Voice of Prophecy Speaks

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Lonnie Melashenko

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Series Code: VOPS

Program Code: VOPS000002


00:30 Thank you and good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
00:34 On September 11, 2001,
00:37 the world tingled as we pricked up our ears
00:40 and listened to the shocking news
00:41 bulletins coming out of New York City
00:44 and then from the Pentagon, Washington D.C.
00:46 as the newscaster said,
00:48 "Terrorists hijacked planes, the Twin Towers,
00:51 the World Trade Center and the Pentagon."
00:53 It was like a plot from some horror movie.
00:57 What kind of people would do something like this?
01:00 And we thought, "What if I had been on one of those planes?"
01:05 Jeannie's mother was flying out
01:07 from Dulles Airport in Washington D.C.
01:10 to the West Coast that very morning.
01:12 And you'll all remember that
01:13 when the attack hit in New York,
01:15 all flights were immediately grounded.
01:19 Where was mother?
01:21 We knew our little lady 6-year-old Evelyn had landed
01:24 somewhere in the country, but where was she?
01:26 I don't know, Jeannie, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 hours went by,
01:30 we worried and what relief when we finally discovered
01:33 that her plane had landed in Kansas City.
01:37 But tonight we're still reeling in shock
01:40 from the aftermath of the attack on America.
01:43 You know, suddenly the flight on planet earth
01:45 has gotten a whole lot more bumpy, hasn't it?
01:48 Anthrax, Jihad, words we didn't know two years ago.
01:53 The world tonight is on tiptoe.
01:55 Wall Street is holding its breath.
01:58 The fuse is lit and burning and everyone is watching
02:00 the Middle East, wondering something is coming,
02:03 something of epic proportions, our worried world waits.
02:10 In fact, the pundits now say that
02:12 our future is so frightening
02:15 that something greater than man,
02:17 a power above man, outside man must alter the collision course
02:22 that our great nations are now taking.
02:25 But, Ladies and Gentlemen,
02:27 during this very program tonight
02:29 it is my purpose to actually identify this needed force.
02:36 So that from now on you'll be able to read your newspaper
02:38 with a brand new perspective
02:40 and see world events in a brand new light.
02:43 You tonight are on the verge of a truly thrilling discovery.
02:50 Now strange it might seem
02:52 to properly identify this power.
02:54 It's necessary to go back in history 2,600 years
03:00 and take a look at one of the shrewdest cartoons
03:03 of world history ever produced.
03:05 And no wonder God Himself produced it and designed it.
03:10 I want you to go back with me tonight
03:12 to the splendors of an ancient eastern palace,
03:16 wherein one night a great world monarch
03:20 had a most remarkable dream.
03:23 We find that recorded in the Book of Daniel Chapter 2.
03:26 Now this dazzling young monarch
03:29 just happens to be Saddam Hussein's hero.
03:34 Maybe you read it in Time Magazine
03:36 a couple of years-- by the way,
03:37 today is Saddam Hussein's birthday, he is 66.
03:43 Nebuchadnezzar is that king that Saddam Hussein
03:47 has patterned his whole life after.
03:48 He was the king of ancient Babylon,
03:51 who'd forged together that great world empire Babylon,
03:56 determined to establish an eternal dynasty.
03:59 He even went to the pains of stamping
04:01 his own name on every single brick
04:04 that they used in the construction of Babylon.
04:06 By the way, if you win the prize on "Jeopardy"
04:09 or the "Wheel of Fortune"
04:11 and you would happen to be sent over to Baghdad next week.
04:14 Did you know that tourists can still buy
04:15 an original brick from ancient Babylon
04:18 with Nebuchadnezzar's name stamped on it?
04:21 And that proud monarch was determined
04:24 Babylon would always rule the world.
04:27 That's why Saddam likes him as his alter ego.
04:31 And thinking of his empire to come,
04:33 one night King Nebuchadnezzar fell asleep
04:36 and he dreamed a dream.
04:37 Verse 1 says, in Daniel Chapter 2.
04:40 And in that dream,
04:41 the Bible says, he saw terrible things.
04:44 He saw rise and fall of political empires
04:48 crashing one after another.
04:49 In his terror, he awakened
04:51 and he cried out in that palace bedroom
04:53 and his Taliban guards and aides
04:55 and the Secret Service agents
04:56 came rushing in, "What is it, king?
04:58 What is it?"
04:59 "Oh, I've had a dream, awful dream.
05:04 Terrifying things are about to come.
05:06 It's so ominous. I feel sick."
05:08 "Well, what is it? Tell us."
05:10 The king said, "Quick!
05:12 Call the wise men, the astrologers."
05:13 In the ancient days, dreams were very important to them.
05:18 So, fortunetellers were employed
05:20 to foretell the future.
05:21 So here they came, the brains-trust of the empire.
05:24 Some of them were mathematicians,
05:25 astronomers, scientists,
05:27 all with their fancy degrees and PhDs and Fiddle-dee-dees,
05:32 Lecanomancy, Belomancy, Necromancy, Hepatoscopy.
05:36 And they said, "What is it? What is it, King?"
05:38 Daniel 2:3 says, "Oh, I've had a dream
05:41 and my spirit is anxious to know the dream."
05:44 Now mind you, these men were like
05:46 our 21st Century Harvard graduates.
05:50 They were Wall Street's market analysts.
05:53 In Daniel 2:4, they said,
05:55 "...O King, your majesty, live forever!"
05:59 Now you just go ahead "Tell us your dream,
06:01 and we will give you the interpretation."
06:03 The king said, now listen, that's the very point.
06:05 I've forgotten the dream.
06:07 You divines, you claim to have some
06:09 direct communication with the Gods.
06:11 You tell me my dream.
06:12 And verses 5 and 6 record the desperate struggle
06:15 between the so-called wise men,
06:17 who everybody could see now were clearly stalling for time,
06:22 and the king who demanded.
06:26 "My decision is firm.
06:28 If you do not make known to me the dream,
06:31 and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces
06:35 and your houses shall be made an ash heap.
06:38 Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation."
06:41 Oh, come on, King.
06:44 Just tell us a little bit of the dream.
06:47 You tell me the dream
06:48 or I'll have the whole bunch of you
06:49 religious hypocrites killed.
06:52 "O King," verses 10 and 11 says,
06:54 "There's not a man on earth
06:55 who can tell the king's matter."
06:57 And they were right.
06:59 No king, or Lord, or rulers ever asked anything
07:01 of any magician or astrologer or Chaldean.
07:04 They said, "No, there's no other
07:06 who can tell it to the king except the Gods,
07:09 whose dwelling is not with flesh."
07:12 And the king roars. "Slay them all!
07:16 Execute every last one of them!"
07:19 Daniel 2:13, it says, "So the decree went out,
07:23 and they began killing the wise men..."
07:26 But now at the court of Babylon during this very time
07:30 happened to live the young God-fearing
07:33 Jewish prophet by the name of Daniel.
07:35 And he has three companions, we know them by name Shadrach,
07:38 Meshach, and Abednego.
07:40 They had been captured by Nebuchadnezzar's armies
07:43 during one of its campaigns against Jerusalem.
07:45 And so they were now prisoners of war, POWs.
07:49 But because of their superior IQ,
07:52 they weren't made slaves or killed in genocide.
07:57 These three Hebrews and Daniel were training
07:59 as future "aides" for the king.
08:02 I don't know why, but for some reason
08:04 Daniel and his three friends
08:05 hadn't been called in for Nebuchadnezzar's
08:07 "midnight madness" consultation.
08:10 So when the Attorney-General whose name was Arioch
08:14 and his soldiers came to arrest Daniel,
08:16 the Bible tells us that this winsome young man
08:18 Daniel responded with very gracious tact.
08:22 Arioch, we're friends,
08:24 I mean, this seems very harsh and abrupt.
08:28 That's unlike the king.
08:30 What's the matter? Well, Daniel, I'm very sorry.
08:32 Kind of in a hurry, but I guess
08:34 the king had too much pizza last night.
08:37 Daniel 2:24 says, Daniel says,
08:40 "But don't destroy the wise men of Babylon.
08:42 If you'll just grant a temporary stay of execution
08:46 and then take me to the king.
08:49 Arioch, both the dream and the interpretation
08:52 can be made known to the king."
08:55 It's a very fascinating drama that unfolds here
08:57 as the king actually grants Daniel's request.
09:01 And Daniel heads home and he spends the entire night
09:03 in prayer with his companions.
09:05 But that night, that very night
09:08 God revealed the secret dream to him in a vision.
09:12 And the next morning, Daniel calls Arioch
09:14 on his cell phone, if he had one.
09:16 Daniel 2:24,
09:18 "Arioch, don't execute the wise men of Babylon.
09:20 Take me to the king,
09:21 and I will interpret his dream for him."
09:24 Can you see Daniel getting up,
09:26 putting on his tails and bowtie or whatever he wore back then,
09:28 but he steps into the throne room.
09:30 And the king, he's already heard
09:32 a little bit about this and he flatters Daniel,
09:33 and he says, "Well, young man Daniel,
09:36 I understand you are pretty wise, pretty smart.
09:39 You're able to tell me what I dreamed?"
09:43 "Oh, just a minute," says Daniel.
09:45 "I want you to know, I didn't come up with this."
09:49 Notice verses 27 and 28.
09:51 "The secret which the king has demanded,
09:54 the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians,
09:56 and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king.
09:59 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets,
10:04 and He has made known to the King Nebuchadnezzar," What?
10:08 "What will be in the latter days..."
10:13 King, when it comes to foretelling the future,
10:16 the brains-trust of your empire of mankind
10:19 is like Enron and WorldCom.
10:21 But, O King, God has taken this occasion
10:25 to outline through your dream
10:27 the history of the world for more than 2,600 years."
10:32 Really, the king says. He leans forward on his throne.
10:36 Go ahead. Daniel, what did I see?
10:40 And he listens intently as loudly and clearly,
10:43 Daniel begins to speak in Daniel 2:29.
10:48 "Your majesty, as for you, O King,
10:53 thoughts came to your mind while you're on your bed,
10:55 about what would come to pass after this,
10:59 and He who reveals secrets
11:01 has made known to you what will be."
11:05 Oh, yes, Daniel, go ahead. What did I dream?
11:10 Verse 31, "You O king, were watching,
11:13 and behold, a great image!"
11:17 This image, whose splendor was excellent,
11:20 stood before you, and its form was awesome.
11:23 That's where the kids get that term, awesome.
11:27 Oh, Daniel, yes, yes, that's it, an awesome image.
11:31 "This image's head was of gold, its chest and arms of silver,
11:34 its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron,
11:37 its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."
11:41 And amazed, Nebuchadnezzar listens, Danny, D anny boy,
11:45 you've got it, yes, you got it again!
11:47 That's just as I saw it.
11:49 Verses 34 and 35, Daniel continues,
11:52 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands,
11:55 which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay
11:57 and broke them in pieces.
11:59 And then the iron, the clay,
12:00 the bronze, the silver, and the gold
12:01 were crushed together and became like chaff
12:03 from the summer threshing floors,
12:05 the wind carried them away
12:07 so that no trace of them was found."
12:13 That's right, says the King.
12:15 That dream, it ended with that mysterious stone
12:18 hurtling out of somewhere in space
12:19 and it struck that image on its feet
12:21 and just shattering and grinding
12:23 the whole statue to powder
12:25 so that it was so fine, the wind just blew it away.
12:29 Verse 35, "And the stone that struck the image
12:32 became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."
12:38 Daniel looks at the king.
12:41 The king is looking back at Daniel.
12:43 He's still leaning forward on the edge of his throne.
12:46 And his face kind of brightens and he says, "Yes, that's it!
12:51 That's the dream exactly as I saw it!
12:53 Amazing.
12:54 It is all coming back now, every detail.
12:56 This metal man, each different metal
12:58 less in value is descend from the head to the toe,
13:01 there is gold, and then there is silver,
13:02 then brass, then iron, then iron mixed with clay.
13:06 Perhaps someone though asks tonight,
13:09 but what possible significance
13:11 can this obscure 2,600 year old dream
13:14 have upon today's news on Iraq?
13:18 Oh, my friend, wrapped up in this strange image
13:22 are hidden certain salient facts
13:24 that are capable of transforming
13:26 our entire outlook on the future.
13:30 Oh, but you say, what does it mean?
13:33 That is the question Nebuchadnezzar asked
13:36 and said the young prophet in verse 36.
13:39 "This is the dream.
13:41 Now we will tell the interpretation..."
13:45 Now please, friend, notice.
13:46 I'm not going to place some modern interpretation
13:48 on this musty old dream.
13:50 It was interpreted for us on the spot 2,500 years ago.
13:55 So again the king nervously
13:57 changes his position on his throne
13:59 and he listens as in just a few words,
14:02 God sketched history from Babylon's time 600 years
14:07 before Christ to the final climax of earth's history.
14:12 And Daniel looks squarely at King Nebuchadnezzar,
14:14 ruler of this world's first Universal Kingdom,
14:17 and he declares, "Your majesty,
14:21 here's what this dream means."
14:22 Verse 38,
14:25 "You, oh king, are this head of gold."
14:31 Babylon. Oh, the king smiles.
14:35 That's fine. Babylon the Golden.
14:38 That fits. Babylon the great.
14:40 The king was thrilled to think
14:42 that he was at the top of that image.
14:43 Babylon was the golden kingdom of a golden age.
14:46 And in fact you look into history
14:48 and you find that they used gold everywhere.
14:50 When you went to school you learned
14:52 that the fabulous hanging gardens of Babylon
14:55 were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
14:58 They had a 150 foot wide streets, all paved,
15:03 crisscrossing each other at right angles.
15:05 In fact they had a subterranean tunnel
15:08 underneath the Euphrates River,
15:09 that's were Saddam got that idea of all those tunnels
15:12 and it was connecting
15:13 two of the royal palaces way back then.
15:16 They had a food supply on hand for 20 years
15:19 in case of enemy attack.
15:21 Babylon the Golden. Babylon the impregnable.
15:25 They would never fail, they were eternal...
15:31 they thought.
15:34 As Daniel talked, the king was really enjoying
15:36 the thought of his supremacy up there
15:37 at the top, this head of gold.
15:39 All this fits, Daniel. I'm that head of gold.
15:42 Why don't you just go right on with this wonderful forecast?
15:46 Verse 39, Daniel said, "But, king, after you
15:52 will arise another kingdom inferior to yours..."
15:57 What?
16:00 Come on, now get real, an inferior kingdom
16:03 conquer Babylon and rule the world?
16:05 It cannot be.
16:06 Never will an inferior kingdom
16:08 tumble Babylon and rule the world.
16:11 But archaeologists have excavated clay tablets
16:13 inscribed with some pretty pompous words by Nebuchadnezzar
16:16 and this is actually from history I'm quoting.
16:19 "The fortifications of Esagila and Babylon,
16:22 I strengthened and established the name of my reign forever."
16:29 That is precisely why Saddam Hussein
16:31 once said to the press,
16:32 "Nebuchadnezzar is my hero
16:34 because no one will ever take Baghdad."
16:43 But the Bible says,
16:44 the proud Nebuchadnezzar in Chapter 4:30,
16:47 "spoke saying, 'Is not this great Babylon
16:50 that I have built for a royal dwelling
16:52 by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?'"
16:57 But God's Holy Word said that another power
17:01 would achieve world supremacy
17:03 and supersede the golden kingdom of Babylon.
17:06 In fact God's word even identified
17:08 that next power for Daniel.
17:10 In Daniel 8:20 and 5:28,
17:15 God names this power as Medo-Persia.
17:20 Did this happen?
17:22 You know world history, you know that it did.
17:24 In fact Daniel lived long enough to see it happen.
17:28 But history tells us
17:29 that it was an unusual dual power and empire.
17:33 Well, how did that happen?
17:34 It happened during the reign of Belshazzar,
17:37 who was the very arrogant
17:38 and proud grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.
17:42 Cyrus the Mede, he laid siege to Babylon.
17:46 But the Babylonians scoffed,
17:48 they had walls 387 feet high and 87 feet thick.
17:53 They scoffed at those armies of Cyrus
17:55 gathered outside the walls of Babylon.
17:57 No problem.
17:59 There was no way Babylon could fall.
18:02 But God said Babylon would succumb to a lesser nation.
18:07 In fact he predicted that Cyrus would do the work.
18:11 How? By strategy.
18:14 History tells us, on October 13, 539 B.C.,
18:19 that that great golden kingdom of Babylon
18:22 came crashing down and it collapsed in just one night.
18:28 How?
18:29 Well, God had prophesied it 200 years before
18:33 through the Prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 45:1.
18:36 "Thus says the Lord God to His anointed, to Cyrus,
18:41 whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him,
18:46 and loose the armor of kings, to open before him,"
18:50 notice "the double doors,
18:54 so that the gates will not be shut."
18:57 Our prophecy revealed that Cyrus would do this,
19:01 150 years before he was even born.
19:04 But how would he do it?
19:06 Well, Cyrus could not break down those great big walls
19:08 so he did an amazing thing.
19:09 It sounds very, very simple now
19:11 but nobody had ever heard of it before.
19:14 But the Euphrates River was the key.
19:18 History tells us that Cyrus sent his engineers
19:21 to work upstream on the Euphrates River,
19:24 and they built some dams and dikes to divert the river
19:28 that ran through the center of the city.
19:30 And on a given night, on a given signal,
19:32 one group of those soldiers and engineers turned aside
19:35 that whole Euphrates River, it dropped down to a trickle,
19:39 and so the rest of the army that were hiding in ambush,
19:42 they tramped down into the riverbed,
19:43 marched underneath the great walls of Babylon
19:46 right into the city.
19:48 They had left those two double doors open inside the city
19:51 and that night by surprise-attack
19:52 the Persian army stormed Belshazzar's palace.
19:55 They captured the city, they killed the king
19:57 and Babylon the Golden crashed in one night.
20:04 So now Medo-Persia ruled the world.
20:07 For two centuries from 539 to 331 B.C.
20:11 the chest and arms of silver of that great image ruled.
20:17 A kingdom that certainly
20:18 was a whole lot inferior to Babylon,
20:21 but it happened and history confirms it.
20:24 But, you see, the prophecy goes on
20:26 and history goes on.
20:28 Daniel predicted the kingdom of silver would also fall.
20:33 Notice verse 39, "...Next, O king, a third kingdom,
20:38 one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth."
20:42 Well, did that come to pass?
20:44 I mean, could Daniel have possibly identified
20:46 this third world power, would have hardly even existed yet?
20:51 In Daniel 8:21 he puts it down in black and white.
20:55 The belly and thighs of bronze
20:57 made on this metal image is Greece.
21:01 And he even names it 300 years before it arose.
21:05 Daniel spells that out, 1, 2, 3.
21:09 First Babylon, then Medo-Persia,
21:11 then Grecia, and history backs up the Bible.
21:16 The fantastic story of Alexander the Great,
21:20 that dazzling young general who marched his armies so fast,
21:23 that the Bible says like his feet seemed like
21:25 they touched not the ground.
21:28 Jeannie and I were in Greece with Phil Draper
21:30 and some of our Voice of Prophecy team
21:31 just a little over year ago before everything blew up.
21:35 Two summers ago, we were following
21:36 the journeys of the the Apostle Paul
21:38 and our guide in near Athens showed us exact place
21:43 where Alexander and the Greeks
21:44 collided head-on with Darius III of Persia
21:48 in the Battle of Arbela in 331 B.C.
21:52 And they showed us that little area in the ocean
21:55 there in the Mediterranean.
21:57 He said, there were so many Persian ships
21:59 packed into that little bay,
22:01 they couldn't maneuver, they couldn't turn around.
22:02 Alexander just had some little tiny robots practically.
22:06 His rag-tag band of just 47,000 soldiers
22:11 were pitted against one million Persians.
22:15 Impossible?
22:16 Jimmy the Greek, the oddsmaker in Vegas would say,
22:19 "That's 20:1 odds, no way."
22:22 But Daniel Chapter 6 says, "No.
22:24 The Greeks will tumble the Medo-Persian Empire."
22:28 And it happened. It happened.
22:31 At the young age of 25, Alexander became the ruler
22:34 over the most expensive and extensive world empire
22:37 that he had ever known, Greece,
22:40 the great bronze third world empire.
22:45 You know, if you read world history
22:47 and I took history as a minor in college.
22:48 It's very interesting to read Arian
22:51 who writes this and I'm quoting.
22:52 He writes about Alexander.
22:54 "I am persuaded that there was no nation,
22:57 city, nor people where his name did not reach.
23:01 There seems to me to have been some divine hand presiding
23:05 both over his birth and actions."
23:09 Greece, the kingdom of brass.
23:12 I don't believe it's just a coincidence
23:14 that the Greek soldiers wore brass armor, brass spears,
23:19 brass helmets, brass shields, brass battle-axes,
23:23 because that was the third metal
23:25 of that empire in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
23:28 And Alexander the Great. What a general.
23:31 I mean, in five short years,
23:35 he marched his armies all over the globe.
23:38 He crossed the Himalayas to India.
23:41 And finally at just 32 years of age
23:44 Alexander sat down and he wept
23:46 because there were no more worlds to conquer.
23:49 A bloodthirsty and licentious soldier he was.
23:52 Alexander often killed his own friends
23:55 for sport in his drunken frenzies.
23:58 Or he'd burn down beautiful palaces,
24:01 simply to watch them burn.
24:02 He was a pyromaniac.
24:05 Unfortunately, Alexander the Great
24:07 dropped dead one day of acute alcoholism.
24:11 And after his death,
24:12 the Greek Empire went downhill fast,
24:15 Until, "On June 22, 168 B.C., at the Battle of Pynda,
24:22 perished the great empire of Alexander the Great,
24:25 just a 144 years after his death."
24:29 But God predicted four world empires, one after the other.
24:36 So after those thighs of brass
24:39 were down now in the legs of iron.
24:42 Notice Daniel 2:40,
24:45 "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron..."
24:50 Well, turning to history again, sure enough.
24:53 Rome crushed Grecia.
24:57 Rome was the most fierce and ruthless kingdom yet.
25:00 This great iron monarchy with her Caesars,
25:03 who've called themselves gods and demanded worship.
25:06 Everyone knows that Rome was the cruel power
25:09 that put Jesus to death.
25:11 Roman soldiers nailed Him to the cross on Calvary.
25:16 Iron Rome, military Rome,
25:18 characterized by rumbling iron chariots,
25:22 short iron swords and fantastic highway systems.
25:26 But Rome was a horribly fierce authoritative power.
25:32 Daniel speaks again, but now listen, king,
25:35 king here we're down on the legs,
25:37 but now a major change in world history is coming.
25:42 Your majesty, there is not gonna be anymore
25:45 world empires that follow Rome."
25:48 What? No more world empires?
25:53 There's always world-- No fifth empire, Daniel?
25:55 No, says Daniel.
25:56 The Prophecy says, the fourth world empire is the very last.
26:02 Babylon the Golden, Medo-Persia, Grecia,
26:05 then the iron monarchy of Rome
26:06 but then God says a big change is coming.
26:10 Well, Nebuchadnezzar leans forward on his throne
26:14 listening to Daniel as he points now
26:15 down to the feet of that great image.
26:19 King, do you remember that your saw in your dream,
26:22 a great break up?
26:24 Do you remember the feet
26:26 were part of iron and part of clay?
26:30 Yes, but what does that mean? Verse 41, verse 42, 43.
26:36 King, "Just as you saw that the feet
26:38 were part of baked clay and partly of iron,
26:43 so this will be now a divided kingdom,
26:47 so the people will be a mixture and not remain united,
26:51 any more than iron mixes with clay."
26:54 Well, now, Danny boy, do you mean to tell me
26:56 that there will not be one world empire any more?
26:59 Exactly, king. No fifth world empire.
27:03 Rome would rule the world for 600 years,
27:06 but then it would disintegrate.
27:08 Did it happen? Did it?
27:11 You just go down the street to any Barnes & Noble store
27:14 and you read Edward Gibbons'
27:16 The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.
27:18 Probably many of you have it at home,
27:19 probably haven't read it, it's pretty heavy stuff.
27:22 The Gibbons tells us that Rome did
27:24 divide and break up just like those ten toes.
27:28 Daniel 7:24 said, ten kings would arise.
27:33 In fact Gibbons tells how Rome imploded
27:36 and collapsed through vice, through luxury,
27:41 through political corruption, scandal
27:44 and particularly moral decay.
27:47 We talk about those Roman orgies,
27:50 this is what we're talking about.
27:53 It caved in, becoming an easy prey
27:55 for those barbarian tribes,
27:56 who began to invade the empire around 476.
28:00 Over those Alpine passes to the North,
28:03 they swarmed in from Northern Europe in full revolt.
28:06 They deposed Emperor Augustus,
28:08 and Rome just fractured into segments,
28:11 little nations, little countries,
28:14 corresponding exactly to the ten toes in the image
28:18 that came apart, the iron clay
28:21 and they can't mix.
28:23 Nothing you can do welds iron to clay.
28:26 So Daniel 2:42, 43 says, "So the kingdom now
28:30 will be partly strong and partly fragile.
28:34 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay,
28:37 they will mingle with the seed of men,
28:39 but they will not adhere to one another,
28:41 just as iron does not mix with clay."
28:45 Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here tonight to tell you
28:49 that in history we here are right down
28:53 there in the toes of that great big image.
28:58 Those barbarian divisions around 476 A.D.
29:02 basically became the nations
29:04 of what we now call today modern Europe.
29:06 In fact if you went to public high school or college,
29:09 you know that historians list these ten barbaric tribes.
29:14 We'll put them on the chart here right now.
29:15 The Alamanni became the Germans.
29:17 The Burgundians became the Swiss.
29:19 The Franks became the French. The Lombards are the Italians.
29:22 The Saxons are the English. The Suevi are the Portuguese.
29:25 The Visigoths are our Spanish friends.
29:27 And the Heruli and the Ostrogoths
29:29 and the Vandals are now extinct.
29:32 But here is the point.
29:34 God predicted these nations of Europe
29:39 and that they would never unite.
29:42 They'll try.
29:43 Daniel 2:43 says,
29:44 "They will mingle themselves with the seed of men."
29:47 In other words, they would intermarry royalty
29:50 but that won't work.
29:51 And, you know, you look at the history of Europe,
29:53 fascinating to me.
29:55 Coney went to school over there in England
29:56 and he can probably verify this,
29:58 they tried everything you can to get Europe together.
30:01 They tried intermarriage, they tried intrigue,
30:02 they tried alimony, they tried palimony.
30:05 But God said no.
30:07 They'll try, but you read the text with me.
30:10 What does your Bible say?
30:11 "They shall not cleave one to another."
30:16 Amen. They would fail.
30:20 Seven words in verse 43 spell the doom
30:23 of all future attempts for world dominion.
30:26 I mean they tried forging one world empire
30:29 down to the Middle Ages clear into the 20th Century.
30:32 In fact now in the 21st century,
30:34 they've even come up
30:35 with some new ways of trying to bring them together,
30:37 they have one of them called the European Common Market.
30:40 In fact they have a new common currency,
30:42 they kind of like it.
30:43 The Euro seems to be
30:44 about the best attempt they've ever had.
30:47 But is it all working? No.
30:49 They are still divided, perhaps more than ever.
30:52 Intermarriage, divorce, remarriage, adultery, incest,
30:56 intrigue, you name it, went on in Europe.
30:57 And suddenly, as you look at world history,
30:59 all of the political rulers
31:01 began to be related to each other.
31:04 So what happens?
31:06 World War I was just one great big family quarrel.
31:10 Most of the rulers of Europe
31:12 were related in some way to Christian IX of Denmark.
31:16 Same with World War II over there in Europe, same story,
31:20 another family argument, as far as Europe was concerned.
31:24 The Czar of Russia, the King of England,
31:26 Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, they were all first cousins
31:30 related to Queen Victoria, their grandmother.
31:33 By the way, if you ever do get the courage
31:35 to fly on an airline again
31:36 and go over to Europe and you go to Denmark,
31:40 be sure to go to the palace
31:42 and you'll see a famous picture there with a family tree
31:45 of the royal families of Europe.
31:48 And it will show you that they were all related.
31:51 You see, they hoped by some how
31:52 maybe romancing each other, marrying each other,
31:55 that it would bring them together and prevent wars.
32:00 Well, it didn't. It's never worked.
32:03 Because God predicted they could not stick together,
32:09 just as iron and clay will not stick together.
32:12 Everyone tried to glue the nations of Europe together.
32:15 Charlemagne in 800 tried, he was defeated.
32:20 Charles V of Spain, he tried it, defeated.
32:25 Louis XIV of France, defeated. Napoleon, defeated.
32:30 In fact Napoleon finally admitted
32:32 God has just too much for me.
32:35 Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, defeated.
32:38 Hitler in 1939, defeated. Mussolini, defeated.
32:43 Because a single verse of prophecy
32:45 spelled the doom of all of these efforts
32:47 to unite Europe under one flag.
32:49 God said, "They shall not cleave one to another."
32:56 I'm a Canadian by birth
32:57 and all of my Canadian friends are listening tonight.
33:00 We have a French translator
33:02 and he's sending it up to Montreal
33:03 and all the French Canada.
33:04 You know, I was fascinated this last summer
33:08 when they had that big G-8
33:09 summit conference up there in Kananaskis, Alberta,
33:13 that's right inside Banff National Park.
33:15 Do you remember who was there on June 6, 2002?
33:18 President Bush was there.
33:19 Tony Blair was there from Canada.
33:21 England, France, they were all there
33:23 trying to bring world peace in Europe,
33:27 peace in the Middle East.
33:31 I'm a good citizen.
33:33 I don't wish to be disrespectful or unpatriotic.
33:36 But, Ladies and Gentlemen, these seven words
33:40 spell the ultimate doom of the United Nations,
33:45 the League of Nations,
33:46 the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization,
33:49 the Organization of American States,
33:51 the Palestinian-Israeli peace accord.
33:53 The Bible says, "They shall not cleave one to another."
33:59 Whether it's in Moscow or Beijing
34:01 or the White House, they may get together,
34:04 but the Bible says, they can't stick together.
34:06 It will never be. Those words, same words.
34:12 They hang over every peace table,
34:14 every council of nations,
34:16 every effort toward uniting the world in peace.
34:19 God said, you say it with me, say it right out loud
34:21 so they can hear you in Paradise, California,
34:23 where my folks are listening tonight, everyone.
34:26 "They shall not cleave one to another."
34:31 So, Ladies and Gentlemen, the question we ask you
34:33 in this Voice of Prophecy Speaks series
34:34 is "What's Next?"
34:39 That's the question tonight.
34:41 And The Voice of Prophecy speaks again
34:44 because suddenly the prophet stops short, and he says,
34:47 Oh, look there, king, you see it coming?
34:49 The king looks up as though he sees something.
34:51 Do you see it?
34:52 That's stone cut out without hands,
34:54 and it comes down and strikes the image upon the feet,
34:56 and smashes all those nations to bits.
34:59 And the image explodes
35:00 and shatters in a billion pieces.
35:02 And that stone just grinds it to powder, and blows it away.
35:05 Well, the king watches as that stone sure enough grows
35:09 until it becomes a great mountain
35:11 and fills the whole earth.
35:12 Daniel, what does that mean?
35:14 What is that stone? What does it represent?
35:17 He hears the pronouncement in verse 44, 45.
35:21 "In the time of those kings,"
35:24 down in the feet of iron mixed with clay of Modern Europe
35:28 and the United States of America.
35:29 In those days, "The God of heaven
35:33 will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed,
35:36 nor will it be left to other people.
35:38 It will crush all those kingdoms
35:40 and bring them to the end,
35:42 but it itself will endure forever.
35:46 King, this is the meaning of the vision of the rock
35:49 cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands
35:52 a rock that broke the iron, the bronze,
35:54 the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
35:56 The great God has shown the king
36:00 what will take place in the future.
36:03 King, the dream is true
36:06 and the interpretation is trustworthy."
36:09 My friends, tonight, Daniel 2 is a picture
36:14 of tomorrow morning's newspaper headlines
36:17 that the great next event on the stage of human history
36:21 is the Kingdom of the Stone.
36:23 The second-coming of Jesus, that's what's next.
36:28 That stone cut out without hands
36:30 means that God's kingdom won't be founded
36:32 by the hands of men, but by the mighty hand of God.
36:37 And it is a kingdom that will fill the whole earth
36:41 when that Hallelujah chorus that we sing every Christmas
36:44 will fulfill the prophecy, of Revelation 11:15
36:47 "That the kingdoms of this world
36:49 have become the kingdoms of our Lord,
36:51 and He shall reign forever and ever."
36:55 Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
36:57 Daniel 2 is a panoramic picture of history
37:01 in advance for our benefit.
37:04 And you and I tonight have been permitted
37:07 to peek behind the curtain of time
37:10 and see the continued struggle
37:12 that's gone on for thousands of years
37:13 from Daniel's time clear down
37:15 to the establishment of Christ's kingdom
37:18 and we see whose side will win.
37:22 Soon. What's next?
37:25 Christ's kingdom, the very next event.
37:30 Not the Taliban,
37:31 not Osama bin Laden, not atheism.
37:35 No, listen, we tonight, pardon my expression here.
37:41 We're living down in the very tippy toenails of that image.
37:46 It's almost over.
37:49 Very soon now the great Majesty of Heaven
37:54 will arise and He'll step across the threshold of time
37:57 and He'll see our seething, war-torn planet and He'll say,
38:00 Ladies and Gentlemen, it's closing time.
38:03 Things have gone on far enough.
38:05 The wisdom and brains-trust of humankind is bankrupt.
38:11 It's over.
38:13 But permit me to ask you a question tonight.
38:16 Whether you are watching in the Australian Pacific Rim
38:20 or you are in Papua New Guinea which we have watching tonight
38:24 or you're in South America or in Canada
38:27 or the Islands of the Sea,
38:28 wherever you are listening tonight,
38:29 I have a question for you.
38:32 Friend, listen carefully.
38:34 If all of these predictions
38:36 in just one chapter of the Bible
38:38 are absolutely correct in every detail tracing
38:42 thousands of years of history in advance,
38:44 can't we trust the rest of the Bible, too?
38:50 Can we rely on other truths in God's word
38:52 that are given to guide and help us
38:55 prepare for that coming kingdom?
38:57 Can't we tonight be absolutely certain
38:59 Jesus really is coming a second time soon
39:04 just as this prophecy in Daniel 2 says.
39:08 I believe with all of my heart
39:10 that tonight we are living on borrowed time.
39:16 We're right down there in the toes,
39:19 on the very verge of God's eternal kingdom.
39:22 We've come to the end.
39:24 The next move isn't man's, it's God's.
39:30 Let me say it this way.
39:32 Maybe there is not gonna be any more
39:34 voyager spacecraft invasions into space.
39:38 Folks, we're about to witness
39:39 that great big invasion from space.
39:44 But think, in loving mercy,
39:48 God reveals step by step exactly
39:50 what's coming so that we can face the future
39:53 not with fear, but with confidence.
39:56 And our business tonight, friend, is to determine
39:59 that we're gonna be a citizen
40:01 of the eternal kingdom that's coming.
40:04 And, folks, we can. We must.
40:07 Through the wonderful citizenship freely offered
40:10 through Jesus' blood-stained cross on Calvary.
40:15 You know, God is making up His kingdom.
40:17 He's deciding right now who's gonna be in that kingdom.
40:22 Friend, you did not come to this meeting by accident.
40:28 I believe you're here by divine appointment.
40:32 He is inviting you today to come.
40:35 Get out your Bibles, bring them with you, study.
40:39 Open your mind to God's plan for your future.
40:44 What's next?
40:46 What's next, friend, is the choice is up to you.
40:53 Will you ponder with me these words from Joey's song?
40:57 Are you ready for Jesus to come?
41:03 The theme of the Bible is Jesus
41:09 And how He died to save men
41:16 The plan of salvation assures us
41:22 He's coming back again
41:29 Are you ready for Jesus to come?
41:37 Are you faithful in all that you do?
41:44 Have you fought a good fight?
41:47 Have you stood for the right?
41:52 Have others seen Jesus in you?
42:00 Are you ready to stand in your place?
42:08 Are you ready to look in His face?
42:15 Can you look up and say
42:20 This is my Lord
42:26 Are you ready
42:29 For Jesus to come?
42:40 I invite you to join me in prayer just now.
42:44 Eternal God,
42:47 thank You for the dramatic picture of truth in Daniel 2,
42:53 for the certainty of these words in this amazing dream.
42:59 And, Lord, we really do want to be citizens
43:01 of that eternal Kingdom of the Stone.
43:04 We do.
43:07 All our heads are bowed,
43:08 and we're in attitude of prayer.
43:11 The head of each row there are row captains
43:13 and I'd like that they hand down
43:15 right now to each row a little container.
43:19 Just pass that down quickly, row captains,
43:21 just now, send it down.
43:22 Take one of those little response cards
43:25 and a pencil if you need it.
43:26 Just take it out and pass it
43:27 to the person next to you, every one.
43:31 Just do that right now. Pass it right down.
43:33 Thank you, row captains.
43:35 And our heads are bowed in prayer,
43:37 I want to just pray, Lord,
43:39 right now I want to invite any person
43:41 in this auditorium or wherever
43:42 they're listening across this great globe.
43:46 I want them to consider being in that Kingdom
43:48 and Lord to seriously explore how we can be citizens.
43:54 Jesus is inviting us, personally.
43:58 Jesus is present whenever His Word is preached.
44:00 And His Holy word is lifted up, so He's here,
44:02 King of Kings, Lord of Lords right now.
44:06 O Lord if a world president
44:08 walked into this room right now,
44:09 we'd all stand in honor and respect,
44:13 but Jesus is here.
44:16 So we want to honor You, respect You and choose You.
44:22 We want to be a citizen in Your Kingdom.
44:25 So, friend, wherever you're listening tonight,
44:28 I hope you have that card now in your hand,
44:30 and with your head bowed I'd like to invite you.
44:32 If you'd like to begin putting your faith
44:34 more firmly into God's incredible word,
44:37 the Bible, Books of Prophecy.
44:39 Now you don't know all of the answers,
44:42 but you're just making a choice tonight
44:44 to choose to rest your future in God's hands.
44:48 And you'd like to say,
44:49 God, my eternal security is in You.
44:55 I'm gonna do my best,
44:56 I'm gonna come to these meetings,
44:57 I'm gonna sign up there at the Discover Bible table,
45:00 take those lessons tonight, review them,
45:02 do whatever it takes.
45:04 I'd like to invite you, Ladies and Gentlemen,
45:05 take that card right now, your response card.
45:07 I want to go through it with you.
45:09 If you'd mind putting your name and address,
45:12 give us some information there, but notice the first one.
45:15 I want to prepare for Jesus' soon coming kingdom.
45:20 I hope everyone will check that first one.
45:23 And then number two,
45:24 perhaps you'd like to check this as well.
45:25 I would like to surrender my life to Jesus
45:28 and accept Him as my Savior Lord.
45:32 Check that if you'd like
45:33 to have that as your commitment tonight.
45:35 And then number three, there maybe someone here
45:37 in these various locations who would like to say,
45:39 you know, I came in here,
45:41 but I have wandered away from my Lord,
45:44 but I'd like to desire to come back into His truth.
45:47 Would you just check that third response?
45:50 And then number four,
45:51 there may be individuals here tonight,
45:52 that you're just guests or you've got something heavy
45:55 on your heart, a burden and you have a prayer request,
45:57 just write it down there.
45:59 Our staff tomorrow morning
46:00 will be gathering to pray for your request by name.
46:04 Just make those checks right now
46:06 and when you finish that, would you take that container
46:09 and pass it back down the aisle.
46:11 Return your pencils and your commitment card
46:15 as I continue to pray.
46:16 Lord, I don't know these people,
46:20 but You know them, everyone.
46:23 I want to thank You for each commitment.
46:26 Bless each one with inner peace tonight, what's next?
46:29 We don't know.
46:30 But we've made the big decision,
46:32 we want to be part of Your soon coming kingdom,
46:35 help us get ready in Jesus' name, amen.
46:40 Joey, sing the rest of that song for us.
46:44 Don't cling to the world and its treasure
46:50 This earth will soon pass away
46:56 O give him your love without measure
47:03 He's calling you today
47:10 Are you ready for Jesus to come?
47:18 Are you faithful in all that you do?
47:25 Have you fought a good fight?
47:29 Have you stood for the right?
47:34 Have others seen Jesus in you?
47:41 Are you ready to stand in your place?
47:49 Are you ready to look in His face?
47:56 Can you look up and say
48:01 This is my Lord
48:07 Are you ready
48:10 For Jesus to come?
48:22 Amen. And all the people said amen.
48:25 Ladies and Gentlemen, if you didn't get one of those cards,
48:28 see one of our row captains,
48:29 but be sure you place those back in the containers,
48:32 place them down to the other end of the row.
48:34 Tomorrow night, "Why So Much Suffering?"
48:40 Invite your friends. We'll see you here.
48:42 Same locations all across America
48:44 and Australia and South America,
48:45 Canada, the Islands of the Sea.
48:47 Thank you for coming. Good night.
48:49 And remember as you go
48:50 as we say at the end of our broadcast every single day.
48:53 Remember, friend, God really does love you.
48:58 Good night.


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Revised 2014-12-17