The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

If you'd please take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter seven, we will talk tonight about the reality of spiritual warfare Seems to me loved ones that there has been in the last 40 or 50 years a paradigm shift if I can use that overused phrase Don't know better way to describe it But there has been a paradigm shift in the way we look at the spiritual life and that the ministry of the church in fact The way we look at the church itself I remember a few years ago back back in 1985 when a felony Gordon MacDonald had become the president of World Vision he was interviewed by a Christian Christianity today magazine. He is the son of the pastor of Baptist pastor from Kansas and I believe this father was a grandfather. Excuse me was also minister and he mentioned in that in that interview that things had changed in the way this post-war baby boomer generation that he was part of the way they looked at the ministry of the church. He said that in my father's time meaning prior to World War II that the The ministry was always referred to in terms of Military terms there was the change of command and they talked about objectives and spiritual warfare and its Struggles with the spiritual enemies and so forth and he said in his generation Things had shift from military motif to a business one that they talked about management by objectives and Task forces and study groups and committees and Marketing the church through church group. He said that in a very Non-judgmental manner. He was just saying it's a matter of fact I don't know where the Gordon MacDonald approved of that or disapproved of it or just was stating the facts But it struck me I like a two-by-four between the eyes that perhaps we were not looking at things properly and I think that that paradigm shift has been Not good for the church. I think it's been hurtful to us. It's harmed us in our approach to our calling in life I believe that the Bible Always presents the Christian life in terms of a struggle of a warfare It is never anywhere that I am aware of in the Bible indicated that God is managing the business and Yet that's how we approach things. I think even in I think we can see this in two different dimensions of our life I think that oftentimes the Christian life is reduced to a technique or two Some kind of program. There's a evangelism explosion that in 16 weeks will make you a faithful witness and there's a program called Experiencing God 13 weeks to spiritual renewal and there's now programs to turn your son and Three few months into a spiritual night a man of God and so forth and Those things in my estimation you probably noticed that I don't really jump behind sonship and and Promise keepers and all those things because I believe that Fundamentally and principally they're flawed. They promise to do things for you and a rather quick way Through some easy steps that simply can't be accomplished And I think that in the long run even though they do have many purposes that are good I mean, I'm not telling you not to be involved in these things What I do worry about is that we put our hope in these things rather than in the Lord Jesus Christ and that we Anticipate that things like godliness holding this and successful marriages and in mature Christian kids are gonna come about because we use the right Techniques rather than just by slugging it out and getting knocked down and getting Standing up and struggling on you know, there's no tiny Efficient way to run a war you just have to punch it out and slug it out and struggle until you the last man standing Which Christ is assured you that you will be in his grace I also think it affects the way we run the church the way we see the ministry is something that could be applied can can be managed well and Can be handled by policies and procedures and different techniques Rather than just remaining faithful as the Psalmist says rather than dwelling in the land and cultivating faithfulness There seems to be a restlessness and an impatience in the ministry almost like there is an American business in American business. I remember when I was studying to get the MBA That the principal difference between us and the Japanese was that they were willing to take a loss on a brand new product or a new venture For as long as three or four years in order to ultimately succeed the American business would never take a loss More than three quarters in the law in a row before they cut their losses and turn to some new venture Americans want it quick. They want it successful quickly If they don't see results they become restless and wonder what's wrong? And I see that often in the church. I think the real danger behind that is that we eventually Convince ourselves that we can handle it without too much help or the Holy Spirit I think there can also be some sinister even subconscious Motivation to be in control of the church and of course keep ourselves from being forced out of our comfort zone and having to do anything Where where where with all we might fail and yet that is exactly the way Jesus Christ presents The Christian life as a great struggle where times we will fail We'll suffer to beat will lose certain engagements that ultimately we will win the war It is to say the least to make the understatement of the decade It is the age of Bill Hybles and George Barna rather than a W. Tozer in Donald Gray Barnhouse And all of this I think goes back to the fundamental problem is that we forget that God is a warrior I hope you remember that just a few weeks ago when we began this series of Things most surely believe the very first thing we looked at was the greatness of God and the text we chose to look at was Exodus chapter 15 that said this Then Moses and the sons of Israel saying this great song to the Lord I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted the horse and the writer he has curled into the sea The Lord is my strength and song he has become my salvation This is my God and I will praise it my father's God and I will extol him The Lord is a warrior of the Lord is his name various chariots and his army he has cast into the sea and the choices of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea The enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will abide the spoil my desire shall be gratified against them I will draw out my sword my hand shall destroy them The thou that's blow with thy wind and the sea cover them they sank like lead in the mighty waters the Lord shall reign forever and ever God makes no bones about it He is involved in a holy war in his own divine jihad In some great cosmic conflict we read about just a few of the passage of the hundreds it seems Passages in the scripture to talk about this great warfare It's something that the saints have often devoted themselves to I remember in fact. I'm in the process of I remember a few years ago Knox Chamberlain mentioned This book the city of God written by Santa Gusta and I'd heard it Reference hundreds of times it seems in my Christian life and so I went out and bought it I find out that it's not a book It's a library. It's 22 books and I'm halfway through it But it's a wonderful piece of writing where Santa Gusta says that in this world there are two cities the city of men Which he says as the paradigm is Rome and the city of God which is the church and they are in great conflict And the gussain is explaining he wrote this by the way Around the time right after the city of Rome fell to the to the Visigoths And he writes about why they fell because of their spiritual rock Because of their godlessness and prophecy and how the kingdom of God was going to fill the gap Martin Luther another man believed in warfare He seems a little bit archaic, but I then again We love to sing that him a mighty fortress is our god a boy Never failing Talks about the right man being on our side the man of God's own cheesy talks about a hero uses the imagery of the Old Testament where David is the champion of Israel and Goliath the champion of listing squared off Monomonal man demand to decide what today would be He talks about the this world with devils filled but threatened to undo us We will not fear for God has willed his truth to try him through us Talks about letting goods and kindred go. He talks about the body that will ever leave you killed by these people But he says in that final grand phrase at the end his kingdom is forever Martin Luther lived and died under this military motif The Puritans wrote a great deal about this William Gornel wrote a huge poem entitled the Christian and complete armor And the most detailed exposition of the seasons chapter six that you could ever imagine And around the time that he's writing there were other books like William Goose the whole armor of God and John Downing The Christian warfare and Richard Baxter the certainty of the world of spirits evil and warfare And William Perkins the combat between Christ and the devil John Bunyan himself was thrown into prison for 12 years And in the process went blind writing different works and one of them was the story that is not as famous as The one about the pilgrim in his progress But probably is actually a better piece of writing called the holy war It was part and parcel of old pastoral theology to talk about struggles and spirituality And spiritual warfare A.A. Alexander back in 1844 wrote a book entitled about thoughts on religious experience He said this often Christians who have finally hoped that the enemy was slain in the victory one and in consequence ceased to watch and pray are suddenly assailed and overcome by the deceitfulness of sin Christians are more injured in this warfare by the insidious and secret influence of their enemies Lulling them into the sleep of carnal security than by all of the entities open and violent assaults No duty is more necessary in maintaining this conflict than watchfulness Unseasing villages Unseasing vigilance is indispensable I'm happy to say that that more modern writers are beginning to rediscover This biblical paradigm of spiritual warfare Trump and Longman and Daniel Reed have written the book god the warrior And the man named Brian Zachariah says written a little booklet which is a kind of a survey of all the Puritan ideas about spiritual warfare entitled the embattled Christian Gregory Boyd has written the book god at war in which he says The warfare worldview is not only shared by most biblical authors, but is central for the whole new testament The way in which the scriptural portrays this warfare differs specifically significantly from that of most other cultures For in the bible's worldview There is this assumption that there is only one eternal god one champion whose character is perfect And who is the omnipotent creator and sustainer and rightful ruler of all It is nevertheless clear that the biblical authors do espouse a warfare worldview that demonstrates many Simularities to the warfare worldview of other cultures and other religions We're not the only ones that appears Who believe that we in this world are in some great spiritual conflict it seems to be in the back in the base of man's mind To know that all of these evil things are not happening by chance Or because the universe is mismanaged But because there are evil forces martialed against us even within us God writes about these things We've read some of these texts. Psalm 2 Why are the nations in an uproar and the people's devising the vain thing the kings of the ureth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed and they say Let us tear their fetus apart and cast away their cords from us It's no coincidence that Jesus Christ Initiates his public ministry by saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of god is at hand He's throwing down the darkness He's letting people know that he's not come here to be a nice guy and to manage a nifty little program That with very little inconvenience get us into the kingdom of god. He's come here to declare war He says and Matthew chapter 11 and from the days of John the Baptist even until now The kingdom of heaven suffers the violence and violent men take it by force He said his disciples he was not with me is against me and he who does not gather to me. I will scatter them Paul talks about this about us being delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Jesus Christ He says in second Corinthians for though we walk in the flesh We do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh But divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses We're destroying speculations and every lofty thing Raised up against the knowledge of god who we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ He talks about putting on the spiritual armor and guarding ourselves against the fiery missiles of the devil He says in his last school in tezmitman in second Timothy I have fought the good fight of faith. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith The Lord will believe me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom to him be glory forever and ever Amen. We just read about this great war fair in heaven and the dragon was enraged with the woman and will off to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ It seems to me that in all these things most surely believe the things me the moon the main thing we most surely have forgotten May well be that we are in a great spiritual warfare I remember and have my family and I always laugh about this whenever we watch that wonderful movie gone with the wind uh Sherman is about to make ruin of the great city of Atlanta in fact. He's on the outskirts and you can see the flames in the background And four Melanie is right in the middle of the back. She's just a delivered a little child and she's not feeling well So ret butler and and scarler hair and everybody's trying to get her in the buckboard to get her out of town And remember aunt pity pat She's worried about somebody locked in the front door so the china won't get chipped And the doctor says good heavens woman This is who are not a garden party Well folks Sometimes we act like Most important thing to do at church is to make sure that the coffee tastes right the air conditioning is comfortable And he doesn't go too long But good heavens people This is war Not a garden party I don't miss interpret that I'm not against you tonight I'm not taking the word about God out to slay you But we should be equipped here for the great conflict That we're undergoing and we've got to keep this warfare mentality in the back of our mind all the time That's why this text before us is so fundamentally important this Daniel chapter seven It is unfortunate it seems that we have argued so much over the uh over the predictive prophetic A nature of this text and missed I think it's real important It's really not fundamentally And in its main purpose to tell us what's going to happen way down the line in the future It's not the interpretive key to the book of revelation or vice versa But it is to remind us that we are in a great spiritual conflict It is I think the most important chapter in the book of Daniel And others feel that way and W. Portia says this is the heart of the book of Daniel Eaton says It would be no exaggeration to say that this chapter is one of the most important passages in all of the Old Testament J.J. Collins calls this the transitional chapter of Daniel and it is The first six chapters of Daniel basically are written in the first person He writes about himself And he writes about I'm sorry written in the third person. They're written about him About him and Chad back and Lee shack and a bed to go. They're more historical They talk about his early life as a young man and being taken off and six oh five in the deportation to To mavalon and how he was reared there on the court and became one of the uh great Advisors and interpreters of the King's dreams But in chapter seven it changes and it goes from the third person to the first person Daniel becomes the main character and no longer does Daniel talk to the church About what was going on in his life he talks to the world About what's going on in the world around on them Stephen Miller says Daniel seven marks the literary turning point of the book from the historical accounts to his visions Thus this passage effectively joins the two parts of the book together This chapter is important because of its enormous impact on all the subsequent jewish litter literature known as the apocalyptic That's what makes Daniel seven to twelve so difficult It's not just regular prophecy and it's not narrative history. It's apocalyptic. It's hideous and volatile It's full of visions and dreams and weird things and and it's difficult for us to interpret the key To understanding apocalyptic literature is to let the apocalyptic interpret itself And it's like a parable Not every detail in the parable is to be interpreted The parable just has one major point. That's all And the same thing with apocalyptic vision Each symbol has one point and all of the details don't have to be interpreted and oftentimes are not And so it is with this chapter we don't understand certain things about it But we understand it enough to know that what Daniel is setting before us Is a picture of how that cosmic struggle that we read about and revelation chapter 12 and 13 is translated Into the visible realm of this world into history and space and time and how the church interfaces with all of a hostile Powers around it on behalf of Jesus Christ and his kingdom Daniel begins with these words in the first year of bell shazor king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as it lay on his bed Then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it So this would be in the first year of bell shazor king of Babylon's reign That means in the year 553 BC that would have been the 52nd year of their 70 years in captivity 14 years before Babylon was to fall tomato Persia in the year 539 These visions come and introduce Daniel to great changes on the world scene that would affect the kingdom of God What Daniel is being told is that their anticipation that after these 70 years they would go back to Israel And leave and live happily ever after is not going to come about That's why it's so disconcerting to him That's why even at the end of this chapter in the very last verse. He's still unsettled by what he sees John Calvin says the faithful must have grown weary and to fall in the way unless they had been admonished of the various disturbances which were at hand This then is the first reason why God revealed to his prophet what we shall soon see namely the three monarchs Yet remained each of which should succeed the former and that during them all the faithful should endure permanently And constantly in reliance upon the promises although they should see the whole world shaken and severe and distressing convulsions prevailing everywhere The 70th year was now at hand and God had then promised them at the end of their troubles that he would return them to the land Now God announces that they must not indulge in their hope of rest and joy but rather prepare them Some themselves for sustaining the rush of the fiercest winds as the world would be everywhere agitated by different storms God indeed had not changed his plans. He would not go back on his promises Yet he wished to prepare the Jews against the lay Lester should break down the courage with which they would be required for them to meet such great afflictions But when redemption really approaches then God explains its method more fully infamilian And showed how great and severe were these remaining struggles in this great spiritual conflict So what God is doing is preparing his people for the long haul This particular text text is a preacher's dream because it outlines itself It begins with one verse that's an introduction It ends with the verses of conclusion in between on equal amount of verses the first 14 verses make up the first part of this chapter The dreams of this cosmic warfare the second 14 verses make up the second part the visions explained of this cosmic warfare And each of those parts are divided equally in parts into two subsequent visions So what God is doing here to the Jews and to us is to showing us that we are engaged in a life that will never escape the reality of spiritual warfare It's part and parcel to living in this world. You're going to be involved in warfare on one side or the other You just need to be prepared for it Here's what he says in this first vision Visions of the cosmic warfare And notice that the key phrase is I kept looking in the night visions every time Daniel says I kept looking in the night visions Another major point is made in the apocalyptic vision And here's the first one the visions of the worldly empires that he and the people of God would experience Verses two through eight Daniel said I was looking in my vision at night And behold four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea and four great beasts were coming up from the sea Different from one another the first was like a lion and had 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 was also given to it and behold another beast the second one to be resembling a bear And it was raised up on one side and three ribs ran its mouth between its teeth Now thus they said to it arise devour a much meat 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 us To it and after this I kept looking in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong 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 ones 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 boast or could be translated great blasphemy Daniel sees Four wings that had been stirring up the sea of picture of political and social upheaval all through the scripture old testament And new testament alike the sea is the symbol of the human experience of politics and society in disruption Gleason Archer says the sea is symbolic of polluted turbulent humanity as they tried to exploit and govern in their own wisdom and in their own strength driver calls the sea the agitated world of nation or H.C. Newpole says the waters royally with filth present the picture of the continual inequity and filth that the unrest of the world brings to life It's a picture of the turmoil you notice in the book of Revelation that all of the ugly beast rise out of the sea And when there's a new heaven and a new earth the scripture says in their new heaven and a new earth there is no sea There is no disruption of politics and economics And power play and warfare and intrigue and all of that It is common to speak of the four winds of the earth blowing Meaning that universally from north and south and east and west wherever you turn The winds of change in the wind of times blow across the the history of the social political movements and ideas and ism stirring things up constantly like the wind whips up a sea for a storm In fact the book of Jude says of evil men these men are those who are hidden reefs in your loved Feast when they feast with you without fear caring for themselves clouds without water carried along by winds autumn trees without fruit doubly dead uprooted wild ways that we'll see testing up their foam like Their shame like foam wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever These men who are coming out of the sea are just as filthy and shameful and as violent and turbulent as the sea itself and out of the sea out of Torment and and turmoil of the sea comes four beasts four great beasts He says in chapter three we're coming up from the sea different from one another in verse 17 We learned that these four beasts which are four in number are the four kings who will rise from the earth One kingdom arising after another conquering the subset of the previous one and being conquered by the one that follows The first beast is obviously the beast of Babylon the kingdom of Babylon Verse four the first was like a lion and had 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 was also given to it. This is a lion with wings with a man's head Which is the symbol the royal symbol of Babylon In their temples and in their gates and before all of the great public buildings on either side of the steps ascending to that building There was always a lion with eagle's wings and on his head was the head of the reigning monarch I have seen these very statues The Daniel saw on his day in the British Museum in London They are lions with eagle's wings and a man's head. They are symbols of the Babylonian empire They are made to stand on two feet like a man and a human mind was also given to it Indicating that they rose above a Syria which also had that same symbol and was that sister empire and conquered it to the great man Knowness Nebuchadnezzar The king under whom Daniel was taken from Jerusalem in captivity and brought into subjection and service The second beast is the empire of meadow Persia of the media Medianites and the Persians Daniel 7 verse 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 most they said to it arise devour much meat This is a bear that is arched up on one side as if it's walking So that one side is higher than the other more than likely symbolizing the two peoples that make up the one empire of meadow Persia The Persians becoming greater and more powerful than the media nights and Cyrus conquering them and eventually conquering Babylon The brown Syrian bear weighed up to 250 pounds and had a voracious appetite and was known as one of the most fierce hunters and And carnival animals around it was a big strong vicious predator It had in its mouth three ribs More than likely the free success of empires that the meadow Persians conquered on their way to their supremacy Lydia in 546 BC Babylon in 539 BC and Egypt in 525 BC That's why it says to them The men in the vision say arise devour much meat because the meadow Persian empire went beyond the Babylonian empire and devoured many more people Extending the limits of its empire to twice that of Babylon Then comes the third beast that is even bigger and more vicious the beast of Greece And 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 what The next empire to come along at the meadow Persia was the Macedonian empire the Greek empire of Alexander the Great He invaded the Persian empire and 334 BC when he was only 22 years old blonde blue eye Handsome and homosexual He was probably the best general that is ever walked the face of the earth The Egyptians after he captured the capital city of Egypt declared him the son of raw The son of the sun god They called him so tear the savior by the age of 32 in 10 years His empire stretched from northern Greece, Macedonia all the way south to Ethiopia And from North Africa all the way over to India Legend has it that at the age of 32 When he stood on the river separating the empire between India and Asia Minor he wept and turned to his generals and said There are no more kingdom to conquer Let's go home He never made it home He died of malaria at the age of 34 35 His kingdom was like a leopard He was an amazingly agile commander his army was swift They seemed to to win by surprise they always won with Against overwhelming odds because of maneuvers he would sweep around the side or jump upon somebody in ambush It like a leopard that is a is a is a is a widely stealthy predator With wings he would swiftly go and conquer things would fall before him with amazing Amazing ease and quickness And this beast also had for his more than likely the four generals who took over His empire and divided it up after he died Antipater who took over Greece and Macedonia Lissamaka who took over Thrace and Asia Minor Selukis first Nikaina who took over Syria Babylon and the southern part of Asia Minor And Patalamese so tear the first who took over Egypt and Palestine which included Israel This great kingdom did not last that long Long came the fourth kingdom a fourth beast which is the empire of Rome 7 and 8 and This I kept looking at in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrifying 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 other beasts that were before it and it had ten horns While us a 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 being old this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and the mouth uttering great boasts This iron beast that is not animal-like That is that J. Montgomery says defies zoological category Is a great iron beast with iron teeth its jaws are powerful so when it latches on to its prey it crushes it and nothing escapes its grass It has iron feet that crush and trample all the other nations It devours and crushes and tramples down those of the expressions All the remainder it takes all of it was Babylon's and all that was Persia's and all that was Greece's and adds to it It becomes a greater stronger empire than any empire that had ever existed before it It went all the way eventually From England and Scotland in the north all the way down to the Sudan It conquered all of the Mediterranean went into Eastern Russia Into Eastern Europe and touched into the islands of India taking part of India itself It was a massive empire Not like the other empires before it like a lot like the other beast politically it was different Much more well-organized It was not dependent upon one man the emperor Contrary to what we think and at his own structure of law and culture and government and efficiency that made it last a long long time Five times longer than any empire that had ever been before it spiritually it was different it well Stein says it was an incredible might and cruelty of Rome that apparently it was depicted by Daniel's fourth beast Just as this monster was different from all the others sold the Roman Empire different from those that had preceded it Rome possessed the power and a longevity unlike anything the world had ever known Nations were crushed under the iron boot of the Roman legions and its power was virtually irresistible and the extent of its influence Surpassed all the other three kingdom It was a kingdom that seemed in Daniel's vision to last forever at least to the end of time And had ten horns which we've often discussed and will be described in just a few moments as a series of kings that come at There was little horn that rose up in it. It was blasphemous and and smaller at first They've been larger than all the others than had the eyes of a man Indicating wisdom and information and intelligence and a mouth undering great boast Blasphemous things came out of its mouth and about the time that Daniel was appalled with this his attention was given to a second Now his his idea is a transported in his mind from earth to heaven and he catches a second vision This time the vision of God's throne room in heaven beginning in verse 9 And I kept looking till thrones were set up and the ancient of days took a seat His vesture was like white snow and the hair of his head was like pure wool His throne was ablaze with flames its wheels were a burning fire a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him Thousands of on thousands were tending him and myriads if on myriads were standing before him The courts sat in the books were open Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking And I kept looking until the beast was slain and his body was destroyed and given to the burning fire Asked for the rest of the beast their dominion was taken away An extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like the 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 people 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 I want you to notice something interesting here, which I find ironic That the visions of these terrible human kingdoms are in grotesque gargoylish form Of combinations of different parts of beast as if they are unnatural against gods created order And organized by improper estimation of different parts But the visions of heaven of God the Father in Jesus Christ or in the form of a man An old man and handsome young son the son of man are the visions that Daniel sees of the men in heaven and the God they serve As if the visions in heaven makes sense more sense to him than the visions on earth and they are certainly More pleasant and palatable to his mind and soul to see he sees first of all This vision of God's throne room where he sees the ancient of days God like an old man sitting on a throne and the people are attending him and the courtroom is set almost like it's about to go into trial All of the nations are brought before him all of these rulers are rebelled against him And all of the books all of the evidence are open up the court sat and the books were open Joyce Baldwin says the description builds up to the climax Judgment is about to begin and the court is seated and the written evidence produced for god has his books prepared for that day It is laid before him as exhibit one Then in rides this handsome young prince the one Gerson recalls the hero of it all Luke old says this vision of the almighty god and his son presents a scene of superlative heavenly glory One of the grandest word paintings done by the prophets Incomes the son of man he is presented before the ancient of days The symbolism here is that of a military victory Christ is the conquering general He is the crown prince who has left the throne Of his father gone out into these empires Conquered these beasts brought them back under the minion and now strides confidently up to the throne of his father to receive what is rightfully his The scepter to rule the nations which is exactly what god said He would give to Jesus Christ in Psalm 2 and in Psalm 110 He would give him the scepter that he would rule the nations with a mirrored of iron and shatter them like earth and wear Daniel says to him was given dominion Grew in a kingdom that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him And might serve him in his dominion which is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed For unto us the sun is born a child is born unto us a sun is given There will be no end to the increase of his government or this peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it To uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this This Jesus Christ is portrayed here on the glory of judgment day Where all of these great kings and great kingdoms come before him all that have warred against him and last themed him in his father And he has brought them just as 1 Corinthians 15 said He has brought all things under subjection that he might put all things under subjection to god who was overall and in all and above all And that is the picture here By the way folks He looks amazingly like his father The ancient of days says white hair and flaming iris the fire and a white robe And glory shines all around him In the first chapter of the book of Revelation John says I turned to see that voice that was speaking to me And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the golden lampstands one like a son of man Closed in a room reaching to his feet and a girdle of gold across his breast and his head in his hair were white like wool Like snow and his eyes were the flame of fire and his feet were like burnished bronze when it's been caused to blow Hocken the furnace and his voice was booming like the sound of many waters He looks like his father Because he is God of God Lord of lords King of kings the picture here is that the conflict is over Daniel never really gets to see what these beasts do Before they can do any more damaged than Trouble his soul. They are all of the sudden in his mind in his dream before the ancient of days on their feet And on their face before the son of man But somehow still Daniel is troubled So he turns to one of the angels and he says What do these things mean and in particular he asks again and again in his passage Tell me about that fourth beast Very quickly running out of time. Let's look at the interpretation of these visions And I've given you a lot of the interpretation already But the interpretation of this cosmic warfare is in this second part beginning in verse 15 First of all the vision and the interpretation of the victory of God over the first three kingdoms As for me Daniel my spirit was distressed within me and the vision in my mind kept alarming me And I approached one of those who was standing who were standing by and asked him Exact meaning of all this so he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things These great beasts which are foreign number are four kings who 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 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 which with which it devoured crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet And the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before the which three of them fell Namely that horn which has eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates I kept looking in the horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 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 says I asked one of these angels one of these ones standing in heaven. What do these things mean? And this angel more than likely the one who has given him all his other interpretations gave Bill says Well, these are different kings that arise And they persecute the saints and war against them even overcoming them for a season But eventually the ancient of days Takes the kingdom and gives it to his Children he calls them saints of the highest one or what the old king James called saints of the most high god And they receive the dominion in the kingdom that is forever Not these kingdoms He assures him that god the father Will through his saints have a great victory over the kingdoms of the earth, but that's not enough to Daniel He wants to know about that fourth beast the one that is different from all the rest So he gets an answer and that is division interpreted the victory of Christ over the fourth beast beginning in verse 23 Thus I said the fourth beast will be a fourth king 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 As for the den horns out of these king kingdom 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 And he will speak out against the most high

This of the kingdoms under the whole 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 At this point the revelation ended as for me Daniel my thoughts were greatly alarmed Greatly alarming me in my face from pale but I kept the matter to myself Now the angel says to Daniel this fourth kingdom Is different from all of the other kingdoms The first thing we notice is that there is not one king but ten that arise out of them Many people interpret these ten To be the first ten dynasties of the Roman Empire Julius Caesar who started the Julio Claudian Empire Augustus Tiberius Claudius Caligula Nero who was the great persecutor of Paul and Peter put them both to death then three Kings right within a year's time Called the kings of the civil war Galba authored the telly is usually counted as one dynasty and then the Flavian dynasty of this Possean and his son Tias Who in 70 AD destroyed Jerusalem and burned the temple to the ground and then Domitian the persecutor of the days of John when he wrote the book of Revelation But I doubt that these ten horns are those ten specific kings rather The number ten is a symbolical number as the number seven is as the number three is Three is the number of divine perfection Seven is the number of divine completion Ten is another number of completion in process or cycle in human affairs or in time In fact, when you cube that number ten times ten times ten you have a thousand which makes the millennium Which means the completion of all time Here what the angel was saying is that he's indicating as E.J. Young said a multiplicity of rulers and kingdoms And an indefinite number of potentates There are many kings who come out of this fourth beast That's why he is different from all the rest and he'd last for so long Rome you see goes on and on it on it becomes both the pattern four and the progenitor of all the empires Since the time of the Caesars H.C. Leopold I think catches the gist of what the angel is saying today. I know what Daniel's saying to us It may be correctly argued that the pattern of empire developed and adopted by the Romans Has been followed by practically all the succeeding world powers Roman law is still said to be the pattern of jurisprudence in the world Roman classic literature Dominates the literature produce sense that time in fact the powers that can be said to have Anything like world dominion or segments of the old Roman Empire and so the fourth beast is still in a sense alive The Rome was overthrown. It flatters our vanity but little that the Bible does not seem to deem our modern achievements Inventions and forms of progress in science and arts worthy of separate mention They are really something that were latent in Roman achievement and an outcoming to the surface These considerations at least help us appreciate the point of view taken in these visions That's true, I think My son Doesn't necessarily like Latin He's asked me why do I have to study Latin an old dead language I tell him because most languages in the western world come from it And most of our words have their derivation in Latin

There's a second reason I by the way, you know, it's interesting why did why did Hitler call his Nazi Empire the Third Reich You know Because Rome was the first The Holy Roman Empire was the second and he determined to be the third He even used in his armies as a military standard the Roman legions marching symbol They used to march with an eagle that had the symbol of the emperor on it They marched with an eagle in the swastika Even if the old Roman soldiers used to march with a leopard skin over their head or a lion's mane over their head as they carried the standard So did the Nazi soldiers They mimicked Rome down to the minute detail There's a second reason that this empire is like none of the others and goes on and on It is the deification of the state of man's laws and man's ways and a human leaders It is the empire of the anti-Christ now before you get up and say oh boy hear me out I don't believe that the anti-Christ is a man The anti-Christ is a spirit What you to turn with me to first John for a moment first John Anti-Christ by the way doesn't mean against Christ. It literally means in Greek another Christ someone who is a pretender As our Savior protector in King Namely and most often the government or apostate religion or institutions and people in power in secular humanism First John chapter two verse 18 children It is the last hour and just as you have heard that anti-Christ is coming even so now many anti-Christ have arisen From this we know that it is the last hour Chapter two verse 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the anti-Christ the one who denies the Father and the Son Chapter four verse three and then we spirit that is not confess Jesus is not from God And this is the spirit of the anti-Christ of which you have already heard that it is coming and now is already in the world It's a spirit of anti-Christ. It's a mindset to reject the gospel There are many anti-Christ in this world Luper is right. This little horn that is a full it has a big mouth and a big ego pretends to be God is the personification of the anti-Christ spirit It is the figurative presentation of the horn Designed to include all the manifestations of the anti-Christ that may be expected after Christ resurrection to the end of time That's what it is He speaks against the most either three things about his Anti-Christian empire the spirit of the evil one ultimately the anti-Christ is the devil And he speaks through institutions and men and apostate religions. He does three things Daniel's Angel tells him he speaks out against the most high is the proponent of a godless Read religionless secular postmodern world view a society without God Secondly, he wears down the saints of the highest one He persecutes the church wears them down, but he's not able to stomp them out And thirdly, he intends to make alterations in times and laws these have to be certainly religious Terms that Daniel's using here times meaning religious holidays changing holy days in the holidays Changing the week to get rid of God getting rid of the Sabbath They kind of like the the French Revolution went from a seven-day week to a ten-day week in order to eliminate the Sabbath And to change and make alterations and laws To do away with religious statutes and ethics to change what is considered right and wrong to legalize abortion To make marriage and infidel and make marriage easy to get out of an infidelity okay To do away with blue laws to protect the Sabbath to make it like they're doing an Alabama against the law for children to play a prey and even talk about Christ on any campus He will attempt to do these things to revise the calendars and revise the codes But he will not succeed for very long Ultimately He will fail Jesus Christ the true Christ We'll bring the anti-Christ system to nothing Verse 26 But the court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away annihilated 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 His kingdom that is Christ would be an everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey him Now let me just close with this I know we're getting we're over our time here There are literally dozens of we could stay here and come back next Sunday and make a whole hours Long service out of the applications. Let me just make sure that I think Might escape our notice that are not so obvious first of all Evil will succeed in this life always for a season but never forever Evil will succeed in this life always for a season but never forever We've debated for decades this little I mean this is the thing that nobody can understand about Daniel It probably sounds eric at the night and understand it. I'm not sure I do But I think that this is the most logical And an reasonable explanation of that phrase that he will be given dominion And they will be given into his hands that is the saints will be given into the hands of this anti-Christ in his empire for a time and times and half a time We've speculated that that's three and a half years or 42 months or one thousand two and sixty days or whether it's the middle of the tribulation All these sorts of things I think mainly it's an apocalyptic term that does not state so much length of time But pattern of progress and decline It means that there will be a time when evil will rapidly shoot to the top Will appear to be winning the day taking the field and and for times it will appear for rain supreme But then in half a time very suddenly it will Inflod Turn on itself self-destruct and come to nothing which is exactly what has happened to all the great and evil empires of the world And is exactly the pattern of spiritual decline where evil rises of the dark ages where things seem to be lost and the gospel appears to be gone And then all of the sudden Long comes the Holy Spirit who pours forth the spirit of Christ on us again and gives us a reformation and revival There will be times brethren when it appears that we are losing the whole war That that is never the ultimate truth For times and times and half a time evil may prevail But in the end it always will collapse evil will always implode on itself By its very nature. It is destructive and evil men with evil motives and evil doctrines can never hold it together for very long Usually God doesn't have to do anything but let evil take its course and it will run itself to death The second application is that the world's evil kingdoms will grow They will prevail But so will the kingdom of God In fact It is futile I think to argue about whether the world is getting worse Or the kingdom of God is triumphant because both are happening simultaneously Paul says in second timidly the evil men and imposter will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived But he also says Jesus Christ I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it It is true that evil will prosper This this fourth beast will continue to last until Jesus returns But so will the kingdom of Christ in fact they are growing it appears to me Both and then a climactic pattern to a great crescendo in history where the final battle will take place I think if you'll allow me to just have a personal opinion that is rather futile to be either pre-millennial Or post-millennial to be pre-millennial and overly pessimistic about the future of the church and the progress of evil and I think just as As frustrating to be post-millennial and to try to convince yourself that evil is really declining and the church is winning at all Neither one of those two work Evil continues to prosper and so does the kingdom of God Joyce Baldwin says the writer was not encouraged to see in history Evolutionary progress, but rather the reverse Modern technological progress in no way embaledates this judgment for it is international justice peace and human rights Contentment and fulfillment that are in mind and in these realms it would be hard to argue that there has ever been any progress These things these two powers the kingdom of the other Christ and the kingdom of the son of man will continue to grow in Marshall their forces until one day Jesus Christ will reel back rip open the heavens like a scroll Mount his great white steed as he's pictured in In row in the revelation and come down and out of his own mouth will slay evil and bring it to nothing We're going to see evil continue to grow But so will the kingdom of God we need to put on spiritual glasses to see where Christ is trying on thing and not ignore the fact that evil is getting worse Thirdly We do best to look for anti-Christ where they are most likely to be found and to be aware of them I think one of the things mistakes we make is because we don't want to get into all that Literal interpretation and arguments about which particular guy is the anti-Christ Bill Clinton or Henry Kissinger or Adolf Hitler but that we just ignore the subject altogether John has told us that there are many anti-Christ There are found principally in the governments In the kingdoms of men in institutions of secular humanism and in positions of power and apostate godless anti-gospel worldly religions We've got to stop looking for the anti-Christ and see anti-Christ This may shock you and it may offend some of you But old H.C. loophole an old Lutheran pastor and a teacher at the capital university in Columbus, Ohio wrote these words We also hold that in stating that the Pope is the anti-Christ the Lutheran confessions were absolutely correct Much as some men have derided and belittled that view Such building grows out of forgetting how furally the reformers understood the papacy Presidate shalinus of understandings in this respect leads to shalinus of interpretations Though the papacy may be the Outstanding manifestation of the anti-Christ to date that does not exclude other possibilities of fulfillment of this passage There are many places in which the spirit of anti-Christ is manifested Even in Washington D.C Even in the republican party As well as the democrats In the university where you send your young people in thread they try purposely to undermine the faith of Jesus Christ They ridicule the things of god In business where they all want you to go through their yoga classes as our you know practice Zen Buddhaism or do your meditative moment But they get upset if you bring a bible work and put it on your desk The spirit of the anti-Christ is all around us We need to be aware of that if we don't know where to look for this evil will be overcome by its deception And it's defilement and it's leopard-like swiftness In jumping on our neck Lastly fourthly and lastly we ought to take seriously this whole subject of the reality of spiritual warfare And be shaped by its truth just as Daniel obviously was by these visions He said as for me Daniel my spirit was distressed within me the visions in my mind kept alarming me At this point the revelation came to an end as for me Daniel my thoughts were greatly alarmed And my phrase grew pale but I kept these matters to myself Daniel says to look at these things and to have these things explained was unsettling to me I did not like what God told me I didn't like it in the beginning I didn't like it in the middle of me was all done I still didn't like it anymore But I kept pondering these things in my mind We've got to get over brethren the idea that somehow we can manage our faith to the point where it's comfortable for us To subsist in this world until God can suck us up to glory and get out of it all No for no no We've got to develop a warfare mentality not a fortress mentality Not bitter mean spirited harsh and combative but rather we've got to become the people focused on the great conflict all around us for the souls of men Our armor is not To demonstrate to chain ourselves to the abortion door To preach for legislation To condemn people Castigate him for Godless behavior The weapons of our warfare are divinely powerful And at the same time they are surprisingly positive and lovely They are the girdle of truth The breastplate of righteousness The shoes of the gospel The helmet of salvation the shield of faith the sword of the word of God and the reinforcement of praying saints The great army of the Lord We've got to start thinking That if we manage things We lose it all If we fight we win the souls of men are at stake The kingdom of God hangs in the balance Christ will deliver his kingdom the question is will we Be with him in that great struggle Acid on the sidelines just wait Crounds and thrones may perish Kingdoms rise and wane But the cross about the church of Jesus constant will remain Gates of hell can never against that church prevail We have Christ on promise and that cannot fail Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus Going on before A little math time tonight to sing that him Let's remember that as we go home and sing it in the hearts and let's pray Father we thank you for this great warrior this great champion This hero this captain Jesus Christ Who will deliver his church his kingdom to you Who will conquer all those opposed him who will not bow the knee to Christ the Savior and Lord who will Let his church be afflicted and and wearyed and even overcome for a season that will not forsake them This one who will give them the dominion And the power and the glory along with himself This one who was set around The ancient of days thrones upon which they will sit for judgment Against those of the anti-Christ who made their life and faith and their Their fight for Jesus Christ and his truth so miserable We thank you for our ultimate victory We ask you to do what you did in David's heart in mind Don't let these things go away from us tough on us up Help us to face these realities develop a warrior's tenacity and and to train ourselves and Godliness And in the proper use of this divine panoply of weaponry that we can use for Defending ourselves and protecting our families and winning our loved ones and friends to Jesus Christ We will conquer the nations in Christ of this we are sure With truth and through prayer Why the power of the spirit and the love of the brethren We need you to remind us of these things and to do this good work of grace in our life Deliver us from evil Thy kingdom come Thy will be done This we pray oh ancient of days in the name of the Son of man Your crown prince and our lord and savior Jesus the risen Christ the victor amen Now the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you and the Lord Lift of the scoundrel that's upon you and give you his peace amen