Participants: Shakeela Yasuf
Series Code: DOA
Program Code: DOA000016
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00:41 As-Salaam-Alaikum to our Muslim brother and sisters,
00:45 shalom to our Hebrew cousins, 00:47 peace be upon you to our Christian friends. 00:49 Welcome to the "The Descendants of Abraham." 00:53 Today we are going to look at a wonderful Bible prophecy 00:57 and it is going to be the prophecy 00:59 that is in the book of the prophet Daniel 2 01:03 and what I love about this prophecy is that, 01:08 before I believed in the God of the Bible, 01:15 I saw this prophecy and I was taught this prophecy 01:20 and I saw how accurate it is 01:24 and then it may be more curious about 01:26 what else is in the holy book and how accurate is it 01:31 because you know Muslims believe that it is corrupted, 01:37 that the Injil is corrupted. 01:39 But in all my studies I have not found that at all 01:43 and so I want us to look at the prophecy in Daniel 2. 01:49 Let's go directly to that, okay. 01:52 And we will see that this is all about King Nebuchadnezzar. 01:56 King Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon 01:59 and it was in his second, the second year of his reign 02:04 that the Prophet Daniel was called to him 02:07 to explain a prophecy. 02:09 I will look at this whole discussion 02:12 that took place if everything that went on 02:15 as it is written in the holy book. 02:18 Let's go to Daniel 2 and we will start right now 02:22 beginning at verse 2. 02:25 "Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, 02:29 the astrologers, the sorcerers, 02:31 and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. 02:35 So they came and stood before the king. 02:38 And the king said to them, "I have had a dream, 02:42 and my spirit is anxious to know the dream. 02:46 Then the Chaldeans came to the king and in Aramaic, 02:50 they said "O king, live forever! 02:53 Tell your servants the dream, 02:55 and we will give the interpretation. 02:59 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, 03:02 "The thing is gone from me, if ye will not make known 03:06 unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, 03:10 ye shall be cut in pieces, 03:13 and your houses shall be made a dunghill. 03:16 But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, 03:20 ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor 03:26 therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof." 03:33 Now I think the king was wiser than his wise men 03:37 because he said to them, no I want you to tell me 03:43 my dream and then tell me the interpretation. 03:46 You know, that's happened to all of us, 03:48 we will have a dream and we will wake up 03:51 and the dream troubles us. 03:52 So we know there is something special to that dream 03:55 but may be we can't remember the dream. 03:57 Well this is what happened 03:59 to King Nebuchadnezzar at that time. 04:02 The magicians, the astrologers, 04:04 and the sorcerers that he called 04:06 who are they really who are they? 04:08 Well we know that the Babylonians 04:11 did not worship the Creator God, the God of Abraham, 04:14 that's not who they worshiped 04:16 and he is the only one that could 04:18 interpret the king's dream. 04:21 So the wise men realize this, 04:23 they realize that they couldn't help him, 04:25 they could not interpret his dream, 04:27 they could not help, they couldn't give him 04:31 the dream or the interpretation 04:34 and so I think they were little afraid at this point. 04:38 Well here is what happened. 04:41 In Daniel 2 again, we go back to the passage, 04:44 it says, "They answered again and said, 04:46 "Let the king tell his servants the dream, 04:49 and we will give its interpretation. 04:53 Well the king answered and said, 04:55 "I know for certain that you would gain time, 04:57 because you see that my decision is firm, 05:00 if you do not make known the dream to me, 05:03 there is only one decree for you! 05:06 For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words 05:10 before me till the time has changed. 05:14 Therefore tell me the dream, 05:16 and I shall know that you can give me the interpretation." 05:23 At that time the Chaldeans who were considered 05:27 to be the philosophers tried to reason with the king. 05:31 Here is what they said, 05:32 "The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, 05:35 "There is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter, 05:39 therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked 05:44 such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. 05:49 It is a difficult thing that the king requests, 05:53 and there is no other who can tell it 05:55 to the king except the gods, 05:57 whose dwelling is not with flesh." 06:02 The king at this time was growing impatient 06:05 and he became very, very angry. 06:09 He actually put out a decree 06:13 and he said that all the wise men will be killed 06:18 because if they cannot give him his dream 06:22 and the interpretation then they really can't be wise men 06:25 and he put out that decree that they will all be killed. 06:28 Well there were three Hebrew, 06:32 four Hebrew young men at that time 06:35 that were taken captivity into Babylon. 06:38 One was the Prophet Daniel, and he was a young man, 06:42 they were teenagers at that time 06:44 and he had three of his friend who was Shadrach, 06:47 Meshach, and Abednego. 06:50 And these four young men were now in captivity 06:54 in Babylon and they were serving in the king's court. 06:57 Well they were part of the wise men, 07:00 part of the astrologers, sorcerers and so on. 07:03 So when the king issued that decree 07:06 that they will all be killed, 07:09 Daniel didn't know what was going on yet, 07:12 so he went to the captain, the king's captain Arioch 07:15 and he said what, what is going on I heard something 07:19 and Arioch explained to him what happened 07:21 that the king had this dream and called the wise men 07:26 and asked them for the interpretation. 07:30 And Arioch says, they could not give him either 07:33 the dream or the interpretation so he issued 07:35 the decree to have them killed and Daniel 07:40 who served the God of Abraham, the living God, 07:46 he went to Arioch and he said Arioch, 07:50 he said please ask the king to give me 07:55 some more time and so Arioch listened 07:59 to what Daniel had to say because he said may be 08:01 I can interpret it. 08:03 So, Arioch listened to him and he went to the king 08:07 and the king said okay, we will give Daniel 08:10 some more time. 08:11 But we don't know why the king did that, 08:13 there was something about Daniel and his friends 08:17 that had the king give them a little bit more time. 08:23 Daniel then went to his home 08:26 and he met with his three friends 08:28 and he told them what took place 08:31 and so the three of them decided 08:33 that they were going to fast and they were going 08:36 to pray and they were going to ask the living God, 08:39 the God of Abraham, the Creator God to help them, 08:45 to show them what the king's dreams was 08:47 and to give them the interpretation. 08:50 Let's look at what happens. 08:54 "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. 08:59 So Daniel blessed the God of heaven." 09:04 Let's look at Daniel's prayer and praise to the Creator God 09:08 for answering the men, the young men's prayer. 09:12 Here is what he said after the dream was revealed to him. 09:16 "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, 09:20 for wisdom and might are His. 09:23 And He changes the times and the seasons; 09:26 He removes kings and raises up kings; 09:30 He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those 09:33 who have understanding. He reveals deep 09:37 and secret things; 09:39 He knows what is in the darkness, 09:42 and light dwells in Him. 09:45 I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; 09:48 You have given me wisdom and might, 09:51 and now made known to me what we asked of You, 09:55 for You have made known to us the king's demand." 10:01 You know, when I go to my father in heaven 10:07 because you see the holy book says 10:11 that God tells us call me father, 10:15 Abba father and so when I go to my father 10:20 and I pray and I take my sorrows, my joys, 10:27 my request to Him, He listens to me 10:32 and He listens to me because I'm His child 10:35 because He loves me and this is what He did with Daniel. 10:41 Daniel is His child and He was not glorifying Daniel 10:45 but Daniel and his friends were so loyal 10:48 to the Creator God and they prayed to Him 10:52 three times a day, they fasted 10:55 and they were very loyal to Him. 10:59 They had a close intimate relationship 11:04 with the God of heaven and so God glorified 11:08 them by giving them the dream and the interpretation. 11:13 So after praising the Creator God 11:16 and after thanking and blessing Him, 11:19 Daniel hurried to the captain to Arioch and he said, 11:23 go tell the king, I know what his dream is, 11:26 I can tell him what his dream 11:28 and I can give him the interpretation also. 11:31 So Arioch went and told the king. 11:36 Now this is very important because you see 11:39 Daniel could have said kill the wise men, 11:43 take the sorcerers and the astrologers 11:46 who said that they can tell the king the dream 11:49 and the interpretation, he could have said 11:52 it he says because I can tell the king, 11:54 they couldn't but you know 11:56 that was not Daniel's character, that was not his way. 12:01 You see Daniel knew that it was the God of heaven, 12:06 the Creator God that revealed the secrets to him. 12:10 It was nothing to do with him and so instead he, 12:15 when he went to the king as we will see, 12:17 he asked for those men to be spared. 12:20 He did not want glory for himself. 12:22 It was all about the Creator God 12:25 that's who Daniel wanted to show the king 12:28 that this is the true God, the God of Abraham. 12:32 Let's look now at continue with the verses 12:36 here in Daniel 2. 12:39 When Daniel was brought before the king here 12:41 is what the king asked Daniel. 12:44 "The king answered and said to Daniel, 12:46 whose name was Belteshazzar, 12:49 because that's the name the king gave him 12:52 "Are you able to make known to me the dream 12:55 which I have seen, and its interpretation?" 12:58 I think the king doubted Daniel a little bit 13:02 because he was young and may be 13:05 a little experience so the king 13:06 says are you able to make known the dream 13:10 and its interpretation to me? 13:13 Well Daniel was ready to do just 13:16 that and we read again in the--in the book. 13:21 "Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, 13:26 "The secret which the king has demanded, 13:29 the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, 13:34 and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 13:37 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, 13:41 and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar 13:46 what will be in the latter days. 13:48 Your dream, and the visions of your 13:50 head upon your bed, were these. 13:56 Again no one could tell King Nebuchadnezzar 14:00 his dream or the interpretation. 14:03 No one except the Creator God 14:06 who choose one of His followers to reveal that secret to. 14:13 He couldn't reveal it to one of the worshipers in Babylon 14:19 who was in idolatry who were worshiping idols 14:23 and not worshiping the Creator God, 14:25 he couldn't reveal it to the sorcerers 14:27 and the astrologers because they didn't know 14:30 the living God so he chose someone who knew Him. 14:34 He chose one of His own followers 14:37 who were loyal to Him to reveal the secret to the king. 14:41 Daniel then proceeded to reveal the dream to the king 14:45 and here is what he said. "As for you, O king, 14:50 thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, 14:54 about what would come to pass after this; 14:57 and He who reveals secrets has made known to you 15:00 what will be. But as for me, 15:03 this secret has not been revealed to me 15:05 because I have more wisdom than anyone living, 15:08 but for our sakes 15:10 who make known the interpretation to the king, 15:13 and that you may know the thoughts of your heart." 15:17 The young man Daniel then explained to the king 15:23 that the reason God reveled the secrets to him 15:29 was because God the Creator loved the king 15:35 and he was interested in his affairs, 15:39 he knew the thought's of the king's heart. 15:42 When the king was laying in his bed 15:45 and that night and he had that dream 15:48 it was because he was worried about his kingdom, 15:52 what is the future of his kingdom, 15:54 what was going to happen. The Creator, our God, 15:58 our Father knew the king's thoughts, 16:02 knew what was in his heart and He wanted to revel 16:06 that to the king because He cared about 16:08 the king even though the king didn't know Him, 16:12 He love the king and He cared about 16:15 everything that mattered to Him. 16:19 So here we go on now as Daniel proceeds 16:22 to tell the king the dream 16:25 "You, O king, were watching; 16:28 and behold, a great image! This great image, 16:32 whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; 16:36 and its form was awesome. 16:39 This image's head was of fine gold, 16:42 its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 16:48 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron 16:52 and partly of clay. 16:55 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, 16:59 which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, 17:03 and broke them in pieces. 17:06 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, 17:10 and the gold were crushed together, 17:13 and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors, 17:18 the wind carried them away 17:20 so that no trace of them was found. 17:23 And the stone that struck the image 17:25 became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 17:29 This is the dream. 17:32 Now we will tell the interpretation 17:34 of it before the king." 17:39 Isn't the Creator God full of compassion for us 17:42 even while we are in ignorance 17:45 and I was in ignorance of who He was or anything 17:49 about Him and even though 17:52 we are in ignorance of who He is, 17:54 He will do whatever it takes to bring us 17:59 out of darkness into light, into His truth. 18:03 Again remember Babylon 18:05 was a nation of idolatry at that time. 18:08 Images were made objects of worship 18:12 by the Babylonians and our Father in heaven 18:16 knew how to get the king's attention, 18:18 so what did He use? An image, an image 18:23 and so the king could relate to that 18:26 and it was a very, very accurate representation 18:29 of the future kingdoms of this earth. 18:33 Here let's go on reading what the book says 18:37 "You, O king, are a king of kings. 18:41 For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, 18:44 power, strength, and glory. 18:47 And wherever the children of men dwell, 18:51 or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, 18:55 He has given them into your hand, 18:58 and has made you ruler over them all; 19:02 you are this head of gold. 19:04 But after you shall arise 19:06 another kingdom inferior to yours; 19:09 then another, a third kingdom of bronze, 19:14 which shall rule over all the earth. 19:17 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, 19:21 inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces 19:24 and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, 19:28 that kingdom will break in pieces 19:31 and crush all the others. 19:34 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, 19:37 partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, 19:41 the kingdom shall be divided; 19:44 yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, 19:47 just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 19:52 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron 19:55 and partly of clay, so the kingdom 19:58 shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 20:02 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, 20:05 they will mingle with the seed of men; 20:08 but they will not adhere to one another, 20:12 just as iron does not mix with clay. 20:15 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven 20:18 will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; 20:23 and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, 20:26 it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, 20:31 and it shall stand forever. 20:34 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone 20:36 was cut out of the mountain without hands, 20:39 and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, 20:43 the clay, the silver, and the gold, 20:45 the great God has made known to the king 20:48 what will come to pass after this. 20:51 The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure. 20:57 The king answered Daniel, and said, 20:59 "Truly your God is the God of gods, 21:02 the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, 21:06 since you could reveal this secret." 21:09 You know at this time King Nebuchadnezzar 21:11 revoked the death decree, 21:14 so all the wise men because of Daniel 21:17 and his friends who had a special close relationship 21:21 with the God of heaven, their lives were spared, 21:25 they all got to live because the God of heaven 21:30 reveled the secrets to Daniel, who revealed them to the king. 21:36 You know, through the holy book in the holy book 21:41 and through these prophecies, 21:44 we can see that the God of heaven, 21:47 the Creator God, the God of Abraham, 21:49 He is the one that builds nations 21:52 and takes them down. 21:54 He is the one that puts kings in and removes them, 21:59 it is not man. Man thinks that they do it. 22:03 Man thinks that we are in control 22:05 but we are not in control, the Creator God is in control 22:09 and when He is in control of everything, 22:11 we don't have to worry about anything 22:13 because He will take care of His followers, 22:19 His loyal ones just like He did with Daniel. 22:23 And for those who don't know Him yet, 22:26 He is still reaching out to you like 22:28 He did with King Nebuchadnezzar. 22:32 Now let's go on a little bit longer with this prophecy 22:36 because what I want to explain 22:37 a little bit further is the image 22:41 and the what the head of gold and the silver chest 22:46 and so on mean. 22:47 So let's take a little time to go through that. 22:50 The gold head represents Babylon 22:55 and King Nebuchadnezzar who is the head of state 23:00 and the king that's why he was given 23:02 the gold head because he represented 23:06 the head of Babylon. 23:09 And Babylon was the greatest empire at that time, 23:12 it was a huge empire and then we go on to the silver chest. 23:17 The silver chest represents the Medo-Persian empire 23:20 and this was lead by Cyrus in 539 23:25 when the Medo-Persians conquered Babylon. 23:29 Then we go to the bronze thigh 23:32 and the bronze thigh represents the kingdom of Greece. 23:34 The kingdom came into power when Alexander 23:37 the Great conquered the Medes 23:39 and the Persians at the Battle of Arbela in 331 BC. 23:45 The Greek soldiers at that time were called brazen coated 23:50 because their armor was all bronze. 23:53 So we can see how prophecy is so accurate 23:56 because this was all done years, hundreds of years 24:00 before this actually took place. 24:02 Daniel told about this. 24:04 And then we go to the iron leg 24:06 and the legs of iron represented Rome, 24:09 which ruled from 168 B.C to 476 A.D. 24:14 and then Rome was captured by the Ostrogoths. 24:19 Rome was in power actually when Jesus Christ 24:21 came to this earth in human form and the young man Daniel 24:25 a servant of the living God prophesied, 24:29 it was about a thousand years of world history 24:33 before it was ever history. 24:36 Isn't that amazing? This book, the holy book, 24:41 the Holy Bible has so many more prophecies, 24:44 so we are going to go into some more 24:45 and it is so accurate, 24:47 it is inspired by the God of Abraham. 24:51 And so I pray that, that you will read and study 24:56 about these prophecies. 24:58 Stay with us and we will be right back. 25:01 When you get to the Descendants of Abraham, 25:04 you can be sure that you're lighting the way 25:06 for all in search of the Creator God 25:09 and His message of love and forgiveness to all nations. 25:13 Thank you for your support and for your prayers. 25:16 All contributions are tax deductible. 25:19 Please visit us online today at www.descendantsofabraham.org 25:24 or write to us at the address you see listed on your screen. 25:28 All correspondence will be kept confidential. 25:31 Now again please go to our website 25:34 at www.descendantsofabraham.org 25:38 and you will see a lot of this, this prophecy that will be 25:42 there with the explanation. 25:45 And you know one of the things I want to come back 25:46 and say is that on the feet of the statue 25:51 as you have seen in the-- on the screen is divided, 25:56 it's a divided kingdom. 25:58 Well, you know, man has always tried 26:01 to bring back the kingdom and to unite it 26:06 but politically it will never be united because God says 26:11 it will never be united, it will always be divided. 26:14 And when men try to unite the kingdoms 26:18 again of the world, that's when we will see 26:22 the Messiah come back. Jesus Himself will comeback 26:25 and He will take His followers home. 26:29 I pray brothers and sisters that you will test Him, 26:34 test God, read the book, pick it up 26:38 and read it and God will guide you into truth, 26:42 ask Him to guide you into truth, 26:44 He will not fail you, He will guide you 26:46 and you will see all these things yourself. 26:50 So please go to the website www.descendantsofabraham.org 26:57 and there you will find contact information, 27:00 you can write to us, it has the address there, 27:03 you can email us at info@descendentsofabraham.org 27:09 and we would love to get your prayer request 27:12 or any questions you may have, 27:14 we will answer them and as always 27:17 everything you send us, 27:19 all contact information remains confidential. 27:23 It will never be shared with anyone 27:26 and we've had some beautiful emails, 27:28 we've had some really good questions coming. 27:30 And so we pray that the God of Abraham 27:34 will be with you, keep you in peace and comfort 27:39 and guide you in His truth. |
Revised 2014-12-17