True World Peace

(7) Daniel Porteous - True World Peace - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocnn4EuhcRA

Transcript:
(00:00) this setting we have here, we have it's almost like a little oasis, you know, amongst the trees. But even as we sit here, we have um sometimes you you might see some deer. There could be out there somewhere, you know, a bear maybe even. I don't think we'd see too many of those, but there are animals and critters about.
(00:25) And it's interesting animals because animals quite often represent nations. So what animal would represent the United States? Okay, you can say it a bit louder because I can't hear the the eagle, right? The majestic soaring high giving oversight, right? In some ways it very much represents the US and other nations. I' I've been told I should wear this. So, we're c we're we're in a camping situation.
(00:59) Oh, look. I look I look even better now. Okay. We uh we have this beautiful in animals can sometimes encapsulate um nations. So, we mentioned the eagle. The um Russia is quite often symbolized by the bear, right? It's kind of usually dozy and sleepy, but you poke the bear too often and it gets angry. Um, you can think of um the lion of Judah, right? That was symbolized by an animal, the lion of Judah.
(01:41) There was also um lions are associated with England as well, right? The English a lot of their flags and things incorporate the lion as well. which I come from. Uh look, there's a there's a there's a toy representation right now. It may look dosile and you know, right, just walking along, but sometimes these claws can come out and it could be ferocious.
(02:14) Not really, is it? It's one of when you consider nations of the world represented by the Kiwi, it's not one of the big powerful nations, is it? So, we have this symbolism. I'd like you. This um this sermon is actually a alternate feast sermon for this year. I'm I'm an alternate sermon speaker. I've got another message that I'm assigned, but so this might not be given this year, but this is part I should say part of a a sermon.
(02:51) So I'd like you to turn and and the title of the message if you're taking notes is true world peace. I'd like you to turn to this beautiful future vision. One that almost symbolizes the way we think about the feast of tabernacles which is coming upon us shortly. in Isaiah. Who thinks they know what chapter I'm going to go to? Isaiah 11 verse 6. You might know this scripture.
(03:28) And it says here, it says, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion, and the fatman together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. So the cow and the bear, it says, "The young ones shall lie down together." That's that's really strange.
(03:55) It says, "And the lion shall eat straw like an ox." Now, I've I haven't been out to Africa, but I've been to zoos, and I've actually been there when they were eating, and they definitely do not eat straw. In fact, they seem to rip rip things apart and eat them. Verse eight, that the nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the wean child shall put his hand in the viper's den.
(04:27) They shall not hurt nor destroy and all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. So these this is like our quintessential feast verses almost. And in fact um before united it part of our symbol had had part of these verses pictured. you know the lion and the lamb or the wolf and the lamb lying down together and many many um speakers have given message about this and we have a lot of fun and and the young children love these verses because they think about oh I could have a pet rhinoceros or I could have h what else got to have and you think
(05:14) about that people say excuse me my nose And it's it's really a lot of fun to think about that. But what if these animals symbolize more than just physical animals? What if these animals symbolize more than just physical animals? I'd like to quote from a Bible commentary. You may have heard of this one.
(05:44) I use this quite a lot, this Bible commentary. I highly recommend it. It's the um United Church of God Bible commentary on on Isaiah 11 6-9. So it says indeed Isaiah 11 6-9 explains that the very nature and perhaps even physiology of many animals will be changed thus requiring it would seem a restructuring of the global ecosystem.
(06:13) Isaiah repeats this amazing prophecy in Isaiah 65:25. And I'll I'll read that later. But it should be noted the animals here may well also be symbolic of the nations of the world with their peacefully dwelling together representing an end of war between people. So I just want you to pause and think about the symbolism of animals representing nations and safely lying down together. That is not what we have today.
(06:52) We have wars. We have people fighting each other. We don't seem to have cooperation. Instead, we have threats from nation to nation. So I'd like to look through the lens that if these animals could represent nations, just think about the depth of meaning that this these verses give us. Let's start with the Babylonian lion.
(07:20) So some of you may realize that the lion was symbolic of the empire of Babylon. Let's if you go with me to to the book of Daniel. the book of Daniel. So I think a couple of weeks ago some of the young people if you here if you're here two weeks ago you may remember talking about reading about Nebuchadnezzar.
(07:56) So, let's go to I'm going to go to Daniel 7 and just see some of the symbolism where animals represent nations or or empires. Daniel 7:es 1-8. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream telling the main facts.
(08:28) So Daniel spoke saying, "I saw I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea." So you don't usually get four winds at once. You usually get one wind, right? And sometimes you get some turbulence, but four winds. So there's wind coming from everywhere.
(08:47) The seas are churning. And this is you think about this the the vision that Daniel had was given and he's thinking whoa what is happening but then it keeps going. He says and he says um verse three and four great beasts. So now we start to see these beasts and they can be they're scary looking.
(09:20) It says they came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Well, that's really strange, isn't it? A lion with eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second like a bear.
(09:48) So we got a lion and we got a bear. It was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it, "Arise, devour much flesh." After this I looked, and there was another like a leopard which had on its back four wings of a bird. So these are strange looking beasts. these animals. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
(10:18) After this, I saw in the night vision, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, and and different artists. So, I'd like to say thank you to Nico because he loaned me his book. But you have some of the books like this. And I think most of us understand that these beasts are representing um world ruling empires.
(10:42) And if you want to find out more, you can get the book like this. This is Revelation Unveiled. We've got lots of literature on Daniel and Revelation. Scary looking. And that's just an artist's impression. Daniel saw the real vision and how scary it was. And that's why he was troubled. I mean just listen to this. It says right after this I saw in night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible.
(11:17) It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that would were before it. And it had 10 horns. So, I'm not going to cover any of that today. Some of you say, "Sh, thank you." But I was considering the horns, and there was another horn and a little one coming up among them before whom there three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.
(11:56) And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words. So, there's lots of symbolism there. But what we see animals and these beasts representing nations or empires. I I want to keep thinking about this um bading line. Drop down to verse 15 because now we have Daniel's interpretation. Verse 15. We'll read verses 15 and 16. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit.
(12:28) And and can you picture that? What if God gave you a vision like this? You wake up. Okay, I want to write this down. What happened? I'm not sure if I want to share this or not. This is scary stuff. He said, "I was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me." A little bit of understatement. I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth of all this.
(12:54) So, he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. So the next verse talks about these four animals being four kings, right? Representing these nations. And I said you can you can read more about these, but let let's go to compare this with uh Daniel 2.
(13:20) So, in Daniel 2, and again, I'm sure a lot of you are aware of the symbolism of of the statue and the animals and how there's that link there. But in Daniel 2, this time it's talking about a statue with a head of gold, right? It starts with the head of gold, which is the the lion of Judah, you know, the parallel there. Daniel 2 and verse 36.
(13:46) This is the dream. Now we'll tell the interpretation of it before the the king. You, oh king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. So who gave him that authority? Who gave the king? God did. He allowed it. And wherever the children of men dwell, all 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. You are this head of God.
(14:21) And there's a that parallel between the head of gold and the lion, the strange lion that had wings. So King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian lion, right? He's representative of that nation. and he's the leader of that nation. And remember, we read in Isaiah 11:7, it said, "The lion shall eat straw like an ox.
(14:53) " H Did that ever happen? Did the Did a lion ever eat straw like an ox? Let's go to Daniel 4. And remember it said, remember we read about the symbolism, a lion with wings. That's that's strange, isn't it? And those lings those wings fell away. Okay. Well, Daniel 4 verse let's get pick up in verse 27.
(15:23) Therefore, O king, let me let my counsel be acceptable to you. So this is I think this is a part that some of our young ones learned about two weeks two Sabbaths ago. So this is where Daniel is giving counsel to the king. So for a king, right? He's the he's ruling. He's the lion of Babylon.
(15:48) And do you think he should listen to Daniel? Who thinks he should listen to Daniel? Okay, some of you know what this what happens, right? But he he says um therefore a king my counsel will be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by being righteous and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. So there's lot there was more to this warning, but I was just picking it up.
(16:14) So what did Nebuchadnezzar do? He totally repented, didn't he? And he changed his ways and he followed God's way. No, he didn't. Verse 29, 28. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the 12 months. So he's told he'd have 12 months. He was speaking about the royal palace of Babylon.
(16:41) And I was speaking to someone earlier today about being thankful and how important that is because it keeps you humble. It keeps you appreciating the giver of good things. But what did what happened? And this could happen anyways, but a lot happened. He says, right, he's walking about the royal palace and the king spoke saying, now this is a listen to this.
(17:03) This is really, really great humility right here. He says, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the royal dwelling by my mighty and my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" Oh, did he give any credit to God? That wasn't humility at all, was it? Look what I have done.
(17:34) And then while the word was still in the king's mouth, have you ever had that? You know, you say something, you I want to It's gone. You can't pull it back, can you? Well, the words were still in his mouth. A voice from the heaven, King Nebuchadnezzar. Could you imagine? You're walking along, you're strutting your kingdom, and a voice comes to you. I I hope I never have to receive a voice like this.
(18:06) You know, like getting slapped behind with a 2x4 on the back of the head. Bam. A voice fell from heaven. King Nebuchadnezzar. To you it is spoken. Was it a big bold voice? Or maybe it was a nice quiet voice cuz I think King Ne was kind of strutting in that. Maybe it was this quiet voice that just penetrated. I I don't know. I wasn't there to hear it.
(18:31) But it says, "King Nez, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you, and they shall drive you from the men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen." Who's eating grass like oxen? the lion of Babylon and seven times shall pass over you.
(18:59) So for seven years he was going to eat grass and until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and drives it and gives it to whomever he chooses. Now look at this. That very hour. So you hear these words. Was he still thinking, okay, those words came from somewhere, but really that very hour the word was fulfilled concerning King Neb Nebuchadnezzar.
(19:35) He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven. So he went from this royal garb, right? He probably had a nice robe. probably he might have had his crown on. Who knows? And now he's on the ground. People are saying, "Get out of here.
(20:02) " Probably probably little kids have come along and and they, you know, throw throw sticks at him and humiliate him. But notice what it says. His body was wet with dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. Now, I don't know how much hair I'm not going to ask who's got the hairiest arms of the men out here, but this is ridiculous.
(20:25) That it's gone for That's pretty much fur, isn't it? Except it looked like eagle's wings. You got to I'd have to grow a whole lot, right, to for that to look like eagle's wings. H. So the lion of Babylon had what looked like eagle's wings and then they fell away after the seven years. It's quite amazing.
(21:03) So do we think that King Nebuchadnezzar had a teachable heart? Do you think he had humility? God had to strike him down before he could learn. Before he could learn. It's really powerful. And then um after the seven years, King Nebuchadnezzar rises up and the what looked like the wings fall away and he comes back to man and he praises God. Verse 34, I'll just read that.
(21:41) It says, "At the end of the time, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me and I blessed the most high and praised him, praised and honored him who lives forever." So it took seven years for King Nebuchadnezzar to actually start listening to God. What a blessing it is to be here hearing God's word. We are listening to to God.
(22:13) King Nebuchadnezzar had to be struck down. You think about the patience of God here. He was willing to work with King Nebuchadnezzar for seven years or and before that actually, but seven years to really tell her to really get him to open his eyes to see who was really in charge. It's really incredible.
(22:37) And there's many other verses that talk about beast representing nations. Let's look at a few. Jeremiah Jeremiah 5. I turn I'm so fast at turning. I turn right past it to Jeremiah 5. I'll just read verses 3-6. Oh Lord, are not the eyes on are are not your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them and they have not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
(23:18) They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to return. So this is talking about Israel, right? If if you know the history of Israel, there was times when they followed God and then there was more times when they were rebellious and they wouldn't. Says, "Therefore I said, surely these are poor. They are foolish for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.
(23:44) I will go to the great men and speak to them, and they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. But these have also have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Therefore, a lion from the forest shall slay them. A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them. A leopard will watch over their cities.
(24:08) Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their transgressions are many. Their backsliding have increased. So every com I can't say every commentary. Every commentary that I've looked at, which is quite a few, there is no conflict with the commentary. They all say these animals represent nations, enemies of Israel that are coming in from the desert, from different places.
(24:45) So, it's it's always interesting when you actually get commentaries that are all in agreement and and I can't say every single commentary, but I looked at quite a few are in group that all these these animals here represent nations that are enemies of Israel. Hosea 2. There's so much in the what we call the minor prophets.
(25:19) Isaiah 2:18. Notice this. In that day, I will make a covenant for them, with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things by the on the of the ground. bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely. Now just pause and think about what we just read in this verse.
(25:45) Have you ever seen an animal, a lion, a bear pick up a sword or a bow, right? So this obviously is not talking about physical animals here. Again, this is talking about the bow and the sword being shattered. This is talking about true peace that God will cause. And you notice it said, remember in Isaiah 11 and verse 9, it said they shall not hurt nor destroy.
(26:21) Now, it's good to be cautious about animals. And I said possibly there could be bear, you know, somewhere a long way from us. And you need to be cautious, right? Some people carry things like called bug spray. I'm not sure if that ever works. I think it just makes the beer angry, but you know, there's things that people do.
(26:45) But I really I've got to tell you, I do not really worry about animals too much in my life. I'm not worried about animals attacking me and killing me. I feel very safe right here in this idyllic wilderness that we're in. But I got to tell you, I'm concerned about the violence of two-legged walkabouts. I'm much more concerned about that.
(27:19) And when it says they shall not hurt or to destroy in is that the biggest thing that animals won't hurt destroy? No. that nations and rulers of nations will stop hurting and destroying. How powerful is that? The picture of true world peace that we're going to be celebrating very shortly here. It's really powerful. I said I'd read um Isaiah 65 that was mentioned in the commentary.
(27:54) So I will Isaiah 65 and verse 25. It's always interesting when things are repeated in God's word. Isaiah 65 and verse 25 says, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains, says the Lord.
(28:28) I'm glad animals won't hurt or destroy us, but I'm even happier. There are so many I could I could give more verses at showing these animals, but I want to go back to Isaiah 11 now. I think and I' I've said this several times, the knowledge of God will be universal. How much? Let's read verse n again.
(29:00) It says, "They shall not hurt nor destroy an all my holy mountain." Why will they not hurt or destroy an all my holy mountain? It says, "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the the sea." Now, if this was talking about physical animals only, this doesn't make sense.
(29:26) Unless God is going to cause super intelligence to animals, right? We're talking about God's word. The knowledge of God will so be so prevalent it will cause that they shall not destroy nor they shall not hurt nor destroy all my holy mountain. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the earth. Right? That's that's why this will happen. But even with that knowledge covering everything, even with that knowledge covering anything, people still have to be willing to learn. King Nebuchadnezzar was given knowledge. He was given words.
(30:07) But it took seven years before he would listen. Wow. And then it says in verse six, I'll just touch on this briefly, but it says, "A little child shall lead them." Now, is that physically a little child? If all these other animals represent nations, what does the little child represent? Now, later in this chapter, it talks about a physical remnant of people.
(30:40) But but who does the whole creation yearn for? And in comparison to the might of nations, you people sitting here, our collective church, in comparison to a roaring lion, we're like this little child. What can we do? It says, "A little child shall lead them." Romans 8. Just read that. Romans 8. So, I'm just trying to wet your appetites for the feast coming up because I think it's really important, the feast, and how we just think about the full meaning here.
(31:32) Romans 8, uh, pick it up in verse 19. It just says, "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits the revealing of the sons of God. The creation was subjected to filility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
(32:02) So, I'm just throwing out that as a thought for you. The little child could be us. There's so much we could cover, but just think the very nature of animals will be changed. So, I'm just going to finish by reading one more time Isaiah 11. And if you want to just close your eyes and try and picture it. Some people do that better. Good thing I'm finishing up. There's my notes.
(32:35) Did somebody say Okay, finish up. Daniel, just read. If you want to close your eyes, if you want to read along yourself again, however you want to, you can visualize it. But visualize. Think about these animals representing true world peace. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fattling together, and a little child shall lead them.
(33:06) The cow and the bear shall graze. The young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.
(33:29) For earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.