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EARNESTLY CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH:
BIBLE PROPHECY:
THE GENTILE NATIONS PART 1
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(The Audio For This Series Is Available Here)
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Sermon Number 1 – The Origin of the
Nations Sermon Number 2 – The Babylonian System Sermon Number 3 – Broad Overview Of Biblical History Sermon Number 4 – Daniel Chapter 7 – Introduction To The Antichrist Sermon Number 5 – The Antichrist Continued Sermon Number 6 – The Son of God and The Son Of Man Sermon Number 7 – Daniel Chapter 8 Sermon Number 8 – Lead Up To Armageddon Sermon Number 9 – The Rapture Of The Saints Sermon Number 10 – The Western Alliance Sermon Number 11 – The Restoration Of The Nation of Israel Sermon Number 12 – The Northern And Southern Alliance Sermon Number 13 – More of The Northern and Southern Alliance Sermon Number 14 – The Eastern Alliance – Armageddon Sermon Number 15 – The Conclusion Of Armageddon Sermon Number 16 – A Suggested Order Of Events Sermon Number 17 – The Judgement Of The Nations And The Gentile Nations In The Millennium
I want to emphasize at the outset of this series that both the fate and the blessings of the Gentile nations rest upon how they treat the nation of Israel. At the present time, there is a wave of anti-Semitism spreading over the entire world. Israel has very few friends in the world. But the Bible says in Psalm 83:4: “They have said, come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance”. Psalm 83 calls for the destruction of the nations that have this attitude toward Israel. While God’s prophetic plan is Jewish centered, the Gentile nations are deeply involved. If you’ll take a look at both secular history and history recorded in the Bible, you will see that God has used the Gentile nations as an instrument for completing his purpose with the nation of Israel. Examples of this could include Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 43:10, Ezra 1:1-2, and so forth.
What we see in Jeremiah 25:9 is that God used King Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument of judgment of the nation of Israel. We also see in Ezra 1:1-2 that God used the Persian king Cyrus to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. We see instances time and again of God using the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Ninevites, and etc to judge the nation of Israel for her disobedience to God. In fact, the books of the Judges, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have as one of their dominant themes the judgment of the nation of Israel for her wickedness. At this particular point, God is not dealing directly with the nation of Israel. The time period that we are currently in is referred to in the Bible as the “Times of the Gentiles”. In prophetically speaking of the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ said in:
The Lord Jesus has a great love for the nation of Israel and because they rejected him he said in Matthew 23:37-39:
The “Times of the Gentiles” is defined as that period of time when no descendent of David sits on the throne of David in Jerusalem. As such, God has set aside the nation of Israel that he might deal with the Gentile nations in mercy. At the present time, God is extending salvation to all individuals and all the Gentile nations. For the Gentile nations, salvation means a place in the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ following the Tribulation. It is the desire of God that all nations and individuals would come to salvation and repentance. The Bible says in:
After the Lord Jesus Christ takes his saints out of the world at the RAPTURE, the Gentile nations will no longer be his focus. In fact the focus of Revelation chapters 6 through 16 is God dealing with the nation of Israel during the Tribulation. Those chapters have absolutely nothing to do with the church of the living God. Chapter 17 and 18 of the book of Revelation deal with the destruction of the MOTHER OF HARLOTS church by the antichrist and also the destruction of commercial and political Babylon. While God will be judging the nations and those who have rejected his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the primary focus of the events in the book of Revelation is to bring the nation of Israel to national repentance. During this period of time, according to Revelation 7, there will be untold millions that come to salvation. Also at the end of this period of time, according to Matthew 25:31-46, God will judge the nations on the basis of how they have treated the Jewish people. It is very critical that the United States of America do everything in its power to defend the nation of Israel. We have the blessings of God and the millennium to gain. So, what does the Bible have to say about the Gentile nations. The answer to that question is a whole lot. We have much Scripture and much information to cover during this series on the Gentile nations. So, let’s get started. We need to go all the way back into the book of Genesis in chapter 10 where we see the roots of 70 nations of the earth as they were descended from Noah. Regardless of our national, ethnic, and racial background we are all descendants of Noah. As we know from the book of Genesis Noah had three sons. These three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who came through the flood with Noah, form the basis of all nations upon the face of the earth. Shem is the father of the Semitic, or Oriental, nations. The Semitic nations would include both the Jewish people and the Arabs. Through Shem came the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ. From Ham, came most of the people in the nations of Africa. The Hammites would be dark skinned peoples. This group of nations would include the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans. We would remind you that both Moses and Joseph intermarried with the Egyptians. There is also a good possibility that the apostle Paul was descended from this group of people since he is referred to as an Egyptian by the chief captain in Acts 21:38. There are also many black and/or dark skinned Jews in the world. There is a huge group of them from Ethiopia that were emergency airlifted out of Ethiopia some years ago. In Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:23, 27; and Psalm 106:21-22 God refers to Egypt as being the land of Ham. These Scriptures read:
The nations that came out of the seed of Japheth were Caucasians who made up most of the European nations. The nations that are descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth are documented in Genesis chapter 10. These composed roughly 70 different nations. I do not have time to get into a detailed discussion of these nations. Our focus in this study will be the nations that have a major impact on end times Bible prophecy. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 10 where we will read verses six through 10:
The point of reading Genesis 10:6-10 was to establish the fact that the land of Shinar is the land of Babylon. Notice also, in verse eight, that we have the first mention of Nimrod in the Bible. Nimrod was the forerunner of the antichrist because he sought to establish a one world government and a one world religion at Babylon. Though not mentioned by name in our Bibles, Nimrod’s wife’s name was Semiramis. Semiramis was the mother of all false religious systems. A study of pagan myths in idolatry will show that all false religions tie back to her. In Genesis chapter 11, God stepped in and prevented the establishment of this one world government and one world religious system. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 11:1-9 where we read:
In Genesis chapter 11, we see the first appearance of the Babylonian religious and political system. It is also the place of man’s first mass rebellion following the worldwide flood. As soon as man came together in unity around the tower of Babel, they started plotting against the God of the Bible. It was obviously God’s intent that they go forth and replenish the earth following the flood. They were obviously in and organized rebellion against God so he scattered them abroad upon the land and confused their language so that they could not understand one another. From that point on, mass confusion in languages has been referred to as Babel. Note also from verse seven that we have at least the third appearance of the Trinity in the book of Genesis. Its first appearance was in Genesis chapter 1 at the creation. The second appearance of the Trinity was in Genesis chapter 3:22 at the expulsion of Adam from the garden of Eden.
Ever since its first foundation was laid, Babylon has been nothing but trouble for God and for God’s people. Babylon has always served as a type of a religious, political, and commercial entity that was built by man and is in open rebellion against God. The very first false religion system came out of Babylon. In fact, the Babylonian false religious system is rooted in the ancient mysteries of the debauchery and idolatry practiced at Babylon. The Babylonian mysteries serve as the foundation for the one world end times church that is referred to in Revelation chapter 17 as MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. A little research into the seven churches of the book of Revelation and the pagan religions will show that the Babylonian priesthood moved to the city of Pergamos from Babylon and that from there to Rome and the Catholic Church. In fact, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ had this to say about Pergamos in Revelation 2:12-13:
Note that it is a woman that rides the purple and scarlet colored beast of Revelation 17. Revelation 17:3 says:
That is significant because she represents the Queen of heaven identified in Jeremiah 44:17-19. She is none other than the Roman Catholic Mary who is worshiped as God by the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholicism is damned because they worship Mary as the Queen of heaven. The term sacrament that is used by the Roman Catholic Church and many so-called Protestant churches is from the Latin word “sacramentum” meaning a mystery, or initiation rite, into a pagan religion. The term sacrament is a Babylonian term and has its roots in the Babylonian mysteries. Don’t miss the connection between the sacraments and the mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church and MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Add to this mix the political and commercial Babylon of Revelation 18 and you have the devil’s toolbox for shaping a one world religious, political, and economic system. This one world system will be used by Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet to manipulate the Gentile nations into worshiping Satan and to seek the destruction of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. There is coming a time when Satan incarnate will set in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem claiming himself to be God and demanding to be exalted above God. When that event takes place, it will signal the end of them Times of the Gentiles”. Now, the “Times of the Gentiles” started in 586 BC when the tribes of Judah and Benjamin went into the Babylonian captivity and will last until the Lord Jesus Christ comes as Lord of Lords and King of Kings to rain upon the throne of David for 1000 years in a literal city of Jerusalem. The best prophetic view of the “Times of the Gentiles” is given in Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, 9, and 11. This period of time includes the Tribulation and as such is a major subject of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 17, Luke 21, I Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and the book of Revelation to name a few. There is much that I could get into here today, but I want to try to keep our focus upon the role of the Gentile nations in end times prophecy. I will not be able to cover all aspects of end times prophecy as it relates to the Gentile nations. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, has a dream that the so-called wise men could neither tell or interpret. The King had already figured out that the wise men were a bunch of false prophets. So, to put them to the test they were required not only to interpret the dream but to reveal what the actual details of the dream were. Trying to get past this first impossibility was the subject of the first 30 verses of Daniel chapter 2. The subject of the dream was revealed by Daniel in verses 31-35. Then in verses 36-45 Daniel gave the interpretation of the dream. Turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 2 verse 31 where we will start reading:
The interpretation of this dream revealed the long-term destinies of the nations of Babylon, Medo- Persia, Greece, the Roman empire, the revived Roman Empire, and the Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Further details concerning some of these kingdoms are provided in chapters 7 and 8 of the book of Daniel. We will get into the details of those two chapters later on. Let’s talk about the details of what we have just read from chapter 2 of the book of Daniel. In verses 31 through 33, Nebuchadnezzar’s image is described as having a head of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron with feet that are part of iron and part clay. In verse 34, while Nebuchadnezzar was watching the image, a stone that was not made with hands hit the feet of iron and clay in the image came tumbling down and was pulverized into a pile of fine iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold and was blown away like chaff in the wind. Then the stone became a very great mountain. In verses 36 through 45 Daniel interprets the meaning of the destruction of the image. Each major part of the image is said to represent some kingdom upon the face of the earth. From events in secular history and the remainder of the book of Daniel we know which kingdoms are being described here. In verse 38, Nebuchadnezzar is told that the head of gold represents him and his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar is told that five kingdoms will follow him. Babylon, which is Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, represents the modern-day country of Iraq. While Nebuchadnezzar exercised absolute authority within his kingdom, we know from secular history that in the four kingdoms that immediately followed Nebuchadnezzar’s that the authority became less and less centralized. The legs and arms of silver represent the Medo-Persian Empire. The Persians are the modern-day nation of Iran. The belly and thighs of brass represent the Greek Empire initially ruled by Alexander the Great. Much of the prophecy contained in the book of Daniel is now history that can be documented from secular sources such as the ancient historian Herodotus and archaeological records such as the Behistun Rock and the Cylinder of Cyrus. The Cylinder of Cyrus is also referred to as the Cuneiform Cylinder. The legs of iron in Daniel chapter 2 verses 33 and 40 represent the ancient Roman Empire. The 10 toes of Daniel chapter 2 verses 33 and 41-43 represent the revived Roman Empire. The stone that was cut out without hands in verses 34 and 44-45 represent the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom that will fill the earth during the millennium. Much of the prophecy contained in Daniel chapters 2, 7, and 8 have both a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. By that I mean, that those prophecies were fulfilled in the near-term by the ancient kingdoms of Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, and Rome. By a far fulfillment, I mean that those prophecies will be fulfilled in the future by an alliance of the nations against Israel that will include modern-day Iran, Iraq, Greece, and Rome. That alliance is well on its way to forming. In recent years, we have seen the rise of those wicked and vile Muslims in the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Bahrain, Algeria, Nigeria, and in the list goes on and on. The anti-Semitic and anti-Israel tirades from the European nations has seen a radical increase in the last 10 years. Before we get back into the details of Daniel, I want to discuss some biblical and secular history.
Now, we run into some big issues when dealing with the facts and dates that relate to the biblical history and secular history of the kings that are mentioned in our Bibles. Though there are certain benchmarks that we can use to establish some fairly accurate dates, we cannot pinpoint them exactly. It takes a lot of study, analysis, and reasoning to understand who these kings were. The Bible is not focused upon dates because the God of the Bible exists outside the bounds of time. He is an eternal being. That being said, there is not one fact recorded in the Bible that has ever been contradicted by secular history, science, and archaeology. True science does not turn to the demonic intellectual idolatry, delusion, and chicanery of evolution and uniformitarian geology; both of which are falsely called science. Before we get into a little bit of history, I want to remind our readers and listeners that mountains in the Scriptures many times represent kingdoms and that horns represents the kings and rulers of those kingdoms. We know from Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, and 11 and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel what kingdom each of the beasts of Daniel chapter 7 represent. It is important to understand that God progressively builds upon the prophecy from Daniel chapter 2 adding more details in chapters 7, 8, 9, and 11. The theological term for that is progressive revelation. While we will not focus a great deal on Daniel chapter 9, it is important for you to know that verses 24 through 27 of that chapter is known as the 70 weeks of Daniel. It is prophecy concerning a 490 year period that relates to God’s dealings with the nation of Israel. The first 7 weeks, or 49 years, of that prophecy were fulfilled in the rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple during the times of the prophets Nehemiah and Ezra. The next 62 weeks, or 434 years, of that prophecy were fulfilled and cover the period of time between the completion of Jerusalem and the Temple to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. However the last week, or the final seven years, of the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 is yet to be fulfilled. It is referred to in Jeremiah 30:7 as the time of Jacob’s trouble. Today, many Christians refer to that period of time as the seven year Tribulation period. The cutting off of the Messiah in Daniel 9:26 was the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prince that shall come from Daniel 9:26 is none other than the antichrist. The Bible says in Daniel 9:27 that the antichrist will make a seven-year covenant with the nation of Israel which he will break after 3 ½ years. That final 3 ½ years is known as the Great Tribulation. Later in this prophecy series we will deal with Daniel’s 70th Week. Now, we turn to some of the rest of the story. Daniel chapters 2 through 5 deal historically and prophetically with the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian kings included Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus from secular history, and Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned 91 different times in the Old Testament. Nebuchadnezzar is one of the great subjects of Jeremiah and Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar was also the subject of the closing chapters of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Daniel chapter 2 also presents a broad outline of the history of the Gentile nations from the Babylonian Empire to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel chapters 6, 7, 8, and 11 deal both historically and prophetically with a line of Medo-Persian Kings that includes Darius from Daniel chapter 6; Ahasuerus of Esther chapter 1:1 and Ezra chapter 4:6; Artaxerxes from Ezra chapter 4:7, Ezra 6:14, and Ezra 7:1; and Xerxes from Daniel chapter 11:2. At the head of these Persian Kings is the Persian king, Cyrus, of 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Isaiah 45:1, Ezra 6:14, and Daniel 10:1. Darius represents the lower horn of Daniel 8:3 while Cyrus represents the higher horn of Daniel 8:3. According to Daniel 9:1, both Darius and Ahasuerus were Medes. The leopard of Daniel 7:6 represents the Greek king Alexander the Great. According to Daniel 11:4, Alexander the great had no posterity. So, Alexander’s kingdom was given to four of his generals upon his death from alcohol. Those generals were: Ptolemy who ruled Egypt and Asia Minor; Cassander who ruled Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus who ruled Bithynia, Thrace, and Mysia; and Seleucus who ruled Syria, Armenia, and territory east of the Euphrates River. The actions of these four generals is the subject of the prophecy of Daniel 11:4-35. Daniel 11:36-45 covers the rise of the antichrist. The four kings that succeeded Alexander the Great were eventually followed by the Roman Empire and its many emperors and Caesars. It was the Roman general and Emperor Titus who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. The ancient Roman Empire has ceased to exist, but will be revived in the form of the ten horns of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. Neither the country of Israel, or any other area in the Middle East, should ever be referred to as Palestine by Bible believing Christians. There has never existed a country called Palestine nor a people called Palestinians. The Palestinians were a group of Islamic terrorists formed by that Islamic devil Yassir Arafat in 1964 for the purpose of destroying the Jewish people and Israel. At this point I would like to warn our listeners and readers that the book of Daniel is not written in chronological order. The death of the Babylonian King Belshazzar is recorded in Daniel 5:30. Yet, Belshazzar shows up again in Daniel 7:1 in the first year of his reign and in Daniel 8:1 in the third year of his reign. What this proves is that the prophetic dreams and visions recorded by Daniel in chapter 7 occurred before the events that took place in chapter 5. Now, let’s get back to the book of Daniel and turn in your Bibles to chapter 7 where we read:
Daniel chapter 7 amplifies upon the information provided in Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 7 is inseparably linked to the book of Revelation. The preaching and teaching that follows will be somewhat difficult to follow and to keep up with. If you miss something, or do not understand something, you can go to our church’s website and download this sermon and listen to it very carefully. Our churches website is located at hilltopbaptistnewport.com. Click on the sermon links for brother Mike Sutherland located on our church’s homepage. There will be links on that page to all the sermons in this series. It is also our intent to post this entire Bible prophecy sermon series up to our website as HTML and PDF files that you can download and study them. Now, let’s continue with our study. You will note from Daniel 7:3-8 that there are four separate beasts that come up out of the sea whereas in Revelation chapter 13 the beast that comes up out of the sea is a single entity that incorporates all the features of the four separate beasts from Daniel chapter 7. Notice from Revelation chapter 13 that the description of the beast is in reverse order from that in Daniel chapter 7. Here is what Revelation 13:1-2 has to say:
Let’s get back to Daniel chapter 7. It is significant that Daniel 7:17 states that the following for beast that we will describe represent four Kings that will come from the peoples of the earth. Daniel 7:4 refers to the lion and the eagle. The lion that had eagle’s wings represents the kingdom of Babylon. Babylon today is represented by Iraq. That the lion and the eagle represent Babylon is clear from Jeremiah 4:7, Jeremiah 4:13, Jeremiah 25:9, Ezekiel 17:3, Ezekiel 17:12, and so forth. The line of Medo-Persian kings is further commented on in Daniel 11:2. It is stated there that four Medo-Persian kings are involved. Those kings would include Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, Darius, and Xerxes. Daniel 7:5 mentions a bear with three ribs in its mouth. The bear with three ribs in its mouth represents the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The three ribs represent the destruction of the kingdoms of Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt in that were allied against the Medes and the Persians. The Medes and Persians today are represented by Iran. Further details are given in Daniel chapter 8. The leopard represents the ancient kingdom of Greece. It is difficult to tie the leopard to a modern political power. It could well be that the leopard represents the eastern European nations. It is important to note the four wings and the four heads of the beast of Daniel 7:6. The four wings and the four heads tie this beast to Alexander the Great and his four generals who succeeded him as kings. Further details are given in Daniel chapter 8. The fourth beast with ten horns that is stated to be dreadful and terrible represents the ancient Roman Empire and the revived Roman Empire. The Roman Empire is tied to the two legs of iron and the ten toes of iron and clay of the image from Daniel chapter 2. The revived Roman Empire is tied to the beast that rises out of the sea in Revelation 13:1-2. Note that it is a unified image that represents a Western alliance that is controlled by the Devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet. The devil, the antichrist, and the faults profit make up an unholy trinity. The ten toes of Daniel chapter 2 and the ten horns in both Daniel chapter 7 and Revelation chapter 13 represent ten political powers that shall rise at the time of the end. The ten political powers are the revived Roman Empire. The time of the end is the great Tribulation. The four beasts of Daniel chapter 7 are seen to operate separately and in sequence with one following the other whereas the image in Revelation chapter 13 is seen to come up out of the sea and be in unity at the same time, or concurrently. According to Revelation 17:15, the sea is representative of the peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues of the earth. Another important difference between the beast Daniel chapter 7 and the beast of Revelation chapter 13:1 is that the horns of Daniel chapter 7 have no crowns upon them. In other words, the 10 horns are seen as not having come to power yet. In Revelation chapters 13 and 17, the 10 horns will come to power and will be used by the Satanic Trinity to bring about the desire of Satan to appear in the temple and to be worshiped as God. Speaking of the Mother of Harlots, Revelation 17:12-16:
There has been, and continues to be, much speculation as to who these ten political powers are. Many have stated that they believe that it represents the nations of the European union. But, there are more than ten nations represented in the European Union. I have been asked many times what role the United States of America will play an end times prophecy. The truth of the matter is that we can get no definitive answer from the Scriptures. We can only speculate that the United States is tied in with the Western powers that are represented by the Western European nations who all were a part of the ancient Roman Empire. We would hope that the United States would come down on the right side of the conflict as it concerns Israel, but that does not appear to be the case. The United States State Department has always been anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. The current Obama administration is the most anti-Israel American administration ever. Obama cannot be trusted to do that which is right in relation to the nation of Israel.
I am going to do a recap here and fill in some more details concerning the Antichrist from the Scriptures. The antichrist is a part of the Unholy Trinity of Revelation 13. At some point in this Bible Prophecy series we will be doing a series on the Unholy Trinity who we know as Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet of Revelation 13. This past week on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 the Mother of Harlots of Revelation 17 elected a new pope. While we do not believe he is THE ANTICHRIST, we do believe that he is an antichrist. We know for sure that he is possessed of the spirit of antichrist which makes him at the very least a false prophet. The pope is the vicar of Satan who is the little “g” god of this world. The pope may not be the False Prophet of Revelation 13, but in the coming days he could prove to be. We believe that the Antichrist is a religious political leader that consolidates his power through the help of the False Prophet who will be a very political religious leader. The False Prophet is Satan’s counterfeit Holy Ghost that will lead apostate Christianity and all the world’s false religions to worship the Antichrist. The whore of Revelation 17 is fast gathering her wicked brothel of apostate harlots from every denomination in America including apostate Independent Baptists that have gone a whoring after the praise of men and the doctrines of devils. Before we get to far off track, let’s get back to our subject for this week. We were talking about the little horn last time we met. The little horn is the Antichrist. The little horn appears in Daniel chapter 7:8 where we read:
The little horn represents the antichrist. He comes forth speaking great things against the God of the Bible. Now, let’s reread Daniel 7:20-21 which state:
In Daniel 7:20, this little horn is described as having destroyed three kings before himself. In Daniel 7:20-21, this little horn is described as speaking very great things against the most high and making war with the saints. It is also said of him that he will wear out the Saints of the most high. This speaks to the persecution and warfare that the antichrist will wage against God’s people. This little horn is also described in Daniel chapter 8:9–12 which say:
That this little horn has a double reference to both the antichrist and Antiochus Epiphanies is obvious from the context and also from the events of secular world history. This little horn is ultimately fulfilled in the antichrist. The little horn is also the king of fierce countenance from Daniel 8:23-25 which states:
This little horn is also the prince that shall come from Daniel 9:26-27 where we read these words:
These verses are a part of that great prophecy of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, or the Tribulation, that we will talk about in a more organized fashion in a separate series. The little horn is also the willful king of Daniel 11:36-45 where we will read verses 36-39:
The little horn is also the abomination of desolation described Daniel 12:11 and Matthew 24:15:
The little horn is also the man of sin and the son of perdition of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 where Paul wrote these words for the Holy Ghost:
The little horn is also the beast of Revelation 13:1-8. In Revelation 13:6, the antichrist is described as blaspheming the name of God. Let’s go read Revelation 13:1-8:
We see the destruction of the Antichrist in Daniel 7:11 where he is cast into the burning flames.
This should bring to mind the destruction of the Antichrist and the false prophet in Revelation chapter 19:20 when they both are cast into the Lake of Fire. Revelation 19:19-20 says this:
This is the end of the Antichrist and the False Prophet.
Now, let’s reread Daniel 7:9-14:
The Ancient of Days appears with the Son of Man in Daniel 7:9-14. In this appearance they are sitting in judgment with millions of saints gathered around them. What we have before us is scenes from Revelation chapters 19 and 20 where judgment is exercised upon individuals, the beast, the false prophet, and the Devil. According to John 5:25-27, judgment has been given to the Son. The description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9-10 is very much like the description of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 1:10-17. The Son of Man is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:10-17 read:
I am going to take a short detour here and run a rabbit that just popped up. In Daniel chapter 7, we see the appearance of God the Father and God the Son. God the Father is identified as the Ancient of days in verses 9, 13, and 22. In those verses as well as Ezekiel 1:26-28, Ezekiel 10, and Isaiah 6:1-8 we see God the Father appear in all his glory. In Daniel 7:13 and Daniel10:5-6 we see a preincarnate appearance in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Man. The glory of the Father and the glory of the Son is an equally shared glory. We know that from John 17:5 which says:
Note also Revelation 21:23. Note also in Daniel 7:14 that the Son of Man appears in glory and is given everlasting dominion over all peoples, nations, and languages. I would also like for you to note the appearance of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in Daniel chapter 3. You also need to know that almost every appearance of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was an appearance that prefigured the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That the Son of God existed in eternity is the clear teaching of Proverbs 30:4 and Daniel 3:25. Those verses are not prophetic in nature. Both of those verses were written in the present tense and report facts then in existence. That the son of God is intended is obvious from the phrase “what is his sons name” that appears in the context of God speaking in Proverbs 30:4. The connection between Proverbs 30:4, Psalms 68:18, and Ephesians 4:8-10 cannot be denied. Turn in your Bibles to:
According to Micah 5:2, the Lord Jesus Christ has existed from everlasting which means he had no beginning. What that means is that God the Father and God the Son have always co-existed in a co-eternal and co-equal relationship. What that also means is that prior to the incarnation that the Lord Jesus Christ was still THE SON OF GOD. If he could cease to be God when he was robed in the flesh, then he would not be God to start with. Put another way, if he was not the Son of God before he was robed in flesh, then he was not the Son of God after he was robed in flesh. What the Lord Jesus Christ became at the incarnation was God in the flesh. That is, he became the God-man, or, in other words, the Son of Man. To put it another way, the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God in the flesh. It was Jesus as the Son of Man that was literally God in the flesh. It was Jesus as the Son of Man that was begotten of the Holy Ghost and not, I emphasize not, the Son of God that was begotten of the Holy Ghost. To state that the Son of God had a point in time when he was begotten is to state that the Son of God is not God. To state that the Son of God had a point in time when he was begotten is to camp out under the feet of the Unitarians, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, and all modern-day Arians. If you believe that the Son of God had a point in time when he was begotten, then you may as well believe that the heretics were correct when they perverted John 1:18 to refer to The Incarnation as the begetting of God. Jesus was begotten as the Son of Man and not as the Son of God. At The Incarnation, the Lord Jesus Christ became the God-man. It was Jesus as the Son of Man that was made a little lower than the angels. It was not the Son of God that was made a little lower than the angels. By the way, that is the perverted translation of John 1:18 by the New American Standard Bible, the Jehovah witnesses New World translation, and the two Greek harlots, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. The phrase “Son of Man” is used 89 times in the New Testament. It is used exclusively of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. It is capitalized in every instance with the exception of Hebrews 2:6 where the term is used in relation to the making of the Lord Jesus Christ a little lower than the angels. The phrase “the Son of God” is used 43 times of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. In Matthew 16 verses 13 through 20 it is stated by direct revelation that the Son of Man is the Son of God. These verses read:
It was only as the Son of Man that he could pay the penalty for our sins because God required the sacrifice of a perfect, sinless body of flesh and blood to atone for our sins. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could do that as the Son of Man. The sacrifice also required that the filthiness of our sin be put upon the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. It was our sin that was put upon the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary that put a separation between the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ cried with a loud voice from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”. According to II Corinthians 5:20-21, it was at that point that the Lord Jesus Christ became sin for us. Those verses say:
The penalty that was paid at Calvary for our sins was not only in flesh and blood, but also in the mental and spiritual anguish of the Lord Jesus Christ. The mental and spiritual anguish was the much greater pain. That separation between God the Father and God the Son could not be reconciled until the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was placed upon the mercy seat in heaven. At that particular point, the penalty had been paid, the blood had been placed upon the mercy seat, and the reconciliation had been made. We have prepared what will be at least a six (6) part radio series dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. In it, we talk about the Deity, the Incarnation, the Eternal Sonship, the Titles, and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We talk about the Son of man, the Son of God, the God-Man, the Word, and the incarnation of wisdom. |
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