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How Ancient Babylon Foretold The End Of The World

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. David Asscherick

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Series Code: DP

Program Code: DP000002


00:14 Well last night we said that we are here for 4 reasons,
00:16 and I'd just like to quickly reiterate those 4.
00:19 The first reason we are here is to try and demonstrate
00:21 that we are living in the time of the end, that we are living
00:26 in strange times, unusual times, and it is my studied conviction
00:30 that we are living in the very time of the end,
00:31 foretold in the Bible, and particularly in
00:34 the great prophecies of Revelation.
00:36 The second reason that we're here is we want to show you
00:39 from a Biblical perspective how this world is going to end.
00:42 Many people are insecure about that very thing, they know
00:45 that things don't seem quite right, there's something
00:48 in the air, something says that we are on the verge
00:51 of something big, so we want to take a look from a Biblical
00:55 perspective, not just from 1 man's perspective, or 1 man's
00:58 idea, but from the Bible's perspective, how is this whole
01:01 thing going to wrap up? The third reason we're here
01:03 is so we can be ready for these things because this
01:06 is not just an intellectual exercise, we actually want
01:09 to be ready for the things that are being foretold
01:11 in the Bible, can you say amen to that? [Audience says amen].
01:13 That's Nr.3, to be ready, and Nr.4 is to stay ready,
01:17 that's why we're here, and I hope that's why you're here.
01:19 In getting started with our message tonight everyone
01:21 should have received a study guide as you came in tonight,
01:24 I hope you did, we ask that as you come in night by night,
01:27 you just have to register 1 time, that's not something
01:29 you have to do every night, we just want you to register
01:32 that once, that helps us to know how many materials to prepare,
01:35 we'll be giving away some books later in the seminar,
01:37 and also some magazines and other materials,
01:39 so it's very helpful for us to know exactly how many people
01:42 we're dealing with. If you'd like to take out
01:44 that study guide there, let's just take a look
01:45 at the opening paragraph, and as we did last night,
01:48 you remember, you can basically follow along the entire
01:51 presentation right there on your study guide.
01:53 Did you get all of your blanks filled in last night, yes or no?
01:56 - [Audience replies] Yes. - Okay, who got all of them
01:57 filled in? Oh, I have to slow down
02:00 a little bit, I'll do my best. So let's take a look at our
02:03 opening paragraph on study guide number 2 it says:
02:06 Many are wondering when or if the world will ever
02:10 come to an end. This question has intrigued
02:13 mankind since the dawn of time, but does the Bible
02:16 have anything to say about this subject?
02:19 The answer is yes, it has much to say.
02:22 In fact, the Bible is the only reliable guide concerning
02:26 this subject, as we will soon see.
02:28 Before going into the details of one of the Bible's most
02:32 incredible prophecies, let us first note the 4 essentials
02:36 of Bible prophecy.
02:39 Someone said to me last night as we concluded our presentation
02:43 that the B.I.B.L.E is an acronym that stands
02:47 for "The Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth",
02:51 have you heard that before? "The Basic Instructions"
02:55 "Before Leaving Earth", and I want to thank Kevin
02:58 for sharing that with me. Last night we looked
03:01 at this verse, Isaiah 46:9,10, God says: [text on screen]
03:17 That is the definition of prophecy.
03:19 You remember from last night's presentation that a prophecy
03:22 is a foretelling of future events, or a predication.
03:26 God says in Isaiah 46: "I'm God, no one else is God,"
03:30 "and I'll prove it, I know the end from the beginning,"
03:33 "and I can declare the future before it takes place."
03:36 Then we went to the New Testament, the very words
03:39 of Jesus in the gospel of John, 4th book of the New Testament,
03:42 John 14:29, Jesus said: [text on screen]
03:56 Now that just makes good sense, a historian can tell us
04:00 about the past, a news anchor person could tell us
04:03 about the present and the current events,
04:05 but God is saying: "I could tell you about more than"
04:08 "just the past, more than the present, I can tell you"
04:10 "about the future with perfect accuracy."
04:14 Jesus says "I'll tell you before it happens so that when it does"
04:18 "happen just as I've said, you may believe."
04:21 I used to not be a Bible believer, in fact,
04:24 I shared that with you briefly last night, I've been
04:26 a Christian for exactly 9 years, and I praise the Lord
04:28 for what He's done in my life, but until the age
04:31 of 23 years old, I didn't believe in the Bible,
04:33 I didn't believe in a God, I didn't believe in any of that,
04:34 I thought it was all fairy tails and foolishness,
04:37 but when I encountered the very prophecy that I'm going to share
04:41 with you tonight, it literally changed my life, 1 prophecy
04:46 changed my life, and I'll tell you a little bit more about that
04:48 as the seminar goes on. Let's look at the 4 essentials
04:51 of Bible prophecy. You'll not these in your study
04:53 guide. Nr.1 says: [text on screen]
05:13 Our story tonight, our prophecy tonight will be a perfect
05:16 illustration of point Nr.1, prophecy is given to set
05:19 the God of the Bible apart from other gods as
05:22 the true God; Nr.2, the 2nd essential of Bible prophecy:
05:28 [text on screen]
05:35 Of course, it just stands to reason that if someone
05:37 or some being could consistently, perfectly,
05:40 accurately tell us what was going to happen in the future,
05:43 we would put confidence in what that person has to say.
05:46 Some people wonder about Nostradamus, they say
05:48 "Oh, look at this guy, he knew the future", and when
05:51 statisticians go back and look at his predictions, he was right
05:53 some 10-15% of the time, I want to give you some news
05:56 tonight, God is right 100% of the time.
06:03 In fact, we're going to look at a prophecy tonight
06:05 that is just so thrilling, so powerful in its ability
06:08 to create faith in the heart of the hearer.
06:10 So reason 1: to set the God of the Bible apart from any other
06:14 god as the true God, and number 2, to create faith in the Bible
06:17 as God's inspired word. 3rd essential of Bible prophecy,
06:21 and this is a critical one: [text on screen]
06:32 I want to say something here that's very important:
06:34 we don't put on these Bible prophecy seminars merely
06:37 as an intellectual or an academic exercise,
06:41 we are not just here to satisfy idle curiosity,
06:44 can someone say amen to that? [Audience replies] Amen.
06:46 God didn't give these prophecies in the Bible like a circus trick
06:49 or a card trick, "Hey, look at Me, I'm God, I can pull"
06:52 "a rabbit out of a hat", no no, when God gives us these
06:55 prophecies, it's to let us know, God is saying: "I'm alive,"
07:00 "I'm real, and I should be the pre-eminent priority"
07:03 "in your life." When we start thinking about
07:07 things more important than sports, entertainment,
07:09 and must see TV, and all of the accoutrements and paraphernalia
07:13 that clutter our lives, we start thinking about ultimate things:
07:16 "Why am I here? Where am I going?"
07:18 "Where am I from?" We start thinking about
07:20 the real things that matter in life, God is at the center
07:24 of all those things.
07:26 We start thinking about prophecy, God says:
07:28 "I'm going to put my finger on the pulse of what's"
07:30 "really important if you life." We're going to see that tonight,
07:34 to reveal to the hearer the thoughts and the priorities
07:36 of His heart, God is not just here to give us prophecy
07:38 so we can stand back in an art gallery and say:
07:41 "Oh, isn't that marvelous? Isn't that beautiful?"
07:43 "Isn't that tricky? Isn't that wonderful?"
07:48 No, God gives us prophecy to change us.
07:52 In fact, you find this consistently in the Bible,
07:54 it says that the wise don't understand, but the foolish
07:57 do understand, in other words, it's not your wisdom
08:00 that enables you to understand the Bible, it's your willingness
08:03 to obey what God says in the Bible that affects your
08:05 ability to understand it. Here's the simplest way
08:08 to remember that, "I will" is more important than "I.Q.".
08:13 [Audience laughs] Did you get that?
08:16 "I will" is more important than "I.Q." when it comes
08:19 to understanding the Bible. As we said last night,
08:22 the Bible was written for the common person.
08:25 Is it a blessing to the scholar? Is it a blessing to
08:27 the academician? Of course it is,
08:29 but the common person can understand the great
08:31 and wonderful things in the Bible.
08:34 And number 4, and probably most importantly of these 4
08:38 essentials is: [text on screen]
08:46 Those are the 4 essentials of Bible prophecy.
08:49 Notice right at the bottom, just bellow that on your
08:53 study guide it says: "These 4 essentials constitute"
08:56 "the core reason that Bible prophecy was given."
08:59 "Bible prophecy is not given merely to accommodate"
09:02 "and satisfy mankind's curiosity about the future,",
09:06 and I love this next sentence, "Bible prophecy serves"
09:09 "a moral purpose, that is to effect conversion"
09:13 "and transformation in the heart of the hearer."
09:17 If this makes sense I want you to say amen.
09:20 - [Audience replies] Amen. - These are 4 essentials
09:22 of Bible prophecy. Take Hebrews 4:12:
09:26 [text on screen]
09:28 It's not an antiquated book, it's not simply an ancient
09:31 book, dusty with the annals of time, no no,
09:34 the word of God is living, and active: [text on screen]
09:48 The author of Hebrews says God's book is alive,
09:51 the Bible is alive and God's word can put the finger of God
09:56 on your heart in a way to really let you know what is important
10:00 in life, what really are your priorities.
10:03 And then 2 Peter 1:19: [text on screen]
10:07 "more sure" - he's actually talking in context about
10:10 the evidence of his senses, he says we have something
10:13 more sure than the evidence of our senses,
10:16 what is more sure than the evidence of your senses Peter?
10:19 [text on screen]
10:32 In the context, the morning star is Jesus Christ.
10:35 What Peter is saying is "pay attention to the prophecies"
10:38 "because the purpose of the prophecies is to cause Jesus"
10:41 "to be seen in your heart and in your life."
10:46 Okay, Arion Niyu, Darlene Niyu, this baby needs its mother,
10:52 so if that's you, you need to go see your little baby.
10:58 We're going to go to the book of Daniel, why don't you
11:00 turn there with me, the book of Daniel, we're on page 2
11:03 of our study guide now. Daniel, you say: "where is"
11:07 "the book of Daniel?" It's in the Old Testament,
11:10 if you open your Bible right to the middle you'll probably
11:14 be in Psalms, go forward through Isaiah, through Jeremiah,
11:17 through Lamentations, Ezekiel and you'll arrive
11:20 in the book of Daniel. Daniel 2.
11:26 We're at the top of page 2 on your study guide.
11:36 The paragraph at the top says: "This prophecy given roughly"
11:41 "2500 years ago is precisely calculated to give us hope"
11:46 "and courage in these strange times. Most people recognize"
11:51 "that the world is seemingly spinning out of control,"
11:55 "violence, immorality, war, pollution, terrorism,
11:58 "and a host of other factors at unprecedented degrees"
12:00 "are causing thinking people to wonder how much longer"
12:03 "can we go on like this?" In fact, tomorrow night
12:05 we're going to take a very specific look at these
12:08 so called "signs of the times", and that will be an awesome
12:11 presentation. I've been doing some brand new
12:13 research on some cutting edge signs of the times, as to how
12:17 we know for sure that this world can't continue to last
12:20 as it is, I want to invite you to come back tomorrow night,
12:22 you'll not want to miss that. Notice what it says:
12:25 "Yet as distressing as these times are, the Bible tells"
12:28 "of a better day to come,"
12:33 "and gives us true hope and security even now."
12:36 Setting the context, let's set the context for our prophecy
12:39 tonight, found in the book of Daniel.
12:41 First of all, this foundational prophecy is found in the book
12:43 of Daniel, that's what you'd write in on the line there,
12:46 chapter 2. Approximately when was the book written?
12:51 600 BC, that is 600 years before the time of Christ.
12:57 Who wrote the book? It was written by Daniel,
12:58 except chapter 4 which was written by Nebuchadnezzar
13:00 the king, we'll talk about that later.
13:03 Where was the book written? It was written in Babylon.
13:07 The story is basically a sad one, it's a terrible one.
13:11 The people of God had been consistently and obstinately
13:15 disobedient to God's law, to God's covenant, and to God's
13:18 word, and finally God said "Listen, if you won't hear Me"
13:21 "in times of prosperity, I'll send you adversity."
13:24 It was C.S. Lewis, the great Christian author who said
13:27 that God whispers to us in our pleasures and shouts to us
13:30 in our pain. Sometimes if we won't listen
13:33 to God when things are going well, He'll shake us up
13:36 a little bit, isn't that true? And it's not because He
13:39 doesn't love you, it's precisely because He does love you,
13:42 and that's what you find in the Old Testament.
13:43 God had a people that He loved dearly, the nation of Israel,
13:46 and He pled with them, and He urged them, and He rebuked
13:49 them, and He tried to compel them through His prophets,
13:52 and consistently, obstinately they refused, and finally
13:54 He said "if you won't pay attention, I'm going to send"
13:57 "another nation, the nation of Babylon that are going to come"
14:00 "they're going to destroy your city, destroy the temple"
14:03 "and carry away some of your finest and best young people",
14:06 and that's exactly what happened. The Babylonian armies
14:09 under Nebuchadnezzar, that was the Babylonian king,
14:12 came and absolutely destroyed Jerusalem to the ground,
14:16 thousands, tens of thousands were destroyed in that
14:19 terrible conflagration. Nebuchadnezzar took some
14:23 of the best, the "A" students, the chief, the tops,
14:26 out of Jerusalem and he marched them 800 miles across
14:29 the Babylonian desert, brought them back to Babylon
14:32 where he would train them in the customs and the society,
14:36 and the government, and the culture of the Babylonians.
14:39 Then he would take them and set them up as puppet rulers
14:42 over various provinces of Babylon.
14:45 Daniel was one of those who was led out of Jerusalem
14:49 to Babylon, and endured the schooling and almost
14:53 brainwashing of the Babylonians. That helps us to set
14:56 the context a little bit. Notice, "Why was Daniel"
14:59 "taken from his homeland?", you know the answer now.
15:02 "What does the name 'Daniel' mean?"
15:05 The name "Daniel" comes from a juxtaposition of 2 words,
15:08 "Elohim" and the word "Dan", which means "judge",
15:14 the word "Daniel" means "God alone is my judge".
15:19 When Daniel arrived in Babylon one of the first things
15:22 they did was to change his name because his name
15:25 reminded him of Jerusalem, his name reminded him of the true
15:29 God, they changed his name to Belteshazzar, which is a name
15:34 of one of the Babylonian gods. Took him away.
15:37 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you've heard
15:41 those names before, but those were not the original names
15:43 given those Hebrews boys, those were the Babylonian names,
15:45 their real names were Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael.
15:49 They would take these boys, the cream of the crop
15:52 and they would put them into these Babylonian schools
15:55 and educate them in Babylonian customs, and government, etc,
15:58 and then they would train them to be among the wise men
16:01 in Babylon. That sets the context
16:04 for Daniel 2. Daniel 2:1.
16:11 In Daniel 2 we find an ancient king, a name by the name
16:16 of Nebuchadnezzar, having a dream, a nightmare if you will.
16:21 Daniel 2:1, are we all there? We had lots of time
16:24 to get there, it says: "Now in the second year"
16:28 "of Nebuchadnezzar's rein, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams"
16:31 "and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him."
16:35 "Then the king gave the command to call the magicians,"
16:38 "the astrologers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans"
16:40 "to tell the king his dreams, so they came and stood"
16:42 "before the king. And the king said to them, I have had"
16:45 "a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream."
16:47 "Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic", that was
16:50 the official language of the Babylonian court,
16:52 "O king, live forever, tell your servants the dream"
16:56 "and we will give you the interpretation", verse 5,
17:01 "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, My decision"
17:03 "is firm, if you do not make known to me the dream"
17:07 "and its interpretation, you shall be cut into pieces",
17:11 it is safe to say that the king had a very short temper,
17:14 "cut into pieces, your houses will be made an ash heap",
17:17 verse 6, "however", this is the good side of the story,
17:21 "if you can tell the dream and its interpretation"
17:24 "you shall receive from me gifts, and rewards, and great"
17:28 "honor, therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation."
17:31 Verse 7, "They said again, O let the king tell his servants"
17:35 "the dream and we will..." make up, come up with,
17:38 invent, an interpretation.
17:42 Notice that Nebuchadnezzar wants 2 things, it's the middle
17:45 of the night, he's woken from his sleep, he's troubled
17:47 by this dream, and he can't quite remember the dream,
17:50 but something tells him it's important, so he's trying
17:53 to recall the dream and when he can't do it, he calls in
17:56 his wise men, magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans,
17:59 who were the PhD's of the Babylonian court.
18:01 He calls them in, he says: "Fellas, I've had a dream"
18:03 "and there's something about the dream that tells me"
18:05 "that it's important, but I can't remember the dream,"
18:08 "I need you to tell me the dream and what it means."
18:11 They had probably gone through this before, and they've
18:13 probably been woken up in the middle of the night before,
18:15 and the king had some strange dream because he ate
18:18 too much before he went to bed, "I had this dream",
18:20 and they'd say "Oh king, this is what it means..."
18:22 "Oh, okay, well that's good", and they'd go back to sleep
18:24 and everything was fine. But tonight was different,
18:26 he couldn't remember it, he couldn't remember the dream,
18:29 so he said "I need to know the dream"
18:31 "and the interpretation", they said "Hey, listen,"
18:34 "you tell us the dream and we'll give you the interpretation."
18:36 He said "Listen, I don't have it, if you can't give me both,"
18:39 "the dream and its interpretation, it's going"
18:42 "to be over for you." Notice what happens next,
18:46 verse 8: "The king answered and said, I know for a certain"
18:49 "that you would seek to gain the time because you see"
18:52 "that my decision is firm." Verse 19, here it is again,
18:54 "If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only"
18:57 "1 decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying"
19:00 "and corrupt words before me till the time is changed,"
19:02 "therefore tell me the dream," the king was no dummy,
19:05 "and I will know that you can give me the interpretation."
19:11 Verse 10: "Then the Chaldeans answered and said,"
19:13 "there is not a man on earth who can tell the kings matter,"
19:16 "therefore no king, lord or ruler has ever asked"
19:19 "such a thing of any magician, astrologer, a Chaldean."
19:22 Notice verse 11 carefully: "It is a difficult thing"
19:24 "that the king requests, and there is no other who can"
19:29 "tell it to the king except the gods who's dwelling"
19:33 "is not with the flesh. For this reason the king was angry"
19:37 "and very furious, and gave command to destroy"
19:40 "all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went out"
19:44 "and they began killing the wise men of Babylon"
19:46 "and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them."
19:51 This sets the stage for our story, very heavy drama.
19:54 the plot thickens. The king was not just
19:57 whistling Dixie, he was deadly and earnest about understanding
20:00 this dream, they couldn't give him the dream, the couldn't
20:02 give him the interpretation, he says: "That's it!"
20:05 We might think that the king was being a little extreme,
20:07 we might think that the king was being a little over the top,
20:10 but think about it for just a moment, the king paid
20:13 these people to know things that ordinary people didn't know.
20:17 The job of the magician, the job of the sorcerer,
20:20 the job of the astrologer, the job of the Chaldean
20:23 was to be in touch with spirits and the netherworld,
20:26 so that they knew things that common people didn't know.
20:29 The king would call on them in these kinds of difficult times,
20:32 and he had the reasonable expectation that they would
20:35 be able to deliver on what they said they could do.
20:38 And the moment he realizes he has a bunch of phonies
20:41 on the divine payroll, he basically says: "If you can't"
20:45 "deliver the goods, it's over for you so called wise men",
20:48 and he sends out the decree in his frustration,
20:50 "destroy all the wise men of Babylon."
20:53 Well, Daniel and his 3 companions, Shadrach, Meshach,
20:56 and Abednego, had gone through the schools of the Babylonians
21:00 so they were numbered among the wise men.
21:03 And a man by the name of Arioch, he was
21:06 the captain of the king's guard, he showed up one evening
21:08 and he begins to knock on Daniel's door.
21:13 I wonder what that conversation was like as Daniel opens
21:15 the door in the middle of the night and says:
21:16 "Yeah, Arioch, what can I get for you."
21:18 "Daniel, I'm here to kill you."
21:22 "Whoa, really?! Pinch myself, oh, I'm not dreaming,"
21:25 "I wish I was. Why? Why are you here to kill me?"
21:29 And he made the thing known to Daniel, "Well, the king"
21:31 "has had a dream and he wants to know the dream,"
21:34 "and the interpretation, nobody can tell it to him."
21:37 Pick it up with me in verse 14: "Then with council and wisdom"
21:41 "Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king's guard"
21:44 "who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon."
21:47 "He answered and said to Arioch, the king's captain, why is"
21:50 "the decree from the king so urgent. Then Arioch made"
21:53 "the decision known to Daniel." Notice verse 16, "So Daniel"
21:59 "went in and asked the king to give him time that he might"
22:04 "tell the king the interpretation."
22:06 Think about that for just a moment, Daniel goes in before
22:09 the king, quick question for you: does Daniel know the dream
22:12 at this point? No. Does Daniel know
22:14 the interpretation at this point? No.
22:17 But Daniel knows the One who knows the dream.
22:20 He goes in before the king, do you think that took faith,
22:22 yes or no? [Audience] Yes.
22:24 What he basically said is: "King, I don't have it now,"
22:27 "but I know who does have it and if you'll give me time"
22:30 "I can deliver the goods."
22:33 Well, then Daniel did the same thing that you would do.
22:36 Verse 17: "Then Daniel went to his house and made"
22:39 "the decision know to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,"
22:42 that's Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, his companions, why?
22:45 Verse 18: "So that they might seek the mercies from the God"
22:47 "of heaven concerning this secret so that Daniel"
22:50 "and his companions might not perish with the rest"
22:52 "of the wise men of Babylon." In other words, they went
22:54 and prayed about it, isn't that what you'd do?
23:00 I mean, if your neck was on the line, and you knew you had
23:02 to come up with the goods, you would pray about it.
23:07 You know the proverbial airplane that takes off the tarmac
23:09 and it's filled with 300 sinners, and they get up
23:12 about 30,000-40,000 feet up into the air and they begin
23:15 to encounter some turbulence, and all of a sudden you've got
23:17 300 saints onboard. "Oh Lord, if You just get me"
23:21 "off this place, I'll live my life for You,"
23:23 "I'm so...", and the captain gets the thing under control
23:25 and it lands safely, and 300 sinners walk off.
23:29 [Audience laughs] You know how it is.
23:32 When the going gets tough, when tough times come,
23:35 we know what's most important in life, don't we? Yes or no?
23:39 - [Audience replies] Yes. - Absolutely, in fact,
23:40 we're going to have a message entitled, if you've looked
23:42 at your advanced schedule that says: "how to face death"
23:44 "unafraid and with absolute confidence."
23:47 You don't have to be afraid to face death if you've put
23:50 your faith in Him who's already faced death and has conquered it
23:55 We'll come back to that, don't get me to preach
23:57 on that tonight, I've got stuff to talk about.
23:59 So look here, we're on verses 1-12, we should easily
24:03 be able to fill these blanks in. King Nebuchadnezzar had
24:07 a dream in the second year of his rein. He called
24:10 for the wise men, the astrologers and the Chaldeans.
24:14 Could the give the help that the king wanted? No.
24:18 What 2 things did the king want? He wanted the dream
24:23 and the interpretation.
24:26 According to the king's counselors who alone could give
24:29 the information that the king wanted?
24:31 - [Audience replies] God. - That's exactly right,
24:32 they knew it, they said: "Hey, listen, what you're asking"
24:35 "is strange, it's unusual, no king or lord has ever asked"
24:38 "this of any wise man or astrologer, only gods know this"
24:42 Notice the next part, Daniel was sought, Daniel asked the king
24:45 for time. What did Daniel do after
24:48 visiting with the king? He went and prayed.
24:51 What would you have done? You would have prayed too.
24:54 Now, look at verse 19. What is the first word
24:58 of verse 19? My Bible it says: "Then".
25:04 I want you to think about that for just a moment, "then"
25:07 is a chronological term, it's a term that has to do with time.
25:14 Now look at it, verse 19, "Then the secret was revealed"
25:18 "to Daniel in a night vision, so Daniel blessed the God"
25:23 "of heaven." Wouldn't you?
25:25 I mean, Daniel's praying, Hananiah's praying,
25:27 Azariah's praying, Mishael's praying, "Oh God,"
25:29 "our head's on the block and all of these other phonies' "
25:31 "heads are on the block, and we don't want"
25:33 "only to lose our own lives, we want to preserve"
25:35 "the lives of these people. O God, give us the dream."
25:39 And God came through right on time, isn't that awesome?
25:43 Have you ever had God answer a prayer?
25:45 You know that sense, that feeling that God is at work.
25:48 So the Bible says Daniel blessed the God of heaven,
25:51 notice what he says in verse 20, he has a little praise session
25:54 there, Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God"
25:56 "forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His,"
25:59 "and He changes the times and the seasons, He removes"
26:03 "kings and raises up kings," this gives you a little hint
26:06 into what the dream is actually about, "knowledge to those"
26:09 "who have understanding, He reveals deep and secret things,"
26:12 "He knows what is in the darkness, and the light"
26:15 "dwells with Him. I thank You and praise You"
26:18 "O God of my fathers." Wouldn't you be thanking Him
26:21 and praising Him? Sure you would.
26:23 "You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known"
26:26 "to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us"
26:29 "the king's demand." Notice in your study guide
26:32 it says: what was the first word of verse 19?
26:35 The word is "Then". Why is this word so important
26:38 in this setting? Because the Bible teaching is
26:41 "you have to ask before God can give."
26:45 Did you hear that? You have to ask before God
26:49 can give you many of the things that you so desperately need.
26:53 Why? Because God's a gentlemen,
26:54 He doesn't want to violate your free will, He doesn't want
26:56 to violate your free choice, God says: "ask and ye shall"
26:58 "receive", in fact, that's the next page of your study guide.
27:00 Turn the study guide over, remember the words of Jesus
27:03 in Matthew 7:7: "Ask and it will be given you, seek and you"
27:08 "will find, knock and it will be opened to you,"
27:11 "for everyone who asks, receives, he who seeks, finds,"
27:15 "and to him who knocks, it will be opened."
27:17 Notice how easy this is to remember "ask", "seek", "knock",
27:21 spells "A.S.K.", isn't that easy?
27:25 Beloved, that is a principle of the Bible.
27:28 "Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find."
27:31 "Knock and the door shall be opened."
27:33 Why is it that God could come through in that tight spot?
27:36 Why is it that God could deliver the answer to the prayer
27:38 right on time? Because they asked.
27:45 Now, this is where the plot really thickens, this is
27:48 where the drama intensifies.
27:49 We pick it up in verse 24: "Therefore Daniel went"
27:51 "to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy"
27:54 "the wise men of Babylon. He went and he said to him,"
27:56 "do not destroy the wise men of Babylon, take me before"
28:00 "the king and I will tell the king the interpretation."
28:03 What a tremendous act of faith, he says:
28:06 "Take me before the king, I'm going to tell him what he's"
28:09 "looking for." Verse 25, "Then Arioch quickly brought"
28:11 "Daniel before the king and he said to him, I have found"
28:14 "a man of the captives of Judah", makes you wonder
28:16 who really found who, but that's beside the point,
28:18 "who will make known to the king the interpretation."
28:20 "The king answered and said to Daniel who's name was"
28:22 "Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me"
28:25 "the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?"
28:27 Notice the king hadn't changed his mind, he still wanted
28:29 both things; "The dream and the interpretation,"
28:34 "can you do it?" I want you to think
28:36 about the scene for just a moment, Daniel is basically
28:40 a Hebrew slave. For all practical purposes,
28:43 he's a Hebrew bondservant, his country, his nation had been
28:48 utterly destroyed and subjugated by the Babylonians,
28:52 and here he is probably a 19-21 year old boy,
28:55 standing before the most powerful man in the world,
28:59 and the most powerful man in the world is intensely
29:02 interested in what Daniel has to say.
29:04 Never forget this lesson, if you have knelt before God,
29:07 you can stand before kings.
29:10 If you have knelt before God with humility,
29:13 you can stand before kings with confidence.
29:15 And the king looks at Daniel and says: "can you give me"
29:17 "the dream?" And this would have a been
29:19 a perfect opportunity for Daniel to say: "O yeah king,"
29:22 "I'm the man, I've got the goods, I can tell you"
29:24 "what it is because I'm so smart."
29:26 But I want you to notice what Daniel does, verse 27,
29:29 "Then Daniel answered in the presence of king,"
29:32 "the secret which the king has demanded, the wise men,"
29:34 "the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers"
29:38 "can't declare to the king, but there is a God in heaven"
29:42 "who reveals secrets, and He has made known"
29:45 "to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days."
29:49 Notice Daniel takes no credit whatsoever for himself,
29:53 he says "it's not about me king, it's about God, and God"
29:56 "has shown you this dream so you can know what happens"
29:59 "in the latter days." "Your dream in the visions"
30:02 "of your head upon your bed were these:", verse 29.
30:04 "As for you, O king, thoughts came about into your mind"
30:07 "while you were on your bed about what would pass"
30:09 "after this", notice that in verse 28 he said "latter days",
30:12 in verse 29 he says: "the dream has to do with what takes"
30:15 "place after this". "...and He who reveals secrets"
30:19 "has made known to you what will be", 3 times he says
30:22 it's about the future.
30:26 Verse 30, notice the humility in Daniel's voice here,
30:29 "But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me"
30:32 "because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our"
30:35 "sakes who make known the interpretation to the king,"
30:38 "and that you may know the thoughts of your own heart."
30:42 Hey, that's one of our 4 essentials of Bible prophecy,
30:45 remember that? Wasn't that one of our 4
30:47 essentials of Bible prophecy? Sure it was, go back
30:50 and look, that's number 3. 1 of the purposes of Bible
30:53 prophecy, 1 of the core reasons that prophecy is given
30:57 is to reveal to the hearer the priorities of his heart.
31:01 And Daniel, a 21 year old Hebrew boy standing before the most
31:04 powerful man in the world says: "I've got new for you king,"
31:07 "you're a Pagan king, but God cares about you", that's the
31:10 God of the Bible, the God of the Bible is a God
31:13 who cares about everyone, even Pagan kings who had
31:15 ransacked His people.
31:18 "He wants to show you the thoughts the intents of your"
31:22 "heart, Nebuchadnezzar." Verse 31, notice the absolute
31:26 confidence with which Daniel speaks, "You, O king, were"
31:30 "watching and behold, a great image. This great image who's"
31:34 "splendor was excellent stood before you, and its form"
31:38 "was awesome." He begins to recount to him the dream.
31:42 "This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms"
31:45 "of silver, its belly and thigh of bronze, its legs of iron,"
31:49 "its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."
31:52 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands"
31:55 "which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay"
31:57 "and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay,"
32:00 "the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together"
32:03 "and became like chaff", that is dust, "from the summer"
32:05 "threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that"
32:08 "no trace of them was found, and the stone that struck"
32:11 "the image became a great mountain and filled"
32:14 "the whole earth." Notice verse 36, "This is the dream."
32:20 He doesn't say: "Did I get it right king?"
32:23 "Is this the dream? I mean, I did my best king."
32:26 No no, when God gives you an answer, it's always
32:29 the right one. He doesn't say:
32:32 "I hope this is the dream", "I'm really anxious that this"
32:35 "might be the dream", he says "this IS the dream."
32:39 Notice the rest of that verse: "Now we will tell"
32:43 "the interpretation of it before the king."
32:46 As far as we know Daniel is standing alone in that
32:48 great hall, who's "we"? Daniel and his God.
32:54 Once again, Daniel refuses to take credit for himself,
32:58 he says "we will tell the interpretation of it before you"
33:01 Go to your study guide now, Daniel returns to the king.
33:05 According to Daniel, who alone could reveal the dream?
33:09 God. Did Daniel take any credit
33:12 for his ability to reveal the dream? Not 1 drop.
33:15 According to verse 28, to what time does the dream apply?
33:19 The latter days.
33:22 According to verse 30, why did God give the king
33:25 this incredible dream? So he would know the thoughts
33:29 of his heart. Now the dream itself,
33:31 the king saw a great metal man, you can look at it
33:34 on the screen, you can also look at our image here,
33:37 he saw a great metal man. The head was made of gold,
33:41 the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze,
33:47 the long legs of iron, and the feet were made of both iron clay
33:52 I can just imagine that as Daniel is recounting this
33:55 to the king, the king's probably still sitting there in his
33:58 royal nighty, with his royal night cap on, and he scoots
34:01 to the edge of his royal throne and he's thinking to himself:
34:03 "That's what I saw!"
34:07 "I saw a great statue, its head was of gold,"
34:09 "its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,"
34:12 "long legs of iron, that's right Daniel, you've got it,"
34:14 "that is what I saw, its feet were made of iron and clay,"
34:16 but that wasn't the whole dream, Daniel says,
34:18 "then you know what you saw? It was amazing,"
34:20 "a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands"
34:25 "and it smashed the image in the head", is that what it said?
34:31 "It smashed the image in the chest"? No.
34:33 "It smashed the image in the legs"? No.
34:36 "It smashed the image in the feet", you've got it.
34:40 "Then that stone that smashed the image in the feet"
34:43 "grew and became a great mountain, filled the whole"
34:47 "earth." In fact, that's the rest
34:50 of it there, what happened to the image in the king's dream?
34:52 It was smashed. What happened to the stone?
34:54 It filled the earth.
34:58 This is the dream, I can just imagine standing before the most
35:02 powerful man in the world saying with absolute confidence
35:05 because he had knelt before God, he could stand before
35:07 that king and he said: "This is what you saw",
35:10 but Nebuchadnezzar wanted 2 things, didn't he?
35:13 He wanted the dream, but what else did he want?
35:17 He wanted the interpretation, that's exactly right.
35:22 Let's go to the interpretation, verse 36.
35:24 "This is the dream, now we will tell the interpretation of it"
35:28 "before the king", verse 37. "You, O king, are a king"
35:32 "of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom"
35:35 "and power and strength and glory," notice he even lets
35:39 king Nebuchadnezzar know that he's just a subject of God,
35:42 a great king, yes, but nothing compared to the infinite God
35:46 of the universe. Verse 38: "And wherever"
35:49 "the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field,"
35:52 "and the birds of the heavens, He has given them into your"
35:54 "hand, He has made you ruler over them all," and notice
36:01 with me the next 6 words, "you are this head of gold."
36:08 He says it in plain language, he doesn't equivocate,
36:11 you can go to Christian book stores right now and you can
36:14 buy books right now in the Christian book store
36:17 that will tell you that the head of gold is representing
36:20 the European economic community, that the head
36:22 of gold represents the European Union.
36:24 I mean, there are so many fallacious, egregious, and just
36:27 plain wrong interpretations out there, Daniel said:
36:31 "You are this head of gold", the Bible is its own interpreter.
36:39 Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out,
36:41 he says: "what does the dream mean?" and he begins
36:43 by saying "you're the head of gold, O king, you're kingdom"
36:46 "is an awesome kingdom. God has given you this kingdom,"
36:49 "you're it." And I can just imagine
36:52 the king there, his buttons bursting a little bit
36:54 and thinking: "yeah, that's right."
36:56 "Head of gold baby, don't ever forget it!"
36:59 [Audience laughs]
37:01 The ancient kingdom of Babylon was an amazing kingdom.
37:05 The ancient kingdom of Babylon was on the scene, historians
37:09 tell us, from 605-539 BC, that is before Christ.
37:15 Nebuchadnezzar was a king who was a great military conqueror,
37:19 a great political leader, and he was intoxicated with the idea
37:23 of his Babylon lasting forever. In fact, this is an actual
37:26 picture of a letter from Nebuchadnezzar, a clay tablet
37:30 letter from Nebuchadnezzar, and in this letter part of it says:
37:33 "The whole earth bows prostrate before Babylon."
37:38 Nebuchadnezzar was almost inebriated with this idea
37:42 that it would go on for ever and ever.
37:45 Here's the Babylonian clay tablet right inscribed there:
37:48 "may it last forever", so when Daniel said:
37:52 "You are this head of gold, I'm sure that Nebuchadnezzar
37:54 liked that, he said: "that's right, I'm the head"
37:57 "of Gold, may she last forever."
37:59 But I'm sure that Nebuchadnezzar did not like what Daniel
38:02 said next. Notice verse 39,
38:07 "But after you", what 2 words? "After you", I'm sure king
38:15 didn't like this part at all, "...shall arise another kingdom"
38:20 "inferior to yours." As if that wasn't enough,
38:24 that another kingdom was going to come, he had to throw
38:26 salt in the wound and say it's going to be an inferior
38:28 kingdom. "But after you shall arise"
38:30 "another kingdom inferior to yours, then another third"
38:33 "kingdom of bronze, which shall bear rule over all the earth,"
38:36 "and the 4th kingdom shall be as strong as iron."
38:39 "In as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters"
38:42 "everything, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will"
38:45 "break in pieces and crush all the others, and whereas"
38:48 "you saw the feat and toes partly of potter's clay,"
38:51 "and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided,"
38:53 "yet the strength of the iron shall be in it,"
38:55 "just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay."
38:59 Wow this dream isn't so hard to understand after all, is it?
39:02 What he's basically saying is "this image represents"
39:06 "a timeline."
39:10 He says "Babylon is the head of gold, but after you would come"
39:13 "another kingdom, and then another kingdom,"
39:16 "and then another kingdom, and that kingdom would be"
39:18 "divided." All of these kingdoms,
39:21 by the way, are not sure little regional powers, just little
39:24 regional entities, he says: "another kingdom that would"
39:28 "rule over all the world." These were the great nations
39:31 of antiquity. Remember that Daniel is written
39:35 600 years before the time of Christ, he lived during the time
39:39 of Babylon. The great Ishtar gate, which is
39:42 even now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin,
39:45 this is the very gate that archaeologists have excavated
39:48 that Daniel would have walked through in our story.
39:51 That's the very gate that he would have walked through,
39:53 his heart pitter-pattering, and yet, still with confidence
39:56 as he stood before the most powerful man in the world,
39:58 that's the gate archaeologists have excavated;
40:01 we'll talk more about that in another session.
40:05 He says: "after you another kingdom would come."
40:08 Despite Nebuchadnezzar's desires, and despite his hopes
40:11 and his plans, and his ambitions, Babylon did not
40:14 continue forever and indefinitely, it was eventually
40:17 conquered by the kingdom of Medo-Persia, which ruled
40:20 from 539-331 BC,
40:27 it's called the Medo-Persian Empire because it wasn't
40:30 just the Medes or the Persians, these 2 nations leagued
40:33 together to form what historians call the Medo-Persian Empire.
40:38 In fact, it's really quite a remarkable story,
40:40 we talked a little bit about it last night.
40:42 A man by the name of Cyrus the Great diverted the river
40:45 Euphrates into a field, Babylon was one of the great cities
40:49 of antiquity; 15 miles on each side square,
40:54 in fact, the walls were 200 feet high in some places.
40:57 One of the 7 wonders of the world was in that city,
40:59 the great Hanging Gardens, and the river Euphrates
41:02 flowed right through the middle of this city of Babylon,
41:04 it was an awesome city. Cyrus came to that city,
41:07 the story is told, historians tell us that they came
41:10 to the city and they saw those tall walls and they knew
41:12 "there's now way we could ever siege the city,"
41:14 "no way we could ever surmount those walls", so what they
41:16 did on a certain night when the Babylonians were in a riotous,
41:20 drunken feast, what Cyrus did in an act of military genius
41:24 is he went upriver several miles, he dammed the river,
41:27 and diverted the river off into an adjacent field
41:30 so that down river the river went down, down, down,
41:33 and then they marched in through the river underneath the gates,
41:36 and Babylon, that great city of antiquity,
41:39 fell in a single night.
41:44 He met basically no resistance. God had said
41:48 that another kingdom would come and what God says
41:51 always comes to pass. Can someone say amen?
41:54 Even the most powerful kingdom in the world can't resist
41:56 the decree of God. But a 3rd kingdom would come,
41:59 a 3rd kingdom of bronze, which would rule over all the earth.
42:04 Which kingdom was it that succeeded the Medo-Persian
42:07 Empire? The mighty kingdom of Greece,
42:11 331-168 BC. I might get myself
42:15 into a little trouble here because I'm in the Macedonian
42:18 Cultural Art Center, so I should be perfectly candid
42:20 and remind us all that Alexander the Great was a Macedonian
42:24 more than a Greek. A great Macedonian Empire,
42:27 that'll get me go in good with Gore in here,
42:32 ruling from 331-168 BC. Alexander the Great was one
42:36 of the greatest military minds of all time.
42:39 In fact, Napoleon followed the very battle strategies
42:42 of Alexander the Great. Arian said in his
42:45 historical library, book 17, chapter 12: [text on screen]
43:04 Alexander the Great conquered the then known world
43:07 at the age of 31 years old, but he died in a drunken feast
43:11 at the age of 32. One of the historians, Hugo,
43:14 said he could conquer the world, but he couldn't conquer himself.
43:19 It is said of Alexander the Great that on one occasion
43:24 he wept because said he there was no one left to kill.
43:27 Alexander the Great prevailed over the great Medo-Persian
43:31 Empire. History of Rome, book 3,
43:33 chapter 10: [text on screen]
43:44 So we have the head of gold - Babylon;
43:47 the chest and arms of silver - Medo-Persia;
43:49 and then the bronze, or the brass, representing
43:52 "the brass clad Greeks", that's what Homer called them
43:56 in his book "The Odyssey", "the brass clad Greeks",
43:59 God predicted it all long before it came to pass.
44:03 But who would come after the Greeks?
44:06 Of course, the great iron monarchy of Rome.
44:10 Ruling not just for 100 years, or 150 years,
44:18 but from 168 BC-476 AD, roughly 700 years
44:26 the great nation of Rome ruled. The iron monarchy of Rome,
44:31 that's exactly what the Bible had said.
44:34 Daniel said "The 4th kingdom shall be as strong as iron."
44:37 Iron crushes all of the metals, iron could crush gold,
44:41 iron could crush silver, iron could crush bronze,
44:44 he said "This kingdom, the long legs of iron,"
44:46 "would be a kingdom unlike the others, it would utterly"
44:49 "destroy, and smash, and obliterate the kingdoms"
44:52 "before it", the great iron monarchy of Rome.
44:55 "All roads leads to Rome." "Rome wasn't built in a day."
44:59 "When in Rome do as the Romans." Rome is the greatest empire
45:04 of antiquity, and God foresaw it all.
45:09 Jesus Christ was nailed to a Roman cross in 31 AD.
45:13 Jesus Christ was watched by Roman soldiers in 31 AD.
45:18 Jerusalem was sacked by Roman armies in 70 AD.
45:23 Rome.
45:25 Edward Gibbon, the famed English historian, said in his
45:28 well known series "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire",
45:32 notice what he said, this is a secular historian;
45:34 in fact, Gibbon was known for his hatred for organized
45:37 religion, but notice what he says, look at this imagery:
45:40 [text on screen]
45:53 Let me ask you a question, where do you think the historian
45:55 Gibbon, got that imagery, gold, silver, brass, and iron,
45:58 to represent the sweep of history?
46:00 Where do you think he got it from?
46:03 He got it from the Bible, and particularly from the book
46:05 of Daniel. So this is amazing.
46:08 The king has a dream and it's this statue, a head of gold,
46:11 chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze,
46:13 long legs of iron, and this image is basically a timeline.
46:20 He said: "You're this head of gold, but after you"
46:23 "comes another kingdom, and after you, another kingdom,"
46:25 "and after you, another kingdom, and after you, the great"
46:26 "iron monarchy of Rome." Absolutely fascinating,
46:31 600 years before the time of Jesus, God is looking forward
46:35 and He can declare it perfectly and plainly because God alone
46:40 knows and can declare the future.
46:43 Well, this raises the question, who conquered ancient Rome?
46:46 I mean, Medo-Persia conquered Babylon, and Greece
46:48 conquered Medo-Persia, and Rome conquered Greece,
46:50 but who conquered Rome? The answer is no one
46:54 conquered Rome, Rome was not conquered from without,
46:58 it was divided from within. Notice that, look in Daniel 2,
47:06 Daniel 2:40: "And the 4th kingdom shall be as strong"
47:13 "as iron, in as much as iron breaks in pieces"
47:17 "and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes,"
47:19 "that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the other",
47:21 but notice verse 41: "whereas you saw the feet"
47:24 "and toes partly of potter's clay and party of iron,"
47:29 "the kingdom shall be divided." God said 600 years
47:34 before the time of Jesus the kingdom will be divided,
47:38 and the kingdom was divided, that's exactly right.
47:42 The kingdom was divided, and that's what's represented
47:45 by the feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
47:49 Partly strong and partly weak. The kingdom will be divided,
47:52 and that's the day we're living in right now, divided Rome,
47:55 or the so called "nations of Europe".
47:58 Europe today, has essentially divided Rome from 476 AD
48:01 to the present tense, there is nothing bellow the statue,
48:05 it's just head, arms and chest, belly and thighs,
48:07 long legs, and the feet, that's it,
48:09 you don't have anything else after your toes.
48:13 Partly of potter's clay, and partly of iron,
48:17 the kingdom will be divided. Here's a chart that depicts
48:21 the invasions and fragmenting of Rome, that began in 100 AD,
48:24 they say here "CE", which is the "common era", that's fine,
48:28 and the fragmentation, the Vandals moving up from the north
48:31 of Africa, and the Saxons up there in England,
48:34 and all of these Barbarian tribes begin to basically
48:37 pick Rome apart at the seems until eventually,
48:39 as my dad used to say to me, "you're getting too big"
48:42 "for your breeches boy", and it fell apart.
48:46 That's history.
48:49 The kingdom divided, and today we live in this very time.
48:53 Modern Europe, Europe is nothing more than divided Rome.
48:57 In fact, if you look at the divisions of Rome,
48:59 here they are. [Text on screen]
49:16 We'll talk more about that in another night.
49:18 All of these barbarian tribes today form what we call
49:22 Europe. The kingdom remains divided.
49:27 I want you to go back to your Bible, go back to your Bible
49:31 and look at verse 42 as we come to the end of this
49:34 remarkable prophecy. "And as the toes of the feet"
49:38 "were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom"
49:42 "shall be partly strong and partly fragile."
49:45 "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will"
49:48 "mingle themselves with the seed of men", that is they will
49:51 intermarry, "but they will not stick to one another,"
49:55 "just as iron doesn't mix with clay."
49:59 The old King James says: "they will not cleave",
50:03 my version says "they will not adhere", they won't
50:06 stick together. Let me ask you a question,
50:08 if I had a bucket here, and I put into that bucket
50:12 clay, soft, malleable clay, and iron shavings,
50:15 and I began to stir it, how long would I have to stir
50:18 the iron and clay before I had "cliron"?
50:21 [Audience laughs] How long would I have
50:23 to stir it? I could stir it forever
50:25 and I'd still have clay and iron, because clay and iron
50:28 don't mix, are we all together on that?
50:30 That's what God says, they're going to try and stick together.
50:35 Have there been efforts to unite Europe, yes or no?
50:38 - [Audience replies] Yes - Oh sure,
50:39 let's just look at a few of the men who tried
50:42 to outsmart God.
50:44 Charlemagne, on his rampage to recreate the so called
50:47 Holy Roman Empire: unsuccessful. Charles V of Spain:
50:53 unsuccessful. Louis XIV of France, bathed Europe in blood,
50:59 unsuccessful, Napoleon, unsuccessful. In fact, Napoleon
51:03 himself, we're told, was shown this prophecy.
51:06 There is a tradition that Napoleon himself,
51:08 was shown this very prophecy that Europe could not,
51:12 yea, would not be divided, and as the tradition goes,
51:15 he took the Bible and threw it across the room,
51:17 and when he lost his battle at Waterloo, he said:
51:20 "God Almighty has been too much for me."
51:23 [Audience laughs]
51:25 And of course, Hitler. These are men who tried
51:27 to outsmart God, but God had said they will not cleave.
51:29 There have been significant efforts by some of the so called
51:33 great men of history, to bring Europe back under a single,
51:36 unified head, but none have succeeded.
51:40 God had declared they will not cleave together.
51:44 Today we are living in the time of divided Europe.
51:48 Have there been efforts even in modern times to unite Europe?
51:51 Yes or no? Sure, sure.
51:54 Here is a very interesting parallel of this painting here,
51:58 which was a famous painting by the Flemish Renaissance painter,
52:03 his name is escaping me, Brueghel.
52:06 The famous Renaissance painter, Brueghel, painted in
52:08 the 16th century of the tower of Babel.
52:11 You know the story of the tower of Babel?
52:14 Man was going to construct this great artifice to his glory,
52:17 and look at this, isn't this very interesting?
52:19 When the European Economic Community first came
52:22 on the scene, this was the official poster, do you see
52:25 the similarities? It's just basically a modern
52:28 characterization of Brueghel's old famous painting
52:32 of the tower of Babel, and notice this:
52:34 "Europe, many tongues, one voice."
52:37 Has there been a push to unite Europe?
52:40 Sure, but we're not interested in the politics of it,
52:42 we're not interested in the economics of it,
52:44 we're not interested in any of that, the fact is,
52:48 God had said these nations would remain divided,
52:51 and any effort, whether military, or intermarriage,
52:54 or political, to unite Europe is doomed to failure
52:58 because God has said they'll remain divided.
53:00 If that makes sense say amen. [Audience replies] Amen.
53:04 >From ancient Babylon on, so there it is.
53:07 Let's go back there. The dream is certain
53:10 and the interpretation is sure, there's the dates,
53:13 see if you can them all down. [text on screen]
53:43 Despite some of the so called great men of history
53:46 trying to unite Europe, and even political maneuverings,
53:49 and economic maneuverings, and intermarriage, there was a time
53:52 when Queen Elizabeth was called "the grandmother of Europe"
53:55 because the duchess of this country would marry
53:57 the duke of this country, and the princess of this country
54:00 would marry the prince of that country, and the king
54:03 of this country would marry the queen of that country,
54:06 but it never could cause them to stick together, why?
54:09 Because God said it wouldn't happen.
54:12 Let's finish up the prophecy, it's basically done, verse 43:
54:17 "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will"
54:20 "mingle themselves with the seed of men through intermarriage,"
54:23 "but they will not cleave one to another, just as iron"
54:27 "does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings",
54:31 what kings? These kings right down here,
54:33 the toes partly of iron and partly of potter's clay,
54:36 "in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up"
54:40 "a kingdom which shall never be destroyed."
54:44 "The kingdom will not be left to other people",
54:49 unlike Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom which was left to other people,
54:52 "it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms"
54:55 "and it will stand forever. In as much as you saw"
55:03 "that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands"
55:06 "and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay,"
55:08 "the silver and the gold, the great God has made known"
55:12 "to the king what will come to pass after this,"
55:14 and notice the last part here, "the dream is certain,"
55:20 "and the interpretation is sure."
55:23 Daniel knew that he was giving the right answers
55:25 because the answer came from God.
55:30 Absolutely incredible, 600 years before the time of Jesus.
55:36 I want you to think about that for just a moment,
55:38 what if you had to predict the next 25 years of human history,
55:41 could you do it? The 2500 years of human history,
55:43 could you do it?
55:45 >From the time of Daniel, 600 BC, until present time
55:49 is some 2500 years of human history and in approximately
55:53 150 words, Daniel gives us a sweep of human history,
55:57 do you think you could do that? 2500 years of human history
56:02 with absolute perfect accuracy and clarity?
56:05 The first time I ever saw this prophecy, I looked at
56:08 that book and I said: "there's only 2 possible options here,"
56:11 "either someone is playing a very big trick,"
56:16 "or this book is supernatural." Are you with me?
56:20 To be able to predict, and this is just 1 of many prophecies
56:23 incidentally, but to be able to predict with that kind
56:25 of clarity, that kind of accuracy, is absolutely
56:28 beyond the kin of man, it must be God.
56:34 Now, I'm not a gambling person, maybe you are,
56:37 I always lose, so I just stop gambling,
56:40 but there is a safe gamble. Think about it
56:42 from this perspective, if you were a gambling person
56:45 and God said there would be Babylon, and there was Babylon,
56:47 that's 1. God said that there would be
56:49 Medo-Persia, and there was Medo- Persia, that's 2.
56:51 God said that there would be Greece, and there was Greece,
56:53 that's 3. God said that there would be Rome,
56:56 and there was Rome, that's 4.
56:58 God said that Rome would be divided, and Rome was divided,
57:00 that's 5. God said that Rome would remain
57:03 divided despite significant efforts to unite it,
57:06 that's 6. The very next thing that God
57:08 says would happen is that He would set up His own kingdom,
57:13 that's the 7th thing, now if you're a betting man,
57:15 Nr.1 happens, Nr.2 happens, Nr.3 happens, Nr.4 happens,
57:18 Nr.5 happens, Nr.6 happens, what do you think about Nr.7?
57:21 [Audience says] It'll happen.
57:23 Do you think that's a safe bet, yes or no? [Audience says] Yes.
57:25 The stone that struck the image became a mountain and filled
57:28 the whole earth. When God sets up
57:30 His kingdom at the second coming of Jesus, that kingdom
57:33 will never be conquered, it is an eternal kingdom
57:37 for the saved, and for those who have put their faith
57:40 in the God of the Bible. Can someone say amen?
57:42 - [Audience] Amen. - Absolutely, friends,
57:45 what can be trusted in these uncertain times?
57:48 What can be trusted in these strange times?
57:50 God's word can be trusted. In a world of uncertainty,
57:55 Bible prophecy provides us with certainty.


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Revised 2014-12-17