The Image of Daniel 2

Almost done. Okay. Let's take a moment. If I don't take a moment, you'll just be looking at this the whole time I'm speaking. So let's take a moment and look at this chart. I want to relieve you of your anxiety if you think I'm going to try to cover all this today. I'm not. We're only basically going to be looking at the two left-hand columns, Daniel Chapter 2 and Daniel Chapter 7. Actually, the three left-hand columns. So we'll be covering that material today. As you can see at the top of the page, you've got Daniel Chapter 2, 7, 8, Revelation 13, Revelation 17, an explanation of symbols and also how those events were fulfilled in history with dates and so forth. Lovingly, this is called the Beast Chart. This thing is probably twice as old as I am. I'm kind of joking about that. But it's been in the church for years and years and years. This is nothing new. But it is a handy reference guide, and we will be going through this as we continue going through the book of Daniel. So please keep this somewhere in your briefcase or if your Bible is big enough, fold it in half, put it in your Bible or whatever. We will be going through some of this material today. We'll be going through the prophecy portion of Daniel Chapter 2. Last time we were together talking about Daniel, we talked about Daniel being a man of prayer. We went through a number of chapters, actually, on that. We want to return to Daniel 2 and look at the prophecy aspect of that chapter and then fill in some details that is discussed in Daniel 2 where more details are given in Chapter 7 of Daniel. So let's turn over to Daniel Chapter 2.

You know, when you're giving a sermon like this, one of the challenges for the person giving the sermon is how much do you include, how much do you not include? It was very tempting to try to put some of Revelation in here, Revelation 13 and 17. They go together, but it would just be too complex, too much, and so I've left that out. We'll go through that some other time. If you've not studied this kind of thing in a while, it can be a little bit overwhelming, so we just want to take it a little at a time here. As I mentioned, Chapter 1, we went through talking about Daniel being a man of conviction, a man of courage, a man of conscience. Chapter 2 showed him a man of prayer that discussed the power of prayer. That brings us to Chapter 2, talking about the prophetic aspects of this chapter. You know, brethren, as an overview of world history, I would just like to comment for a moment that you and I have grown up in a historical aberration. Most people who have lived on this planet have grown up in a world where the Gentiles have been running the government, most people who lived in dictatorial or under-dictatorial regimes, militaristic regimes, oppressive regimes. You and I are so fortunate, as people living here in this country, God's blessed nation of Israel, to enjoy the freedoms we have enjoyed. But generally speaking, people in the world have not enjoyed what you and I may take for granted.

In your notes, you might want to jot down 2 Peter 3 and verse 8. I'm not going to turn there. But again, as a little bit of an overview here, we want to take a look at how God views time. 2 Peter 3, 8 says, We want to keep in mind some of the things I brought out in earlier messages regarding the book of Daniel. And that is that this book is front-loaded with Christian living. The first six chapters are heavily into Christian living. That doesn't mean there isn't prophecy. We're going to see that today that there is. But we see how God's mind looks at this and the overview God has to all of this. The second half of Daniel, chapter 2, is prophetic. In Daniel, chapter 7, again, we've covered this in the past, the first seven verses, Daniel, chapter 7, verses 1 through 7, covers 2,500 years of human history. That's over 40% of human history in seven verses. So we see how God is viewing time. We discussed Mr. Rhodes' great caution regarding prophecy, that we need to view trends. Not everything that happens in world news can we find a scripture for specifically. So we looked at trends. Now, one of the trends we want to take a look at in chapter 2 of Daniel here is verse 21. Again, as I made mention, and this is by way of review, if you want a purpose statement for the book of Daniel, Daniel, chapter 2 and verse 21, really is very close to what a purpose statement would be. Daniel 2, 21, and he changes the times and the seasons, talking about God, he removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Now, we're going to see today, as we go through Daniel, chapter 2 and 7, how God has indeed raised up kingdoms, raised up world-ruling powers, raised up kings, and deposed them. That's God's purview. God wants it to be said, when all is said and done, that he's given every race an opportunity, maybe not at world dominion, but at least regional dominion, no matter what race you're talking about. White, black, yellow, red, no matter what gender you're talking about, in terms of rulership, whether we're talking about kings, presidents, queens, prime ministers who are ladies, no matter what area of the world you're talking about, everybody has had a shot. Every group has had their shot. Various countries have had their shot. And all have failed miserably. God wants humankind to know that and to appreciate that. As it says there in verse 21, he gives wisdom to the wise. We've seen already how the wise men of Babylon came before King Nebuchadnezzar, and they failed. And yet we've also seen how God gave wisdom to young Daniel, and he succeeded. We've commented that prophecy is positive in chapter 2, in verse 44 of Daniel. Daniel 2, 44.

And in the days of these kingdoms, which we're going through in just a couple of moments, in the days of these kingdoms, that God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. No, not other people will be left to you in terms of rulership. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. So, brethren, we can take a look at prophecy and appreciate the positive nature of it. We appreciate the fact there's coming a time when you are going to rule. With all that you've learned, all the character you've developed, the wisdom you've garnered through the trials, as we've heard about in the sermonette today, you're going to be using God's law and not the laws of mankind. God's love, not the love that mankind wants to exhibit, or the lack of it, and you're going to be using God's Spirit.

So, it's important for us to realize that I give this a little bit of a backdrop, because God, as we look at the prophecies of chapter 2 and chapter 7, to us today, they're history for the most part. But the good thing for us to appreciate about this, or the important thing for us to appreciate, is that God keeps His promises. God keeps His promises. His kingdom will come. The prophecies regarding your resurrection, your participation in the kingdom of God, they are true. They are sure they will take place. So, I just wanted to mention those items before we get into the study of end-time prophecy. Okay, Daniel chapter 2, verse 1. We're looking at approximately 600 B.C. here. Daniel chapter 2 and verse 1. Now, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. Then the king gave command to quality magicians, astrologers, the sorcerers, the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king, and the king said to them, I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream. Now, we covered this last time. So I won't go through to cover all of that portion of the material. But we want to drop down now to the prophecy aspect of it in verse 31. Chapter 2, verse 31.

Now, brethren, let's again, I want to put a little bit of an asterisk here. We talk about four world-ruling kingdoms. Did these kingdoms rule over North America and South America? Did they rule over whoever might have been here in those days? Well, of course not. So basically, when we're talking about a world-ruling empire, we're talking about what we would call the cradle of civilization. We're talking about the area of the world we would call the Middle East. So let's keep that in mind. Now, as you're looking at these three verses here, 31, 32, and 33, we're seeing with each succeeding kingdom, each succeeding metal, is less valuable.

Perhaps showing the wealth of each succeeding empire is being more thinly spread because each empire is getting bigger. But though each empire is being more thinly spread, they are becoming stronger and stronger as time goes along. So let's take a look at verse 32 here. The first thing we see, and on your chart, you see on the far left, Daniel 2, the image, you see head of gold right below that and far left, upper left. And you go all the way across, and you see that's the Chaldean empire. You've got the dates for that empire. Daniel 2, verse 32, the image's head was of fine gold. Fine gold. Verse 37, You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. Notice God's perspective here. They didn't have this kingdom because they were such great people, or mighty people, or smart people. They received this kingdom, this golden kingdom, because God gave it to them. In verse 38, Whatever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them, over them all. You are this head of gold. So this is the Babylonian empire, represented by the head of gold.

As great as this empire was, please note the fact this empire lasted less than 90 years. It lasted less than 90 years.

We continue on. We go back to verse 32. We see the second area here. It says, It's chest and arms of silver. So here we have another world-ruling empire. It's chest and arms of silver. We see it also in verse 39. But after you shall arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, talking about that second kingdom, again, and your chart. As you look at the far left column, Daniel chapter 2 of the image, you go down to the second box there. Breast and arms of silver. You go across. You see that's the Persian empire. Go all the way across to the right-hand column. You've got the dates for it there. You know, it's interesting. A couple of things, as I've done a little research, I've heard about this. I tried to research it out. I wasn't quite confident that I was able to find what I was looking for, what I had heard. I had heard that the Persians used a silver standard. That's one of the reasons why God may have used that as an item to distinguish it from the other kingdoms.

In their realm, they used gold coinage. They used silver coinage. It was a 13 to 1 ratio of silver to gold. I don't know if that's any different than what we would have or any other nation would have back in those days. But I heard somewhere, and I just throw this out as what I've heard. I wouldn't throw it out as a doctrine, that they perhaps had a silver standard early on in their history. But notice, it is the case in verse 32, that this kingdom, this empire, had two arms. You have two different groups here. You've got the Medes and the Persians. The Medes and the Persians that compose the second group.

Okay, moving on. Verse 32, we've gone through two of these world-ruling empires. It says, then, in verse 32, the very end, it's belly and thighs of bronze. You see in verse 39, After you shall rise another kingdom and fear to yours, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the earth. On your chart, third box down, on the far left, under Daniel 2, you see belly and thighs of brass. You go across to the far right, you see that's Greece, under Alexander the Great. Where the silver kingdom, the Medo-Persian kingdom, lasted less than 250 years. So Babylon, less than 90. Persia, less than 250. And now we come to Greece, which is right about 300 years. So the kingdoms are staying great for a longer period of time. Then we come to Daniel chapter 2 and verse 33. Its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. We drop down to verse 40. The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. You know, a very strong, a very strong metal compared to silver or gold or bronze. Inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything in iron that crushes, that kingdom shall break in pieces and crush all the others. So we've got a kingdom here, this fourth empire, that is quite stout, very strong. Verse 41, whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay, partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it. Just as you saw from iron mixed with ceramic clay. And the toes where the feet were partly of iron, partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

So what we're looking at there is the Roman Empire, depicted as having ten toes. You again can see this on your chart. Daniel chapter 2 on the far left. Legs of iron, you go to the far right-hand side, and you see the Roman Empire depicted there. Something to keep in mind regarding the Roman Empire, something that we like, sometimes we forget about, we tend to forget about. This empire has two legs. Just as the Medo-Persian Empire had two arms, two main groups of people, this also has two legs.

The one leg was Rome, the Roman portion of the empire. But you also had an eastern portion, or the other leg, and that was headquartered in Constantinople, Istanbul today.

So the Roman Empire, as it was growing stronger and stronger, had two capitals. Even those in the east in Constantinople viewed themselves as Romans. Rome fell in 476 AD. Constantinople lasted another thousand years. They didn't go under until 1453 AD. So again, something for us to keep in mind. Now, what we want to do at this point is go over to Daniel chapter 7. We want to fill in some details here. Daniel chapter 7. This prophecy takes place roughly 50 years, a little more than 50 years, after Daniel chapter 2.

At this point in his life, Daniel is in his 70s. He's no longer a young man. He's in his early 70s, we believe. So Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. In the first year of Belshazzar, now here's another king. Daniel's already gone through all the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.

Again, one of the things I could have brought up was all the history here, all the various people after Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar wasn't the next one in line. There was some intrigue and various other things. You can study that on your own if you'd like to. The bottom line is we've got another king that Daniel's ruling under here, Belshazzar.

So in the first year of Belshazzar's reign of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions on his head while on his bed, and he wrote down the dream telling the main facts. So he had something here that was really kind of, I don't know if I would say, troubling him, but he realized this was important. This needs to be written down. And of course, this comes to us today as a part of God's Word. Verse 2, Daniel spoke saying, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

What's the great sea? Well, where are we geographically in the world? We're not talking about the Atlantic. We're not talking about the Pacific. What we're talking about here is the Mediterranean Sea. The four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. Verse 3, And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. This is why it's referred to as the Beast Chart.

You've got these beasts coming out of the sea. What we have here are four great beasts, Gentile powers arising from this churning sea. Put a marker here for a moment, and let's go over to Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57 and verse 20. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Now the reason we're quoting Isaiah 57 and 20 is the Bible does interpret itself.

When it's talking in Daniel 7, verse 3, about these beasts coming out of the sea, we're seeing that the Bible shows that people are coming out of the sea. These waters represent people, humanity in general. To further solidify this, let's go to Revelation 17. Revelation 17. Revelation 17, verse 15. Then he said to me, the waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

So the idea here, going back now to Daniel 7, verse 3, that these four great beasts are empires composed of people. Daniel 7, verse 4. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I watched so its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and it had a man's heart.

So that's Daniel 7, verse 4. In your notes, or in your chart, you move over to that second column from the left. The first beast is like the lion. Again, that equates to Daniel 7, the head of gold. That's the Caledonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire. I'd like to read you something from the Expositor's Bible commentary. Expositor's, if you're wanting to invest in a good commentary and don't have a few dollars, Expositor's is one of the best that there is. I've got the whole 12 or 13 volume set in my office there at home.

I also have it on my hard drive on my computer. I don't know what they cost, but back when I bought the volumes, I think it was $275. That was years ago, I don't know what the price is now. You'd pay a lot less than that if you buy the computer version of this. But I want to quote the Expositor's Bible commentary on Daniel 7, verse 4.

Quote, I quote that, brethren, because there's a number of things you and I believe in the church and our church culture that the world has a great deal of issue with. But when it comes to these four ruling empires, the world pretty much sees it the way we do. They see these empires.

They see pretty much the dates and everything. There is one departure, and it's a major departure, from what we believe in our church culture and what the world believes. And that would be the understanding of the fact that there's going to be, you know, seven heads and ten horns. What all that means. We're going to get into some of that a little bit later today. So that would be one major departure. Okay, so we go back to Daniel 7, verse 5. So we've got Babylon here, verse 5. And suddenly another beast, a second like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said, and they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh.

So, in your chart, second column over from the left, you've got the second beast, which is the bear, equal to the breast and arms of silver. Again, it's talking about the Persian Empire. Notice in Daniel, chapter 7, verse 5, it says, one side was raised up. One side was raised up. Just as you saw where, you know, there was the two arms, there are two entities here, the Medes and the Persians, and one became stronger than the other.

The Persians became the dominant force of that alliance. And that's why one was raised up on the one side. It says here there were three ribs in its mouth. Again, how do we understand that when we look into history? The three ribs correspond very perfectly to the conquests that this empire made under King Cyrus and his son, Cambyses. These three ribs, historically, are the Lydian Kingdom, an Asia Minor.

That was one of the ribs. The Babylonian Kingdom. And Egypt. Those are those three ribs being spoken about there in verse 5. And of course, as you go through and we look at history, we can see the beauty of this, that God knew exactly. And these things happened hundreds of years later. Some scholars want to tell you that Daniel simply was rep...

These were in prophecies. They want to put Daniel's life way in the future from where he was and say he was just writing about things that had already taken place. They want to negate prophecy, the inspiration of God. And yet, these things took place a great... many years after Daniel has already been killed. Okay. Chapter 7, verse 6. After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. And the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

So here we've got a beast, and again, on your chart, you go under Daniel, Chapter 7 there. Second column from the left, third beast, leopard, equal to the belly and thighs of brass in Chapter 2. The empire under Greece, Alexander the Great. Interesting the way God has this written down. A leopard is a very swift creature. Very fast. Very agile. Very cunning.

It's said that he had wings. So despite the fact that it was already swift, already agile and cunning, this made it even faster. The bottom line is, Alexander the Great, in 11 years, conquered the whole world. He was in his early 30s when he died. 11 years. No one had seen an army move this fast in world history to this point. No army in the world moved as fast as this until the 1930s with Adolf Hitler and Blitzkrieg.

Alexander the Great's army was the fastest-moving army the world had ever seen. That's one of the reasons why God uses the imagery that he does. A leopard with wings. It says there, in verse 6, The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. This is one of the things we can appreciate and understand about prophecy, as well as looking at this historically. Alexander the Great died. He was in his early 30s. He left the kingdom to his four generals. Greece, he left to Cassander, Asia Minor to Lysimachus, all the rest of Asia Minor with the exception of Palestine, Seleucus, and Egypt and Palestine under Ptolemy.

Of course, you know the name Ptolemy and all the various pharaohs and Cleopatra. They were the Ptolemaic rulers. Daniel 7. After this I saw on night visions behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, had huge iron teeth. It was devouring and breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. Now, this is where our understanding departs from the world.

They understand Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. They don't understand where we're going to be going from here on out. And it's very important that we understand this. We're going to be taking a look at what may happen in your life, in your family's life, in your children's life, in your grandchildren's life here in just a moment. But notice this creature here in verse 7 is, it is not a lion, it is not a bear, it is not a leopard, it is iron.

It is something that's unlike all the other creatures. And it's unlike all the other creatures because it just won't die. It keeps on having these resurrections. As you take a look at your chart there, under Daniel 7, you see the fourth beast. This is the second column over from the left.

And then under that, you see going down to the end of the page, these ten horns, they go all the way down to the time of the return of Jesus Christ. And of course, when you look at any one of those horns, you go to the far right column, and you see the various ways those were fulfilled and have been fulfilled. I want to turn our attention now to something that's, I think, very important. It hits us where we live. That's verse 8.

Daniel 7, verse 8. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one. So we're not looking at a world-ruling political entity here, in one sense. Coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots, and therein this horn were the eyes of a man in a mouth-speaking pompous words. In your chart, you've got Daniel 7 broken into two columns. On the right column, under Daniel 7, you go down to where it says the little horn, about halfway down the page, and you move across the page to the right, and you see that this little horn is a religious power.

It's a religious power. Now, the expression here in verse 8, where it talks about three of the first horns being plucked up, it shows, and this is the reason we believe these horns are not all together as one, that we see at the end of the age, on your chart at the end of the age, it shows Daniel 2 far left, all the way down to the bottom of the ten toes. That's going to happen all at one time. But we see here that we've got three horns being plucked up, and you see that under Daniel 7, left-hand column, first horn, second horn, third horn.

You follow where I'm at. And then it goes down to the end of the page there, showing that these horns under this area were consecutive. This is why brethren in the world simply doesn't understand prophecy. There's so much here, it can be so complex, it's one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure that you had this hand out here in front of you. Now, this little horn plucked up these first three revivals of the Holy Roman Empire.

You can see those revivals were the Vandals, the Haryulai, and the Ostrogoths, as you look at your chart on the far right column. Why did this little horn, this religious entity, do these three tribes in, these three successive tribes? Because they weren't the faithful. And to be more politically incorrect today, they weren't the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church didn't want the Vandals and the Haryulai and the Ostrogoths from being part of the Holy Roman Empire. They were heretics in the eyes of the Pope. And so he had them taken out. You know, as an aside, brethren, if you go to some of the websites that have Mr. Armstrong's literature, if you go to the same website that would have the old 58 lesson correspondence course, remember that? Those of us who are old enough to remember that. You go through lessons, I think it's the late 40s, early 50s, in those lessons. And you see that there were times in the Middle Ages where the Popes of Rome would send the Crusades through areas on their way to the Holy Land. They would send their crusading armies through certain areas of the world where they knew Sabbath keepers were living to wipe us out.

Go back and read that. That's really fascinating reading. And brethren, those times are coming again. We're sitting here, you know, we sometimes take for granted our opening and closing prayers, thank you for the peace and safety. But they're coming in times, brethren, where I don't think that we're going to be able to meet in these kind of numbers in peace and safety. There may be coming times in the future where we're meeting at two or three families at the most. Hush, hush, not that we're ashamed of our religion, but we don't want to have somebody coming in and taking our people off to jail or torturing. Some really hard times are coming. We're going to look at some prophecies in a couple of moments about that.

When I'm counseling people for baptism, I want them to know what they believe and why they believe it. Because if we are indeed the generation that lives at the time of the return of Jesus Christ, then we better know our stuff. And we better really believe that and be willing to give our life for that, because it's going to come down to that. Okay, I'm not going to take the time. On your chart, you see, under Daniel 7, the left-hand column, where after this is the fourth beast, after that you've got these three horns, the non-conforming horns to the Roman Catholic Church. And then starting with the fourth horn going down to the tenth horn, you go from that section, the second column from the left, you move over to the column on the far right, you see the various resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire, the last one being during World War II with Italy and with Hitler. One more is yet to come. Maybe in our day. Maybe in our day. But let's take a look at something a little more fully here at this horn. Daniel 7, verse 8, I was considering the horns. There was another horn, a little one, coming up among them. Even though it was little, it was very powerful. Before whom the three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots, the pope didn't want anything left. He didn't want them to be any part of the Holy Roman Empire. And there in its place were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. You drop down to verse 20.

And the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up before which three fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. I was watching, and the same horn was making war against the saints.

And prevailing against them. Brethren, that's us. And God is allowing this.

Until the ancient of days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and a time for the saints to possess the kingdom.

So we see here there's coming a time of tremendous persecution that God is going to allow. One of the things that you see when you're looking into the Scriptures, brethren, is God's people have been protected by the great God, blessed by the great God, but there's also been times when God's people have been persecuted. You take a look at Hebrews 11. You take a look at the way, of course, this would be tradition, about how all the original apostles saved, the apostle John died. Whether they were thrown out of a window from a high position, whether they were crucified upside down like Peter, that's all tradition. But most people believe that those are accurate traditions.

Here we see where God is going to allow Satan to wreak havoc on the church.

Some, I'm sure, will be protected. Some will not. And I've got in my mind asked myself, well, how am I doing with all of this? Let's say God doesn't, for whatever the reason, decide to protect me. And understand, brethren, God does this because He loves us. Now, as we again heard in the sermonette, Mr. Gillespie's sermonette, God corrects us so we learn. It's painful at the time, but we learn. The New Testament church went through all kinds of trials and tests. God loved them, but they needed to learn. God loves us, but we need to learn. Let's take a look at Revelation. Put a marker here. Let's go to Revelation 6.

Revelation 6.

Verse 9, when He opened the fifth seal, we've covered that in the past. The fifth seal is the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation is when our nation goes under. The Great Tribulation is when Satan puts a target on every Christian's back. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who have been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. These are our brothers and sisters who have lived and times gone by who are martyred.

And they, those who have already been martyred, cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then the white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both a number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. I don't bring these things up, brethren, to be morose, to be a sundowner, or anything like that. But it is my responsibility as your pastor to say, troubled times for us, they are coming. They are coming. And there's going to be an individual who may be walking this earth right now today, that we refer to as the antichrist, who will make war with you and I. Who will make war with all of us. Let's take a look at 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2, starting here in verse 1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gathering together to Him, we ask you, so a timestamp here about the return of Christ, not that verse 2, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled. When persecution comes, obviously we're going to be easy for us to be shaken and troubled. Especially when the persecution comes and somebody you think is the strongest person in the faith, you know. And they are hurt or they are martyred. So you say, don't be shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come, let no one deceive you by any means. Notice the idea here is that some could be deceived. When this antichrist is walking the earth, probably a charismatic individual, probably walking into hospitals and healing and all sorts of things, an individual who will say that he is God, people don't believe that unless you put up some pretty good fruit. Right? Let no one deceive you by any means that the day will not come unless the falling away come first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, full of lying wonders. You saw that with Janus and Jambres in the Old Testament, the two that Moses and Aaron had to fight. God is going to allow this. We see in Matthew 24 where God says, if it's possible, this very saints could be deceived. So know what we believe.

We don't have to know every false thing, but we have to know the real article, the real genuine faith, and be well-schooled in that. Because times are coming that are going to be very hard. Revelation 13.

I'm spending a little more time on this, brethren, because I think it's just so important for us. Revelation 13, starting in verse 11.

Revelation 13, 11. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon.

Now, why this description? We're talking about this religious power here. It had two horns. A horn in the scripture is a symbolic of power. It had power. Like a lamb, it looked like Christianity. It looked like the real deal, but it wasn't. It was counterfeit. It looked like a lamb. What does the scripture say about Satan's ministers looking like angels of light? Like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. God's true servants don't speak like dragons. Verse 12. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast and his presence and cause of the earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast. You know, this religious entity is going to want us to follow this political power whose deadly wound was healed. That gives it away. Which power are we talking about? Rome, as you see in your chart, the fall of Rome, 476 AD, that was healed. It was healed with all those various resurrections. So we're looking at the restored Holy Roman Empire here in verse 12. He performs great signs so that even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth and in the sight of men. All sorts of things. What do you consider a great sign? I'm sure this individual, this antichrist, will do plenty of things. Again, for somebody to say they're God for people to believe it, he's got a pretty good resume.

And he deceives, verse 14, those who dwell on the earth by the signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Again, talking about the revived Holy Roman Empire. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast. The image of the beast should speak both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads.

That no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for as the number of a man, his number is 666." His number is 666. What is that?

I took the liberty of printing off a couple of personal correspondence letters. Chances are in your lifetime you've probably received some of these from the church. I know when I was first coming into the church as a 15-year-old, I received a whole bushel basket of these, and I wrote in and asked questions about the truth. I couldn't go to church, but they would send me these various letters. I just want to read you a couple of these regarding this 666. Dear friend, this is from our personal correspondence department. Dear friend, you asked about the number 666, which the Bible calls the number of the beast. Although many authors attempt to link this number with various historical figures, Bible prophecy links the number to a world-dominating religious power at the end of the age. Revelation 13, 18 says that 666 is the number of a man. The Bible associates the number 6 with man. God made him on the sixth day of creation week. The number 666 is a triple repetition of the number of man, and emphasizes that this beast represents a religion that is based on human authority as opposed to God's authority. Although Scripture says nothing more about the 666 per se, Revelation 17 gives further description of the man and the religion behind the number. Referring to the man and the church he controls as a single entity, the Bible says this beast sits on many waters. The word sits on refers to a base or foundation. The context interprets the symbolism of waters in verse 15, as the peoples of the world. That is, this beast has human foundation instead of a divine one. In other words, the number of the beast points to a political church, a counterfeit of the true church. However, this beast will have a supreme power, not from God, but rather from Satan. Revelation 13, 11 says of this religious authority, Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns, like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon. In spite of its Christian appearing trappings and claims of divine authority, this beast actually speaks for and is an instrument of Satan and its deception and control of mankind at the end of time.

This next letter is a little longer. Let me hopefully not rush through it too much, but I want to read this as well. This adds a couple of other items here.

Thank you for your question on the Mark of the Beast. The following is an excerpt from our Book of Revelation Unveiled. The second beast of Revelation 13 will cause all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has got this mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. What is behind this strange-sounding practice? How will it affect the people as the time of the end draws near? There is historical evidence that in the ancient Babylonian culture, slaves were identified by some kind of mark, either tattooed or branded on the face or back of the hand. There may be parallels between this ancient practice and what God reveals will happen at the end time. Many have speculated about the meaning of this puzzling prophecy. Some have interpreted it in terms of supercomputers, unique personal identity numbers, or even microchips embedded under the skin. However, we would consider receiving the mark on the hand or forehead could well be figurative. Remember Revelation 7.3, that God's servants were sealed in their foreheads. And on Deuteronomy 6, Moses told God's people to keep all of his statutes and his commandments, Know you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. The hand and forehand were representative of one's actions and thoughts, respectively, which should be dedicated to obeying God. Likewise, the mark of the beast is evidently a mark of disobedience to God. Many Bible students have pointed to God's seventh-day Sabbath as an identifying sign of his people, next to this chapter 31. And see, the mark of the beast is running counter to it. They believe that the... they believe that forced observance of Sunday, a day originally dedicated to the worship of the sun god, as opposed to the god of the Bible, could be involved. This view is strengthened by the fact that other prophecies in the book of Revelation show a great counterfeit religion. A religious figure and system will play major roles in leading people away from the true God and play into Satan's hand at the time.

The Bible does not explicitly define the specific methods that the beast will use to identify those free to participate in commerce at the time of the end. Some sort of advanced surveillance may be involved. As to the number... and this is, I guess, what I was trying to get down to... As to the number of the beast, 666, we are told to count the number, and that is the number of a man. One early explanation is attributed to John's disciple Polycarp, who, according to his student, Irenaeus, said the number is derived from adding together the numerical equivalence of the letters to the word Latinaos, the Greek word for Roman. This being the name of the beast empire, the ruler and everyone in it. So the number may well denote this general distinction, though it could be more specific.

So there you have, brethren, this idea of what's going to be taking place at the end of the age. And again, we've often thought that we are going to be ones living at the end of the age. Let's conclude here by looking at something very positive. Let's go back to Daniel 7. You know, we keep on talking about four world-ruling empires, but these chapters also deal with a fifth world-ruling empire. And we don't want to lose sight of this. Daniel 7, verse 9. Now, the ancient of days is a term that could either apply to Jesus Christ or to God the Father. You've got to take a look at the context to know which is being referred to. The ancient of days was seated. His garment was white as snow. His hair of his head was pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame. Its wheels a burning fire. A stream issued and came forth from before him, and a thousand of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. And I watched them because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking. And I watched the little beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. I'm not going to turn there for lack of time, but in your notes you might want to put down Revelation 19, verse 20. When the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. That's what we're being referred to here in the book of Daniel.

Daniel 7, verse 12. As for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I was watching the night visions, and behold, one liked the Son of Man. No misunderstanding of who that is. That's Jesus Christ. And one liked the Son of Man coming with clouds of the heaven. 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4. Coming with the clouds of heaven, He came to the Ancient of Days. So here we see by context that the Ancient of Days is God the Father. This is one of the few places in the Scripture where we can say dogmatically that this is God the Father. He is throughout the Bible, but we primarily see Jesus Christ.

Here is one instance where we see God the Father. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom, and all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. So when all is said and done, those four kingdoms will be destroyed. The two kingdoms are going to come, they're going to go. This fifth kingdom, the kingdom of God, will be the one that takes over everything. Takes over everything, and you and I will be a part of the rulership of that great kingdom. The kingdom will last for all time. A couple of final Scriptures. Let's go to Daniel 2.

Getting the wine down here. Daniel 2.

Verse 28. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and as made known to the kingdom of Knesset, what will be in the latter days? Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these. So there is a God who reveals secrets. That God does reveal that His kingdom is coming. That God does reveal that you're going to have a part in that kingdom. That God also reveals there's going to be some pretty horrific things. There are times between now and the time that kingdom is established. Chapter 2 and verse 45.

Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that broken pieces of the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and the interpretation is sure. It is sure that God's kingdom is coming. It is sure that there is going to be a resurrection of the saints. It is a sure thing that if you are a saint, that if you've been baptized, have your sins forgiven you, have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It is a sure thing that you'll be resurrected and be ruling in this kingdom. Daniel chapter 2, verse 44. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to other people. They've had their shot. All the races, both genders, different locales, you name it, God's given every possible opportunity to mankind, and they have abysmally failed. In the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, His kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, and shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand forever. Brethren, I wanted to conclude with that because there are those people who today, in various religious groups, talk about the kingdom of God as some sort of feeling in our heart. The kingdom of God is not some vague feeling in our heart. The kingdom of God is something that's real, tangible. It is coming. And you and I want very much to be a part of that. Okay, so, that's so much for Daniel for today. We'll continue on in the next time, about a month from now.