What Brexit May Mean in Biblical Prophecy, Part 1

Once again, happy Sabbath, brethren! It was just a few weeks ago that the British electorate stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union. Many in the world were absolutely shocked by this result. The Western media was talking about it for days. Europeans are still talking about it and confused and wondering what the future holds. But Bible students have been expecting that for decades. Today I'd like to begin a two-part series explaining why this happened and ultimately what it means, the Brexit or the British exit from the EU, and what it can relate and how it can relate to biblical prophecy. However, before we do, we need to have some background. My wife was reminding me of those who have joined us in the past five years. We've had 15 newly baptized people in the last five years. Of those 15, there are 10 of the 15 have no previous Church of God background. So they're not rooted in prophecy like many of us are who grew up or, if I can use the phrase, cut our teeth in the Church by studying and understanding biblical prophecy. So I think it's very important that we have that background before we get to what the events of a few weeks ago mean in the future, that we lay a good foundation for biblical prophecy. Wikipedia says this about the European Union. I thought you might appreciate it. It sums it up, I think, rather well. It says, quote, the European Union is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 1,669,000 square miles and an estimated population of over 508 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardized system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation and justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies and trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. Within the Skangenson area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. Continuing, it says, after World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the extreme nationalism which had devastated the continent. You will remember that in the 20th century there were two world wars that were initiated by Europe, particularly animosity between the French and the Germans, but it caused the world to be plunged into two world wars. Continuing here, the 1948 Hague Conference was a pivotal moment in European federal history. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which was declared to be quote, a first step in the federation of Europe. It surprises a lot of people to know that one of the earliest people to advance the United Europe was actually Winston Churchill himself, who fought the Nazis alone for a number of years until the United States decided to get into the war. He formulated his conclusions drawn from the lessons of history. He gave a speech in the Zurich in 1946, and here's what he said in his speech. There is a remedy which would in a few years make all Europe free and happy. It is to recreate the European family, or as much as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety, and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe, end of quote. Again, that was Winston Churchill speaking in 1946. So again, that's a little bit of a secular background of the formation of the European Union, but to fully appreciate why any of this is important and significant to us, I think we need to spend some considerable time today understanding and for some of us reviewing a biblical prophecy. So let's begin by going to Daniel chapter 2. If you'll turn there with me, Daniel chapter 2 beginning in verse 1.

Very interesting story. Daniel chapter 2 beginning in verse 1. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, this is approximately 604 BC, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was so troubled that the sleep left him. He was terrified. He saw something that made him anxious. A dream, we might call it a nightmare today, he saw something so large and imposing that it even terrified him and he couldn't sleep.

Verse 2. Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. Now the Chaldeans were noted as being wise, as being able to understand prophecy, to interpret dreams. They had a special reputation for that, so that's why they were included. So they came and they stood before the king and the king said to them, I've had a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever, tell your servants, that's us, the dream and we will give you the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, my decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made an ash heap. So they're not going to have a very good day. They don't quickly come up with the interpretation of his dream. However, if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor.

Therefore, tell me the dream and its interpretation. They answered again and said, let the king tell his servants the dream and we will give its interpretation. The king answered and said, I know for certain that you would gain time because you see that my decision is firm. The king is saying, you are stalling for time. If I tell you what I dreamed, you will fake an interpretation just to get off of the hot seat.

I'm not going to give you that advantage. If you're so wise, if you're a sorcerer, if you have this connection with the other world, then you tell me what I dreamed and its interpretation. So the king stated, because you don't know the answer, you're just trying to stall for time. Verse 9, if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. He said, you're just going to make something up.

You're as bad as a used chariot salesman. I can't trust you. You'll tell me anything that I want to hear. Therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter. Therefore, no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It's a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. They're absolutely right about this. You can't crawl into the king's head.

You weren't there to see the vision. There's no humanly speaking. It is impossible for a man, a mere man, to be able to tell King Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was and then give an interpretation of it. Any mere man isn't capable of doing this. They're telling the king they can't read his mind. What he's asking them to do has never been done before. Even Joseph heard what the dreams were between the servants of Pharaoh.

He heard what the dreams were before he gave an interpretation of them. So the king is asking them to do something that is humanly impossible. Verse 12, for this reason the king was angry and very furious, and he gave a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went out and they began killing the wise men. And they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. Remember, they were the Hebrew prima, the crop, the Hebrew aristocracy who had been brought there and given special privileges and were considered wise and were there to serve the king. So they were included in the same group of people. Verse 14, then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Ariak, the captain of the king's guard who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon, he answered and said to Ariak, the king's captain, why is the decree from the king so urgent?

Why now? Can it wait a day or two? Why right now? And of course the king, as we know, and as you see through other scriptures, the king had quite a temper, was a short-tempered, a self-righteous individual, and he had lost his cool. It said here in verse 12 that he became very furious. He wasn't just angry, he was furious. And Ariak made the decision known to Daniel. So Daniel, I want you to notice what he does in verse 16. So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation.

And here's what I want to bring out of this. The king had just told everyone else, you don't have any more time, friend. You either give me the dream and the interpretation or the dying starts right now. Yet the God in heaven gives his people favor. And here's Daniel. He goes and makes the same request to the same king whom we are told in verse 12 was very furious. And the king says, okay, how could that have happened? Well, it only happens when you have the great God watching your back.

When you have the great God who can change the hearts and minds, the personas of individuals to his will so that that individual gives you favor as a child of God, that's exactly what happens here. He says, then Daniel went into his house. So he had this time. He was given the time. He made the decision known to Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah. These were the Hebrew names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. His companions, so all four of them were considered companions, probably shared the same facilities together, talked to each other every day.

They were friends. Verse 18, that they might seek the mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, and so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men in Babylon.

So how do you think they sought mercies from the God of heaven? You think they flipped a coin? I don't think so. I think they got in their knees and they prayed, and they prayed rather fervently. They probably fasted. They probably pleaded with God because their lives were on the line, and the lives of a lot of other innocent people. I mean, they may have been pagan, but all these wise men and so on, they didn't ask for any of this to come upon them.

They weren't capable of doing the impossible, were they? Then the secret was revealed of Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons, and He removes kings, and He raises up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might, and have made known to me what we asked of you. For you have made known to us the king's demand. Therefore, verse 24, Daniel went to Ariac, whom the king had appointed, to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and he said thus to him, do not destroy the wise men of Babylon.

Take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation. Then Ariac quickly brought Daniel before the king, and thus said to him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar.

That was another name for Daniel. That was his Babylonian name. Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation? And Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said the secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothslayers cannot declare it to the king.

I can't, they can't, no man is capable of fulfilling your request. I say most respectfully, O king. Verse 28, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the labdar days. So the times from then all the way, as we'll see in this prophecy, to the final days before the literal return of Jesus Christ. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these. As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this, and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be.

But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. Now, there's a lot written between the lines here in verse 30. Daniel is showing a contrast. He's showing this ruthless and uncaring king. In contrast, he's showing him the creator God whom Daniel worships, who is offering grace and compassion, who is going to reveal the dream through Daniel's for the sake of those four Hebrews, out of his grace and his compassion.

For the sake of the Hebrews and the innocence involved, this is why this dream is going to be revealed so they will not be harmed. Verse 31, You, O king, were watching and behold a great image. This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you and its form was awesome. The image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly iron and partly of clay.

So without prior knowledge, he was able to do what no one else could because of the inspiration of God. Without prior knowledge, he reveals the content of the dream. And Daniel explained in exact details how this image was constructed. The image is an incredible statue composed of four different metals, and these metals represent earthly empires that would rise. The image represented symbolically the sequence of four secular empires that would rule the world.

And when I say that, I mean dominate the region's political scene for millennia. Now, we oftentimes, because we have a western view of history, we talk about the then known world. In all fairness, at the same times these are going on, there are great empires in China. There are empires in the Americas.

This is considered the world because they were coming in contact with the covenant people, the people whom God has called. So when I use the phrase, when our literature uses the phrase the world or the then known world, it's talking about the part of earth in which the covenant people, the chosen people of God, would come in contact with these empires. So I think that's important to explain. Let's take a look here at verse 34. So he just explained what this image was like. And then it was to be followed by something wonderful and great.

After he explains what the image looks like, verse 34, you watch while a stone was cut without hands. This stone is divine. What else could be cut without human hands? Which struck the image on his feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, and the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like shaft from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found, and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

So Daniel describes the return of Jesus Christ in the establishment of the kingdom of God to be restored on earth as it crushes this Roman system and all vestiges of human governments.

I'm not going to ask you to turn to 1 Peter, chapter 2 and verse 7, for the sake of time, but I will read it to you. Here's what Peter wrote, therefore to you who believe he, speaking of Jesus Christ, is precious.

But to those who are disobedient, the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. It is this stone, Jesus Christ himself, the stone of stumbling who strikes the image at its weakest part, at the feet and the toes that are made of clay mixed with a metal, and they don't bond well together, that crushes and brings down that entire image. The stone that strikes the image's feet and causes it to crumble, of course, is Jesus Christ that has returned to earth.

He's going to put an end to all world governments so completely there will be no trace of their previous existence. Have you ever thought about how different that is from the world today? In the world today, we go to museums, right, and we look at remnants of former civilizations and peoples. Oh, look at that! Here's a stone that came from Assyria. You know, I've seen the Rosetta stone at the British Museum in London. That was fascinating. We as a people, we like to explore the past, but what the scripture says is that the ab liberation and the crushing of these kingdoms is going to be so great and so complete like a farmer who plows his field and totally turns under what was on top and buries it.

There's not going to be any remnant left of these secular governments. There'll be no trace of their previous existence. The stone will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. The prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 2 and verse 7, many people will come and say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths.

Let's go here back to verse 36. This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them.

You are this head of gold. Now, strongly implied in this message from Daniel's that king, everything you have is from the grace of God. You may think that you're so great, you may think that you're so wonderful, but you're only a king because God allows you to be king. You're only powerful, you're only wealthy, you're only influential because God has given that to you and allowed you to have it, implying, of course, that what the Lord giveth, the Lord can taketh away.

Right? Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that his Babylonian empire was represented by the head of gold. So, the remaining silver, bronze, and iron components of the image or statue represented three powerful empires that were to follow mighty Babylon. Let's read about them. Verse 39, he says, but after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours. Earlier, he referred to that as the chest and arms of silver on the statue in the dream.

The chest of silver was to represent the Medio-Persian empire. It began with Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon in 539 BC and dominated the near and Middle East for about 200 years. Verse 39, then another, a third kingdom which shall rule over the earth, its belly and thighs of bronze is how it was described originally in the dream. This is the third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the earth. The midsection of this image represented the empire of the Greco-Macedonians, established by Alexander the Great.

His kingdom lasted for about 300 years before it was supplanted by the fourth kingdom pictured in the image. That fourth kingdom is mentioned here in verse 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and scatters or shatters everything, and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all others.

It's referred to as its legs of iron and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Again here in verse 40, and that fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all others. Iron represents strength, doesn't it?

Have you ever owned anything that's made of iron? Toughness. It also represented the ruthlessness and describes the mighty Roman Empire which reached its widest extent around 100 AD and ruled for many centuries. The Romans were aggressive. The Romans were brutal. The Romans practiced crucifixion, didn't they? This empire here was built upon the previous culture of the Greeks. The Romans actually admired the former Greco-Macedonian Empire and they even relabeled the Greek gods and gave them new names and made them Roman gods.

So let's continue to find out more about this fourth beast. Verse 33, Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it. Just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay, and as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. It is for this reason, brethren, that this kingdom, Rome, would have a number of revivals throughout history. Verse 40 states its legs of iron and its feet of iron and partly of clay.

This represents the fact that originally ancient Rome was in its strongest phase in the empire's history when it was iron. Try to give you a little analogy here. The Roman Empire, in its various resurrections, is legs and feet and toes. The original Roman Empire, the legs were iron. The original Roman Empire that dominated the earth about 100 AD was a strong, powerful kingdom that had no rivals. When it declined, as it was resurrected, as it had various revivals getting closer to the time of Christ, by the time you get down to its final few resurrections or revivals, it is very weak.

It is held together simply by mixing clay with iron, and they don't mix very well. Obviously, the toes, the bottom, represents the very time that Jesus Christ would return to earth, the latter days. This revival of this empire will be partly strong and it will be partly weak, as symbolized by what this prophecy tells us. This fourth empire, again, is depicted as having two feet and therefore ten toes. Verse 41 deals with the final phase or the restoration of this fourth empire, symbolized by the feet and ten toes, made up of iron and clay. As the prophecy says, as we would understand, you don't mix or bond together well iron and clay.

So the feet are a very fragile base for a huge heavy statue. For millennia, Satan has been the god of this world, and he has built up a huge system. He has ruled the world through all of these empires. But we can say, if I can use the phrase, the Achilles heel of his kingdoms is that last ruling kingdom that he will inspire, the final restoration of the Roman empire that will be very weak. That is holding up world history. It's holding up the complete time of man's governance of himself on earth.

And Jesus Christ is going to strike that statue, strike that system, and bring it entirely down and restructure the entire history of the human race, of all humanity, to erase it, to obliterate it, so that it's like the chaff in the wind, not even to be found.

The ten toes of these two feet represent ten rulers. Daniel said that during that latter time of these ten rulers, Christ returns to set up God's kingdom on earth. And this is vitally important for us to understand just before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Biblical prophecy reveals that there is coming and attempt to restore the Roman empire. It may have already started. And this union will involve ten rulers or nations that, together for a short period of time, will become a superpower. It will have the strength and legacy of the original Roman empire.

It'll have dignity, but it will not really be a complete union. There will be disharmony over national identities and cultures. And this is one reason why the Brexit or the British exit from the EU was so profound and historical. But more about that later. Verse 43, as you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.

You know, much of what we call modern civilization is a cultural legacy of the Roman empire. Our calendar is a legacy of the Roman empire. Our politics is a legacy of the Roman empire. You know, Rome was a republic a number of times. Our civil court system is a legacy from the Roman empire. The Hebrews did not have jails. They did not put human beings in cages. When someone committed a crime, they went before the elders, sentenced, if a punishment needed to be met out, it was done immediately, but it was considered inhumane to put a human being in a cage.

We inherited that from the Romans, from the Roman empire. So those are the similarities that Western Europe and we Americans share together with the legacy of the Roman empire, yet it's fragile. If you look at Western Europe, it includes cultures that are diverse as France is from Germany and as both of those nations are from Italy. The diverse nations of Western Europe have different languages. They have different work ethics. Not all of those nations have the work ethic that the Germans have, and they have different national values.

And for that reason, though they are strong, there are a lot of differences that cause a problem with unity among these peoples. Let's go to verse 44. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. In the kingdom shall not be left to other people.

It shall break in pieces and consume all of these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.

The king answered Daniel and said, truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a rewarder of secrets since you could reveal this secret. So with the summation of this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar's dream gives us a foretaste of God's plan for the ages and how he will work with powerful secular empires and kingdoms until the second return of Jesus Christ.

It presents the preordained succession of four world powers that would dominate the Middle East until the final victory of the Messiah at the end times. So that's it for that prophecy. But a few years later, Daniel himself has a dream, and it gives other important details for us to understand the events of world history. Let's go to Daniel chapter 7 and pick it up in verse 1. Daniel chapter 7 and verse 1.

Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, now this is later on, this is about approximately 550 BC, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed, and he wrote down the dream telling the main facts. Daniel spoke saying, I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. And of course the great sea here is the Mediterranean.

Verse 4, the first was like a lion, not represents the Babylonian empire, and had eagle's wings I watched till his wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand in two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. Jeremiah himself described Babylon as a lion. The winged lion symbol is found on many Babylonian objects of art.

In the time of the downfall of Babylon, under Belshazzar's reign, the kingdom had been reduced from its time of greatness of someone like Nebuchadnezzar, and it had been reduced and replaced by a weak and wicked heart of a man. Whereas Nebuchadnezzar was considered god-like, Belshazzar was a very weak king, a very weak human being.

God had abandoned him, and the Babylonian empire would fall with Belshazzar being slain in the middle of a drunken feast. This is what is meant by its wings plucked off and lifted up from the earth and made to stand in two feet like a mere man, like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

It had lost its greatness. It had lost its power. Verse 5, and suddenly another beast, a second like a bear. This is the Mediopurgeon empire. It raced up on one side, and sure enough, the Persians dominated that relationship. Two sides, Mediopurgeon, well, it says it raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and they said to it, arise, devour much flesh.

So this was the second empire that he saw in his dream. The Persians were much stronger than the Medes, hence the bear raised up on one side with the Persians ruling the kingdom for the majority of the time. They dominated the relationship. The three ribs represent three major kingdoms that the Medes and the Persians conquered on their way to ascension, the great power.

They were Lydia, Egypt, and Babylon. Verse 6, after this I looked, and there was another like a leopard. This was the Greco-Macedonian empire, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. Greece, under Alexander the Great, was very good at catching their prey off guard. They were like a winged bird, catching their prey off guard at a speed at which they moved. It took him only 12 years to subdue the then known world. A very short period of time. He died at age 31, so he did all of that as a very young man.

The kingdom was divided upon his death to four generals, and hence the prophecy that it says here that it had on its back four wings of a bird. So those four generals took over the entire empire upon his death. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

And then verse 7, and after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. Once again, this is the Roman Empire. 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 were before it, and it had 10 horns.

Now the earlier dream that Nebuchadnezzar had was 10 toes, and those 10 toes represented the final resurrection or restoration of that empire. But these aren't toes, these are 10 horns, and they are going to represent 10 revivals of this fourth empire. Continuing, it says, I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked by the roots. And there in this horn were the eyes, like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. So, what do the 10 horns represent, plus the additional little horn? Well, by the time that Jesus Christ returns, this fourth empire will have experienced 10 revivals, represented by the 10 horns of this fourth beast here in Daniel 7.

These revivals are again mentioned as the 10 horns of the beast in Revelation 13, and we'll get to Revelation 13 next time. Now, this little horn spoken of in verses 8 and verses 11 is a powerful organized church leader who speaks. It says pompous words. It makes authoritative pronouncements, like, what I say is infallible. Or, I am the vicar, meaning in place of, instead of, I am the vicar of Christ. So, those are the kind of pronouncements that this little horn makes.

The little horn exalts itself to a position of international, powerful, religious leader, overseeing a false religious system that persecutes the true disciples of Jesus Christ. But I want you to notice closely something here in verse 8. Before this little horn reached preeminence, the same verse says that three of the first horns were plucked out by its roots. This is before this little horn becomes preeminent. Well, this is a prophecy that was fulfilled by three barbaric tribes that subdued Rome after it originally fell in the fifth and sixth centuries before the Roman church gained great influence and significance.

These were Germanic tribes like the Vandals, the Hurlae, and the Ostrogods. They were non-Roman. They were not Roman in culture. They were not Roman in legacy. So, therefore, history was very happy just to sweep the memory of them aside and focus on the Roman legacy and the Roman Empire. The remaining seven horns prophesied in here in Daniel 7 were to follow after the ascendancy of this Roman church, this little horn.

This church pictured as a woman in the book of Revelation was to sit on the seven in an uneasy relationship that's likened to fornication and again as Revelation chapter 17 in verse 2, which we will get to next time. Now, let's drop down here to verse 9. And I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient of days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool.

His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth before him, and a thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. This is the vision of a heavenly court with billions of angelic hosts present to witness a very special event and a judgment that is going to take place. This is not the great white throne judgment. This is the judgment to take place that says to Jesus Christ, the appointed time is now for you to return to earth and destroy human governments and civilizations and restore the garden that was lost in Eden.

Let's continue here. Verse 11. I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the little horn was speaking. I watched till the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. So there are going to be other nations on the earth who will all come to an end at their appointed time of judgment, not right at this moment, but their end is near as well, and they will face an appointed time of judgment.

Verse 13. I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him. Now, with biblical scholars, this is a very controversial scripture here.

Some scholars work very hard to say the ancient of days is Jesus Christ himself, the Son of Man couldn't be referring to Jesus Christ. But we believe that in this prophecy Jesus Christ is the Son of Man appears before the Father to present him the kingdom, God the Father here, we believe is called the ancient of days. Remember, Jesus said in John chapter 5 and verse 19, I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself.

I want you to think of this scripture as well. As a matter of fact, turn to this scripture. We'll go over time for a few minutes, but I think this scripture is very important. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 24 as it relates to what's occurring here with the Son of Man and the ancient of days. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 24. But hold your place in Daniel 7.

1 Corinthians 15 24.

Paul wrote, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power. Now tie together what Paul wrote there again with this scripture. As I was watching verse 13, this is Daniel, and I was watching the night visions and behold one like the sum of man coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him. I'll just go to drop down to verse 14 here in Daniel chapter 7. So we'll wrap up our sermon for today. Verse 14, then to him was given dominion and glory and the kingdom that all 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. And for the sake of time, we'll wrap it up there today. As a recap, additional aspects of the second dream of these four world-ruling empires were revealed to Daniel when he himself had the dream. This time, the same four empires were represented by four beasts instead of four parts of a great image. A lion, a bear, a leopard, and surprisingly, the fourth beast is not given a worldly animal description. It's just described as terrible because it would be so ferocious and terrible that there wasn't even an animal to liken it to. And that, my friends, is ancient Rome. Remember what verse 7 says about this fourth creature. It says, after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth. By the way, these are paralleling the legs of the previous dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it. It had ten horns. The ten horns are in reference to the great power of Rome and ten revivals that would occur within the Roman system. It would have periodic revivals throughout history, and it would continue right to the time of the end when Jesus Christ returns to earth. So today, we have prepared ourselves to understand more deeply why the decision of the United Kingdom to remove itself from the European Union is so important the biblical history. We'll get into that more next time. So then, we will review prophecy from the book of Revelation and discuss the possible future of the European Union in a little more detail. Be sure to have a wonderful Sabbath.