Participants: Ty Gibson & James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000008A
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00:22 Welcome friends to Books
00:23 of the Book. 00:24 We have embarked upon an 00:26 exciting study of the book 00:27 of Daniel and we have now come to Daniel Chapter 7. 00:29 I'm Ty Gibson and I'm James Rafferty and we are in 00:32 an incredible Chapter Ty. 00:34 I have to say that this 00:36 Chapter is one you approach 00:38 with fear and trepidation. 00:39 There is so much here, a lot 00:41 of symbolism and it is going 00:43 to be quite an adventure to move through this. 00:46 It is a dream and it is symbolic 00:47 The symbols are identified partly in the context of the 00:51 Chapter, so we need to get right into it. 00:54 So far the book of Daniel, he hasn't received any visions 00:59 or dreams himself. 01:00 Nebuchadnezzar had received two dreams that had been 01:03 interpreted by Daniel. 01:04 But now in Chapter 7 Daniel in verse 1 says, he received 01:10 a dream and a vision and proceeds to tell the main facts, 01:15 or main points of this vision that he received. 01:19 As the vision unfolds, he says that he saw 4 winds 01:23 stirring, or striving upon the great sea. 01:26 He said that he saw 4 great beasts in verse 3, come up 01:31 out of the sea and each of the beasts was different from 01:35 the other and then delineates these beasts in particular, 01:40 James, he says in verse 4, the first beast was like a lion, 01:44 and with eagle's wings. 01:45 Then down in verse 5 he says, he saw a bear, raised up on 01:50 one side with three ribs in its mouth. 01:52 Then he says in verse 6 then he saw a leopard and the 01:56 leopard had four wings on its back and 4 heads and then 02:01 he sees in verse 7, a fourth beast, which is not like 02:05 any of the others, it is not like anything in the animal 02:09 kingdom, he says it is dreadful and terrible, exceedingly 02:14 strong, with huge iron teeth and it was different from 02:19 all the other beasts. 02:21 So these are the four creatures that he sees. 02:25 They represent 4 kingdoms that move through 02:28 history in succession. 02:30 The lion represents Babylon. 02:32 The bear, Media Persia. 02:35 The leopard, the kingdom of Grecia. 02:37 And then the terrible dreadful beast, the non-descript 02:41 beast represents the Roman empire. 02:45 So that is the basic outline of the symbols that he sees 02:48 in his vision, and the beast and what they represent. 02:52 We know this Ty because in a very context of the prophecy 02:55 an interpretation is given Daniel. 02:58 In verse 16, Daniel comes near to one of the people 03:02 he sees in vision and he asks him about this vision. 03:06 This being, this heavenly being tells Daniel the truth, 03:11 and the interpretation of these things. 03:12 Then in verse 17 he says, these great beasts, this is the 03:16 Angel, the messenger, speaking to Daniel, to tell him the 03:19 truth of the interpretation of these things. 03:21 He says these great beasts, which are 4, are 4 kings 03:26 which shall arise out of the earth. 03:28 So right there you have a very clear interpretation. 03:32 These beasts actually represent Kings and kingdoms. 03:35 In fact, the Bible here, even though it is talking and 03:38 symbolic language, it is talking the same language that 03:40 we use today, in our world. 03:42 For example, we use beasts to represent countries, 03:45 or kingdoms, or Kings. 03:47 If you think for example, of an eagle. 03:49 What country do you think of? America of course. 03:51 If you think of a bear? Russia! 03:53 The lion? England! 03:55 The Dragon? China! 03:57 So God is using the very language that He saw we would 04:00 use as a people, He is not trying to confuse us here. 04:03 But He is talking in symbols for reason. 04:06 That reason is going to become evident later. 04:08 Right now the main thing we need to recognize, for our 04:11 viewers sake, is that these 4 beasts are kingdoms that have 04:14 risen in the earth and take us down the stream of time. 04:18 It is fascinating to notice that all of these kingdoms 04:21 are represented by 04:23 predatory beasts. 04:25 These are powerful animals 04:28 that are symbolizing powers 04:31 in human history that used 04:33 force, that used coercion, 04:35 that depend on military power and might in order to advance 04:40 themselves, by contrast, just for interest sake if we fast 04:44 forward to God's kingdom as it is represented in Scripture, 04:48 we discover that God chooses for His symbol, a lamb. 04:52 A lamb represents the kingdom of God. 04:56 A docile, meek and humble animal that is led to the 05:00 slaughter, God does not use the same principles 05:04 that human powers use. 05:06 God is not engaged in force and manipulation in order to 05:11 bring people to their knees and worship before Him. 05:14 But we see in the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. 05:18 We see in the cross of Christ, we see the power that God 05:22 depends on and that is the power of truth and love. 05:25 That is a really good point Ty, in fact it is so powerful 05:28 when you look at that because the Lamb, of course being the 05:31 sacrificial beast of the Old 05:33 Testament, the sanctuary 05:34 service, and Jesus Christ 05:36 being typified by the Lamb, 05:37 the Lamb of God takes away 05:39 the sins of the world. 05:40 Yet, there is more power in that animal, or in the meaning 05:46 behind that, the principle of self-sacrifice, the principal 05:50 of love is more powerful than all the power combined in 05:55 all of these beasts. 05:56 How powerful? Jesus says, "and I, if I be lifted up," 05:59 from the earth, from the cross, "will draw all to me. " 06:03 In other words the power of the cross, the power that is 06:07 embodied in the symbol of the Lamb is the power of God's 06:11 love to draw sinners to Himself without the use of force 06:15 and coercion. 06:17 It is a powerful thing to realize James, the Bible 06:20 throughout is communicating to us the awesome fact that 06:25 God does seek our salvation and our worship, but only on 06:30 the premise of a returning current of love to Him 06:33 because of the great love He has had for us. 06:35 You can see that this Chapter, Chapter 7 is in a very 06:40 real sense a parallel of Daniel Chapter 2. 06:43 There you had 4 parts of an image representing 06:45 different kingdoms, and it came down to the feet and 06:49 that feet divided into 10 parts. 06:50 Here you have 10 horns on this last beast, and those 10 06:54 horns would be parallel with those 10 toes in that image. 06:57 Then, like in the image, you have this rock, 07:00 this stone, that came and smote the image. 07:03 That hit the image at the feet. 07:05 Same here you have this vision continuing on until the 07:08 judgment and the return of Jesus Christ. 07:11 Until there is a judgment that takes place and the beast 07:15 is given to the burning flames. 07:17 You have some parallels here between these two prophecies. 07:20 That is powerful, so we have this succession of kingdoms. 07:23 We have 4 kingdoms that are mentioned and then Daniel 07:27 in verse 8 sees something that is very interesting and a 07:31 turn of events occurs with the fourth beast. 07:33 The 4th beast we have identified as the Roman empire in it's 07:39 secular form, in it's pagan form 07:42 Then he says that he sees a little horn come up out 07:48 of that fourth beast. 07:50 That little horn power is then the focus of the remainder 07:55 of Daniel Chapter 7 and there are specific characteristics 07:59 that identify it so that we know who this power is. 08:02 First of all we just need to realize that if you look at 08:05 the history books, it is obvious that there is only one 08:08 power that grew out of, and was the continuation of the 08:12 pagan Roman Empire and that was the papal Roman empire. 08:16 That is why there's only four beasts represented. 08:20 In fact the papal Roman empire was a Christianized 08:24 continuation of the pagan Roman empire. 08:28 The characteristics that are outlined are very fascinating. 08:31 They are, in fact we see this in relation to the first 08:35 verse, verse 8. 08:36 It plucked up three by the roots, it had the eyes 08:40 of a man, it came up among them. 08:41 That gives us a location and a little bit of the history 08:45 of the rise of this power. 08:47 It continues on until the judgment and that tells us that 08:50 this power that will come out of pagan Rome, will continue 08:54 on to the second coming of Jesus Christ. 08:55 So it has to be present day power. 08:57 Daniel, as he goes through the first part of this vision, 09:01 he is asking, verse 15, he's troubled and doesn't 09:06 understand the visions. 09:07 An angel comes near, a messenger comes near and Daniel wants 09:12 to know more about the interpretation but notice 09:15 what he says in verse 19. 09:16 He says, "then I would know" 09:18 "the truth of the fourth beast," 09:20 "which was different from" 09:22 "all the others, exceeding" 09:23 "dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass:" 09:26 "which devoured, brake in pieces and stamp the residue with" 09:29 "his feet; and of the 10 horns that were in his head, and of" 09:32 "the other which came up, before whom three fell" 09:35 "even of that whole horn that had eyes," 09:38 "and a mouth that spake great things," 09:40 "whose look was more stout than his fellows. " 09:42 Daniel here is asking for more information, specifically 09:45 about the little horn, about the fourth beast. 09:47 That seems to be what the rest of Daniel 7 focuses in on. 09:51 There is another characteristic 09:53 of this power is 09:55 brought to view in verse 8 09:58 and also down in verses 20-22. 10:01 You have the fact that this power will speak, in my 10:05 version it says, "pompous words against the most high," 10:08 this is the New King James version. 10:10 The King James Version renders that characteristic will 10:14 "speak great words against the most high". 10:17 Another translation would indicate that this is "defaming" 10:23 "words against the most high. " 10:24 If you go and compare Revelation Chapter 13, another word is used 10:28 to fill out the meaning here and that is that this power 10:31 would speak " blasphemous words against the most high. " 10:34 All of these translations indicates simply that the 10:38 little horn power will focus its attention on defaming 10:42 the character of God, will focus it's attention on assuming 10:47 divine prerogatives and power, and will set itself up in 10:52 a capacity that brings blasphemy upon the character of God. 10:57 So this is another one of the characteristics. 10:59 Notice in verse 21 that it says that this, "Daniel beheld," 11:03 "and the little horn made war with the Saints," 11:06 "and prevailed against them;" 11:08 so it is a persecuting power. 11:11 Then it says in verse 22 this will continue on "until the" 11:15 "Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the" 11:20 "Saints of the most high; and the time came that the Saints" 11:22 "possess the kingdom. " 11:24 This is really interesting, I read also in the New King 11:27 James and it says, "judgment was made in favor of the" 11:30 "Saints and the most high. " 11:32 So you have a power that is warring against God's people, 11:36 the Saints, as they are identified here. 11:38 That is warring and persecuting people, a power that is assuming 11:42 the prerogatives of God, is speaking words that are 11:45 defaming God, defaming His character, or misrepresenting 11:49 God, and a power that is identified as coming out of 11:53 the pagan Roman power. 11:55 Yes, and then there is another characteristic that we 11:57 must mention James, and that is in verse 25. 12:00 That the little horn power will be a power that seeks, 12:06 or intends, or thinks to change times and laws. 12:13 Now this is fascinating because the context of verse 25 12:17 Isn't just that this power will think to change times and 12:21 laws as in any times and law. 12:23 It says he shall speak pompous words against the most high, 12:26 persecute the Saints and intend to change times and laws. 12:29 The indication here, grammatically and in the context 12:33 is that we can expect this power to attempt to change 12:37 the times and laws of the most high. 12:40 This power is tampering with the law of God. 12:44 This is so profound because as you look at the context 12:48 of the book of Daniel, the theme that you find in the 12:52 book of Daniel is the New Covenant theme. 12:54 It is the theme of the 12:55 everlasting covenant. 12:57 This theme is vital for God's 12:59 people to understand 13:00 especially in the end of time. 13:02 It is vital for us to recognize 13:03 what the New Covenant is so 13:05 that we can enter into that 13:06 New Covenant, that everlasting covenant with God. 13:08 One of the main themes that has been developed so far, 13:11 in the book of Daniel, its relationship. 13:13 We are going to look at this further, but God has designed 13:18 from the beginning that we would have an intimate 13:20 relationship with Him. 13:22 When He created us, He came to us every day at the cool 13:26 of the day and He met with us. 13:27 He walked with us and He talked with us. 13:29 Even when we sin, even when we turned away from Him, 13:32 even when we were hiding from God in that garden, 13:35 even as we turned from Him, He still came seeking after us. 13:39 Now the first six chapters of Daniel are intimately 13:43 directing us to that relationship experience. 13:46 Time and time again you see relationship, relationship 13:49 faith in God, understanding God, being drawn to God. 13:51 You see Nebuchadnezzar being drawn to God. 13:53 You see Darius being drawn to God. 13:54 Daniel relying on God and Daniel's friends relying on God. 13:57 So the very first half of this book has been developing 14:01 this New Covenant, everlasting gospel theme. 14:03 So as we've gone through Chapter 7 so far we have 14:07 identified the basic symbols, we see the basic powers 14:10 that are identified through the beast and focusing 14:13 in on the little horn. 14:14 Now we are seeing that there is a New Covenant theme in 14:18 the book of Daniel that comes to development here in 14:22 Chapter 7 as this power seeks to defaming God's character, 14:26 to break relationships with God, between Him and His 14:29 people, through persecuting them and blaspheming His 14:32 character, and changing God's law, which is at the heart 14:35 of the New Covenant. 14:36 Friends as we come back after the break, we are going to 14:39 explore in greater details the various features of the 14:42 New Covenant and how it is that God intends to lead us 14:46 into a relationship with Himself through that New Covenant. 14:49 So stay with us because we'll be right back! |
Revised 2022-11-14