General Session 7: Triumph through Promise - Abner Chou
00:00:00.500 | - Good afternoon.
00:00:01.920 | It is such a joy to be with you all.
00:00:05.880 | I am so thankful, not only to proclaim the word of God,
00:00:10.520 | but to sing with you all.
00:00:13.020 | I think there are so many evidences and illustrations
00:00:17.100 | of truth triumphing as we walk through
00:00:19.640 | the text of scripture, but one of them is us being together
00:00:26.400 | and us singing together and the weight of one voice
00:00:31.400 | crying out the same truth.
00:00:35.920 | Though we are scattered to the ends of the earth,
00:00:38.880 | we can come together and declare in one accord
00:00:43.400 | the universal, eternal truth of the word of God in song.
00:00:47.380 | That is indicative that truth has triumphed.
00:00:51.940 | That truth has triumphed to the ends of the earth.
00:00:55.440 | It has gone not only far and wide, but deep into the soul
00:00:59.940 | to regenerate the heart so that we all have
00:01:02.840 | the same affections and we all love the same Christ
00:01:07.440 | and he means to us the same thing
00:01:11.560 | who occupies the greatest love of our heart.
00:01:14.780 | It's an honor to be with you brothers.
00:01:18.000 | We are a band of brothers together
00:01:22.840 | and that bond is indicative that truth triumphs.
00:01:27.840 | Never forget that.
00:01:29.640 | Well, shall we dedicate this time to the Lord?
00:01:34.560 | Our God and Father, may it be that even now
00:01:41.280 | you instill in our heart a burning desire
00:01:47.080 | for your name to be honored,
00:01:50.040 | for the things of this world to grow dim,
00:01:53.880 | and for the bright glories of heaven to be exalted,
00:01:58.880 | and that your son will be put on high,
00:02:01.480 | higher than he ever has been in our hearts and our souls.
00:02:05.600 | And we ask this not for our own sake,
00:02:09.520 | but for the sake of your son through whom and for whom
00:02:14.520 | are all things ordained, that he would be magnified,
00:02:19.800 | that he would be accentuated,
00:02:23.480 | that the heights of his glory and the depths of who he is
00:02:29.400 | would be able to be expounded into our finite
00:02:32.160 | and limited minds, and that every fiber of our being
00:02:35.800 | would be captured unto him now.
00:02:38.120 | And that we would love him and love your plan
00:02:42.600 | and know all of your promise and thereby persevere.
00:02:48.400 | Persevere unto a great moment
00:02:53.400 | when heaven declares to the earth
00:02:58.120 | the worthiness of the one who has always been worthy.
00:03:02.100 | And so may this time, O God, be one of great worship.
00:03:06.360 | Grant us clarity of speech and clarity of thought
00:03:09.880 | so that you would be honored
00:03:13.520 | the way you always have deserved to be honored.
00:03:18.240 | And we ask this in your name, amen.
00:03:22.280 | When we think about the matter of perseverance,
00:03:27.360 | there are several principles that we could talk about
00:03:30.600 | that fortify our soul to endurance.
00:03:34.600 | But one of the keys to perseverance,
00:03:37.640 | one of the keys to perseverance is this reality,
00:03:41.800 | that truth triumphs.
00:03:44.440 | Well, what do you say to yourself
00:03:46.000 | when you face setback and discouragement and adversity?
00:03:49.320 | Well, what do you say to yourself in trial?
00:03:52.680 | Well, what we don't do in trial
00:03:54.760 | and what we don't do in discouragement and setback
00:03:57.260 | is look to ourselves, to our own resources,
00:04:01.080 | to our own wisdom, our strength, our ability, our scheming.
00:04:05.700 | That's a recipe for disaster
00:04:08.800 | because we're just not that inspiring in those moments.
00:04:12.640 | And to be even more frank,
00:04:14.720 | we're probably the reason half the time
00:04:17.080 | that we are in those difficulties.
00:04:19.640 | No, brothers, we don't look to ourselves.
00:04:23.480 | We look to Christ.
00:04:25.180 | We look to his glory.
00:04:26.760 | We look to his majesty.
00:04:28.280 | We look to his person.
00:04:29.760 | We look to the one who has gone before us,
00:04:32.280 | the one who has gone to the cross
00:04:34.200 | and one who has gone to death
00:04:35.920 | and overcome death in the resurrection
00:04:38.560 | and the one who will return and overcome all things.
00:04:43.560 | Truth triumphs.
00:04:46.680 | And that is what compels us
00:04:49.160 | in the hardest of circumstances
00:04:51.080 | to say with all of our might,
00:04:53.160 | though this moment might be formidable
00:04:55.920 | and it might be fearsome,
00:04:58.040 | this does not have the last say our God does.
00:05:02.560 | And his word is final.
00:05:05.680 | What do we tell ourselves?
00:05:07.480 | We tell ourselves in those moments
00:05:09.400 | and steel in our heart, truth triumphs.
00:05:13.000 | That's the secret to perseverance.
00:05:17.640 | And my responsibility this afternoon
00:05:19.520 | is to take you to the moment,
00:05:22.380 | the initiation of the moment where truth triumphs.
00:05:27.280 | Turn with me to Daniel chapter seven.
00:05:30.580 | Daniel chapter seven.
00:05:34.320 | Now as you turn there,
00:05:35.240 | you might be wondering,
00:05:37.240 | how do you know that this is the moment
00:05:39.000 | that truth triumphs?
00:05:39.960 | How is it really that this text is so compelling?
00:05:43.520 | And perhaps some of you are still wondering
00:05:46.200 | about the underlying assumption,
00:05:48.120 | is it really that truth triumphs
00:05:50.640 | can persevere and preserve the soul?
00:05:53.440 | Can it really facilitate endurance?
00:05:56.100 | The answer to all these questions
00:05:57.960 | can be found in nothing other than the life of Daniel.
00:06:03.360 | Think about this for a second with me.
00:06:05.760 | Daniel's life is absolutely remarkable
00:06:09.600 | if you stop and think about it.
00:06:11.820 | Throughout the whole scriptures,
00:06:13.360 | we know that the Bible portrays human characters
00:06:16.560 | from Abraham to Moses to Peter and Paul,
00:06:19.920 | both with the good and the bad,
00:06:22.020 | so that you have a circumspect perspective
00:06:24.400 | about these individuals.
00:06:26.720 | But it is absolutely then astonishing
00:06:29.860 | that scripture portrays Daniel purely in his integrity.
00:06:34.860 | That is the only comment that the scripture gives
00:06:38.980 | on this man.
00:06:41.860 | And indeed, if you think about this person,
00:06:45.180 | he is uncompromising to God.
00:06:47.180 | He is consistent.
00:06:48.420 | He is faithful.
00:06:49.900 | He is unwavering.
00:06:51.540 | He is absolutely dedicated.
00:06:54.020 | And he is that even in the most difficult,
00:06:56.760 | the most threatening,
00:06:58.020 | the most life-threatening of times.
00:07:01.220 | When there is risk and there is danger,
00:07:03.260 | he is still steadfast.
00:07:06.980 | Sometimes we say, "Man, my life's so hard.
00:07:09.900 | "It's like they're throwing me to the lions."
00:07:12.020 | Daniel was thrown to the lions.
00:07:14.260 | The guy's existence invented the phrase.
00:07:18.460 | You know, when Daniel was eight or 10 or 12 or 13,
00:07:24.500 | depending on how you wanna do the dating of Daniel one,
00:07:27.580 | he was more mature than the entire internet combined.
00:07:32.100 | (congregation laughing)
00:07:34.500 | I know, that's a low bar, but you understand my point.
00:07:37.620 | Daniel's life is so remarkable that in Daniel six,
00:07:43.260 | when his enemies put him under the microscope,
00:07:46.180 | the highest scrutiny,
00:07:47.540 | all that they could find out about him
00:07:49.740 | was that he was loyal and faithful to his God.
00:07:53.700 | That is astounding to think about,
00:07:56.140 | that his dedication is so unwavering and so unrelenting
00:08:01.140 | that he had a faithfulness
00:08:04.500 | that eradicated all moral liabilities.
00:08:07.780 | And the only thing his opponents could see in his life
00:08:11.100 | was the only thing in his life,
00:08:13.580 | the loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:08:15.800 | That is an astounding life.
00:08:18.580 | And it would be amazing if he had that for a week.
00:08:21.760 | I would want that for a week or a month or years.
00:08:26.760 | But the scripture is clear.
00:08:30.280 | Daniel lived like that under the microscope in danger,
00:08:34.080 | within political intrigue, with political schemes,
00:08:37.240 | in different kingdoms, in different empires,
00:08:39.560 | in different regimes, day in, day out,
00:08:43.520 | every day of his life for over 80 years.
00:08:46.440 | And no one ever saw him change from that.
00:08:51.820 | That's an amazing life, an amazing life.
00:08:56.180 | I want a life like that.
00:08:57.380 | And the question is, what made him tick?
00:09:01.580 | What made him do that?
00:09:04.500 | What drove him?
00:09:06.100 | What held him in those moments
00:09:09.220 | when there is so much danger surrounding him?
00:09:12.460 | What did he think about?
00:09:14.020 | What was his motivation?
00:09:16.940 | We don't have to speculate.
00:09:18.740 | We don't have to speculate.
00:09:20.620 | It's Daniel chapter seven.
00:09:22.740 | You say, how do you know that?
00:09:23.740 | Well, here's one way to think about it.
00:09:25.460 | Daniel seven is the point of all of Daniel's thinking.
00:09:30.460 | Daniel seven is the point of all of Daniel's thinking.
00:09:34.300 | Daniel, in the book of Daniel,
00:09:36.260 | has been narrating an argument that God is still sovereign.
00:09:40.900 | God is still sovereign, chapter one of Daniel,
00:09:43.460 | even when Israel is sent into exile
00:09:45.580 | as evidenced by the life of Daniel and his friends.
00:09:49.220 | God is still sovereign in Daniel chapter two
00:09:51.620 | because God alone is the one who ordains dreams
00:09:55.380 | and can interpret them.
00:09:56.580 | And this dream dictates the course of history
00:09:59.380 | of all the world.
00:10:00.700 | God is still sovereign in Daniel chapter three,
00:10:03.540 | even when Nebuchadnezzar challenges the plan
00:10:06.180 | that is revealed in Daniel chapter two.
00:10:08.660 | And in Daniel chapter four, God is still sovereign
00:10:11.440 | when Nebuchadnezzar doesn't just challenge God's plan,
00:10:14.100 | he challenges God himself,
00:10:15.900 | assuming that his Nebuchadnezzar was a self-made man
00:10:19.580 | and God shows him, if I'm not sovereign over you,
00:10:22.900 | if I'm not the one who dictates it,
00:10:24.740 | you'll just eat grass like an animal.
00:10:26.720 | God is still sovereign.
00:10:29.660 | God is still sovereign in chapter five
00:10:31.440 | as one kingdom gives way to another kingdom
00:10:34.260 | and just as God had prophesied and planned.
00:10:37.260 | And in Daniel chapter six, God is still sovereign
00:10:40.060 | in a new regime with new dangers,
00:10:42.140 | but nevertheless, the same God rules.
00:10:44.940 | God is still sovereign.
00:10:46.420 | And so God has shown chapter after chapter after chapter
00:10:49.660 | a progression that every king and every kingdom
00:10:52.580 | and every plan and every nuance
00:10:54.820 | is under the sovereign dictate of God.
00:10:56.940 | He is still sovereign and therefore,
00:10:59.220 | all of God's plan is moving through all of history
00:11:02.440 | to a point, to an outcome, Daniel chapter seven.
00:11:06.940 | Daniel seven is the outcome.
00:11:09.280 | It is the point of everything Daniel has been thinking
00:11:12.860 | and everything flows to it and everything flows from it.
00:11:16.500 | But here's another way to think about it.
00:11:18.220 | The book of Daniel was not written chronologically
00:11:21.140 | and there are 12 chapters in the book of Daniel
00:11:25.880 | and guess what chapter is right in the middle of the book?
00:11:30.820 | Daniel chapter seven.
00:11:33.760 | Why is it in the middle of the book?
00:11:36.980 | It's really simple.
00:11:38.420 | It's central to the book
00:11:40.820 | because it's central to Daniel's soul.
00:11:43.140 | Daniel tells you what is his heartbeat.
00:11:47.880 | Daniel tells us what he prizes.
00:11:50.800 | Daniel explains to us what is at the center of his own heart
00:11:55.660 | and what he thought about and what he looked forward to
00:11:58.460 | and what captured him and what drove him
00:12:01.020 | in all of the trials and all of the opposition
00:12:03.620 | and all of the danger so that day after day after day,
00:12:06.620 | he would persevere and endure in faithfulness.
00:12:09.940 | It is Daniel chapter seven.
00:12:11.660 | Why?
00:12:12.500 | Because this is the moment that truth triumphs.
00:12:15.780 | This is the moment Daniel was waiting for
00:12:18.860 | and it captured his life to the very end.
00:12:22.260 | Now, we use that phrase, the moment we've been waiting for
00:12:27.180 | in all kinds of ways, very often in life.
00:12:30.180 | Kids will use it for holidays, for birthdays and Christmas
00:12:34.220 | because that's when they get presents.
00:12:36.500 | And students will use this is the moment
00:12:38.260 | I've been waiting for to talk about graduation
00:12:40.820 | or getting married or getting a job.
00:12:43.380 | And people will use that term when they have a job
00:12:46.060 | to talk about getting a promotion.
00:12:47.980 | And adults will use that term,
00:12:49.860 | this is the moment we've been waiting for
00:12:51.960 | when they become parents and have children.
00:12:53.980 | And then they'll also use that term
00:12:55.580 | when their children leave and when they become grandparents.
00:12:59.440 | People use this term all the time.
00:13:03.340 | You may have a moment you are waiting for.
00:13:05.780 | It's called dinner.
00:13:07.700 | (congregation laughing)
00:13:09.780 | We all have moments that we are waiting for
00:13:12.140 | and they compel us, they drive us,
00:13:14.940 | they give us perspective, they give us determination.
00:13:19.260 | That's the nature of a moment you are waiting for.
00:13:22.940 | And while we may have many moments we are waiting for,
00:13:25.700 | here's what Daniel says about Daniel 7.
00:13:28.020 | This is the moment.
00:13:29.120 | This is the moment you are waiting for.
00:13:32.660 | This is the moment that truth triumphs.
00:13:35.040 | This is the moment you are waiting for.
00:13:38.100 | And Daniel in Daniel 7 provides three realities,
00:13:42.340 | three realities that help us to understand this moment
00:13:46.700 | and help us to understand this moment
00:13:48.700 | as the moment that truth triumphs,
00:13:51.020 | the moment that we are waiting for,
00:13:52.940 | and the moment then that we go back to
00:13:55.520 | over and over and over again like Daniel did
00:14:00.060 | so that we would persevere to the end.
00:14:02.860 | Truth triumphs through promise.
00:14:05.200 | Truth triumphs through prophecy.
00:14:07.600 | And that's what we have right here in Daniel 7.
00:14:11.340 | Three realities in Daniel 7, 1 through 14.
00:14:16.340 | And with this in mind, let's talk about the first
00:14:20.660 | of those three realities.
00:14:23.180 | This is the moment that history waits for.
00:14:28.480 | This is the moment that history waits for.
00:14:31.120 | And we see this in verses 1 through 8, 1 through 8.
00:14:36.040 | Immediately in this vision, what we understand
00:14:39.060 | is that this vision was revealed
00:14:40.760 | with a design toward perseverance.
00:14:42.860 | In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon,
00:14:46.220 | this is a moment that is after Daniel chapter 2,
00:14:49.740 | but before, of course, the kingdom of Babylon falls.
00:14:53.060 | The advent of Belshazzar, king of Babylon,
00:14:56.940 | was marked by tremendous instability,
00:14:59.700 | tremendous political intrigue,
00:15:01.760 | and therefore tremendous danger to Daniel's life.
00:15:05.340 | And so God reveals a vision to Daniel
00:15:08.420 | in order to give him absolute assurance
00:15:11.220 | that God's plan is going through,
00:15:12.940 | to give him absolute stability in the storm.
00:15:15.860 | This vision is all about instilling endurance.
00:15:19.940 | And within this, this vision is the vision of visions,
00:15:22.940 | as verse 1 recounts.
00:15:24.580 | Daniel saw a dream and visions.
00:15:27.000 | This vision is so powerful because it sums up,
00:15:30.340 | it brings together all the dreams and visions that he's had.
00:15:33.520 | And in fact, this vision is so much of a vision,
00:15:35.880 | it's not just one vision,
00:15:37.200 | it's visions, plural, in his head as he laid on his bed.
00:15:41.760 | This vision is so captivating, this vision is so central,
00:15:45.160 | that Daniel ensures that he wrote the dream down
00:15:48.720 | in perpetuity to preserve it.
00:15:51.240 | And he also made sure to not only give
00:15:53.640 | every single detail about it, but the summary of the matter,
00:15:56.900 | so that everyone knew every detail and what it all meant.
00:16:00.880 | This is an epic vision.
00:16:02.920 | This is the vision that is determining of all visions.
00:16:06.680 | This is central to divine revelation.
00:16:10.240 | And in thinking about this then,
00:16:13.320 | there's a question that arises.
00:16:14.920 | And what arises is, if this vision is supposed to be
00:16:18.600 | the summary of all other visions, bringing them all together,
00:16:21.460 | why doesn't Daniel 7 just match other visions
00:16:25.080 | in the book of Daniel, like in Daniel chapter 2?
00:16:28.380 | For example, there's a lot of correlations between them.
00:16:31.140 | We know that they're parallel.
00:16:32.960 | Daniel 2 has four metals.
00:16:34.820 | Daniel 7 has four beasts.
00:16:36.720 | Daniel 2 has a fourth metal that has 10 toes.
00:16:40.900 | And in Daniel 7, you have 10 horns.
00:16:43.800 | And there's a metal in Daniel 2 with iron.
00:16:46.700 | And in Daniel 7, it describes a beast with iron teeth.
00:16:50.020 | There's absolute correspondence between these two visions.
00:16:53.240 | So, why couldn't Daniel be a little bit more American
00:16:57.280 | and just make them totally match in parallel?
00:17:00.360 | It'd just make our lives a lot easier.
00:17:02.480 | And the answer is in the imagery itself.
00:17:07.440 | Think about this with me.
00:17:08.480 | Survey this text with me.
00:17:10.280 | You have the wind, the sky of heaven, and the sea, verse 2.
00:17:15.280 | And then you have great beasts coming.
00:17:18.640 | And then after you have the great beasts coming,
00:17:20.440 | you have a man who rules over it all.
00:17:22.640 | Where do you have in the Bible
00:17:25.020 | that there's a mention of the sky,
00:17:27.160 | and then there's a mention of the sea,
00:17:28.880 | and then there's a mention of animals,
00:17:30.600 | and then there's a mention of even the creation of man?
00:17:34.240 | Genesis chapter 1.
00:17:37.320 | Daniel 7 is meant to match Genesis chapter 1,
00:17:42.020 | because the end will be just like the beginning,
00:17:47.280 | and more to the point.
00:17:48.400 | Genesis 1 has made a thesis.
00:17:50.880 | Genesis 1 has said, this is the way the world was made,
00:17:55.320 | and there is a man who is destined, Adam,
00:17:58.160 | to rule over this world.
00:18:00.520 | And the question that has been raised is a vital question.
00:18:03.720 | Who will fulfill Genesis 1?
00:18:07.080 | Who will fulfill the destiny of creation?
00:18:10.240 | Who will be the last Adam?
00:18:13.700 | And Daniel 7 is answering that question.
00:18:17.800 | Daniel 7, in the end, is showing who will fulfill the role
00:18:22.160 | of the one ordained from the beginning.
00:18:26.060 | And so the world, in its history,
00:18:28.520 | will present the top four candidates, shall we say,
00:18:31.560 | the top four propositions of who might be this final Adam.
00:18:36.560 | And it is four beasts, as Daniel 7, verse 2 discusses.
00:18:41.760 | Daniel answered and said,
00:18:42.920 | "I was looking in my vision by night,
00:18:44.540 | "and behold, the four winds of heaven
00:18:46.040 | "were stirring up the great sea,
00:18:47.340 | "and four beasts were coming up from the sea,
00:18:50.280 | "different from one another."
00:18:52.440 | Top four, top four.
00:18:54.800 | Here's the first one.
00:18:56.360 | Here's the first one, verse 4.
00:18:58.920 | "The first contender was like a lion,
00:19:00.780 | "and had the wings of an eagle.
00:19:02.320 | "I kept looking until its wings were plucked,
00:19:04.080 | "and it was lifted up from the ground
00:19:05.160 | "and made to stand on two feet like a man,
00:19:06.840 | "and a heart of a man was given to it."
00:19:09.320 | This should sound familiar in context.
00:19:11.720 | Who was like an animal, and then God restored his sanity?
00:19:15.840 | It is none other than Nebuchadnezzar.
00:19:18.320 | We know that.
00:19:19.480 | This is a description of Nebuchadnezzar.
00:19:21.640 | He is that contender.
00:19:23.120 | He is the king, and this is representative of the nation,
00:19:26.200 | then, and the kingdom of Babylon, verse 4.
00:19:30.020 | But herein, if you understand that,
00:19:33.640 | lies an important lesson and irony.
00:19:36.840 | Here you have the symbol, the mascot of Babylon.
00:19:40.960 | You even see in an archeological reliefs
00:19:43.500 | a lion, royal and regal,
00:19:45.960 | and having the wings of an eagle,
00:19:48.000 | swift and powerful.
00:19:50.360 | But when Nebuchadnezzar actually becomes that,
00:19:54.600 | because he does in Daniel 4,
00:19:56.960 | he gets on all fours,
00:19:58.940 | he starts growing hair like fur,
00:20:01.560 | he has talons and pinions like an eagle.
00:20:05.040 | That isn't the ultimate epitome of power
00:20:08.920 | and majesty and swiftness and royalty.
00:20:11.800 | When Nebuchadnezzar looks like that,
00:20:13.740 | that's the pinnacle of foolishness and folly.
00:20:18.040 | And here is what you learn,
00:20:19.960 | the height of man's power,
00:20:21.580 | what man thinks is so mighty,
00:20:23.900 | what man thinks is so exalted,
00:20:26.280 | what man thinks is so immensely strong.
00:20:30.200 | When God actually has that,
00:20:32.720 | when God actually sees that and observes that
00:20:37.220 | and causes it to take place,
00:20:39.160 | what ends up taking place is this,
00:20:41.360 | it is just foolishness before God.
00:20:43.720 | That's the strength of man.
00:20:45.800 | That's the strength of man.
00:20:47.320 | And even more, God makes the point,
00:20:51.000 | if it wasn't for God,
00:20:52.420 | you would just be a beast.
00:20:55.280 | The difference between you and might and insanity
00:20:59.840 | is not this vast line of our power
00:21:02.880 | and our wisdom and our might,
00:21:04.920 | no, it is the thin line that God says,
00:21:07.740 | you are this or not, that's it.
00:21:10.800 | And so Nebuchadnezzar,
00:21:12.120 | though one of the top four contenders,
00:21:14.280 | he goes off into the annals of history
00:21:16.480 | as one not the final man,
00:21:18.360 | one not the final Adam,
00:21:20.080 | instead, he's just an illustration
00:21:22.440 | of God's definitive sovereignty.
00:21:25.720 | That God is the definition,
00:21:27.260 | God is the defining factor
00:21:28.900 | of whether you make it or you don't,
00:21:30.920 | whether you're like an animal or not,
00:21:33.000 | and that's it.
00:21:34.560 | So the first guy's out,
00:21:35.680 | what about the second one?
00:21:37.560 | He comes afterwards, behold, another beast,
00:21:39.860 | the second one, verse five,
00:21:41.160 | in the likeness of a bear,
00:21:42.440 | and it was raised up on one side.
00:21:45.360 | This corresponds exactly to what you see in Daniel two,
00:21:48.440 | where the next metal, the next material,
00:21:51.480 | is corresponding to the shoulders of a statue.
00:21:54.880 | You have this binary pair in verse five as well,
00:21:58.260 | raised up on one side.
00:22:00.120 | And the reason that there's this couplet,
00:22:02.080 | the reason that there is this pairing
00:22:03.960 | is because you have a confederation in this nation,
00:22:07.760 | Medo-Persia, Medo-Persia and its king.
00:22:11.440 | And the Bible is so amazingly precise in this way,
00:22:15.440 | and then the Bible continues such prophetic precision.
00:22:18.440 | Notice the next part of verse five,
00:22:20.240 | and three ribs were in its mouth.
00:22:22.200 | Those three ribs are Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.
00:22:25.840 | Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.
00:22:27.880 | That's exactly the nations that Medo-Persia
00:22:30.720 | had to conquer to ascend into power.
00:22:33.460 | The Bible knew these things way before they ever happened.
00:22:37.740 | The three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth,
00:22:41.060 | and thus they said to it, "Arise, devour much meat."
00:22:46.060 | Medo-Persia conquered far more than Babylon ever did.
00:22:50.280 | It went to Egypt, it went to Central Asia,
00:22:53.220 | it even tackled Greece.
00:22:55.220 | And on the one hand, it illustrates,
00:22:56.700 | there will always be somebody better than you.
00:22:59.020 | There will always be somebody better than you.
00:23:01.380 | Babylon, and those in Babylon at the time of Daniel
00:23:03.540 | needed to know that.
00:23:04.380 | They thought they were the top empire of the world,
00:23:07.340 | and indeed, up to that time in history, they were.
00:23:09.660 | But there's always somebody better.
00:23:10.900 | There's always someone who's gonna conquer more.
00:23:12.460 | There's always somebody gonna be doing more.
00:23:14.340 | Be humble.
00:23:15.620 | But on the other hand, brothers, pay attention.
00:23:18.060 | Look at the text carefully.
00:23:19.600 | Notice what it says.
00:23:21.140 | And thus, they said to it, "Arise, devour much meat."
00:23:26.140 | Who's the they?
00:23:29.940 | Who's telling this bear, this nation of Medo-Persia,
00:23:34.940 | to do what it does?
00:23:37.220 | This they is heaven.
00:23:39.380 | This is heaven.
00:23:41.920 | And this is a reminder.
00:23:43.380 | Do you want to know why people can do what they do
00:23:47.980 | and go as far as they go?
00:23:50.020 | It is because God says, "Go here and no further."
00:23:54.440 | God is the determiner of everything and all the extent
00:23:58.900 | and all the success or even the failures of one's life.
00:24:02.860 | God says, "Go here and no further," not just to the sea,
00:24:06.820 | but to every single human and to every single king
00:24:10.380 | and to every single kingdom.
00:24:13.020 | We might be impressed with people,
00:24:14.620 | and we might think that they're self-made people,
00:24:16.380 | but that is not true.
00:24:17.940 | They only go as far as God tells them to,
00:24:21.180 | no further and no less.
00:24:23.540 | God not only has defining sovereignty,
00:24:25.860 | he uses the second beast, the kingdom of Medo-Persia,
00:24:29.700 | to show that he has determining sovereignty.
00:24:33.000 | Well, that beast didn't work out either.
00:24:35.700 | So what about the third one?
00:24:37.000 | There's another one.
00:24:38.120 | Verse six.
00:24:39.500 | "After this, I kept looking and behold another one,
00:24:41.540 | "like a leopard, which had on its back
00:24:43.320 | "four wings of a bird."
00:24:44.760 | This is the mascot of Greece.
00:24:47.420 | This is exactly the nature of Greece.
00:24:49.580 | You can even see this in reliefs and such.
00:24:51.860 | This is Greece before its time.
00:24:55.580 | This is prophetic with absolute precision,
00:24:58.220 | and that it had four wings on its back
00:25:00.140 | not only speak of its reach to the four corners
00:25:02.980 | of the earth, but its swiftness to do so
00:25:05.140 | as it was led by Alexander the Great,
00:25:07.340 | who at a very young age conquered the known world
00:25:09.900 | in rapid succession.
00:25:11.900 | And speaking of Alexander the Great,
00:25:13.540 | notice the next phrase.
00:25:14.460 | The beast also had four heads.
00:25:16.200 | Why four?
00:25:17.040 | Well, on the one hand, yes, it speaks again
00:25:19.220 | to the reach of Greece, but on the other hand,
00:25:21.540 | there were four generals that succeeded
00:25:23.280 | Alexander the Great.
00:25:24.380 | The prophetic precision here is astounding.
00:25:27.820 | Those four generals, Lysimachus, Cassander,
00:25:30.460 | Ptolemy, and Seleucus, how would you know
00:25:33.380 | about them ahead of time?
00:25:36.260 | It is a testimony to the inspiration of Scripture.
00:25:39.540 | And this beast, being so massive and so expansive,
00:25:46.640 | it still says in the text, though,
00:25:49.940 | look at the final phrase, and dominion was given to it.
00:25:54.940 | Notice the text does not say it gained dominion
00:25:58.540 | for itself.
00:25:59.900 | Dominion was given to it.
00:26:02.860 | And the question is, who gave it dominion?
00:26:07.500 | And the answer is God.
00:26:09.900 | Alexander the Great conquered a vast swath of territory,
00:26:14.420 | spanning the whole known world
00:26:16.340 | and even going as far as India.
00:26:19.340 | And we might be impressed with the breadth
00:26:21.100 | of people's accomplishments and the breadth
00:26:23.220 | of people's sovereignty and the breadth
00:26:25.020 | of people's domain and authority,
00:26:26.980 | but here's what we have to remember.
00:26:28.180 | And Alexander, he's just an illustration of this,
00:26:32.060 | that God's sovereignty controls the breadth
00:26:34.340 | of human ability, the breadth of human achievement,
00:26:37.460 | the breadth of human authority.
00:26:38.780 | That's all he is.
00:26:40.020 | That's all he is.
00:26:41.500 | And God not only controls the breadth
00:26:43.340 | of human ability and authority,
00:26:44.780 | he controls the height of it as well.
00:26:46.540 | And that's what we see in verses seven and eight.
00:26:48.540 | There's a fourth contender for who could be the final Adam.
00:26:51.940 | And in verses seven and eight we read,
00:26:53.740 | after this I kept looking in the night visions
00:26:55.580 | and behold, a fourth beast.
00:26:57.140 | There's the fourth contender.
00:26:58.460 | Fearsome, one who innately has terrifying might.
00:27:02.900 | And he is terrifying because he's so intimidating
00:27:05.620 | and he is extraordinarily strong.
00:27:08.540 | He is one who can actually exert
00:27:10.700 | all that force against others.
00:27:12.460 | This is a beast of a totally different caliber.
00:27:15.380 | And notice it says in verse seven, and it had iron teeth.
00:27:19.300 | This not only goes back to Daniel chapter two,
00:27:21.700 | which talks about the part of a statue,
00:27:23.980 | the image that had iron,
00:27:25.620 | but this explicitly refers to the nation of Rome.
00:27:29.140 | In fact, Rome was famed for having iron.
00:27:32.580 | They even had the Iron Legion.
00:27:35.780 | The Bible is so prophetic and so precise in its prophecy,
00:27:38.940 | it even knew the materials,
00:27:40.660 | the key materials a nation would use
00:27:42.740 | before the nation even existed.
00:27:45.300 | That's how precise it is.
00:27:47.380 | It's astounding to think about.
00:27:50.100 | And Rome, we know, did exactly what verse seven said it did.
00:27:54.700 | It says it devoured as it assimilated other nations
00:27:58.860 | and into itself and crushed
00:28:01.100 | to prevent any kind of resistance
00:28:03.180 | and then trampled them down in their own form of oppression
00:28:06.820 | the remainder with its feet.
00:28:08.460 | Rome did exactly that as it exerted total domination.
00:28:12.180 | And in that way, it was different
00:28:13.660 | from all the beasts that were before it.
00:28:15.580 | Rome had a much longer duration,
00:28:18.020 | much greater reach, and much greater influence,
00:28:20.660 | one that you could even argue extends through this very day
00:28:24.180 | and even into the Eschaton, speaking of which,
00:28:27.060 | notice the last phrase of verse seven,
00:28:28.820 | and it had 10 horns.
00:28:31.300 | So far, we have seen things
00:28:32.940 | that match with history very, very well, hand in glove.
00:28:37.300 | But all of a sudden, we read that this beast had 10 horns.
00:28:43.300 | Horns are a symbol of strength and a symbol of royalty.
00:28:46.860 | We can read that in the Psalms.
00:28:48.740 | That's a good place to look.
00:28:50.660 | And as such, normally, you have a king over a kingdom.
00:28:55.660 | But in this specific case,
00:28:57.420 | this kingdom becomes so large and so magnificent,
00:29:02.420 | it doesn't just have one king,
00:29:04.580 | it has the equivalent of 10 kings.
00:29:07.060 | You could think of it this way.
00:29:08.380 | This kingdom reaches a state where it is 10 times larger,
00:29:13.020 | 10 times wealthier, 10 times more powerful,
00:29:16.380 | 10 times more expansive than any other kingdom of this world.
00:29:20.980 | We have not seen that yet.
00:29:22.300 | And just like in Daniel 2,
00:29:24.580 | the 10 toes of the statue were part of a statue
00:29:27.980 | made with iron and clay, a new iteration,
00:29:31.940 | a new manifestation of the kingdom of Rome.
00:29:34.860 | You could say it's Rome 2.0, if you wanna say it that way.
00:29:39.260 | This is referring to the eschatological manifestation
00:29:43.180 | of Rome.
00:29:44.220 | This is referring to the culmination of Rome
00:29:47.140 | in the end times.
00:29:49.240 | It is 10 times a kingdom than any kingdom
00:29:53.380 | you have ever seen.
00:29:55.300 | It is the kingdom of the Antichrist.
00:29:58.960 | And in verse eight, while I was contemplating the horns,
00:30:02.260 | and Daniel has to think about this
00:30:04.260 | because he's not just focusing on kingdoms,
00:30:06.540 | he's focusing on who will be the final Adam,
00:30:08.900 | and there is a king coming out of this kingdom.
00:30:11.820 | As he's contemplating the horns, another horn,
00:30:15.440 | a little one, the underdog, came up among them,
00:30:19.380 | and three of the first horns were pulled up by the roots.
00:30:22.260 | This individual, this singular horn,
00:30:24.680 | this new ruler, underdog on the block,
00:30:28.140 | totally upends and totally distorts and disturbs
00:30:32.220 | the power structure, the political system
00:30:34.980 | of this world in the end times.
00:30:39.260 | It has to be powerful to be able to do that.
00:30:42.420 | It has to be gargantuanly mighty to be able to do that,
00:30:46.660 | and you could think of it this way.
00:30:47.980 | This king, this king is the climax
00:30:51.980 | of the climax of the climax.
00:30:53.940 | Already, Rome itself, as a fourth kingdom,
00:30:56.940 | is a climactic kingdom, different than all the rest.
00:31:00.020 | That's the climax.
00:31:01.080 | But then it will have an eschatological manifestation
00:31:04.260 | with 10 horns, a 10-kingdom confederacy,
00:31:07.540 | and so that's the climactic climax of this kingdom,
00:31:10.860 | and now what you have is an antichrist
00:31:13.380 | who's the climax of those two climaxes.
00:31:15.980 | He's the climax of Rome and its eschatological manifestation,
00:31:20.220 | the climax of the climax of the climax,
00:31:22.940 | and as such, he possesses eyes, it says,
00:31:26.820 | at the end of verse eight, like the eyes of a man.
00:31:30.480 | The antichrist will be the embodiment
00:31:33.060 | of all human intelligence, all human wisdom.
00:31:36.780 | He will be a genius like you've never seen before,
00:31:39.840 | a political genius.
00:31:41.500 | Just by way of illustration, in the book of Revelation,
00:31:44.300 | when we first meet the antichrist,
00:31:45.860 | he's riding on a white horse because he's a fake Christ,
00:31:48.620 | and he conquers the world, and it says he has a bow
00:31:51.940 | to conquer the world, but what's fascinating
00:31:54.200 | is there's no mention of arrows.
00:31:55.820 | How do you fight with a bow with no arrows?
00:32:00.420 | I don't know how to do that because I don't know Kung Fu,
00:32:03.220 | but the antichrist, he can conquer the world
00:32:09.720 | without firing a shot because he's a genius.
00:32:15.240 | He's a genius like you've never seen before.
00:32:19.160 | He possesses eyes like the eyes of a man,
00:32:22.140 | and even more than that, notice this,
00:32:24.560 | he has a mouth that speaks great boasts.
00:32:28.720 | That word boasts, its underlying root word
00:32:32.320 | is the word great, and you say, why does that matter?
00:32:35.300 | Because the word great is used very strategically
00:32:38.240 | in the book of Daniel, and it ultimately applies to
00:32:41.760 | and focuses on the statue, which was a what kind of statue
00:32:45.280 | in Daniel's vision, a great statue.
00:32:48.920 | The statue, the image in Daniel chapter two,
00:32:51.920 | not only represented different kingdoms,
00:32:53.980 | but collectively represented all of man's power,
00:32:57.520 | all of man's might, take all of history,
00:33:00.640 | all the nations, boil them all together,
00:33:03.440 | and assemble all of the authority and dominion of them,
00:33:06.520 | that is what the antichrist has.
00:33:08.880 | You could put it this way, he is the climax
00:33:10.920 | of the climax of the climax, and he is the consolidation
00:33:14.520 | of all human intellect, wisdom, power, and might in one.
00:33:18.920 | This is the earth's final, final proposition,
00:33:23.120 | final proposal of who could be the final Adam,
00:33:27.000 | but there couldn't be more wrong.
00:33:29.400 | God has allowed all of this to happen.
00:33:32.260 | God has raised up all of this,
00:33:34.640 | and there is a point to it all,
00:33:37.320 | and we can't miss that point.
00:33:38.640 | There are a lot of lessons that we can learn
00:33:41.060 | through this flow of history.
00:33:43.140 | We can learn lessons about God's sovereignty,
00:33:45.680 | that he has definitive sovereignty,
00:33:48.000 | whether you are man or beast is up to God.
00:33:50.640 | He has determinative sovereignty.
00:33:52.040 | How far you go is determined by God.
00:33:54.200 | How the breadth of man's authority
00:33:56.040 | or the height of man's authority,
00:33:57.440 | it's all determined by God, and those lessons would be true.
00:34:00.880 | There are important lessons in Daniel 7, 1 through 8
00:34:03.440 | about the nature of the word of God,
00:34:05.660 | that God can have just this prophetic accuracy,
00:34:09.040 | talking about kingdoms in succession
00:34:11.240 | and talking about them in such immaculate detail
00:34:14.040 | way before they happen.
00:34:15.640 | Put it this way, God can talk about what happens
00:34:18.220 | after Alexander the Great is dead
00:34:20.240 | before the guy is even born.
00:34:22.800 | That is how precise God is,
00:34:24.680 | and what that testifies is there is a God in heaven,
00:34:27.680 | and he knows everything,
00:34:29.200 | and not only does he know everything,
00:34:30.800 | he ordains everything,
00:34:32.280 | and not only does he ordain everything,
00:34:34.040 | he revealed it all right here.
00:34:36.800 | This text should be a cause for celebration
00:34:39.040 | because that is the nature of our God.
00:34:41.080 | And not only that, we not only learn lessons
00:34:44.360 | about God's sovereignty and the word of God,
00:34:46.240 | we learn lessons about eschatology.
00:34:48.860 | There are implications knowing that these four kingdoms come
00:34:51.360 | and an eschatological kingdom of the Antichrist will arise,
00:34:54.240 | and after that, Christ will return and set up his kingdom,
00:34:56.480 | just like we see in Daniel two and Daniel seven.
00:34:58.900 | There are implications of that,
00:35:00.600 | but brothers, don't miss the point.
00:35:03.000 | Don't miss the point.
00:35:04.480 | There is a reason why the imagery of this text
00:35:07.800 | is the way it is,
00:35:09.380 | because heaven has asked a question.
00:35:11.880 | Heaven has asked a question of all world history,
00:35:15.760 | and that question is who is the one who fulfills creation?
00:35:20.040 | Who is the one who is the destiny of this world?
00:35:23.240 | Who is the one who is the final Adam?
00:35:25.900 | That is the question of this world.
00:35:28.360 | That is the question of its history, and brothers,
00:35:31.600 | if that is the case,
00:35:33.960 | then we better be careful of getting distracted
00:35:37.840 | and disillusioned by fads and trends
00:35:41.000 | instead of proclaiming the main question
00:35:43.120 | of who is the last Adam and who is that worthy?
00:35:46.960 | Let me put it this way.
00:35:47.940 | If that's God's question, that better be our question,
00:35:51.560 | because that's the main point.
00:35:53.740 | Even more, though, even more, don't miss this.
00:35:57.600 | God didn't just ask a question in this text
00:36:00.660 | with the imagery.
00:36:01.960 | God gave an answer.
00:36:03.740 | There is a reason why before Daniel's eyes in this vision,
00:36:08.000 | there is king after king and kingdom after kingdom
00:36:11.560 | after kingdom, because all of history is flowing,
00:36:14.560 | and all of history is moving,
00:36:16.240 | and all of history is accelerating to the moment
00:36:19.040 | where heaven will give its answer.
00:36:22.080 | That's where history is going.
00:36:24.420 | The earth has made proposals.
00:36:26.280 | They've given us the top four mighty ones,
00:36:29.120 | and some of you here are wondering,
00:36:31.240 | where's the USA in this?
00:36:33.160 | U-S-A, U-S-A.
00:36:36.280 | (congregation laughing)
00:36:37.920 | Brothers, we didn't even make it into the top four.
00:36:40.980 | (congregation laughing)
00:36:47.200 | And that shows us the power that these men had in history
00:36:51.080 | we've never seen in our life.
00:36:53.280 | We've never seen in our life.
00:36:55.780 | But here's something else to know.
00:36:57.280 | Christ's power is still yet more.
00:37:00.840 | And along that line, history is moving,
00:37:03.960 | kingdom after kingdom, accelerating and flowing
00:37:07.200 | to the moment where earth offers its best solution,
00:37:10.180 | but that is no solution at all.
00:37:12.040 | And so earth will give way to heaven,
00:37:14.480 | and heaven will come down, and heaven will open up
00:37:17.640 | with all of its glory, and all of its brilliant light,
00:37:20.960 | and thunderous clarity, and will proclaim the answer,
00:37:24.120 | the answer that everyone has been looking for.
00:37:26.400 | Who is the final Adam?
00:37:27.800 | Who is the destiny of this world?
00:37:29.480 | Who is the one who fulfills Genesis one?
00:37:31.780 | It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:37:34.540 | There is a moment we are waiting for,
00:37:36.880 | and by God's design, all history waits for it.
00:37:41.340 | That is the truth of the matter.
00:37:43.160 | (congregation applauding)
00:37:46.660 | And brothers, since that is the case,
00:37:50.880 | then let us not keep our eyes fixed
00:37:53.720 | on the things of this world,
00:37:55.360 | and the things of the here and now.
00:37:57.120 | God is directing us to look to a future moment
00:38:00.400 | when heaven announces to earth,
00:38:02.440 | and heaven declares to earth, our eyes should turn there,
00:38:05.920 | and we should turn the eyes of our people there.
00:38:08.720 | There is a moment we are waiting for.
00:38:10.760 | All history is designed to wait for it,
00:38:13.160 | and so we should await for it as well.
00:38:16.920 | Well, in light of that, let's get to the moment, shall we?
00:38:19.920 | And that's found in verses nine through 12.
00:38:23.400 | That is found in verses nine through 12.
00:38:26.080 | And you could put it this way.
00:38:26.980 | The first reality we saw is that all history
00:38:29.000 | is waiting for this moment.
00:38:30.640 | The second reality is, anthropologically speaking,
00:38:34.880 | it is as if the Father is waiting for this moment.
00:38:38.420 | It is as if the Father is waiting for this moment.
00:38:41.640 | What is this moment like?
00:38:44.400 | I love the opening of this, verse nine.
00:38:46.920 | Daniel says, "I kept looking until thrones were set up."
00:38:51.040 | I love this.
00:38:52.920 | Whose thrones are those?
00:38:55.080 | And the Bible makes it clear, both by context,
00:39:01.280 | and even by later revelation, in confirmation,
00:39:04.520 | that these thrones are for the people of God.
00:39:07.480 | There are 24, 12 and 12, Israel and the church,
00:39:10.920 | for the elders of God and heaven,
00:39:14.160 | and for those who are all assembled around.
00:39:17.440 | And this would be so encouraging to Daniel,
00:39:20.000 | because this is God's moment,
00:39:21.640 | and God's message to Daniel.
00:39:23.160 | Daniel, I know you've been beaten up.
00:39:25.840 | I know you've been hunted.
00:39:27.240 | I know you've been persecuted every single day
00:39:30.340 | since you were 10, for your whole life.
00:39:34.560 | Let me tell you this, Daniel.
00:39:36.720 | You will reign in the end.
00:39:39.100 | Brothers, we may be beaten down,
00:39:44.280 | and we may be those who are trampled,
00:39:46.960 | not even to the extent that Daniel was,
00:39:49.840 | but we need to remember this, truth triumphs.
00:39:53.320 | Truth triumphs.
00:39:54.560 | It is exactly Paul's promise,
00:39:57.960 | that if we endure with him, we will what?
00:40:02.280 | Reign.
00:40:03.560 | Truth triumphs.
00:40:04.880 | That's what we have here.
00:40:06.560 | But the moment isn't about us.
00:40:09.680 | This moment is not about us.
00:40:11.880 | It is about our God.
00:40:14.320 | And our God, like any celebration,
00:40:17.120 | any wedding or any festival or any milestone,
00:40:20.560 | every detail, every single detail,
00:40:24.040 | is carefully orchestrated and designed and crafted
00:40:27.800 | to accentuate the grandeur of this occasion.
00:40:32.000 | And we can see that, for one,
00:40:33.720 | in everything about God is manifest to that end.
00:40:37.940 | And notice what the text says in verse nine,
00:40:39.680 | "And the Ancient of Days was seated."
00:40:42.800 | You say, Ancient of Days?
00:40:44.920 | Is God old?
00:40:46.740 | No, he's eternal.
00:40:49.060 | He's eternal.
00:40:51.020 | He is above time.
00:40:53.000 | He is beyond time.
00:40:55.960 | He transcends time.
00:40:58.120 | And only one who is so above and apart from time
00:41:02.560 | can define all time.
00:41:05.360 | Why does God appear here as the Ancient of Days?
00:41:08.640 | He is making a statement.
00:41:10.240 | From eternity past to eternity future,
00:41:12.980 | this is the moment.
00:41:15.460 | This is the moment that fulfills all time.
00:41:18.080 | This is the moment that fulfills all time.
00:41:19.840 | Notice what the text also describes about God in this text.
00:41:23.600 | His clothing was white like snow.
00:41:27.320 | We know that the priestly garments
00:41:29.160 | were supposed to be white.
00:41:30.440 | And we know that we were supposed to be cleansed
00:41:32.540 | white as snow, Isaiah chapter one.
00:41:34.760 | This is talking about holiness.
00:41:36.540 | This is talking about salvation.
00:41:38.180 | This is talking about redemption in that way.
00:41:41.120 | This is the moment that not only fulfills time,
00:41:43.400 | this is the moment that fulfills holiness and righteousness.
00:41:46.000 | And not only that, notice what else the text says
00:41:47.880 | about our God.
00:41:48.720 | "And the hair of his head was like pure wool."
00:41:51.800 | The scriptures describe those who have white hair
00:41:54.320 | and who have gray hair as those of immense wisdom.
00:41:57.680 | We can see this in Proverbs.
00:41:59.320 | "And though the wisdom of our God has been hidden
00:42:02.080 | "throughout the ages, and the wisdom of the cross
00:42:04.560 | "is hidden to those who are perishing,
00:42:06.460 | "there will be a day when the wisdom of God
00:42:08.440 | "is made abundantly clear, and every knee will bow,
00:42:11.360 | "and every mouth will be shut because they see
00:42:14.000 | "the brilliance of our God."
00:42:15.520 | This is that moment.
00:42:17.040 | This is that moment.
00:42:18.160 | And so everything about God is presented
00:42:21.180 | and manifested to show this will be the display
00:42:25.080 | of the sovereign God in all time, in all wisdom,
00:42:29.360 | in all righteousness.
00:42:31.800 | But it's not just everything about God.
00:42:34.000 | It's everything around God.
00:42:35.700 | Notice what the text says.
00:42:37.120 | "His throne," next part of verse nine,
00:42:39.700 | "was ablaze with fire, the epicenter of his authority,
00:42:43.320 | "the epicenter of his omnipotence,
00:42:45.460 | "the epicenter of his power, was focused on one thing,
00:42:50.280 | "ablaze with fire, the fire of destructive judgment."
00:42:54.960 | This will be the fulfillment of justice and judgment.
00:42:58.240 | And it won't just be the fulfillment
00:42:59.600 | of justice and judgment.
00:43:00.760 | It'll be the fulfillment of the world in that regard
00:43:03.560 | because notice the last phrase of verse nine,
00:43:05.460 | "Its wheels were a burning fire."
00:43:08.720 | It is very important that we remember
00:43:12.080 | that this chariot throne is a chariot throne.
00:43:15.640 | It'll come in view later.
00:43:17.480 | Ezekiel sees the same thing.
00:43:19.760 | He sees a throne with wheels within a wheel,
00:43:22.720 | symbolizing and demonstrating
00:43:24.520 | that not only is our God omnipotent, he's omnipresent.
00:43:27.640 | He can go anywhere at any time and strike anything.
00:43:31.600 | And with that, this blazing, fiery throne
00:43:34.720 | is going to judge every inch of this world.
00:43:38.880 | And that judgment will be final.
00:43:41.120 | Notice verse 10.
00:43:42.280 | "A river of fire was flowing and coming out from him."
00:43:46.180 | It is like there will be a deluge of fire
00:43:49.680 | that will consume the world.
00:43:52.100 | God flooded the world the first time
00:43:55.120 | and he promised never to do that again with water,
00:43:58.560 | but he never said anything about not doing it with fire.
00:44:02.160 | And the first judgment anticipates this final one.
00:44:06.880 | The first judgment was a warning.
00:44:09.500 | Water is God going easy.
00:44:12.000 | Fire is God going final.
00:44:15.680 | And God says, "I will destroy, I will judge
00:44:20.080 | "this entire world in a final judgment."
00:44:25.080 | He's going to do it with fire.
00:44:27.080 | That's why I'm green, 'cause I just wanna make sure
00:44:29.400 | there's plenty of kindling for the occasion.
00:44:32.080 | Just kidding.
00:44:35.600 | And so what you have is this is a moment that defines time.
00:44:42.560 | This is a moment that defines holiness.
00:44:44.380 | This is a moment that defines wisdom.
00:44:46.080 | This is a moment that fulfills judgment.
00:44:47.720 | And this is a moment that fulfills Earth and its history.
00:44:51.640 | Everything about God and everything around God
00:44:53.840 | is poised for this moment,
00:44:54.800 | but it's not just everything about or around God.
00:44:56.840 | It's everything alongside of God.
00:44:58.160 | Notice the last part of verse 10.
00:45:00.320 | "Thousands upon thousands were attending him."
00:45:03.000 | This moment doesn't just fulfill Earth.
00:45:05.400 | This moment fulfills heaven.
00:45:07.900 | It fulfills heaven as thousands upon thousands
00:45:11.040 | are standing at attention, ready to do God's bidding.
00:45:15.060 | Have you ever wondered what the phrase Yahweh of hosts means?
00:45:19.460 | Yahweh of the armies.
00:45:21.140 | Here you learn the lesson.
00:45:22.800 | He commands the armies of heaven,
00:45:24.700 | and the armies of heaven now are all assembled
00:45:27.400 | to execute his will.
00:45:28.980 | It is infallible, and it is also majestic,
00:45:31.980 | as myriads upon myriads were standing before him in salute.
00:45:36.980 | People, kings of old, gathered their courts together
00:45:40.420 | as a display of their power and their majesty
00:45:43.460 | and their glory, but those courtiers,
00:45:45.580 | they might be just 10 or 100, maybe 300.
00:45:49.100 | Here you have, before God, all of heaven assembled,
00:45:51.780 | 10,000 upon 10,000 upon 10,000,
00:45:54.380 | finally living out the destiny for which they were created.
00:45:57.540 | It is for this moment.
00:45:59.400 | This moment fulfills Earth, even as it fulfills.
00:46:01.980 | (silence)
00:46:04.140 | (silence)
00:46:06.300 | (silence)
00:46:08.460 | (silence)
00:46:10.620 | (silence)
00:46:12.780 | (silence)
00:46:14.940 | (silence)
00:46:17.100 | The very reason, in God's providence,
00:46:43.980 | that he ordained Daniel's name to be Daniel
00:46:47.660 | is to point to this moment.
00:46:51.100 | This is the moment that not only fulfills time
00:46:53.900 | and holiness and wisdom and judgment
00:46:56.380 | and Earth and all heaven,
00:46:58.440 | this is the moment that fulfills all revelation.
00:47:02.100 | And when you have that kind of moment
00:47:04.720 | that deals with time and holiness and wisdom
00:47:08.100 | and judgment, Earth and heaven and revelation,
00:47:10.700 | and everything around God and everything about God
00:47:14.220 | and everything alongside of God so craftily designed,
00:47:19.020 | then you know that that is the moment we are waiting for.
00:47:22.020 | And you know even more, anthropomorphically speaking,
00:47:25.220 | that is the moment the Father is waiting for.
00:47:28.340 | And this moment, this moment isn't just for show,
00:47:31.100 | it's effective.
00:47:31.920 | Notice verses 11 and 12.
00:47:34.060 | Here's what happens from heaven to Earth.
00:47:36.420 | Then I kept looking because of the sound
00:47:38.020 | of the great boastful words which the horn was speaking.
00:47:40.580 | The horn is at its pinnacle of greatness,
00:47:44.020 | assuming all the strength and all that embodies
00:47:46.940 | all the world nations of all history in and of himself.
00:47:51.940 | And in this pinnacle moment, what does it say?
00:47:54.980 | I kept looking until the beast was killed.
00:47:56.900 | He's defeated.
00:47:58.300 | This embodiment of evil, this embodiment of human might,
00:48:02.020 | this embodiment of human ingenuity is defeated.
00:48:05.600 | But it's not just that he's defeated.
00:48:06.860 | Notice, its body was destroyed.
00:48:09.540 | His entire kingdom, the entire system that he has set up,
00:48:13.460 | the most elaborate system celebrating man
00:48:16.620 | and celebrating earthly achievement, it is dismantled.
00:48:20.500 | Evil is dismantled in that way.
00:48:22.540 | But it's not just that there was defeat.
00:48:24.180 | It's not just that there was dismantling.
00:48:25.980 | There is damnation.
00:48:27.420 | Notice the last phrase.
00:48:28.820 | And given to the burning fire.
00:48:32.980 | Do you know what God does with evil in the end?
00:48:35.660 | He doesn't just defeat it.
00:48:38.340 | What he does is it is subjugated to eternal condemnation,
00:48:43.340 | eternal punishment, so that that evil,
00:48:47.220 | in its eternal punishment, will give glory to God
00:48:51.340 | and his righteousness forever.
00:48:53.860 | That is when really truth triumphs.
00:48:57.960 | And the extent of this is made clear, verse 12.
00:49:02.300 | As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away
00:49:05.100 | but an extension of life was given to them
00:49:06.900 | for an appointed season of time.
00:49:08.660 | On the one hand, these beasts pop up again.
00:49:11.900 | These other nations pop up.
00:49:13.260 | It's as if the fourth kingdom never even existed.
00:49:16.560 | It is so eradicated.
00:49:18.180 | It is so erased.
00:49:19.620 | It is so dealt with that it is gone.
00:49:22.740 | And all you have are the other beasts.
00:49:24.860 | But on the other hand, here's the question.
00:49:26.700 | Why was it, verse 12, that these beasts,
00:49:29.980 | their dominion was taken away?
00:49:33.660 | Because in this moment, this moment that deals with time
00:49:36.500 | and holiness and wisdom, heaven and earth
00:49:38.540 | and judgment and all revelation,
00:49:40.340 | this moment was designed so that it would strip everyone
00:49:45.100 | of any semblance of power, any semblance of rule,
00:49:48.980 | any semblance of might, any semblance of authority,
00:49:52.500 | so that there would be one and only one
00:49:55.540 | who possesses all of that by himself,
00:49:59.060 | and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:50:02.460 | Why is this the moment, in a sense,
00:50:04.860 | that the Father is waiting for?
00:50:06.300 | Because this is for his Son.
00:50:09.460 | This is when he gives his Son all that his Son deserves.
00:50:14.460 | This is the moment that truth triumphs.
00:50:18.700 | Everything in this moment is meant
00:50:21.120 | so that everything in this world
00:50:23.280 | will not only be made right,
00:50:24.940 | but not only be reconfigured,
00:50:26.640 | but will revolve around God's Son.
00:50:29.300 | And at that moment, when this takes place,
00:50:32.900 | it will be true that thy kingdom come
00:50:36.460 | and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
00:50:41.460 | That's when truth triumphs.
00:50:44.580 | And brothers, brothers then,
00:50:47.780 | when you are discouraged and when you face trial,
00:50:51.420 | and there are times in our heart we wonder,
00:50:53.700 | is this worth it?
00:50:55.020 | Should I just keep going?
00:50:56.580 | Or should I throw in the towel and call it quits?
00:51:00.260 | Well, we must remind ourselves
00:51:01.500 | this is not the way it ends.
00:51:03.600 | This is not the way it ends.
00:51:05.220 | There is a moment we are waiting for,
00:51:07.740 | a moment when the world is made right
00:51:09.980 | and it is reconfigured around the Son of God.
00:51:13.260 | And at that moment, everything we've labored for
00:51:15.660 | and everything we've preached
00:51:17.020 | will not only come to pass,
00:51:18.500 | it will be vindicated.
00:51:19.500 | And it won't just be vindicated,
00:51:20.860 | but in the mercy of God,
00:51:22.540 | he will use it to honor the Son that he loves.
00:51:27.380 | And at that moment, we will know,
00:51:30.640 | we will know it is absolutely worth it
00:51:34.300 | because he has always been worth it.
00:51:37.780 | There is a moment we are waiting for.
00:51:40.580 | Hang in there, brothers.
00:51:42.120 | There is a moment that we are waiting for
00:51:43.900 | and it will be worthwhile
00:51:45.400 | because God has ordained it for his Son.
00:51:49.460 | And so we've seen this is the moment
00:51:52.640 | that history waits for.
00:51:54.300 | This is the moment that the Father, in a sense, waits for.
00:51:59.180 | Because it's about his Son.
00:52:01.100 | And that leads us to the final point.
00:52:03.600 | Then this is the moment for Christ.
00:52:06.760 | This is the moment for Christ.
00:52:08.740 | And we see that in verses 13 and 14.
00:52:12.100 | Daniel says, "I kept looking in the night visions."
00:52:16.520 | He's seen all the fakes.
00:52:18.700 | He's seen all the frauds.
00:52:20.300 | Now he wants to see the real one.
00:52:23.680 | And what makes this one so real?
00:52:28.520 | Well, for one, he's Lord of heaven.
00:52:31.420 | And behold, with the clouds of heaven.
00:52:34.200 | Behold, with the clouds of heaven.
00:52:37.520 | Christ is riding the clouds of heaven.
00:52:40.640 | Why?
00:52:41.480 | Because it testifies of his swiftness, his speed.
00:52:45.000 | It's amazing to think about.
00:52:46.640 | Lightning fast.
00:52:48.320 | But it's not just that.
00:52:49.200 | Clouds are used in Psalm 97 and elsewhere
00:52:52.080 | to speak of the mystery of God.
00:52:55.040 | Christ has an impenetrable holiness,
00:52:57.720 | an impenetrable glory, an impenetrable greatness.
00:53:01.760 | And he is manifest with that.
00:53:03.680 | But even more than swiftness, even more than supremacy,
00:53:06.720 | here is the truth of the matter.
00:53:08.480 | Christ rides in with all of heaven behind him.
00:53:11.120 | There is only one who rallies heaven.
00:53:15.800 | There is only one who all of heaven
00:53:18.720 | will assemble around in the end.
00:53:21.480 | And it is the one in this vision.
00:53:24.040 | He's not just the Lord of heaven.
00:53:25.760 | He's the Lord of earth.
00:53:26.880 | Notice the next phrase.
00:53:27.740 | One like a son of man was coming.
00:53:31.120 | It is crucial that you see the word like
00:53:33.760 | because that shows similarity and dissimilarity.
00:53:36.560 | Christ is a son of man because he's truly man.
00:53:40.360 | But he is not just a man, he is God-man.
00:53:43.360 | And even more, he is God-man who fulfills
00:53:46.720 | the role of the final Adam.
00:53:49.360 | He does not have the finiteness or the frailty
00:53:52.400 | and certainly not the sin of any normal man.
00:53:55.840 | He is the one who surpasses and transcends all of this
00:53:59.720 | because he is God-man and therefore has the right
00:54:02.640 | and the capability to be the last Adam,
00:54:04.960 | the destiny of this world.
00:54:06.600 | There is only one who can be the final Adam
00:54:09.400 | and it is the one of this vision.
00:54:11.280 | He is not just the Lord of heaven or the Lord of earth.
00:54:14.040 | He's also exalted.
00:54:15.520 | Notice what it says.
00:54:16.880 | And he, that is the son of man,
00:54:18.400 | came up to the ancient of days.
00:54:19.960 | The word came up to has the idea in Aramaic
00:54:23.560 | of the word reached.
00:54:25.000 | It is a similar word used in Genesis
00:54:27.160 | that the tower of Babel attempted to reach heaven.
00:54:30.640 | And in Daniel chapter two, the statue of man
00:54:34.060 | attempted to reach the skies.
00:54:35.920 | And in Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar
00:54:38.040 | thought he could reach heaven.
00:54:40.400 | None of them can, none of them can.
00:54:42.440 | Why?
00:54:43.280 | Because there is only one who can.
00:54:44.880 | There is only one whose accomplishments
00:54:46.400 | will ascend on high.
00:54:47.460 | There is only one whose achievements are so exalted.
00:54:50.140 | It is the one of this vision.
00:54:52.480 | And he not only came before the ancient of days,
00:54:55.440 | he came near before him because he's not just exalted.
00:54:58.360 | He's equal to God.
00:55:00.040 | If any of us came face to face with God,
00:55:02.260 | we know exactly what would happen.
00:55:04.200 | We fall like a dead man.
00:55:05.600 | Not this one.
00:55:08.120 | Because there's only one who is equal
00:55:10.640 | to the father is God man.
00:55:12.100 | It is the one in this vision.
00:55:15.240 | And this one is not just the Lord of heaven.
00:55:16.880 | He's not just the Lord of earth.
00:55:18.160 | He's not just exalted.
00:55:19.360 | He's not just equal.
00:55:20.400 | He has all victory.
00:55:21.740 | Notice verse 14.
00:55:22.920 | And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom.
00:55:27.120 | Dominion refers to the rule of power that one may have.
00:55:30.320 | Glory refers to the honor that one receives.
00:55:32.840 | And a kingdom shows where all that places out
00:55:35.760 | and all of that takes place.
00:55:37.860 | The kings in Daniel, even Daniel seven,
00:55:42.760 | but even earlier than that, they all want dominion.
00:55:45.920 | They all want glory.
00:55:47.320 | They all want a kingdom.
00:55:49.080 | They all seek to have it desperately,
00:55:51.680 | but they never can.
00:55:52.540 | Why?
00:55:53.380 | Because there is only one and one only who deserves it.
00:55:57.640 | And it is the one of this vision.
00:56:00.240 | He doesn't just have the all victory.
00:56:02.020 | He has all people.
00:56:02.860 | Notice the next phrase of verse 14.
00:56:04.440 | That all the people, nations, and men of every tongue.
00:56:08.140 | That phrase is used throughout Daniel.
00:56:10.560 | Daniel three, that's what Nebuchadnezzar
00:56:12.640 | wanted everybody to worship him.
00:56:14.520 | In Daniel four, that's what Nebuchadnezzar
00:56:16.200 | addressed to show his might.
00:56:18.660 | And in Daniel five, a similar idea takes place.
00:56:21.940 | And even in Daniel six, the phrase is used
00:56:24.180 | to show Cyrus's own power.
00:56:26.420 | And they all thought that they could compel
00:56:28.740 | and control people, nation, and every man
00:56:31.220 | of every tribe and tongue, but they couldn't.
00:56:34.620 | They couldn't.
00:56:35.460 | Why?
00:56:36.280 | Because that right is reserved for one and only one.
00:56:40.220 | The one in this vision.
00:56:41.420 | And it's not just that there's all victory to this one
00:56:43.620 | and all people to this one.
00:56:44.820 | It is that all worship goes to this one.
00:56:47.380 | Notice the next phrase.
00:56:48.500 | That those people might serve him.
00:56:51.020 | Nebuchadnezzar ordered that everyone in his kingdom
00:56:54.060 | serve him by bowing to the statue, but three refused.
00:56:58.360 | Three refused.
00:56:59.200 | Why?
00:57:00.020 | To show you will never have all the worship
00:57:03.140 | of all the peoples.
00:57:04.140 | Why?
00:57:04.980 | Because that belongs to one and only one.
00:57:08.940 | The one in this vision.
00:57:11.660 | This one is not only the Lord of heaven,
00:57:13.500 | the Lord of earth, exalted and equal,
00:57:15.000 | all victory, all people, all worship belonging to him,
00:57:17.300 | but he has it forever.
00:57:18.300 | He is king forever.
00:57:19.740 | Notice his dominion is an everlasting dominion
00:57:22.520 | which will not be taken away unlike all the other kings.
00:57:25.260 | And furthermore, his kingdom is one
00:57:27.380 | which will not be destroyed.
00:57:29.400 | Every other king, his kingdom just goes
00:57:32.640 | into the history books to be forgotten
00:57:35.260 | unless a history teacher brings it up to you
00:57:37.940 | and examines you on it.
00:57:39.520 | But with Christ, we will never have just memories
00:57:43.860 | of his kingdom.
00:57:44.860 | It will be the everlasting in your face reality
00:57:48.660 | that celebrates him for forever
00:57:50.900 | because his kingdom endures over all and forever.
00:57:55.180 | This is what this vision reveals.
00:57:57.860 | And when you are the Lord of heaven
00:58:00.180 | and the Lord of earth, exalted and equal,
00:58:02.980 | having all victory, all people, all worship,
00:58:05.900 | you are a king forever and your kingdom is forever.
00:58:08.720 | When you are the one who is all in all
00:58:11.160 | and everything and everywhere and every way
00:58:14.580 | and eternally, then you are the only one who is worthy.
00:58:19.580 | That's the truth of it.
00:58:21.000 | And what has happened is heaven has posed a question
00:58:24.680 | to earth, who is the one who has been worthy?
00:58:27.440 | Who is the one who is the final Adam?
00:58:29.440 | And all of earth history has been on a search
00:58:31.800 | for this individual, but in the end,
00:58:33.840 | heaven will declare to earth that there is only one.
00:58:36.800 | There is only one who is Lord of heaven.
00:58:38.920 | There is only one who is Lord of earth.
00:58:40.920 | There is only one who is exalted.
00:58:43.160 | There is only one who is equal to God.
00:58:45.160 | There is only one who has all victory,
00:58:47.040 | all peoples, all worship, who is king forever
00:58:49.680 | and his kingdom is forever.
00:58:51.120 | And that one is the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:58:55.780 | There is a moment we are waiting for.
00:58:58.280 | And we love that moment because it is all about Christ
00:59:02.240 | and we love him.
00:59:05.480 | That's why that moment matters so much to us.
00:59:08.520 | And brothers, in light of that,
00:59:10.560 | there is always a temptation in ministry to promote ourselves.
00:59:15.440 | That we feel like we're the guru,
00:59:17.960 | we're the center of everything.
00:59:19.600 | People have to come to us because we're just that central.
00:59:23.920 | And we want to believe that the world hangs on our shoulders.
00:59:28.640 | Brothers, there's a moment that we're waiting for.
00:59:31.160 | And in that moment, none of us matter.
00:59:34.560 | Who matters and who is on display
00:59:36.960 | is the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:59:39.960 | And we love that moment because of him.
00:59:42.880 | And therefore, we proclaim him.
00:59:45.360 | Truth triumphs, brothers, that's true.
00:59:47.360 | Truth triumphs, that's true.
00:59:49.080 | But truth triumphs in him alone.
00:59:52.240 | So we preach Christ.
00:59:53.720 | There's a moment that we are waiting for.
00:59:57.680 | It's a moment that history waits for.
00:59:59.640 | It's a moment, in a sense, that God waits for.
01:00:01.720 | It's a moment that's all about Christ.
01:00:03.900 | But here's something by way of epilogue to think about.
01:00:06.400 | Daniel wasn't the only one waiting for this moment.
01:00:08.280 | Think about with me the book of Isaiah, chapter six.
01:00:10.920 | What does Isaiah say?
01:00:12.160 | I saw the Lord seated on a throne high and lifted up,
01:00:16.320 | just like Daniel seven.
01:00:17.280 | Isaiah saw an aspect of the same vision.
01:00:20.960 | Think about Ezekiel.
01:00:22.000 | He saw a chariot thrown,
01:00:24.560 | a throne having wheels within a wheel, just like Daniel.
01:00:28.560 | Why?
01:00:29.400 | Because Ezekiel saw elements of the same vision.
01:00:32.280 | Paul, on the Damascus road, he saw the glorified Christ.
01:00:35.560 | And in that moment, the circumstances matched
01:00:37.640 | with Daniel seven, and even the discussion
01:00:39.320 | of the saints that Paul has on the Damascus road,
01:00:42.460 | it matches what happens in Daniel seven.
01:00:44.360 | Paul, on the Damascus road, saw elements of the same vision.
01:00:47.760 | And of course, John, in Revelation chapter four and five.
01:00:51.200 | What does he see?
01:00:52.340 | The Lamb of God taking the scroll from the Ancient of Days.
01:00:55.960 | They saw the same thing.
01:00:58.360 | Daniel wasn't the only one waiting for this vision.
01:01:01.160 | It was Isaiah.
01:01:02.360 | It was Ezekiel.
01:01:04.080 | It was Paul.
01:01:05.200 | It was John.
01:01:06.400 | It's all of the people of God.
01:01:08.600 | We are all waiting for this moment.
01:01:12.520 | And in light of that, brothers,
01:01:14.040 | if you ever get disillusioned,
01:01:16.000 | if you ever just are stuck in the here and now,
01:01:18.600 | and you can't get your mind off of that,
01:01:20.680 | remember, there is a moment we are waiting for.
01:01:23.260 | It is going to the future, not to the here and now.
01:01:26.040 | And brothers, if you are discouraged,
01:01:28.040 | and you are desperate, and you are wondering,
01:01:30.080 | is it worth it?
01:01:30.900 | There is a moment we are waiting for.
01:01:33.480 | It is a moment that is absolutely worthwhile,
01:01:35.600 | for it is for God's Son.
01:01:37.560 | And if there are times when you are distracted,
01:01:39.960 | and you are thinking more about yourself than Christ,
01:01:42.480 | remember, there is a moment that we are waiting for,
01:01:45.760 | and it reveals that there is only one who is worthy.
01:01:49.120 | There is a moment that we are waiting for.
01:01:51.920 | That is where we fix our eyes upon.
01:01:54.240 | That is the secret of perseverance.
01:01:56.280 | Truth triumphs.
01:01:57.680 | And Daniel knew that,
01:01:59.280 | because that's the center of the book,
01:02:01.240 | because it's the center of his own soul,
01:02:03.280 | and it kept him to the end.
01:02:05.400 | So may it be, brothers,
01:02:07.160 | may it be that we persevere,
01:02:09.160 | and we hang in there well,
01:02:10.720 | and we endure faithfully to the end,
01:02:13.360 | because there is a moment we are waiting for.
01:02:15.640 | And brothers, it will surely come soon.
01:02:20.240 | Shall we pray?
01:02:21.960 | Our God and Father,
01:02:23.840 | thank you for this revelation of your promise,
01:02:27.200 | and this revelation of your prophecy.
01:02:29.260 | Help us to lift our eyes from earth to heaven,
01:02:33.120 | to think of from the things of this world
01:02:35.240 | to the things above, where Christ is,
01:02:38.360 | and to see him and to know
01:02:39.920 | that he will be so exalted in the end,
01:02:41.600 | and in the end, it will be thy kingdom come,
01:02:45.680 | thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
01:02:49.300 | Help us to long for that,
01:02:51.160 | and through that, to endure to that end,
01:02:53.880 | and to proclaim the Christ of that moment,
01:02:56.840 | who is eternally worthy.
01:02:59.580 | Be glorified in our lives,
01:03:02.680 | and we delight that you are always so triumphant.
01:03:07.680 | In your name we pray, amen.
01:03:10.160 | (feet tapping)
01:03:12.740 | (silence)
01:03:14.900 | you