a little more while I disagree later I don't think it's the Roman Empire I think this fourth one while it isn't described as a beast because it is so different from the others it Daniel can't express it in terms that we would understand the other reason I don't think it's Rome is let's just go back a moment when Jesus was crucified what was the ruling agency that authorized his execution Rome so you would that since Rome was a world power that everybody would talk Latin but they did it what was the Bible the New Testament written in Greek all the Romans who were rich one of Greek philosophers to teach their children the influence of Greece on Rome was still significant even though Rome was the world power and when we take a look at these four kingdoms I want you to remember we're talking about the Middle East if you notice there's not a word talking about the Mayan Empire not a word talking about whatever happened in America not a word talking about the Incas why because they didn't rule the Middle East and Israel and so when the Scriptures talk about these things it's geocentric to that location and I think the reason that it's so different is that there's a pier there there's these these kingdoms and then this one's different some say that this vision is a different perspective of Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the of the statute I disagree I think there are some similarities I think there's some understanding of Babylon medo-persia Greece and those types of things but I think what's happening is God is telling his people through Daniel a little more about the story giving us more indication so it's not just perspective but more information in the statute we are told a stone knocks down the statue we're not told that at this point and so he talks about this and the reason why I'm not going to go on further because the angel is going to give us a little more explanation so let's move on verse I kept looking until Thrones were set up and

the Ancient of Days took a seat his vesture was like white snow and his hair of his head like pure wool his throne was ablaze with fire its wills were a burning fire a river of fire was flowing and coming out of before him thousands upon thousands were attending him and Myriad's upon Myriad's were standing before him the court sat and the books were open I don't necessarily think that it takes a rocket scientist to understand what this he just said basically God the Ancient of Days the one who is eternal is sitting in his courtroom and he's sitting in judgment now the reason that the language is is interesting is because we all know that God is spirit and those who seek to worship Him worship Him in spirit and in truth so how is it that you can explain this so again what Daniel I believe was trying to tell us is that God is righteous he's clothed in white he's righteous he has hair as wool which means he's wise so he's the more proper one to sit as judge and then it talks about fire and all these things coming forth and usually fire means judgment and judgment not that you win but judgment that you lose and so fire is coming before it and so we have all these people's standing before him some attending him some ministering to him and some waiting for their case to be called and just as the book of Revelation tells us books are open up and so the books were open then I kept looking because of the sound of the both words which the horn was speaking and I kept looking until the piece was slain and his body was destroyed and given to the burning fire as for the rest of the beasts their Dominion was taken away but an extension of life was going to them for an appointed period of time which means that there is a period of time when God judges and then he allows and then he reassert himself that is why I don't think that we're talking about the Roman Empire here because these things have been taken place yet so he sees the courtroom and he sees the people standing there and he sees people attending to God he says and I kept looking in the night visions so it's not over he still has more to see I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him was given Dominion glory and a kingdom that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed we are presented here with a picture of Jesus the Messiah it's always interesting to find a people that people will talk about things as if they were intelligent and you will hear people talk about when Jesus says that he is the son of man they'll say well the reason that Jesus says that he's the son of man is to identify with his humanity and wrong everybody who met Jesus thought it was of human especially his detractors wasn't this Joseph's son isn't his brothers and sisters here they always criticize whenever Jesus said I'm the son of God that's when they wanted to kill him he never used the term son of man to identify his humanity he termed the son of man to say I'm this guy I'm the Messiah I'm the one who will be presented before God the Father and be given the kingdoms and Dominion for ever and ever and ever and I'm going to be coming on clouds and unlike the three and now for that we've talked about and unlike all the other kingdoms of the earth the Dominion and power given to Jesus will last forever and ever and ever it will never be destroyed and not only that it will have an impact on the whole world not just the people in the Middle East and it will have an impact so much

so that as the scripture says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father it's not that just the believers do everyone will and that should give us hope now we are presented a little image of what we will call in our the Antichrist the one who makes great boast and wants to do all these things and were presented the Christ the Messiah now to make sure that I haven't gotten off-track because I always love it when you'll hear people say well this is what it means then the Bible tells you what it means and then they never say that the Bible told you something totally different than what they said so in verse 15 we're talked we're talking about the vision interpreted so as for me Daniel my spirit was distressed within me and the visions in my mind kept alarming me and I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this so so he goes I'm seeing this I don't quite understand it can you help me out now this is coming from one who everybody up unto this point I said well Daniel is the guy who has the visions of the gods and in he interpret all these things but Daniel never took credit he said it was God who gave him the interpretation and even now when the vision is given to him he doesn't quite get it so he asked for help which means he's not your typical guy because most guys when they don't know where they are they refused to ask for help they just keep driving along but he does shows he's wiser than most of us so he told me in May known to me the interpretation of these things these great beasts which are four in number are four kings will arise from the earth but the Saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come so really short they represent four kings but but the kingdom of God and the Saints they're the one who's going to get it forever and the ages come then I desire to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast which was different from all the others exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron and his claws of bronze which devoured crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet and the meaning of the ten horns that were on his head and the other horn which came up before which which three of them fell namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great both and which was larger in appearance than its associates I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the Saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days game and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the highest one and the time arrived when the Saints took possession of the kingdom you see even if Daniel didn't write this and I think he did and even if it was written back it's a few hundred years later than everybody says this part hasn't come true yet this is still a prophecy and that's why I don't think the fourth kingdom has anything to do with the Roman Empire yes the Roman Empire persecuted the church but Jesus has in common power and glory as he promised so this fourth kingdom which is different than all the rest has not yet arisen now this is the interpretation which says that the Saints were being waged war with and we're overpowering them and wearing them down so if I had the theology which most people do that we are raptured out of here that doesn't agree but Daniel now I'm totally willing for that to happen and I'm willing to say well we've misunderstood and maybe it's but it says the Saints it didn't say Israel they didn't say Judah it said the Saints and so that is going to happen until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in

favor of the Saints of the thighs one and the time arrived when the Saints took possession of the kingdom even so Lord come quickly so if it is true that we have to deal with this fourth kingdom which is worse than all the others and more terrifying and they better get ready to be ready because if it's difficult now to be a believer in a world that simply makes fun of you for believing in God can you imagine how difficult it will be when they want to take your life or put you in prison or make you do all sorts of terrible things but the good news we win we will be given the kingdom doesn't say those who survived all of us will be given the kingdom forever and ever and ever so then Daniel it's concerned about this fourth beast because it's terrifying and he's waging war so he wants to know more about it and verse 23 and does he said the fourth beats will be a fourth Kingdom on the earth which we different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it as for the ten horns out of this kingdom 10 Kings will arise and another will rise after them and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings that didn't happen in the Roman Empire a lot of people think that this is the revised Roman Empire I don't think so I'll give you my opinion I think that many of the nations that were talked about in the first four will become a Confederate which will mean places like Iraq and Iran and Turkmenistan and all those other places will become a confederation but I don't know and he would speak out against the Most High and wear down the Saints of the highest one and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law and they will be given into his hand for a time time and half time so there's this one who's going to appear out of this Confederation and he will be the dominant one and he will wage war against the Saints and he will be the one will attempt to change laws and customs and times so I'm sure up in that he will enforce things like you're not supposed to worship the Lord I suppose worship on Sunday not supposed to worship Him on Saturday you're not so supposed to have anything to do with firstfruits which we call Easter or Passover or unleavened bread or all the holy days that God has established he is going to attempt to change those to emulate his own glory and he will be doing that for a time time in half time which means that he's probably going to be for two and a half years or so or three as the scripture says by Jesus himself that the times will get so bad that if possible even the elect would fall away but he's gonna be interrupted because God knows when to stop it but the court will sit for judgment remember the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man and his court will sit in judgment and his Dominion will be taken away annihilated and destroyed forever remember I used to tell you that I always wanted to be the president you knighted States and whatever but even if I became so even if I became it would be irrelevant Judas Caesars irrelevant Nebuchadnezzar's are relevant Cyrus the Great is irrelevant even Hitler is irrelevant because all of those kingdoms will be taken away and destroyed forever then the sovereignty the Dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one we're given the kingdom as the scripture

says Jesus will rule and we will reign with him that's why I say I get Bakersfield my wife will get someplace like Malibu because she loves the ocean she has put up with me so she gets a better place I get Baker's building and as I I probably get a 7-eleven in Bakersfield not even the whole place just corner a lot but we'll get to rule and reign with him and his kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey Him there will come a day when we will no longer have to say and pray may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven because there will be a day when his will we be done on earth as it is in heaven so Daniel tells us that there are going to be hard times for the people of God and it is going to look like those kingdoms will so well dominate but the Word of God says there will come a time when God Himself will sit in judgment how much better how much were blessed to run a 7-eleven for eternity than to be considered one of the great kings of this world who was annihilated it's a matter of expected there is nothing that we can do that separates us from his love most rulers become very unhappy with you when you don't follow what they say our Messiah died because we didn't do what he said most rulers will put you in prison for not doing what they say our Messiah says he who is set free by the Sun is free indeed the world tells us that we have no fun because we have to do all these do's and don'ts the problem is is that yeah the church is put on a bunch of do's and don'ts but God wants you not just to be happy but to be blessed and that's his will for you and he is saying even though I am the king of the universe even though I am sovereign and even though I am all wise and all-knowing and all-powerful I want you to rule with me to reign with me and that we all might fall down and confess Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father at this point the revelation ended as for me Daniel my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale but I kept silent kept the matter to myself you see there could be a reaction all right God bring it on wipe out those kingdoms and whatever yeah I know the Saints will all smile in but but it's gonna be difficult you see Daniel it's kind of a type of Jesus in the sense of he sees what the other kingdoms destiny are and that's not a happy thought for him just as distressing it is that the people of God will suffer it's also distressing that the people who reject God will suffer and it is in our place to say all right give it to him God the Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing you see Daniel is distressed by the entire future not just in it's

interesting and isn't it interesting that we all want to know what the the end of the story is oftentimes my wife particularly she'll read a book and then she'll read the end to find out whether it ends the way she wants it to if it doesn't she stopped reading the book just kind of her thing I don't know some of you are like that or not but we've read the end of the book we win but there's going to be suffering for those of the people of God for those who aren't as Peter said it is better to suffer for righteousness sake they are doing as an evildoer so we should knowing what the end is should be more motivated to tell people who God is how he loves them not just in word but that how he sent his son to be a prophet creation for their sins so that they might be standing in attendance as opposed to standing in judgment for you see Jesus said I didn't come into the world to condemn the world because the world is condemned already let us be prepared in faith to understand that we may suffer terribly under this future Kingdom but not discouraged because God is sovereign and when God has had enough he'll end it and when he does he will destroy all the best and then we will rule and reign with him which again is far too fantastic for us to understand the god of the universe who is sovereign who didn't ask for any of our opinion on how to set this thing up and didn't ask for any of our opinion although we happily give it to him how he should run it as you all know most of our prayers is God do this God do that do God do something else and maybe on occasion we say but nevertheless your will we're not mine but really my will is better that God who says not only you're my child I'm gonna give you glory and I don't want to give you glory I'm gonna let you rule and reign with me far too fantastic no wonder people think this was written later than it was and even so it still has future elements to it and I think the reason why is there are certain things that God does right very plainly God's Allah the world there are other things I think he expects us like the book of Revelation the notches read and go home that's interesting but to study it to understand it to hear that view in this view in another view and not take the views would say what does the word of God say and I am convinced in this passage just as in the passages of Revelation no matter where the majority opinions right or the minority opinions right or shazam I'm right when it happens will say it is so obvious how did I miss it we should be so familiar with the Word of God that when it takes place I see it therefore strengthen your faith strengthen the faith of one another if we're out of here at the trumpet sound which I know it'll happen but if rowdy here before these things happen outstanding if we're not as I keep saying if you prepare to run a marathon you only have to run a 100-meter sprint you're over prepared if you only prepare to rate run and run or metre sprint you

find yourself having to run a marathon you may find yourself out of breath strengthen yourselves in your fate strengthen others in the faith so that we are able to run marathons regardless of what God determines for us to do because he is the everlasting God he will rule and reign sometimes we don't see it but he is sovereign as the words may say it may be the winds that churns all these things up in the winds of heaven but it is he who dictates the times and epochs a man trust him how a God's people said you