In this sermon, Daniel recounts a vision he had in which he saw four beasts emerging from the sea. The first beast resembled a lion with eagle's wings, and it was given the heart of a man. The second beast resembled a bear and was instructed to devour much flesh. The third beast was like a leopard with four heads, symbolizing the division of Alexander the Great's kingdom into four parts after his death. Finally, Daniel saw a fourth beast that was dreadful and had ten horns, with a little horn emerging and speaking great things. This vision represents the rise and fall of powerful kingdoms and ultimately leads to the appearance of the Ancient of Days, symbolizing God's ultimate authority.

See you all out tonight. We hope this means that during this week we're going to have bigger and better crowds than ever. You know, they used to say it takes two weeks to warm people up, and so we're in the second week starting tonight, and then all through this week through Friday night we will be speaking on the book of Daniel as pictured for us in this chart behind me. Let us turn to Daniel chapter 7. Shall we? Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7 and verse 1. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his face. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matter. Daniel spake and said, I saw my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea, and four beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings, i.e. held till the wings above were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl. The beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth. It devoured and braked in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the ribs, and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days was bent, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was light, a fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and gushed forth from before him, thousands and thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice and the great words which the horns speak, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season in time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all people, nations and languages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things." So we're going to look at the interpretation a little later on. Let us just look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Our gracious Lord and Father, we desire to thank you tonight for all who are in this service. We thank you for thy precious word, and we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that he is the theme of thy word, and we thank you that that which we have read brings before us the glory that will be his when our Lord Jesus comes again. So we ask thy blessing upon this service. Give help in speaking thy word, and that we might speak it so plainly and so clearly that the very youngest in this audience tonight might be able to take it in. That each one of us may receive some understanding of the things which thou hast communicated to us. And we pray that there are those here tonight who don't know the Lord Jesus as their Savior, and something will be said that thou would use to bring them into the assurance of Christ's salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask thy blessing in the Savior's precious name. Amen. Now we have been speaking in the course of this past week on the first six chapters of Daniel. As we said, this book of Daniel is divided into two parts. The first six chapters gives us the history. It gives us the life of this man Daniel, and incidents in the life of this man Daniel that foreshadow for us events that are going to happen in the time of the end. It was pointed out to me Friday night, perhaps something that I just took for granted, and that is the single expression you notice in these four different chapters of this word, in. Now, you notice as you read this, of course, this third chapter, for instance, the enforced worship of the image, a preserved remnant typical of the abomination of desolation, and the faithful remnant in. And then, of course, we skip this because Daniel knew nothing about this portion that we have in blue here. This is a parenthesis that God, as it were, inserted into his dealings with men that brings before us what he is doing at the present time. And so, of course, this present age, which really began on the day of Pentecost, after the Lord Jesus had died, and the Lord Jesus had been raised from the dead, and he ascended to heaven, by the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and he began a work in the world that is not revealed or mentioned in the Old Testament. And that is, he began to form the church. And that has been going on for the last 1900 years. God is calling men and women by the message of the gospel, the message how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now, we want to understand that. In other words, that God is not trying to make the world a better place for people to live in. That God is not trying to solve the problems of the world. That God is not trying to order the legislatures and the leaders of governments to bring about a reign of righteousness and of justice and peace and equity and prosperity. God is, as it were, providentially, of course, overruling in the affairs of men, but God lets men go their own way. God lets men make their own decisions. God lets men run their governments according to their own desires and according to their own wills because he is not intent, and I want to impress that upon you, of straightening out the problems of the world and trying to make this world a better place to live in. God is intent on saving sinners by the gospel of his grace, and when a sinner, Jew or Gentile, believes the gospel, he is not only saved, but he is brought into that church which is the body of Christ, and that church is being completed and will one day be complete, and when it is, why the Lord Jesus will take out of this world in the rapture, which is known as the catching away, he will take out of this world those who are saved, and then he will resume his dealings with the people of Israel, and that, of course, is what Daniel is primarily interested and occupied with. If we were to raise this chart and we were to take this line and put it about to this line and cover this, why, we would see all that Daniel saw. Daniel saw nothing about this age. All he saw was what is above the blue line and what is below the blue line, and so, as I said, this little expression, the typical of the abomination of desolation and the faithful remnant in the time of the end. The typical of the subjugation of all Gentile power in the time of the end. Typical of the impiety and doom of Gentile power in the time of the end. Typical of the Lord's care of the Israelite remnant in the time of the end. And so, all above the line here in this chart is all historical. It's all past. All of this is past. This is the present period of time in which we live. And this is all future. All referring, of course, to the same period of time, a time of about seven years to be followed, as we shall see a little tonight, by the coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, which will be, we know, a period, according to Revelation 20, of at least a thousand years. So that is the way the chart is divided horizontally. All above this line is history. All in this blue space is present. All below the blue space is future. Then the chart, again, is divided vertically by the first six chapters and the last six chapters. The first six chapters are historical. In other words, we have incidents in the life of Daniel and, of course, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. The last six chapters are the prophecies of Daniel. And those prophecies are really four prophecies. The seventh chapter, of which we are going to speak tonight, the eighth chapter, the ninth chapter, and then from the tenth, the eleventh and twelfth chapters, in those three chapters we have the final prophecy of Daniel. Of course, we'll be taking three nights on those three chapters because we have lost for us the influence of angels and the world rulers of darkness. We'll have the great conflict between Egypt and Syria, and the Antichrist will come before us, and then we'll have the overthrow of the Antichrist in the time of the end. So, I hope that when you look at this chart, you'll understand a little bit about this present age and also the time of the end. Now, what we are occupied with is not only touching on the historical events, but we are speaking about how these historical events foreshadow what is going to happen in the time of the end. And we believe, of course, that we are very close to the time of the end. All that is needed is for the Lord Jesus to take his church, those who are saved out of this world, and then, in a very short time, there would be the emergence, as we saw, of the ten kings or the ten-stated kingdom or empire, which is going to make its appearance. The coming of Christ, we would see those who are going to be standing for God in that tribulation period. Now here, when we come to Daniel chapter 7, we have come back. Because you remember that in Daniel 2, it was Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 3 and 4, it was Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 5, where we saw the destruction of the Babylonian empire, it was Belshazzar. And then in chapter 6, where we saw Daniel cast into the lion's den, it was the Medo-Persian empire. It was Darius who was the leader. And that was, you might say, near the end of Daniel's life. When Daniel was cast into the den of lions, our brother Cal very graciously corrected me or helped me along that. He said, you know, he was not only in the lion's den. A person could be in the lion's den if you know lions there. Well, he was in the den of lions. And that, he was an old man. He was a man evidently in his late 80's or in his 90's at the time. Near the end of his journey when he was cast into the den of lions. But now, in the last 76 chapters, we go back in Daniel's life and now we're going to look at some of the prophecy that Daniel brings before us. And the reason why we have in the 7th chapter of Daniel what seems to be a repetition of what we have in the 2nd chapter of Daniel is because in the 2nd chapter of Daniel we have the Gentile world monarchies as seen by men. It was Nebuchadnezzar who saw those 4 world monarchies. The Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. And when he saw them, he saw them in the form of a man. But when Daniel sees them, Daniel sees them in the forms of beef. Nebuchadnezzar saw them as man sees them. Daniel saw them as God sees them. And when God looks at world powers, he doesn't look at them as men look at them. Men look at them and they say, my, what progress. My, what achievement. My, what we've got to boast in. Everything is so vast and so imposing. God looks at them in relation to himself. And when he looks at them in relation to himself, he sees them as beasts. Why? Because the beast doesn't know God. The beast doesn't consider God. It only looks down. And the world powers, they don't consider God. Oh, I know in the United States, we have in the Senate a chaplain. We have in the House of Representatives a chaplain when our president is inaugurated. Why, of course, we have a prayer. But you and I know as well as anybody else that they don't consider God. They don't ask, well, what does God want us to do? What does God say we should do? Well, let's keep religion out of this. We can handle affairs. We'll solve our problems. They don't recognize God. And therefore, he looks at them and describes them as beasts. Now here we have brought before us three visions given to Daniel in chapter 7. And notice we are carried back in the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. Now we remember when we looked at the fifth chapter of Daniel and saw how Belshazzar, the night that he was slain, we saw him there in the end of his reign, and we saw that when Daniel was brought into the presence of the king, why the king didn't even know who Daniel was. Oh, he had heard something about Daniel, but as far as any personal acquaintance with Daniel was concerned, he had no acquaintance with Daniel. Daniel was a stranger. So that you might say, from the days of Nebuchadnezzar, when Daniel was very prominent, why after Nebuchadnezzar passed off the scene, why Daniel, as it were, was forgotten, and he was put into the background, he didn't have very much place publicly, you might say, after the days of Nebuchadnezzar. But in those days when he was away, as it were, from the public gaze, when he was in obscurity, why he was receiving visions and revelations from God. And oftentimes we see that. We see that it's not the person who is very prominent and active in the affairs of the world who is receiving communications from God. Lot was very prominent in Sodom and Gomorrah. He was a judge. He was in the politics of Sodom and Gomorrah, but he didn't know that judgment was coming. It was the separated man. It was the man who was walking in separation from all this. It was to that man that God said, I'm going to destroy Sodom, and I'm going to destroy Gomorrah, because they're such sinful and wicked cities. It's to the person who is separated from the evil. It is to the person who is separated from the activity of the world. It is to that person that God communicates His secrets, and He makes known His purposes. And we see that in Daniel. In the first year of Belshazzar, it says that Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. Now as I said, Daniel had three visions. The first vision is from verse 2 through verse 6. The second vision is from verse 7 down through verse 12. And the third vision is from verses 13 and verse 14. And it's very easy to distinguish this because in all three of these portions why Daniel speaks of seeing visions. And the first vision that Daniel saw was concerning the first three beasts. The second vision that he saw was concerning this fourth beast which was the most important and the most prominent. And the third vision that he saw was concerning the end of this beast and the one who will come, our Lord Jesus Christ and the setting up of his kingdom is in the third vision. The second vision is the fourth beast and the little horn that's going to come and their end. And the third vision is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we just like to go into these three visions with the interpretations for a little tonight. Now you notice he says that he saw the four winds of the heaven striving upon the great sea. Now we're not left in any doubt as to what this sea of course was. This great sea was the Mediterranean. If we want to look at it geographically. I don't know if you've ever thought about the name Mediterranean but you know Mediterranean simply means the middle of the earth. And that sea is actually the middle of the earth. And it is astonishing fact but true that all four of these world empires they all emerged and were located around the Mediterranean. Now I think it's significant if you pick up your magazines like U.S. News and World Report, Time Magazine or Newsweek Magazine, Reader's Digest or any of those secular magazines, your newspapers, you will notice that there is great emphasis today being laid on the fact that Russia is increasing its sea power and its naval power in the Mediterranean. If we don't realize the importance of that body of water, at least Russia does. And the fact that Russia does and is strengthening its naval power in the Mediterranean to such an extent that statesmen of the world who have any amount of sense at all realize that the safety of the western world is in jeopardy if Russia is allowed to get too strong a hold on the Mediterranean. Now it is very significant that these four powers, they all arose around the Mediterranean. But you know the Bible also suggests to us that the sea speaks of turbulent masses of people. We have that in the 17th chapter of Revelation. And there we have drawn before us that the seas are multitudes of people and we know that these four great powers they emerged out of the turbulent masses of people who were in foment and revolution and in excitement and it was from amongst these people that these four great powers came into being. Now in the first vision he gives us a very brief account of some of the outstanding characteristics of the first three powers. Now just as gold is the highest metal just so the lion is the king of beasts. And so of course that is for us the first empire. Notice he says four great beasts came up from the sea, divers one from another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the fetus of man and a man's heart was given to it. Now a lion with wings, it speaks to us of the majesty but it speaks to us also of the rapidity with eagle's wings speaks of the swiftness of the conquest and the victories that Nebuchadnezzar had to achieve a world dominion. But it tells us that this lion he beheld till the wings thereof were plucked. And of course we know that's what happened to the Babylonian empire when it had conquered it settled down so much so that Nebuchadnezzar said as we saw in the fourth chapter is not this the great Babylon that I have built? And the lion its heart was taken from it and it was given a man's heart and it was made to stand on its back feet. Now of course you know a lion on its back feet is a very weak creature and that brings before us what the end of that kingdom was going to be. That Nebuchadnezzar evidently we have a hint here of Nebuchadnezzar's conversion and with Nebuchadnezzar's conversion and passing off the scene why the Babylonian empire deteriorated until in Belshazzar's time it was so weak it was given over to rioting and licentiousness and the result is that it was overcome. And then he says behold another beast the second like to a bear and it raised itself up on one side and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it and they said thus unto it arise devour much flesh. Now here we have the second empire and it's like a bear. If in the lion we have cruelty in the bear we have a crushing power and that's exactly what the Indo-Persian empire was and the bear had three ribs in its mouth and of course there's a little difference in Bible scholars as to what those three ribs represent. Some say that they were three principal cities Bursipa, Babylon and a place called Agbatina which were the three principal cities of Babylonian empire that the Indo-Persian empire conquered. Others say well it was three provinces but nevertheless it suggests that this bear had devoured and captured these three pivotal points and it says the bear lifted itself up on one side. Now we know that the Indo-Persian empire was composed of two people. The Medes who were a primitive nomadic people and the Persians who were a modern cultured educated people and at first the Medes were the prominent and strong power but eventually the Persians took over and so just as that bear lifted itself up on one side it suggests that one part of that empire would be stronger than another and the last days of the 200 year or the 300 year of the Persian, Indo-Persian empire was that the Persians were the strongest and we know that in Isaiah 45 100 years before the birth of this man Cyrus the Persian, God called him by name and God said that this man would be born and that he would be the man who would set the people of Israel free and we know that's exactly what happened in the reign of Cyrus the Persian why the Babylonian captives were allowed to go back to Jerusalem in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and rebuild the city and so there we have the description of the second empire and then in the sixth verse he says after this I beheld and lo another like a leopard which had upon the wing of it, upon the back of it four wings of a fowl the beast had also four heads and dominion was given to it. Now if the lion speaks to us of cruelty and the bear speaks to us of a crushing power the leopard speaks to us of a cunning creature it's a beautiful creature but a cunning creature and this creature had four wings not two wings like the lion four wings because we know that under the dominion of Alexander why the Grecian empire became so powerful in such a short time that by the time he was 33 years old why Alexander wept because there were no more worlds to conquer he had conquered the whole known world by the time he was 33 years old but you'll see more about that when we come to the eighth chapter tomorrow night but that kingdom was on its death was divided into four dominions there was Syria Egypt, Macedonia and Asia Minor when he died that kingdom was divided into four parts because he had no heir. He had no one to take his place and so his four generals divided the kingdom amongst themselves and so we have four heads as brought before us here in this four headed monster the leopard that suggests to us or brings before us the third kingdom now in the seventh verse he says after this I saw in the night vision and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth it devoured and breaking pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things now I want you to notice that the second vision is primarily concerning the fourth beast and the fourth beast of course is the Roman Empire now it is very significant as we have mentioned before that this empire was in existence when our Lord Jesus Christ was born into the world and this empire is going to be in existence again when the Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time and that is why one of the reasons why this empire is so important why there is such an emphasis and such an enlargement to the prophet concerning this empire because it was the empire that was in existence when our Lord Jesus Christ was born into the world and under which he was crucified and it is the empire that is going to be in existence when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back because just as it was in existence when he came the first time we know that it is going to be in existence after the church is taken out of this world now you know he says I think that there are several reasons that are brought before us we ask the question well why if this empire is brought before us in Daniel 2 why is it brought before us again in Daniel chapter 7 well there are several reasons first because in Daniel 2 as I mentioned it is seen from man's viewpoint in other words it is seen in the figure of a man in Daniel chapter 7 it is seen from God's viewpoint secondly because in this vision here it is only in relation to the whole Gentile dominion and it is in relation to the coming of Christ but here there was something that was worrying Daniel something that Daniel was thinking about as he thought of this kingdom he was thinking as a Jew what is going to happen to my people the Jewish people when all of these kingdoms are in existence what is going to happen to my people when these ten kings are in existence what is going to be the experience of my people and that is why as we are going to read in a few minutes if we have time we are going to read about Daniel's people during the reign of this great empire now the third reason why this empire is brought before us is because here we see only ten kings it is going to be in a ten kingdom form now that has never been true of the Roman Empire the Roman Empire has never existed with ten separate kingdoms united in a literal united states of Rome or united states of Europe and so Daniel in the second chapter of Daniel tells us that there are going to be ten kings but in Daniel chapter seven he brings before us that while it is true that there will be ten kings after these ten kings are in existence after this ten kingdom empire is in existence another personality is going to rise who is going to vanquish three of these kings and he is going to become the prominent personality and head of that ten kingdom empire in other words if there is going to be a person a literal person who is going to be a super man who is going to be an economic military political genius who is going to bring together all of these ten kingdoms and make them a unified force now he says this fourth beast is different from all the other beasts now you notice in this picture here we have the feet of a bear, the body of a leopard, the head of a lion and teeth that crush and destroy legs that bruise and stamp there is no power that is able to stand against it. It says it is diverse from all these kingdoms in what way? Not only that it incorporates within itself all the leading features of these three previous kingdoms now I want you to notice he tells us here we just find the verse a minute it tells us here the 27th verse or let's see, no that's not the verse, there is a verse here in Daniel chapter 7 that I would like you to notice here is the 11th verse, he says I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame as concerning the rest of the beasts they had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. Now what does he mean here? He says that when this fourth beast is destroyed, it's going to be completely destroyed but he says the first three beasts, he says they had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. What does he mean? He means that though these kingdoms came to an end there were features in these kingdoms that were continued. Where were they continued? They were continued in Rome. And when Rome falls not only does it fall but all the features that it had taken from these other kingdoms are going to fall with it. It was a boast of Rome that any people that they conquered or vanquished, they not only conquered but the good things they incorporated into their own systems and the result was that there were certain characteristics of those kingdoms that continued even when those kingdoms themselves ceased to exist. And so we have brought before us here that this beast is diverse from all these others not only in that it incorporates within itself all the features of those who have gone before and added its own features but another thing and we don't find that in the book of Daniel but we do find it in the Revelation. Why is this beast in its last form in the time of the end going to be different? You know why? Because Nebuchadnezzar he got his power from God. But when we turn to the 13th chapter of Revelation where we have this beast brought before us in the Revelation of Daniel and I just would like you to notice this here for a moment. Just look at it for a minute in the 13th chapter of Revelation and notice in the first verse he says, I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and then notice and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. You know why it's different? It's different because it's going to get its power from the devil himself. The devil himself is going to energize this person. The devil himself is going to undo this person with a wisdom and a skill and a knowledge that is beyond human knowledge and wisdom and learning. Now those of us who lived during the last world war, we know that it was reported that Hitler was constantly in touch with mediums and astrologers and others before he made any important decisions. Why? Because he was seeking guidance from other powers beyond human intelligences. Now I know that there are some people they laugh at unseen powers, spirits and demons and angelic beings. We'll read more we're going to speak more about that when we come to the tenth chapter of Daniel. God is going to give us a little insight as to a conflict that goes on in the unseen world of celestial beings. But you know this person here, this head is going to be endued with wisdom and knowledge by Satan himself. And so he is diverse in that he is directly energized and endued by the devil himself who has been cast out of heaven. He knows that his time is short. And because he knows his time is short, he is determined to reap the have off that he can and bring as many down with him as he possibly can. I want you to notice something else in Revelation 13 here for a moment. This is by the way notice in the second verse it says, and the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. Now I want you to notice when John speaks of them, he speaks of the leopard, the bear, and the lion. When Daniel speaks of them, he speaks of the lion, the bear, and the leopard. Why? Well Daniel is looking forward. And as he looks forward, he sees the lion, the Babylonian Empire. He sees the bear, the Medo-Persian Empire. He sees the leopard, the Grecian Empire. Now all these were past when John was on the Isle of Patmos, and John looks backward. So he mentions the leopard first, the bear second, and the lion third. So my friends, we see one man looks forward, and the other man looks backward, but they're both speaking about the same thing. Now I want you to notice that here when he speaks about this great creature, which is so destructive, he sees the entire Roman Empire from its beginning to its end. In the eighth verse he says, I considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another little horn, behold before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down. Now what are the thrones? Well here we have a little picture of the coming of Christ. And this expression, the thrones cast down, whenever we think of something cast down, or we think of something destroyed, but you know if you understand the language, when a ruler came into a place, why they would cast down the beautiful garments, and then they would put down his throne, and his throne was cast down to where he could sit. And what he is really saying here is, I beheld till the thrones were cast down, or literally, I beheld till the thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days did sit. Now who is this Ancient of Days? Well we're not left to doubt as to who the Ancient of Days is, because when the interpretation is given in the 22nd verse, notice what it says. Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. Who is the Ancient of Days? The Ancient of Days is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is He called the Ancient of Days? Because He is the Eternal One. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Eternal One, and He's coming, and His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued before, and came forth from before Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. Here's the picture of our Lord Jesus Christ coming in judgment. And He's coming in judgment, as we'll see a little later on, accompanied by the saints of heaven. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes again, He's coming in judgment. You know, God tells us that He's committed all judgment to the hands of the Lord Jesus. Let's turn for a moment to the fifth chapter of John, shall we? John's Gospel chapter five. And notice here in John chapter five what the Lord tells us in the 19th verse. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do. For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth. And He will show Him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him. Now here we have brought before us that God has committed all judgment to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ came once and died on the cross of Calvary. He came once and presented Himself to men, and He allowed them to do with Him whatever they would. And men can still do that today. They can do with the Lord Jesus Christ whatever they want. He delivered Him to their will. And people could do with the Lord Jesus whatever they want. And what did they do? They gave Him a cross. They gave Him a cross. But my friends, the time is coming when the Lord Jesus is coming again. And when He does come, He's not going to allow men to do what they want with Him. He's going to do with them what He wants. He's going to come in judgment. And why has God put all judgment into the hands of His Son? He tells us here that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. You know, some people say, well, I believe in God. But you know, I don't have much room for the Lord Jesus. I believe in God. I've always believed in God. But Jesus doesn't mean anything to me. Well, my friend, let me say that according to this, if Jesus doesn't mean anything to you, God doesn't mean anything to you. Because God has decreed that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And He tells us here, He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him. And then notice what He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation or judgment, but is passed from death unto life. You know, I'd like to linger on this verse for a few moments. Because I think this is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible. The Lord says, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, He that hears My word. Perhaps I'm speaking to someone tonight, and you're wondering, Well, how can I be sure that I'm safe? How can I know that I'll go to heaven? How can I know that when the Lord comes, I'll be taken to be with Him? And I won't be left behind to see this awful thing that's going to happen. That I won't be left behind to be brought under the power of this person that's going to come. How can I be sure that that won't be my end? How can I be sure? Well, here we have the verse that tells you how. The Savior says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word. Our friend, you've heard His word. You've heard how God loves you. How God gave His Son to die for you. You didn't see Him die. I didn't see Him die. Christendom is commemorating the death of Christ on Good Friday. They're commemorating the resurrection of Christ today. But we ask the question, Why did Christ die? Why did Christ rise from the dead? My friends, God tells you He sent His Son into the world to save you. To save me. I didn't see Him do it. But I hear about it. He that heareth My word and believeth, believeth Him that sent me. Do you believe God? What do you do with God's testimony? Do you say, Oh, that's too simple. There's much more to it than that. It can't be that. There's more to it than that. You've got to be baptized. You've got to join the church. You've got to partake of the sacrament. You've got to keep the Ten Commandments. There's more to it than just hearing His word and believing. What more is there? What does God say? God says here, Jesus says, verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life. Do you have it tonight? Have you believed on Him? Have you taken God at His word? Hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. Oh, my friend tonight, as you sit in this meeting, are you sure that you'll never see judgment? Are you sure that you have everlasting life? God says that that one who tonight can give you everlasting life if you will believe in Him is the one who is coming in judgment. He tells us in the twelfth chapter of John, He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not My word, hath one that judgeth Him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge Him in the last days. And so, my friends, what we do with Christ is going to determine what He's going to do with us. And so we find here that when He comes, He comes in judgment. And notice in the eleventh verse He says, I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. And there we have it, this empire. And if you want to read more detail about it, you can read the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. You can read the interpretation that He gives, because I'm not going to be able to go into the interpretation of it. But if you read the interpretation, you'll find that the interpretation is just as I have been speaking. That our Lord Jesus Christ is going to execute judgment upon this confederacy. That the Lord Jesus Christ is going to destroy this confederacy. And then we have the third vision, and in the thirteenth verse He says, I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man. Now why is He called the Son of Man here? In the second vision He is spoken of as the Ancient of Days. Because it emphasizes His deity. But here in the thirteenth verse, in relation to His kingdom, He speaks of Him as the Son of Man. Because He is a real man. When God created this earth, He put man in control over it. But man lost it because of his sin. But here we have one who comes, and He came to the Ancient of Days. And they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Now my friends, this is all future. This will take place when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and He does away with Gentile power and does away with this political head, this Roman little horn. And then He brings in His kingdom when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to reign. And if, just for the sake of brevity, notice what it tells us here in the eighteenth verse where He gives the interpretation. He says, but the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. And then notice the twenty-first verse, I beheld in the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. And then notice in the twenty-sixth verse, but the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away His dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end, and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom unto the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey Him. Now I read these few verses of Scripture. You can read them for yourself. Just to suggest to you, to bring before you several things. First of all, that our Lord Jesus Christ is going to destroy this political head with His powers. He is going to set up His kingdom and there are those who are going to reign with Him. People of the Most High who are going to possess this kingdom and share this kingdom with our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I'd rather have a place in that than be President of the United States for four years or eight years. Or even for a lifetime. Because you know the kingdom of Christ. Oh, is this science fiction? Is this fable? Is this the fancy of a disordered mind? Is this the hallucination of an idealist? Is this what this is? No my friends, this is what the Lord tells us is coming. And this is what the Lord tells us the Lord Jesus Christ is going to bring in when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back again. It's not by means of the preaching of the Gospel. It's going to be brought about by the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The destruction of this political power. And the setting up of this kingdom. And the sharing of it by those who know Him. Are you going to be one of them? It says the saints of the Most High. Now of course that refers to saints of the heavenly places. Those believers who during the tribulation period will stand true to Christ. But according to what we have in the New Testament, it's going to be the portion also of those who are saved in this period of time. We're going to reign with Him. We're going to share this kingdom with Him. And so my friends, we've had brought before us a little bit about this political leader. This superman that is going to rise and who is going to command and direct this great political confederacy. The beginnings of which I think we are seeing today rising in Europe. In the common market. I think it's a step toward what Daniel saw in his two visions. In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and also the vision that he saw in the seventh chapter of Daniel. We're living on the edge of these things. Friends, how important to make sure we'll be on the right side when He comes. Shall we pray? Our Father, we thank You now for Thy Word and ask You to bless it to each one. We pray if there are those here tonight who are still not certain as to their relationship toward Thyself. We pray that Thou will speak to them. That Thou will show them that Thou has provided all that they need in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we've heard in that song, Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And we thank Thee it's true. What the Savior said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word and believes on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation or judgment, but is passed from death unto life. No works of our own, only the work of Christ. We thank Thee. The work that saves is done. Bless Thy Word to each one in the Savior's name. Amen.