Chapter 7, which I think is on page 892.
If you miss any of the talks, you can get them online, the church website, www.carigolinebaptist.org.
There's not just sermons there, but there's also other bits of information.
So, Daniel chapter 7, page 892.
And Kirsty is going to come and read for us.
So, chapter 7, verses 1 to 15.
In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed.
He wrote down the substance of his dream.
Daniel said,
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.
Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.
The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle.
I watched until its wings were torn off, and it was lifted from the ground, so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.
And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear.
It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.
It was told,
Get up and eat your fill of flesh.
After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.
This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast, terrifying and frightening and very powerful.
It had large iron teeth.
It crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.
It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them.
And three of the first horns were uprooted before it.
This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouse that spoke boastfully.
As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow.
The hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him.
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated, and the books were opened.
Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking.
I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.
The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power.
All peoples, nations, and men of every language worshipped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.
Thank you.
Thank you, Kirsty.
Well, let's pray and ask for God's help.
Thank you.
Our Father God, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this book of Daniel.
And as we read through it, we perhaps read things that are hard and difficult to understand.
And therefore, we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit to open up our minds that we may understand intellectually.
But also, we ask that you would, by your Spirit, open up our hearts so that we may see how this applies to us today.
Father, we pray that none of us will leave this morning without being clear about our God, who rules and reigns for all eternity.
Father, we pray that we may be clear about our God, who rules and reigns for all eternity.
We pray that this would cause us to trust you all the more, to find our security and to find our hope in you.
Amen.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, apocalypse now.
It seems like Daniel has been eating too much cheese again.
His dreams are becoming rather bizarre.
We might even think that he's been on the magic mushrooms, because what Daniel sees in his vision is right up there with the weird and the wonderful.
But don't worry.
Daniel is not partial to the odd joint.
Chapter 7 through to chapter 12 is what scholars call apocalyptic literature.
Now, I don't want that to put you off in any way, and it might sound strange, and maybe you've heard about it before, and you're a little worried about it and a little scared by it.
But really, it's a form or a type of writing that uses all kinds of imagery and language to tell us what is happening and what will happen.
Apocalypse simply means revelation.
It reveals things to us.
So these visions that we have from chapter 7 to chapter 12 reveal something to us.
They tell us something.
They tell us two things.
First, what is going on in the world?
He's living in a time where there is great opposition to God and great persecution of God's people.
So these visions that he gets right the way through to the end of the book are there to provide encouragement for him and for us to say to us that when it's hard to be a Christian,
when we face opposition, God has not abandoned the world.
God has all things in control now and in the future.
So what does this vision reveal to us?
Well, we're going to look at two big ideas.
The first is this.
The vision reveals to us the beast.
What is going on in the world?
Let's read verse 2.
Daniel said,
Now, the scene here is wild and scary and it's meant to be.
As it says in verse 15, if it disturbed Daniel, it's meant to disturb us.
Well, what does he see?
Verse 4.
The first beast, he says, was like a lion and it had the wings of an eagle.
So this is a ferocious beast.
And with its wings on its back, it seems to be able to go wherever it wills, doing as it pleases.
But with all its might, its power is quickly removed.
We're told its wings are torn off and he is given the heart of a man.
He is stripped of all his power.
Why?
Well, because another beast has come to take its place.
Verse 5.
And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear.
It was raised up on one of its sides.
So we could imagine it standing up on its hind legs with its paws or its claws coming out before him.
And it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.
This beast is also ferocious.
But it's devouring and eating all that is around and it is not content.
Look at the end of verse 5.
It was told, get up and eat your fill of flesh.
This beast is not satisfied until all he sees has been destroyed and consumed.
But as great as that beast is, he too meets his match.
Another beast has come to take its place.
Verse 6.
After that I looked and there before me was another beast.
One that looked like a leopard.
And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.
So this beast moves more quickly than the others.
And it acts unexpectedly with great speed.
End of verse 6.
This beast had four heads.
And it was given authority to rule.
Its four heads meaning that it can look in every direction.
Looking for its next prey.
Ruling over everything that it can see.
And if all that is not wild and scary enough.
Look at verse 7.
After that in my vision at night I looked and there before me was a fourth beast.
Terrifying and frightening and very powerful.
Did you notice as we went through that each of the beasts becomes more terrifying and more powerful than the one before.
And this last beast is not like anything.
You can't compare it to any kind of wild animal.
It stands in a class of its own.
Look at the rest of verse 7.
It had large iron teeth.
It crushed and devoured its victims.
And trampled underfoot whatever was left.
It was different from all the former beasts.
And it had ten horns.
What was it all about?
Well Daniel tells us.
Look at verse 16.
I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this.
So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things.
The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth.
Now most scholars agree that these beasts represent the four great kingdoms or four great empires of the past.
The lion represented the Babylonian empire.
The bear, the Persian empire.
So we've met those two great empires already through the book of Daniel.
The leopard was the next great empire which was the Greek empire.
And the last beast which we read in verse 7 was the Roman empire.
But each empire as we move through time becomes bigger and stronger and more powerful than the one before.
They are, as the beasts are described, they were there devouring whatever was before them.
Expanding their borders with a terrible ruthlessness.
Trampling on the nations around them and incorporating them in to their own empires.
Daniel, of course, has already met the full weight of the Babylonian empire.
So as he receives this vision, if he thinks it's bad under Babylon,
then it's going to be nothing compared to what lies in the future with the empires that are to come.
Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better.
Now what Daniel sees in these visions is really just a pattern that is repeated continually throughout history right up to the present day.
We continually have one empire or one kingdom or one nation becoming greater and bigger than all the rest.
Nations and rulers are still set on conquest, on conflict and control.
So just think for a minute about the last 100 years of our history.
As the great Ottoman Empire, modern day Turkey, as it came to an end and to a decline of its vastness,
it came with great cruelty.
One historian notes that on the 24th of April 1915,
600,000 Armenians were brutally killed in one day.
Some with their heads placed in vices and squeezed until their heads collapsed.
As Japan sought to expand its territory, it massacred thousands of innocent people.
On what became known as Black Friday, Japanese troops went through Alexandra Hospital in Singapore
and bayoneted all the patients, all the doctors and all the nurses
and then tied hundreds of Chinese hand to hand and massacred them on the beaches.
Stalin's Russia sought to flex her muscles in attempts to provide food for all the troops
and enough resources for all of his people.
And to squash any kind of rebellion, he ordered the Ukrainian peasants to provide more food that they could grow.
And because of his ruthless control, almost 7 million Ukrainians starved to death.
Hitler and his Nazi Germany trampled across the continent of Europe,
exterminating 6 million Jews and 5 million other so-called undesirables,
stripped, beaten, forced into the gas chambers because shooting them was too slow and it took too long.
In later years, we've seen the terror of beastly figures like Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe,
who literally and physically smashed and clubbed their own people to death,
cutting off their limbs and letting them bleed out.
Or Saddam Hussein, who on the 16th of March 1988 dropped chemical bombs,
killing 5,000 Kurds, letting them burn and blister before they died.
But that's all in the past, isn't it?
These sort of crimes and wars don't happen anymore, do they?
Well, today we turn on the news and we see the rise of an even uglier beast in the form of ISIS.
With an army of 40,000 strong, they are massacring hundreds, raping at will,
cutting off heads, sticking them on railings to spread fear and terror.
You see, the beast that Daniel saw is what we continue to see in our generation.
Kingdoms replace kingdoms.
The next one that arises is always more terrifying and frightening.
Kings replace kings, crushing and devouring and trampling their victims underfoot.
With all that man says about how mankind is developing and becoming more mature and more sophisticated,
let's not pretend that our world is good and beautiful.
The world we live in is ugly, nasty, brutal and beastly.
This is what is going on in our world all the time.
But as Daniel looks in his vision, it becomes more specific.
Because it seems these three beasts that we read in Daniel chapter 7
are especially opposed to God's people.
Look at verse 23.
He gave me this explanation.
The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth.
It will be different from all the other kingdoms
and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.
In this context, this fourth beast was the Roman Empire.
One of the largest empires the world has ever seen
as it did go and crush its enemies.
And what did it do?
Well, look at verse 25.
He, that is, the leaders, the kings of this, or the emperors of this empire,
will speak against the Most High, that is, God,
and oppress his saints, God's people,
and try to change the set times,
that is, do away with times of worship
and change the laws.
The saints, God's people, will be handed over to him
for a time, times and half a time.
So for a set period of time,
they will be under this terrible oppression.
To be a Christian and live in the Roman Empire
was dangerous for 250 years.
You were lucky to survive and live
if you were a Christian in the Roman Empire.
Rulers such as Nero,
one of the first great empires to arrive on the scene,
hated Christians.
He's the one to blame for the great fire of Rome
on the Christians.
There was a great fire and he said the Christians had done it
and he killed them.
He was also notorious for his crucifixions
and burning Christians as torches
for his garden parties.
And the ten kings that we read about,
or the ten horns that we read about in this passage,
if you look at the Roman Empire,
there were ten great periods of persecution.
You can look that up and find it out for yourself.
But every empire, one ruler after another,
created great opposition and persecution to God's people.
This is what happened.
But this is what continues to happen all across the world.
Kings and kingdoms speak against God and oppose his people.
Nations ban the worship of God.
They say they're not allowed to meet together like we are today.
rulers make having a Bible illegal.
Laws are put in place to deliberately discriminate against God's people.
Everywhere throughout the world,
God's people, the saints,
are opposed and oppressed.
The vision of Daniel is crystal clear.
The world we live in is a beastly place to live.
And it's especially beastly if you are a Christian.
So that's the first thing Daniel sees.
What is going on in the world.
The second thing Daniel sees is the beauty.
What God will do in the world.
Look back to verse 8.
While I was thinking about the horns,
there before me was another horn, a little one,
which came up among them.
And three of the first horns were uprooted before it.
This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man
and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
And as I looked,
thrones were set in place.
And the Ancient of Days took his seat.
You see, before we even have a chance
to figure out who or what this little horn is all about,
the vision changes tact.
All of a sudden, the focus moves from the beast
to the beauty.
From the terrifying and frightening
to majesty and glory.
Look at verse 9.
The Ancient of Days takes his seat.
The Ancient of Days is the God who created the universe,
who exists from before time began.
And here he arrives and he takes centre stage
as he sits on his throne.
What will he do?
What's going to happen?
Well, first,
he will bring universal judgement.
Look at verse 9.
We're told that his clothing was white as snow.
The hair of his head was white like wool.
A sign of his absolute purity.
No fault can be found in him.
No charge is levelled against him.
And his purity is matched by his awesome power.
Look at the rest of verse 9.
His throne was flaming with fire.
And its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
The rivers of fire around the throne
dispel any thought of frailty or inability.
There is no weakness here.
This is absolute raw power.
Thousands upon thousands attended him.
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
This infinite number of people who are gathered around the throne,
who attend him,
display his supreme control,
that he rules over all things.
No one dares speak.
All are transfixed on this pure and powerful one
who is sitting on the throne.
And what happens?
Look at the end of verse 10.
The court was seated.
And the books were opened.
Universal judgement is about to take place.
All that has ever been done
is accounted for.
Every act has been seen.
Every word has been heard.
Everything in history
has been written down in the book
and it has been recorded.
Everyone who has ever lived
must listen.
All has been weighed.
And now judgement
is about to begin.
What else will happen?
There will be eternal punishment.
Look at verse 11.
Then I continued to watch
because of the boastful words
the horn was speaking
to one of the great kings of this empire.
And you could imagine like,
well, God may judge
but you're not going to judge me.
I'm the one who rules over this great empire.
Nobody's going to take over me.
I kept looking
until the beast was slain
and its body destroyed
and thrown into the blazing fire.
The other beasts
had been stripped of their authority
but they were allowed to live
for a period of time.
But their end would come also.
There is no appeal here.
There is no chance of reprieve.
It's final
and it's eternal.
The beasts who have wrecked havoc,
destroyed nations,
trampled their victims underfoot,
are punished once and for all,
destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire,
completely destroyed,
never to rise again.
Justice
is done.
So what will take place
or what will take the place
of these terrible beasts
and their terrifying rule?
Well, he goes on to tell us
that there will be a king
and a kingdom
in their place.
Verse 13.
In my vision at night
I looked and there before me
was one like
a son of man.
Not beastly
but like a human.
One like a son of man.
Coming with the clouds
of heaven
which symbolise
that he comes with
divine status.
So we might call him
a God
man.
And he approached
the Ancient of Days
and was led
into his presence
not to be judged,
not to be punished
but,
verse 14,
to be given authority,
glory
and sovereign power.
This God
man
has absolute power
and supreme authority.
He rules
and he controls
all things.
Here is an eternal
universal king
whose strength
and wisdom
is infinite.
And all peoples,
verse 14,
nations and men
of every language
worshipped him.
Instead of running
in fear
from the beast
they now stop
and bow
and worship
worship
the one
with amazing
beauty.
Why?
Look at the end
of verse 14
because his dominion
is an everlasting
dominion
that will not
pass away
and his kingdom
is one
that will never
be destroyed.
In place
of those
beastly rulers
comes a king
who rules
with power
and authority.
in place
of those
cruel nations
comes a kingdom
that is marked
by peace
and justice.
A kingdom
that is never
to be destroyed.
A kingdom
that is eternal
and one
that is universal.
But what about
God's people
in the midst
of all of this?
What will happen
to them?
Well Daniel's
vision
is given
we are given
a deeper insight.
Look at verse 26.
What happens
to God's people
at this time?
We're told
the court
will sit
and his power
that is
the beast's power
will be taken away
and completely
destroyed forever.
Then the
sovereignty
power
and greatness
of the kingdoms
under the whole
heaven
will be handed
over to the saints
the people
of the most high.
What a beautiful
picture we have
there.
The saints
God's people
who have been
opposed
and tortured
and persecuted
throughout history
who have been
imprisoned
who have been
separated
from loved ones
who have been
broken
who have been
destroyed
who have been
inflicted
all the saints
throughout history
will become
rulers
with the most
high.
The power
and greatness
of the kingdoms
under the whole
heaven
will be handed
over to the saints
the people
of the most high.
His kingdom
will be an
everlasting kingdom
and all the
rulers will
worship
and obey
him.
This king
will not
abandon
his people
despite
everything
they have
been through
he is going
to take
them to
his kingdom
to be with
him
forever
and forever.
That's what
God is going
to do.
But let's
ask the question
how do we
know
this will
happen?
How do we
know this is
going to
happen?
How do we
know God
is going
to do
all of
this
that he's
going to
bring
his kingdom
in?
Well
2000 years
ago
a man
walked
on this
earth
who did
the kinds
of things
that only
God
could do.
he began
to heal
people.
He began
to raise
the dead.
He controlled
nature with
just a word.
A man
who did
what only
God could
do.
His name
we know
is Jesus
and yet
he repeatedly
referred to
himself as
the
son of
man.
Jesus
knew the
vision of
Daniel 7
and he
knew that
he was
verse 13
the one
like a
son of
man who
was given
authority and
glory and
sovereign power.
In fact
when Jesus
faced his
own beastly
execution and
trial under
the Roman
Empire we
read this
keep your
finger in
Daniel 7
but just
flick forward
to Mark
chapter 14.
So Jesus
knew what
it was to
be under
the beast
of the
Roman Empire
and their
terrible
persecution
and opposition.
Mark 14
verse 61.
So here's
Jesus just
before his
execution his
trial has
begun.
The end of
verse 61 he's
asked the
question are
you the
Christ the
son of the
blessed one?
Are you
are you God?
Do you say
your God?
I am
said Jesus
and you
will see
the son
of man
sitting at
the right
hand of
the mighty
one and
coming on
the clouds
of heaven.
Today
Jesus is
saying to
them you
judge me
me.
But a
day will
come when
I will
judge you.
One day
you will
stand before
my throne
because I
am the
son of
man with
all power
and all
authority
and you
along with
all creation
will be
silent and
listen to
me.
Jesus'
words were
not just
empty.
He proved
what he
said as
he rose
from the
grave.
With
absolute
power and
supreme
authority
Jesus defeated
and destroyed
his enemy
and he
reigns and
he rules
and one
day he
is going
to come
again on
the clouds
of heaven.
And one
day we
too will
face this
son of
man.
One day
we will
all be
gathered and
we will
stand before
his throne
and judgment
will take
place.
But for
the saints
for those
who love
him for
those who
worship him
for those
who follow
him and
entrust
their lives
to the
son of
man Jesus
Christ the
one with
all power
and all
authority
they will
not face
the eternal
punishment
instead
Daniel chapter
7 verse
18 the
saints of
the most
high will
receive the
kingdom and
will possess
it forever
yes forever
and forever
this is what
God will
do
this is
what will
happen
the beauty
with all
his glory
and all
his power
will come
again and
destroy once
and for
all the
terrifying
and frightening
beast
let's
pray
father we
see an
amazing
vision
in your
words
something that
terrifies us
as we look
out on the
world and
see the wars
the violence
the aggression
of one nation
towards another
the rise of
rulers
and the
things that
they do
to people
but yet
we also
see in
this vision
the beauty
and the
glory
of a
mighty
king
one who
did not
stay
immune to
the suffering
but one
that entered
in
we thank
you that
one day
the risen
Lord Jesus
will come
again
on the
clouds of
heaven with
all power
and authority
and glory
and every
eye will
see him
and everyone
will know
that he
has come
universal
judgment
will happen
and those
who have
been against
him
will be
punished
eternally
but those
who trust
him
will live
forever
in his
kingdom
and will
rule over
the nations
and the
kingdoms of
this earth
forever
and forever
we praise
you and
thank you
that you
are a
great
God
we bow
and we
worship
you
and trust
you with
all of our
lives
amen
we're going
to sing
in response
to what
we've been
you