Sunday, November 29, 2015
Daniel 7:14
Sunday, November 29, 2015 |
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.
For further study - Daniel 7:1-14
As we continue our devotional readings in Daniel I must apologize, I should have had you read Daniel 7 before Daniel 5. Remember, from our last reading Belshazzar was killed when the Medes and the Persians attacked Babylon. As we read the first verse of Daniel 7 Belshazzar was beginning the first year of his reign.
In Daniel 8:1 Belshazzar
was in the third year of his reign as the leader of the Babylonian
Empire. It is very difficult to have died and then reign for three
years. The way to read through Daniel, chapter by chapter, is in the
following order: 1-2-3-4-7-8-5-6-9-10-11-12. This is the chronological
order for the book of Daniel.
Now back to Daniel 7,
Daniel had become a leader, most likely the third highest-ranking
leader, in the Babylonian Empire, by the time he reached 70 years of
age, his age at the time of the "night vision" recorded in our extended
reading passage.
For almost 50 years he had served as a counselor to King Nebuchadnezzar
and now Daniel was serving his grandson, Belshazzar in the first year of
his reign, verse 1.
As a young man Daniel had been gifted by the Lord to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel 2,
which was a prophecy of the present and future Gentile world powers
from Daniels' day until the return of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Now some 50 years later the Lord gives Daniel a "vision" of that same
scenario for the Gentile world empires and what would happen at the
Second Coming of Jesus.
Since I don't have the time and space to go into a lot of detail, let me
give you the overall big picture, presented to Daniel in his "night
vision". Daniel would see "four great beast" rise up out of the sea,
each one diverse from the other, verse 3.
Let me remind you that this is "apocalyptic literature." In "apocalyptic
literature" the author uses "symbols" to convey an "absolute truth".
The symbol is not an allegory nor a fairy-tale, but an "absolute truth".
That being said, please allow me to take a shortcut and tell you what the symbols represent in Daniel 7. The "lion with eagles wings" is the Babylonian Empire, verse 4. The "bear with three ribs in its mouth," verse 5, is the Medo-Persian Empire. In verse 6, the "leopard with four wings and four heads" is the Grecian Empire.
The "awesome beast" in verse 7 is the "Roman Empire" (See my audio series, "The Daniel Papers").
I understand I haven't gone into very much detail on this prophecy that
Daniel received in a "night vision" but deeper study will reveal these
truths.
Please notice verses 13-14. Here is the promise of a future "kingdom" that will be given to Jesus Christ, the "Son of Man," verse 13,
by the "ancient of days," God the Father. This is a "kingdom" that
comes after the "Revived Roman Empire" and the "Antichrist" are on the
scene, and it will be an "everlasting kingdom".
I remind you that it is not a "Kingdom" which is in place now. This
"Kingdom," referred to in this passage, will be given to Jesus, at the
return of the Messiah, by God the Father.
By the way, the European Union Treaty accepted by all 28-member states
of the EU calls for a "Supra-State," the United States of Europe. The
Treaty also provides for an EU that will be led by a "powerful,
permanent president" and that person selected and put in power.
These both, if not the ultimate fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, then
they sure are a prototype of the characters to come on the scene as
foretold in prophecy yet to be fulfilled, seemingly in the near future.
Remember, before all of these prophecies are fulfilled the Rapture of
the Church take place and that could happen even today. Keep looking up.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, Lord to live pure and productive every day as I prepare for the Rapture which could happen today.