Daniel Lesson 15

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Daniel Lesson 15

Daniel Lesson 15

Text: Daniel 7:8-28 (Part 1)

Intro: As I said last week, these are some of the foundation verses of scripture when it comes to understanding end time events, and understanding may be a bit of a over statement. But they are important for us to understand.

As we looked at it last week, we saw a lot of call back to ch.2, and Daniel has already seen the four kingdom’s represented by the four beast come and go (in his vision, he himself has only witnessed the first kingdom so far, remember we are in the 1st year of Belshazzar. He will see the fall of Babylon, but has not as of yet). Vs.12 indicates that each of the kingdoms continued to exist in some way in the conquering kingdom.

In this vision however Daniel saw elements that were not revealed to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream in ch.2, the last kingdom of the Antichrist

  1. The Anti-Christ, vs.7:8, 11&12, 21-26

    1. An Evil Kingdom, (the end of this kingdom was pictured in Daniel 2 with the stone that was cut without hands as it destroyed the statue, and became a mountain)

      1. 10 Horns, Vs.8 & Vs.24

        1. See Also Rev. 13:1, 17:3, 7, 12, 16

        2. Revelation 13:1&2 “And 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. 2 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: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”

          • notice the elements of the other kingdoms that were brought into this one, the bear, lion, and leopard.

        3. The 10 horns represent the kingdoms of the last days,

          • Daniel wrote in a way that he could convey this idea to others using what was familiar with him and them.

            • Where the idea of a kingdom today is replaced by the concept of nation.

            • Just as the concept of horn represented to them power and strength.

        4. It is out of these ten horn confederation that the Antichrist will rise to power.

        5. So here is the question, is the “United Nations” the 10 league nation?

          • There are those that point to it as being, but we need to be careful.

          • It doesn’t benefit Christians or our augments to draw hasty conclusions.

      2. The Little Horn, vs.8, 11, 24-26

        1. this represents the man called Antichrist,

          • there are many names for him in the bible,

            • the bloody and deceitful man Ps.5

            • the wicked one Ps.10

            • the man of the earth Ps.10

            • the mighty man Ps.52

            • the enemy Ps. 55

            • the adversary Ps.74

            • the violent man Ps.140

            • The Spoiler, The Profane and Wicked Prince, The Little Horn., The Prince that Shall come, The Vile Person, The Willful King., The Man of Sin, The Son of Perdition., The Lawless One., The Beast. To name a few…

        2. The word anti- literally means against, or instead of.

          • He operates as both an imposer to Christ as well as the enemy of Christ.

        3. Here we see that the Antichrist must overcome three others in order to advance to the highest position,

          • the three horns that are cut off,

          • in fact if you will read the references I gave you a moment ago you will find this idea “…which hath the seven heads and ten horns.” (Rev.17:7)

            • why 7 heads and 10 horns? Three heads were cut off, or were gotten rid of.

        4. The eyes mentioned here suggest he has knowledge, skill in planning.

          • He sees things, in Chess, the best players are the ones that can see the furthest moves into the future. (If I do this, then he must do that, then I’ll do this, which will force him to…. and so on)

        5. He will also be skilled in the art of talking,

          • he will be a born talker.

            • We see this in both Daniel as well as in Revelation,

              • He will be able to advance himself and his agenda,

              • He will be able to draw followers,

              • and He will speak against God,

              • and will convince the world that he is a god,

        6. See II Thessalonians 2:1-12 “ Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,  2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

        7. As the ruler, both governmental and religiously, he will seek to control the entire world, as well as change the laws.

      3. His Time, time/ times/ half time,

        1. vs.25 (the dividing of time)

        2. this is going to be 3 ½ years,

          • Revelation 12:14 “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

          • Revelation 11:2 & 13:5 calls it 42 months,

          • Revelation 11:3 & 12:6 calls it 1,260 days. (the actual)

          • We will see more of this in Daniel 9:24-27

            • how the Antichrist will make a treaty with the Jewish people for 7 years, but will break it in 3.5 years.

        3. His march to the end:

          • He will be leading one of the 10 nations/ horns

          • He will overcome 3 of the others,

          • move to becoming world leader,

          • sign a seven year covenant with Israel,

          • He will break the covenant, and defile the temple,

            • this will begin the time of “The Abomination of Desolation’s”

              • See Daniel 11:31, Matthew 25:15, Mark 13:14, & II Thessalonians 2:1-4

          • this signals the last half of the Tribulation period “The Wrath of God”

            • See Revelation 14:10, 19; 15:1, 7

          • this will climax with the second coming of Jesus to the earth to throw Satan into the bottomless pit and to establish his 1,000 year kingdom.

    2. War on the Saints,

      1. What is a Saint?

        1. vs.18,21,22,25, and 27 all refer to Saints.

          • We have an idea that a saint is someone that is religiously elite.

          • The truth is, a saint is simply someone who is born again.

          • The word that is used here means “Holy ones”

          • the same idea is carried on into the New Testament, such as:

          • Romans 1:7 “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:…”

            • in short to be a saint simply means to be saved.

        2. Both this passage and Revelation 7 make it clear that there will be “Saints” saved people living on earth during the tribulation period.

          • If the rapture takes place before all the tribulation hits, then these people will be people who are saved after the church is rapture.

          • It could also be that there is a difference between the saved and the “Bride”

            • we have discuses this before.

          • It could be that the church/ the bride must endure part of the tribulation, and these are those.

          • Either way, some of them will have to die for their faith.

      2. Casualties,

        1. vs.21 & vs. 25 both mention that the beast will “prevail” and wear out the saints,

          • and this is allowed by the Lord,

        2. However vs.18 shows who the ultimate victor will be.

        3. But, until that time, vs.25 says “wear out”

          • this points to the effort the Antichrist will go through to destroy the people of God

        4. these verses are encouraging to us, as well as to the original hearers.

          • Remember the time that both Revelation and Daniel were written was time of persecution of the people of God, under Rome and under Babylon.