male announcer: This presentation is brought to you 00:00:02.36\00:00:04.83 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. 00:00:04.97\00:00:06.94 announcer: Coming to you from New York City at the historic 00:00:07.07\00:00:10.17 Manhattan Center with your host Doug Batchelor. 00:00:10.21\00:00:13.81 Join this exciting journey of discovery, as we learn the truth 00:00:13.84\00:00:17.61 about Bible prophecy. 00:00:17.65\00:00:19.35 Explore the timeless wisdom of God's Word and see how it 00:00:19.38\00:00:23.35 relates to our lives today. 00:00:23.39\00:00:25.72 Stay tuned, your Amazing Facts adventure begins now. 00:00:25.75\00:00:30.16 Doug Batchelor: Tonight we're going to be studying one of the 00:00:30.83\00:00:32.79 most important subjects dealing with the prophecy of history. 00:00:32.83\00:00:38.27 And if I was going to take one Bible subject and say, "This is 00:00:38.30\00:00:43.94 the study of prophecy that we're going to have tonight that 00:00:43.97\00:00:48.11 convinced me that the Bible is a supernatural book," this is 00:00:48.14\00:00:52.95 the one. 00:00:52.98\00:00:54.32 Well, we always like to begin with an amazing fact, and I'm 00:00:54.35\00:00:57.75 gonna get my little clicker here that will take us through some 00:00:57.79\00:01:00.32 of these things. 00:01:00.36\00:01:01.86 From the very beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, 00:01:01.89\00:01:05.13 we hear about a kingdom called Babylon. 00:01:05.16\00:01:10.10 Now if you have your Bibles on your phone or if you've got a 00:01:10.13\00:01:12.83 hard copy of the Bible, you might want to turn to the book 00:01:12.87\00:01:15.24 of Daniel chapter 2, not far from the middle of the Bible 00:01:15.27\00:01:19.67 there, Daniel chapter 2. 00:01:19.71\00:01:21.34 Let me give you a little amazing fact about Babylon. 00:01:21.38\00:01:25.61 Ancient Babylon had a massive impact on world history. 00:01:25.65\00:01:29.92 It was a center of earthly mathematics, astronomy, and 00:01:29.95\00:01:34.72 technology innovation. 00:01:34.76\00:01:36.49 The Babylonians invented the wheel for work carts and 00:01:36.52\00:01:39.89 chariots, sailboats to trade 00:01:39.93\00:01:42.06 on the Euphrates River. 00:01:42.10\00:01:44.10 They created cuneiform writing records. 00:01:44.13\00:01:47.17 Babylon also developed a unique numerical system based on the 00:01:47.20\00:01:51.24 lunar calendar with 360 days, which is, by the way, the same 00:01:51.27\00:01:56.38 calendar as the Jews. 00:01:56.41\00:01:57.85 Make a mental note of that because a year with 360 days 00:01:57.88\00:02:02.02 comes up later in understanding time prophecies. 00:02:02.05\00:02:04.85 Thirty days in a month is how they calculated units for 00:02:04.89\00:02:09.72 measurement and this is why we've got 60 seconds in a 00:02:09.76\00:02:12.99 minute, and you've got--the number 60 is all through the 00:02:13.03\00:02:17.70 Babylonian calculations. 00:02:17.73\00:02:19.90 They also divided the starry heavens into 36 constellations. 00:02:19.93\00:02:24.24 I'm a pilot, 360 degrees to a circle, and we use that in 00:02:24.27\00:02:28.61 mathematics now, they were excellent mathematicians. 00:02:28.64\00:02:31.75 Interestingly, now don't miss this, the Babylonian sacred 00:02:31.78\00:02:35.85 square is composed of 6 boxes by 6 boxes with the number 1 in box 00:02:35.88\00:02:40.86 1, number 2, 3, 4. 00:02:40.89\00:02:42.22 When you add all those up, 1 through 36, 00:02:42.26\00:02:45.53 it comes to 666. 00:02:45.56\00:02:50.73 Babylon appears in the book of Revelation. 00:02:50.77\00:02:53.70 And I hope you don't know what a roulette wheel is, but you know 00:02:53.74\00:02:56.40 a roulette wheel has got 36 numbers on it, and if you add 1 00:02:56.44\00:03:00.94 plus 2 plus 3 up to 36, it comes to 666, 666 is a very 00:03:00.98\00:03:06.82 unique number. 00:03:06.85\00:03:08.08 Did you know if you add up the first six Roman numerals, you 00:03:08.12\00:03:13.46 know, the Roman numerals I, V, X, so forth, adds up to 666. 00:03:13.49\00:03:21.00 So this is gonna play into prophecy, but that's just to 00:03:21.03\00:03:23.77 whet your appetite. 00:03:23.80\00:03:25.73 So the zenith of Babylonian history was during the reign of 00:03:25.77\00:03:30.17 someone by the name of Nebuchadnezzar II. 00:03:30.21\00:03:34.01 And we don't know much or hear much about Nebuchadnezzar I, but 00:03:34.04\00:03:36.71 Nebuchadnezzar II was an extremely intelligent, 00:03:36.75\00:03:40.05 well-educated man, a master military man and an 00:03:40.08\00:03:46.89 administrator, and he could also be brutal and ruthless, which is 00:03:46.92\00:03:50.96 one reason he was able to conquer, struck fear 00:03:50.99\00:03:54.63 into everybody. 00:03:54.66\00:03:56.10 The zenith of the Babylonian Empire was from about 612 to 539 00:03:56.13\00:04:01.67 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar, in about 597, he came and that was his 00:04:01.70\00:04:07.64 first invasion of the land of Israel. 00:04:07.68\00:04:10.28 During that time, he carried away about 10,000 captives. 00:04:10.31\00:04:14.25 Among the captives that he carried away from Israel back to 00:04:14.28\00:04:18.12 Babylon, there were four young men. 00:04:18.15\00:04:21.02 By the way, this had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah 00:04:21.06\00:04:24.96 to King Hezekiah. 00:04:24.99\00:04:26.76 Hezekiah was told by Isaiah, "Your sons that issue from you 00:04:26.80\00:04:31.90 will be carried off to the kingdom of Babylon and 00:04:31.93\00:04:34.40 made eunuchs." 00:04:34.44\00:04:36.10 And this is exactly what happened several hundred 00:04:36.14\00:04:39.21 years later. 00:04:39.24\00:04:41.28 So it's just a little map on the screen here for those that are 00:04:41.31\00:04:43.95 watching to give you an idea of the extent of the Babylonian 00:04:43.98\00:04:47.42 kingdom-added zenith, touching on the shores of five 00:04:47.45\00:04:50.92 major oceans. 00:04:50.95\00:04:52.69 Now while we go through the prophecy tonight, I want to make 00:04:52.72\00:04:56.39 something very clear. 00:04:56.42\00:04:57.76 We're going to be talking about the major empires of the world 00:04:57.79\00:05:00.86 that were foretold in prophecy before they existed, and the 00:05:00.90\00:05:05.70 reason these empires are highlighted is they all occupied 00:05:05.73\00:05:10.07 God's people that were then Israel. 00:05:10.11\00:05:14.84 And this was also the crossroads between three continents of 00:05:14.88\00:05:21.42 Europe, Africa, and Asia, so they saw this as a world empire 00:05:21.45\00:05:26.09 because they controlled the trade between these continents, 00:05:26.12\00:05:29.22 they were fabulously wealthy. 00:05:29.26\00:05:32.36 So at the zenith of his power, and Nebuchadnezzar had an 00:05:32.39\00:05:36.10 incredible passion for building, so he's building, how many of 00:05:36.13\00:05:39.10 you have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? 00:05:39.13\00:05:41.87 The only one that still survives today are the pyramids of Giza. 00:05:41.90\00:05:44.87 Karen and I were there a couple of years ago. 00:05:44.91\00:05:47.78 It was just last year, well, time flies. 00:05:47.81\00:05:50.45 And they had things like the Colossus of Rhodes and the 00:05:50.48\00:05:52.81 Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient 00:05:52.85\00:05:56.05 World, according to Herodotus the historian, was the hanging 00:05:56.08\00:06:00.16 gardens of Babylon. 00:06:00.19\00:06:03.36 Nebuchadnezzar married a girl from the mountains and Babylon 00:06:03.39\00:06:07.00 is a plain, she was constantly homesick because there were 00:06:07.03\00:06:10.53 no mountains. 00:06:10.57\00:06:11.87 He said, "I will build you a mountain." 00:06:11.90\00:06:15.07 She said, "but there are no trees." 00:06:15.10\00:06:16.44 He said, "I will plant trees and mountains and flowers," and he 00:06:16.47\00:06:20.01 built these beautiful exotic hanging gardens, and some of the 00:06:20.04\00:06:23.91 ancient historians say he had found some method to pump water 00:06:23.95\00:06:27.62 from the Euphrates River up and irrigate it, so there were 00:06:27.65\00:06:30.92 waterfalls coming down from this man-made mountain that he had. 00:06:30.95\00:06:35.76 So you have the picture in your mind, this massive kingdom, very 00:06:35.79\00:06:40.10 powerful, very opulent. 00:06:40.13\00:06:42.06 One historian says that it was 60 miles around the perimeter. 00:06:42.10\00:06:47.50 That's bigger than Los Angeles today, just--it was huge. 00:06:47.54\00:06:50.81 Nebuchadnezzar went to sleep one night, and he was very proud of 00:06:50.84\00:06:57.61 the way that God had, you know, blessed him. 00:06:57.65\00:07:00.45 He thought he was pretty smart too. 00:07:00.48\00:07:02.72 He was a proud man, and he knew this kingdom was great and he 00:07:02.75\00:07:07.12 wondered how long it would last. 00:07:07.16\00:07:10.23 He understood history, how one kingdom fights against another, 00:07:10.26\00:07:13.93 and in the midst of his sleeping this night, troubled, wondering 00:07:13.96\00:07:18.13 how long the kingdom would last, he had a dream that was unlike 00:07:18.17\00:07:22.34 any other dream. 00:07:22.37\00:07:23.71 I don't know if you've had a dream and you said, "that wasn't 00:07:23.74\00:07:25.51 a normal dream," that was a three-dimensional dream. 00:07:25.54\00:07:28.74 It was a vision and he wanted to understand it. 00:07:28.78\00:07:32.35 Now if you have your Bibles, we're going to pause here and 00:07:32.38\00:07:34.08 we're going to read about this. 00:07:34.12\00:07:35.48 If you go to the book of Daniel chapter 2, we're not going to 00:07:35.52\00:07:38.79 read the whole chapter, but we're going to do the 00:07:38.82\00:07:40.59 introduction to this dream that Nebuchadnezzar had and what that 00:07:40.62\00:07:46.19 stood for. 00:07:46.23\00:07:47.56 What does that mean? Daniel chapter 2. 00:07:47.60\00:07:48.86 And we'll read the first few verses here. 00:07:48.90\00:07:54.27 Verse 1, Daniel chapter 2, "Now in the second year of 00:07:54.30\00:07:58.01 Nebuchadnezzar's reign," this isn't the second year that he 00:07:58.04\00:08:00.61 was out fighting and conquering, but after his father died and he 00:08:00.64\00:08:04.05 had complete control. 00:08:04.08\00:08:06.08 "In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, 00:08:06.11\00:08:08.92 Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was so troubled that 00:08:08.95\00:08:12.72 his sleep left him. 00:08:12.75\00:08:14.96 Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, 00:08:14.99\00:08:17.96 astrologers, the sorcerers, the Chaldeans, to tell the king 00:08:17.99\00:08:22.30 his dreams. 00:08:22.33\00:08:23.97 So they came and they stood before the king." 00:08:24.00\00:08:25.57 He had a pretty big entourage of wise men and counselors, and 00:08:25.60\00:08:28.74 they were all into the, you know, the occultish arts, and 00:08:28.77\00:08:32.57 some of them were star gazers and supposedly these are the 00:08:32.61\00:08:35.58 wise men, the spiritual men. 00:08:35.61\00:08:39.91 "So they came and stood before him and the king said, 'I've had 00:08:39.95\00:08:42.95 a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream,' and the 00:08:42.98\00:08:47.06 Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, 'O king, live forever! 00:08:47.09\00:08:50.69 Tell your servants the dream and we will give 00:08:50.73\00:08:53.26 the interpretation.'" 00:08:53.29\00:08:54.60 You see, they were in the business of--the king would 00:08:54.63\00:08:56.83 give a dream and they'd concoct some interpretation to try to 00:08:56.87\00:09:01.04 satisfy him, but he said, "No, no, no, I'm not a fool," he 00:09:01.07\00:09:05.01 said, "I want to know what this dream means, and I don't want 00:09:05.04\00:09:07.58 you to just manufacture something. 00:09:07.61\00:09:10.18 He says, 'If you're really wise men and you're really connected 00:09:10.21\00:09:13.38 with the gods, here's your chance to prove your mettle. 00:09:13.42\00:09:17.22 I want you to tell me what I dream, not only because that'll 00:09:17.25\00:09:21.12 be good proof, but because it's starting to get fuzzy.'" 00:09:21.16\00:09:25.53 How many of you have had a dream and you thought, wow, it 00:09:25.56\00:09:27.30 was vivid, and half an hour later, you know, your dream is 00:09:27.30\00:09:29.83 happening in a different brain level from your consciousness, 00:09:29.86\00:09:34.84 and as you get into full consciousness, the dream is hard 00:09:34.87\00:09:37.67 to access. 00:09:37.71\00:09:39.17 And he's saying, "I'll remember it when I hear it, but if you're 00:09:39.21\00:09:43.04 a wise man, you tell me what I dream, and then I'll know you 00:09:43.08\00:09:45.88 know the interpretation." 00:09:45.91\00:09:47.25 In verse 7 they said, "'King, let the king tell his servants 00:09:47.28\00:09:52.82 a dream, and we'll give the interpretation.' 00:09:52.85\00:09:55.56 And the king answered and said rather sternly, 'I know for a 00:09:55.59\00:09:59.33 certain that you would gain time. 00:09:59.36\00:10:00.73 You're stalling because you see my decision is firm. 00:10:00.76\00:10:04.67 If you do not make known the dream to me, there's only one 00:10:04.70\00:10:08.60 decree for you. 00:10:08.64\00:10:09.97 You're on the royal payroll and you're worthless,'" like others 00:10:10.01\00:10:14.71 on the royal payroll around the world. 00:10:14.74\00:10:18.85 "'Only one decree for you. 00:10:18.88\00:10:20.38 You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me 00:10:20.42\00:10:23.08 until the time has changed.'" 00:10:23.12\00:10:24.42 You think I'm just gonna get on with something else and forget 00:10:24.45\00:10:26.12 about this. 00:10:26.15\00:10:27.39 "'Therefore, tell me the dream and I'll know you can tell me 00:10:27.42\00:10:30.19 the interpretation.' 00:10:30.23\00:10:31.83 And they answered and said to the king, 'There's not a man on 00:10:31.86\00:10:34.73 earth who can tell the king's matter. 00:10:34.76\00:10:36.30 Therefore, no king or lord or ruler has ever asked such 00:10:36.33\00:10:39.60 a thing from any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. 00:10:39.63\00:10:43.04 It's a difficult thing the king is requesting, and there's no 00:10:43.07\00:10:46.14 other one who can tell it to the king except the gods whose 00:10:46.17\00:10:50.51 dwelling is not with flesh.' 00:10:50.55\00:10:52.98 For this reason, the king was angry and very furious, and he 00:10:53.01\00:10:58.02 gave a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon." 00:10:58.05\00:11:02.69 Now the king back then could not just issue a fiat kill them all, 00:11:02.72\00:11:06.29 they had legal process. 00:11:06.33\00:11:07.66 And so they're writing up a decree to gather them and 00:11:07.66\00:11:09.33 execute them. 00:11:09.36\00:11:10.67 So you understand it took a while to do this, but they're 00:11:10.70\00:11:13.23 going to be under a death decree now because the king is mad. 00:11:13.27\00:11:16.71 So the decree went out and they began killing the wise men, and 00:11:16.74\00:11:20.74 they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. 00:11:20.78\00:11:23.78 Now at this point we need to understand something 00:11:23.81\00:11:28.35 that happened. 00:11:28.38\00:11:30.09 So Daniel and his friends were wise men in training, and they 00:11:30.12\00:11:36.29 had not yet been called in before the king. 00:11:36.32\00:11:39.39 And so what happened is the guard comes in and Daniel says, 00:11:39.43\00:11:44.77 "It looks like they're rounding up all the wise men. 00:11:44.80\00:11:46.97 I don't know if we're in that category, we're sort of intern 00:11:47.00\00:11:49.97 wise men. 00:11:50.01\00:11:51.47 And we were not there and maybe this was a little hasty from 00:11:51.51\00:11:55.71 the king." 00:11:55.74\00:11:57.65 Daniel remembered the story of Joseph in the Bible where the 00:11:57.68\00:12:02.05 king of Egypt had a dream and none of his wise men could 00:12:02.08\00:12:05.65 understand, but Joseph trusted the Lord and God gave him an 00:12:05.69\00:12:09.42 answer and Daniel said to his friends, "Well, we serve the 00:12:09.46\00:12:12.93 same God. 00:12:12.96\00:12:14.30 Let's tell the king, 'Give us a chance,' and we'll tell him what 00:12:14.30\00:12:16.50 his dream means." 00:12:16.53\00:12:18.33 And that's what happened. 00:12:18.37\00:12:19.70 The guard went in and said, "You know, I've got some young 00:12:19.73\00:12:21.70 Hebrews that you tested, you said they were pretty smart. 00:12:21.74\00:12:25.14 They say that they can tell you what your dream means if you'll 00:12:25.17\00:12:27.64 just pause the death decree. 00:12:27.68\00:12:30.38 What have you got to lose? 00:12:30.41\00:12:31.71 Give him 24 hours." 00:12:31.75\00:12:33.62 Well, the king is thinking, "Well, I want to know what my 00:12:33.65\00:12:36.69 dream means and what have I got to lose. 00:12:36.72\00:12:38.82 I don't want to just kill all the wise men and never know. 00:12:38.85\00:12:40.69 If they think that they're going to know, and I seem to remember 00:12:40.72\00:12:44.69 Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Daniel. 00:12:44.73\00:12:48.56 The new names were Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and 00:12:48.60\00:12:51.47 Abednego, the Babylonian names. 00:12:51.50\00:12:52.97 He said, "Okay, I'll give them some time." 00:12:53.00\00:12:56.84 Now this is where we launch into our study of what the dream 00:12:56.87\00:13:00.38 was and what the dream meant. 00:13:00.41\00:13:02.88 But before we get to that, we're going to go to the streets of 00:13:02.91\00:13:05.71 New York. 00:13:05.75\00:13:07.28 Can anybody know the future? 00:13:07.32\00:13:09.08 We're going to go to our men and women on the street and see 00:13:09.12\00:13:12.79 what they have to say about that. 00:13:12.82\00:13:16.39 male: I think people can have visions. 00:13:16.42\00:13:17.89 I think you can have a understanding of later, 00:13:17.93\00:13:24.50 per se, future. 00:13:24.53\00:13:25.87 female: You know, that's a spiritual question for me, 00:13:25.90\00:13:28.24 so possibly. 00:13:28.27\00:13:30.21 female: Yes. 00:13:30.24\00:13:31.57 male: No, I don't think that's true. 00:13:31.61\00:13:33.41 male: Probably, yeah, if you read the book of Revelation. 00:13:33.44\00:13:36.48 female: The Battle of Armageddon--not in the Bible, 00:13:36.51\00:13:40.55 not necessarily in the Bible. 00:13:40.58\00:13:42.02 female: Yeah, I heard of it, but I don't remem--I don't recall 00:13:42.05\00:13:45.32 what it was, so-- 00:13:45.35\00:13:46.65 Doug: How many of you think that it is 00:13:46.69\00:13:49.29 possible for someone to know the future, by show of hands? 00:13:49.32\00:13:54.93 It's kind of a mixed group here in New York, isn't it? 00:13:54.96\00:13:57.23 I'm going to ask that question again later after the study, and 00:13:57.27\00:14:01.87 I want you to tell me if I've convinced any of you that it is 00:14:01.90\00:14:05.91 possible for someone to understand what is coming in 00:14:05.94\00:14:09.04 the future. 00:14:09.08\00:14:10.55 Why did God give the Babylonian king this dream? 00:14:10.58\00:14:15.25 The answer is right here in the Bible, Daniel 2 verse 28, "But 00:14:15.28\00:14:20.19 there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets," and you can 00:14:20.22\00:14:24.93 call out the blue color with me, "reveals secrets, and He's made 00:14:24.96\00:14:29.30 known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the 00:14:29.33\00:14:33.00 latter days." 00:14:33.03\00:14:34.37 And that means "in the last days." 00:14:34.40\00:14:35.64 So what is this dream dealing with, the past or the future? 00:14:35.67\00:14:41.11 So you either believe the Bible or you don't, and I want you to 00:14:41.14\00:14:44.05 know that we know with certainty that the book of Daniel was 00:14:44.08\00:14:49.05 written hundreds of years before Christ because it was in the 00:14:49.08\00:14:52.62 Dead Sea Scrolls, and it predates the Dead Sea Scrolls. 00:14:52.65\00:14:55.92 Many of them were over 200 years before Christ and Daniel, all of 00:14:55.96\00:15:00.36 Jewish history. 00:15:00.40\00:15:01.70 They know that book was written during the Babylonian captivity 00:15:01.73\00:15:04.47 by the prophet himself. 00:15:04.50\00:15:06.10 And if you don't believe that, just say you don't believe 00:15:06.13\00:15:08.57 Jesus, because Jesus said that Daniel wrote the book of 00:15:08.60\00:15:11.71 Daniel, amen? 00:15:11.74\00:15:13.24 So this is a book you can trust or you can't trust anything. 00:15:13.27\00:15:17.15 He says it's telling us what's coming in the future. 00:15:17.18\00:15:20.02 Question number two, when the king's counselors failed to 00:15:20.05\00:15:24.19 reveal and interpret the dream, what was 00:15:24.22\00:15:27.56 Nebuchadnezzar's command? 00:15:27.59\00:15:29.69 How did the king feel about that? 00:15:29.72\00:15:32.09 The king gave command to what? 00:15:32.13\00:15:35.20 Destroy all of the wise men of Babylon. 00:15:35.23\00:15:39.53 And you know, some of these wise men obviously weren't that wise 00:15:39.57\00:15:44.21 and they couldn't tell the king what his dream was. 00:15:44.24\00:15:47.24 We get a lot of mail at "Amazing Facts." 00:15:47.28\00:15:49.04 You know, we broadcast--we're on not only 3ABN, we're on 00:15:49.08\00:15:52.75 Trinity Broadcasting, Daystar, History Channel, Lifetime. 00:15:52.78\00:15:56.05 Some of you have seen our programs, I get a lot of mail. 00:15:56.08\00:15:59.55 I do my best to personally answer all I can. 00:15:59.59\00:16:02.16 We have a team that helps us answer simple questions, you'd 00:16:02.19\00:16:05.63 be surprised how many times people send me a dream. 00:16:05.66\00:16:08.53 They say, "Pastor Doug, I've had a dream," and they write out 00:16:08.56\00:16:12.43 this dream, sometimes pages, sometimes pages with 00:16:12.47\00:16:14.84 illustrations, and they say, "Can you please tell me what my 00:16:14.87\00:16:18.71 dream means?" 00:16:18.74\00:16:20.81 I say, I'm sorry, that's not my gift, I know I can't do that. 00:16:20.84\00:16:26.15 So once again, we've got to go back and understand 00:16:26.18\00:16:28.98 what happened. 00:16:29.02\00:16:30.32 As I mentioned in about 597, Nebuchadnezzar had--he'd 00:16:30.35\00:16:33.86 conquered Israel. 00:16:33.89\00:16:35.72 He came back and fought against them again and destroyed the 00:16:35.76\00:16:38.23 temple, but when he first came, they agreed to terms of peace. 00:16:38.26\00:16:41.90 He took 10,000 of their youngest and their brightest to bring 00:16:41.93\00:16:44.97 them back to his college and train them in the language of 00:16:45.00\00:16:48.54 the Chaldeans, in the mathematics, the sciences, the 00:16:48.57\00:16:51.51 arts of Babylon, which at the time was considered the most 00:16:51.54\00:16:55.14 sophisticated education in the world you could get back then. 00:16:55.18\00:16:58.78 They were masters of mathematics, they studied 00:16:58.81\00:17:02.45 the heavens. 00:17:02.48\00:17:03.85 Some of you remember when Hezekiah was sick in the Bible 00:17:03.89\00:17:07.32 and the sun stood still, ambassadors came from Babylon to 00:17:07.36\00:17:11.53 understand what caused that, what does it mean? 00:17:11.56\00:17:14.93 So they brought among the captives, among those 10,000 00:17:14.93\00:17:18.27 were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah. 00:17:18.30\00:17:22.20 They were brought in, they were put in the Babylonian 00:17:22.24\00:17:24.64 educational system for three and a half years to study, then 00:17:24.67\00:17:27.71 the king tested them. 00:17:27.74\00:17:29.08 This is Daniel chapter 1, "And the king found them ten times 00:17:29.11\00:17:34.25 wiser than all the other young men that he'd brought back from 00:17:34.28\00:17:39.19 other countries." 00:17:39.22\00:17:40.72 And so they were in training to be counselors and learning 00:17:40.76\00:17:45.33 languages and the arts and the science and so forth, and so 00:17:45.36\00:17:50.23 when the decree is going out to kill all of the wise men, they 00:17:50.27\00:17:53.60 had not been invited. 00:17:53.64\00:17:55.00 You can see in Daniel chapter 1, verse 3, it says they were 00:17:55.04\00:17:57.44 "possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had the 00:17:57.47\00:18:01.01 ability to serve in the king's palace... 00:18:01.04\00:18:03.78 Now from among those sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, 00:18:03.81\00:18:08.32 Mishael, and Azariah." 00:18:08.35\00:18:09.92 Those were their Jewish names, they were later given 00:18:09.95\00:18:13.76 Babylonian names. 00:18:13.79\00:18:15.02 A lot of people in America that came to America through New York 00:18:15.06\00:18:18.29 City and Ellis Island had names difficult to pronounce, and so 00:18:18.33\00:18:25.27 the guards or whoever were processing the people there on 00:18:25.30\00:18:28.20 Ellis Island said, "We can't say that, your name is Smith." 00:18:28.24\00:18:35.01 How many of you know somebody like that? 00:18:35.04\00:18:36.98 They came into the city, they had one name and then they ended 00:18:37.01\00:18:39.05 up with a new name that was a little easier. 00:18:39.08\00:18:41.45 Number three, when Daniel learned about the death decree, 00:18:41.48\00:18:46.52 what did he ask of the king? 00:18:46.55\00:18:47.86 And he did this through the guard, Arioch, what did he ask 00:18:47.89\00:18:50.93 and what did he tell his friends? 00:18:50.96\00:18:52.43 The answer, and this is Daniel 2, verse 16, "Daniel went in 00:18:52.46\00:18:56.43 and he asked the king to give him," what? 00:18:56.46\00:18:59.00 "Time, that he might tell the king the interpretation." 00:18:59.03\00:19:03.34 And Nebuchadnezzar--and this is a relief, an ancient 00:19:03.37\00:19:09.31 relief that--of Nebuchadnezzar. 00:19:09.34\00:19:10.75 He thought, "All right, I like these young men. 00:19:10.78\00:19:16.58 I will postpone the mass execution. 00:19:16.62\00:19:19.79 After all, they were not brought in with the others, let's give 00:19:19.82\00:19:21.96 them a chance. 00:19:21.99\00:19:23.29 If they think they can tell me the dream, I want to know 00:19:23.32\00:19:25.93 the dream." 00:19:25.96\00:19:27.30 So what did they do? 00:19:27.36\00:19:29.03 What would you do? 00:19:29.06\00:19:31.13 "Daniel went to his house, he made known the decision to 00:19:31.17\00:19:35.47 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they might 00:19:35.50\00:19:39.71 seek mercies from the God of 00:19:39.74\00:19:41.64 heaven concerning this secret." 00:19:41.68\00:19:45.31 Does God reveal secret things to His prophets? 00:19:45.35\00:19:49.22 He does. 00:19:49.25\00:19:50.75 What happened that night in response to their earnest, 00:19:50.79\00:19:54.59 heartfelt prayer? 00:19:54.62\00:19:55.96 Can you imagine praying, saying, "Lord, I need to have a dream 00:19:55.99\00:19:59.63 tonight, but I don't need any dream, I need to dream the 00:19:59.66\00:20:03.20 king's dream. 00:20:03.23\00:20:04.67 But I not only need to dream the king's dream, I need to know 00:20:04.70\00:20:08.94 what the king's dream meant." 00:20:08.97\00:20:11.54 That is a pretty big prayer, that takes pretty big faith. 00:20:11.57\00:20:16.54 What happened in response to that prayer and to whom did 00:20:16.58\00:20:19.31 Daniel and his friends give the credit? 00:20:19.35\00:20:22.08 Answer, Daniel 2 verse 19 and verse 28, "Then the secret was 00:20:22.12\00:20:28.59 revealed," not to all of them, but to Daniel. 00:20:28.62\00:20:32.53 "So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 00:20:32.56\00:20:35.66 And he said, 'There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.'" 00:20:35.70\00:20:41.17 And you're going to have some secrets revealed to you tonight, 00:20:41.20\00:20:43.81 friends, that I think are gonna change your life. 00:20:43.84\00:20:46.44 What two principal objects did Daniel say he saw in the dream? 00:20:46.47\00:20:51.51 So the dream is composed of two principal things. 00:20:51.55\00:20:54.82 Now I want to read this to you, go back to your Bibles again. 00:20:54.85\00:20:57.52 Let me read what Daniel saw. 00:20:57.55\00:20:59.29 He's brought before the king, and the king says, "What can you 00:20:59.32\00:21:02.59 tell me? 00:21:02.62\00:21:03.93 Have you had the dream?" 00:21:03.96\00:21:05.29 And go to verse 31, Daniel chapter 2: "'You, O king, 00:21:05.33\00:21:09.23 were watching.'" 00:21:09.26\00:21:10.80 And matter of fact, I'm gonna stand to the side here, and 00:21:10.83\00:21:13.00 those of you in the hall, if you look on the screen, you might 00:21:13.03\00:21:15.24 even actually see what Daniel saw in his dream, 00:21:15.27\00:21:17.74 and Nebuchadnezzar. 00:21:17.77\00:21:19.81 "'You, O king, were watching. 00:21:19.84\00:21:22.31 And behold a great image. 00:21:22.34\00:21:25.15 And this image whose splendor was excellent stood before you. 00:21:25.18\00:21:30.02 Its form was awesome. 00:21:30.05\00:21:32.39 It's image's head was a fine gold, it's chest and its arms of 00:21:32.42\00:21:37.03 silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its 00:21:37.06\00:21:43.33 feet partly iron and partly of clay. 00:21:43.37\00:21:47.30 You watched while a stone was cut without hands, which struck 00:21:47.34\00:21:52.24 the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them 00:21:52.27\00:21:55.81 in pieces. 00:21:55.84\00:21:57.18 Then the iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and 00:21:57.21\00:22:01.28 the gold were crushed together and became like the chaff from 00:22:01.32\00:22:05.49 the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so no 00:22:05.52\00:22:10.56 trace of them was found and the stone that struck the image 00:22:10.59\00:22:15.96 became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 00:22:16.00\00:22:20.64 There you have the dream.'" 00:22:20.67\00:22:22.64 Did you see the image, friends? 00:22:22.67\00:22:25.04 All right, it may show up again before we're over because we're 00:22:25.07\00:22:28.01 going to need to review that. 00:22:28.04\00:22:29.78 So back to our lesson, let's talk about what this is 00:22:29.81\00:22:32.08 all about. 00:22:32.11\00:22:33.98 The Bible is pretty clear, if you look at The Ten 00:22:34.02\00:22:36.15 Commandments, who knows what the second commandment is? 00:22:36.18\00:22:39.65 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images." 00:22:39.69\00:22:42.66 This is what you would call in the Bible an image. 00:22:42.69\00:22:45.59 He had a dream of an image, images represent false religion. 00:22:45.63\00:22:50.47 And these false religions, with all the metals and minerals in 00:22:50.50\00:22:54.40 this image, represent people worshiping idols of gold and 00:22:54.44\00:22:57.77 silver and bronze and iron and clay, porcelain, whatever, the 00:22:57.81\00:23:04.18 things of the world that they worship, counterfeit religion, 00:23:04.21\00:23:07.55 kingdoms in the world that are in opposition to the kingdom 00:23:07.58\00:23:10.42 of God. 00:23:10.45\00:23:11.79 But finally in the end, you've got a stone that is cut, notice, 00:23:11.82\00:23:15.89 "without man's hands." 00:23:15.92\00:23:19.06 Do you know when the Jews built their altar they were told, "Do 00:23:19.09\00:23:22.23 not lift up your tool upon it, you will pollute it. 00:23:22.26\00:23:26.10 Don't be tempted to start carving it into some statue of a 00:23:26.13\00:23:29.14 cow or something." 00:23:29.17\00:23:30.94 "So take rough stone, I want it to be a stone without man's 00:23:30.97\00:23:35.34 hands, and it will destroy all the other kingdoms. 00:23:35.38\00:23:40.02 It will grow into a mountain and fill the whole earth." 00:23:40.05\00:23:44.45 And mountains in the Bible represented kingdoms. 00:23:44.49\00:23:47.39 The kingdom of Christ is that stone cut without man's hands, 00:23:47.42\00:23:52.36 it's the stone that brought down Goliath, amen? 00:23:52.39\00:23:55.73 It is the stone, Jesus said, "If you build your house on this 00:23:55.76\00:23:59.00 stone," what is that stone? 00:23:59.03\00:24:00.77 "He that hears these words of mine and does them is a wise man 00:24:00.80\00:24:04.57 who's building on the rock, and the storm will come and the 00:24:04.61\00:24:09.58 house will stand." 00:24:09.61\00:24:10.91 I hope you're building on the rock, friends. 00:24:10.95\00:24:13.08 So this is talking about the kingdoms of the world, and it 00:24:13.11\00:24:16.38 outlines the kingdoms that will occupy God's people that will 00:24:16.42\00:24:19.92 ultimately be destroyed. 00:24:19.95\00:24:21.29 All right, back to our lesson. 00:24:21.32\00:24:23.53 What are the two things that are mentioned in the image? 00:24:23.56\00:24:25.76 Daniel 2 verse 31, "You, O king, were watching, and behold, 00:24:25.79\00:24:30.27 a great image." 00:24:30.30\00:24:32.50 You can also say, "a great idol." 00:24:32.53\00:24:34.77 Babylonians had no shortage of idols, neither did the other 00:24:34.80\00:24:38.14 succeeding kingdoms. 00:24:38.17\00:24:39.84 The other thing that's very different, that is separate, 00:24:39.87\00:24:43.04 that crushes the idol, you watched while a what? 00:24:43.08\00:24:47.25 A stone was cut without hands. 00:24:47.28\00:24:50.02 Again, Ten Commandments, written on what? 00:24:50.05\00:24:53.29 By the finger of God, not the hands of man. 00:24:53.32\00:24:57.93 So notice the contrast here, and in the image you've got--and 00:24:57.96\00:25:03.90 they can put it back up again, and I would just want to review 00:25:03.93\00:25:05.97 it because we're going to go through it. 00:25:06.00\00:25:07.80 You end up with, you've got the gold, and then you've got the 00:25:07.84\00:25:11.61 silver, you've got the bronze, you've got the iron, and then 00:25:11.64\00:25:17.25 you've got the clay in the feet, and the clay is mixed with iron. 00:25:17.28\00:25:22.55 So when Nebuchadnezzar is sitting here and Daniel is 00:25:22.58\00:25:24.95 relating the image, the king is saying, "All right, wise guy, 00:25:24.99\00:25:28.79 you said you think you know my dream, what's my dream?" 00:25:28.82\00:25:31.93 He begins to tell the king this whole dream, and what do you 00:25:31.96\00:25:34.66 think the king's face looked like? 00:25:34.73\00:25:36.40 He's going, "Oh yeah, yeah. 00:25:36.43\00:25:41.30 How did you get inside my head? 00:25:41.34\00:25:43.97 How did you know that?" 00:25:44.01\00:25:46.31 And after Daniel tells the king exactly what he saw with great 00:25:46.34\00:25:50.81 specificity, then, when Daniel says, "Now I'm going to tell you 00:25:50.85\00:25:54.42 what it means," first of all, the king's ready to 00:25:54.45\00:25:55.78 worship Daniel. 00:25:55.82\00:25:57.22 And then he said, "No, no, I can't tell you your dream." 00:25:57.25\00:25:59.85 Daniel's so humble he gives God the glory. 00:25:59.89\00:26:02.86 Doug: Friends, I hope you've been blessed by 00:26:02.89\00:26:04.23 today's presentation. 00:26:04.26\00:26:05.76 But the most important thing is not the information and the 00:26:05.79\00:26:08.63 details, it's the relationship. 00:26:08.66\00:26:11.17 Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? 00:26:11.20\00:26:14.00 You're watching because He's planned that, and He wants to 00:26:14.04\00:26:16.81 come into your heart and change your life. 00:26:16.84\00:26:18.77 He wants to forgive you of all of your sins. 00:26:18.81\00:26:21.24 He died for your sins, but you need to ask Him. 00:26:21.28\00:26:24.01 He won't force his way in. 00:26:24.05\00:26:25.68 You can ask Him now. 00:26:25.71\00:26:27.18 He loves you, He'll accept you, do it right now. 00:26:27.22\00:26:31.35 Doug: Hi friends, I trust you're being blessed by what 00:26:31.39\00:26:33.46 you're watching. 00:26:33.49\00:26:34.82 If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to 00:26:34.86\00:26:36.66 want to get the "Prophecy Odyssey" study guides that go 00:26:36.69\00:26:39.73 along with these presentations. 00:26:39.76\00:26:41.40 There's 15 study guides, they're beautifully illustrated, and 00:26:41.43\00:26:44.93 they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. 00:26:44.97\00:26:48.04 So if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions 00:26:48.07\00:26:50.51 that you see on the screen, you will be glad you did. 00:26:50.54\00:26:53.68 ¤¤¤ 00:26:53.71\00:27:01.08 Doug: Hello friends, if you'd like to learn more about God's 00:27:01.12\00:27:03.95 free ideal diet for humans, you're going to want a copy of 00:27:03.99\00:27:07.39 the free offer for today. 00:27:07.42\00:27:09.09 It's called "God's Free Health Plan." 00:27:09.12\00:27:11.63 This Amazing Facts study guide reveals Bible secrets on how you 00:27:11.66\00:27:15.73 can have a longer, stronger life. 00:27:15.76\00:27:18.03 To get your free copy, 00:27:18.07\00:27:19.37 simply follow the instructions on 00:27:19.40\00:27:21.04 your screen, and you're gonna be blessed. 00:27:21.07\00:27:24.41 ¤¤¤ 00:27:24.44\00:27:34.45 Doug: What you've seen just now is only part one in 00:28:05.21\00:28:08.15 this presentation. 00:28:08.18\00:28:09.82 Make sure and join us for part two in our next broadcast for 00:28:09.85\00:28:13.56 some of the most important points on this topic and to 00:28:13.59\00:28:16.79 complete the corresponding study guides. 00:28:16.83\00:28:19.26 Until then, God bless. 00:28:19.29\00:28:20.96 announcer: This presentation was brought to you by the friends of 00:28:24.27\00:28:26.97 the Amazing Facts Ministry. 00:28:27.00\00:28:28.40