Daniel • Week 10

Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most

recent sermons and more. Thanks for listening, and be sure to add this show to your library

if you'd like to automatically receive new episodes each week.

Well, good morning. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us

in Daniel chapter 7. As you turn there, if you're a first-time guest, I want to thank you for being

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

here. Thank you for worshiping with us. My wife and I will be back here at our Connect table at

the end of the service. Would love for you to stop by, whether it's just for a moment. We would love

to meet you personally, and thank you for worshiping here face-to-face. And then if you have any questions

about our church, you can feel free to ask those. If you don't have any questions about our church,

please stop by anyways. Like I said, we would love to meet you. Based off of all the announcements

that you just heard, three minutes of them, there's a lot going on. And we want you, there's a spot,

there's a place for every single one of you to connect. And so we want you to be able to do that

and to connect with us. The one that's pressing that's coming up is the Harvest Hangout. And again,

everyone has an opportunity to come and to be a part of that. And just in case you missed it,

it's not some of a hog, it's not a partial hog, it's a whole hog for that men's dinner, right? And

so, and the whole hog will be the second best thing that you're going to find there, right? We look

forward to hearing from Chris and hearing as he shares with us. And so you want to make sure that

you're a part of that. And as we emphasize for all the things that are going on, we would love for you

to invite, invite someone to be a part of that with us. Kind of a little special announcement

for the end of our service. And we'll get kind of more into that at the end. But at the end of the

service, some of us like, well, I know there's, there's a place you need to be. And so, man, that

last song is over with and you're out the door and I get that. But I want to ask everybody,

they can hang around because we are going to have a special time of prayer at the very end of our

service. We've got three of our church members who are with us today who will be, who will be deployed

soon. And then we also have a church member of ours who is overseas currently. And we just want to

have a time in prayer for them all at the end of our service. And for security reasons, we will stop

the live stream during that. And so we want to make sure that, that you hang around and not miss that

time of prayer. So let me read to you as we get started our message this morning out of Daniel

chapter seven, starting in verse 13. It says, I saw in the night visions

and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of

days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples,

nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away

in his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Would you pray with me?

God, we thank you for the beauty of your word. God, very specifically, as we look here at Daniel 7 this

morning, we thank you for the hope that we find in this message.

Lord, the reminder so much of who you are, the reminder of what this world is, and the hope of who

we are in Christ. God, I pray that in this moment, Lord, that you would be heard and be clear.

Lord, if there's any part of this in me that is of me, that is self-seeking, that is sinful, that is

incorrect, Lord, that you would forgive me and remove it from me. All for the glory of your name.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

We have been in the book of Daniel now. I believe this is week number 10, week number 9, week number 10.

And we're here for maybe the part of it that a lot of you were looking forward to.

I hope God's spoken to you, and I hope you've enjoyed the first six chapters of Daniel.

But chapter 7, there's a turn that begins to happen. There's a different approach of what we're going to see.

Chapters 1 through 6 in Daniel, if you are here with us for the first time, is a historical account of

sections of the life of Daniel. It doesn't cover all of his life. It kind of picks up when he's about

13 years old. And then it kind of ends, chapter 6, when he's about 83 years old. But by no means is

it at all of his life. But it does kind of flow and happen in chronological order in this historical

account. And I read this week from an author that says that it has been said that these three chapters

of the life of Daniel give the credentials of the prophet Daniel. So what we see is we see a follower

of God. We see him as a governmental worker. And we see him stand firm with resolve in his faith.

And we see how God uses him in the aspects where God has placed him. And he is in some very difficult

aspects in the first six chapters of Daniel. But now what we find in chapters 7 through 12 that we'll

see for the rest of our study in Daniel is that Daniel is also a prophet. And that God has given

Daniel prophetic visions. And Daniel then records them. And these visions do not necessarily happen

in, so it didn't pick up when he was 83 years old in chronological order. In fact, it kind of drops

back in time a little bit. And then it picks up moving forward in chronological order with those

visions. And these visions are written as apocalyptic literature, which is sometimes a little bit

difficult to read, difficult to understand, and oftentimes blatantly taught in an incorrect manner.

So I want us to understand this morning before we kind of land in this for Daniel chapter 7,

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

what do we mean by apocalyptic literature? It's a form of prophecy that describes the end of the world,

the end times. It deals with eschatology matters. It's what we see not just in Daniel,

but in the Old Testament, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. And in the New Testament,

we see this in 2 Thessalonians 2, Mark 13, Matthew 24. And then our favorite, the one that we come to

when we think of this, Revelation. That apocalyptic literature largely involves hard to understand

symbols and imagery because it looks forward to times that have not happened. And in a lot of ways,

these things that will unfold that have not been seen by the prophet and the author who are recording

these. An example of this would be for John in the book of Revelation. If what would have appeared to

John in his vision were that of tanks and airplanes, nuclear weapons, John would have very little context

in which to convey what he's seen. So when we read these, we are reading prophets who are trying to

explain what they are seeing, or they are actually literally painting the picture of what is there

before him. Apocalyptic literature is oftentimes dealing with matters that seem scary.

They deal with disaster. They deal with destruction. There's dragons. There's beasts. There's wars. There's

death. We as a culture become fascinated with end times thinking, end times trying to predict. In fact,

Hollywood has embraced that. Do y'all remember the Y2K craze for those of you who were alive during that

time? I recognize that there's a large percentage of you who are not alive during that time. And so for

those of you who do remember that time and remember it well, we're old. But in the late 90s, as the year

2000 approached, Hollywood seemed to grasp a hold of this notion that as terrified as people seem to be

concerning the end of the world, they were fascinated and in a weird twisted way wanted to be entertained by

it. And out of this were movies like Independence Day, Armageddon, Deep Impact.

In that all-time lowest of lows for Kevin Costner, Waterworld.

And what I find is funny in these is that the men largely in these movies who were sent to save us,

right, Morgan Freeman, now I can get behind that. Bruce Willis, a little bit less,

but I can be there as well. But my issue with Independence Day

is the fact

that Cousin Eddie,

Randy Quaid,

was sent to save the world

from the aliens that would destroy it.

But it was good for entertainment purposes.

We all watched them.

We all can account by them.

And I would say that the only thing good that came out of the song Armageddon was the Aerosmith song.

I don't want to miss a thing, right?

So we're going into, though, a section of the Bible

that is just as inspired as Genesis 1

and every other word all the way to the end of Revelation.

It's the very word of God that we should be treated with respect,

that we should treat with faithfulness,

that we should treat with a mindset that this is God's word given to us,

and that's special.

But we as believers

should look at end times differently.

That when we look at this,

that what we see,

that when we look at this,

and when we see that even Daniel's going to struggle a little bit with this.

We haven't seen much about what Daniel's struggle was,

but we'll find this in Daniel 7.

It's that even in the imagery of beasts,

and dragons,

and wars,

and destruction,

that we come to God's word

as those

who have been bought,

who have been chosen,

who have been redeemed

with hope and joy.

We know

that God is in control.

That even in the midst of times that confuse,

and times that are strange,

and times where it feels like depravity

has taken over,

God is in control.

Because to be honest,

doesn't that describe today?

Times are strange.

Times are difficult.

And depravity

runs rampant.

Nations are built.

Nations are fall.

God is in control.

And so,

as we look at Daniel 7,

as we look through

any apocalyptic literature,

as we look through God's word,

may we continue

to be reminded

that God

is in control.

So we're going to read,

begin,

we're going to go all the way

through Daniel 7 this morning.

We're going to start off

with the first eight verses.

In the first year of Belshazzar,

king of Babylon,

Daniel saw a dream

and visions

of his head

as he lay in his bed.

Then he wrote them,

he wrote down the dream

and told the sum of the matter.

Daniel declared,

I saw in my vision

by night

and behold,

the four winds of heaven

were stirring up

the great sea

and four great beasts

came out of the sea

different from one another.

The first was like a lion

and had eagle's wings.

Then as I looked,

its wings were plucked off

and it was lifted up

from the ground

and made to stand

on two feet

like a man

and the mind of a man

was given to it.

And behold,

another beast,

a second one like a bear.

It was raised up

on one side.

It had three ribs

in its mouth

between its teeth

and it was told,

arise,

devour much flesh.

After this,

I looked and behold

another like a leopard

with four wings

of a bird on its back

and the beast

had four heads

and dominion

was given to it.

After this,

I saw in the night visions

and behold,

a fourth beast,

terrifying

and dreadful

and exceedingly strong.

It had great iron teeth.

It devoured

and broke in pieces

and stamped

what was left

with its feet.

It was different

from all the beasts

that were before it

and it had ten horns.

I considered the horns

and behold,

there came up

among them

another horn,

a little one,

before which

three of the first

horns

were plucked up

by the roots.

And behold,

in this horn

were eyes

like the eyes

of a man

and a mouth

and a mouth

speaking

great

things.

What I want us to see

as we look at

apocalyptic literature

and begin to be reminded

of the hope

that we have

for what we find

in Daniel chapter 7

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

in the first eight verses

is God is sovereign

over nations.

God is sovereign

over nations.

What we find

in the very beginning

is four winds

and a great sea

stirring up.

This is painting

the picture

of the great chaos

amongst the nations

of the world

and it's coming

from all directions.

Four winds

north, south,

east, west

of what it's creating

in the water.

Imagine being out

on the lake,

being out on the ocean

and what you're finding

is a cyclone,

a tornado

surrounding you

and coming from all sides.

There's no escape,

there's chaos

and this is the picture

that's painted

of the world.

And from this world,

four great beasts

came from the sea.

Four great beasts

came from the world

and what they're defined

as is four nations,

four empires

that have risen up.

Theologians,

for the most part,

agree in unison

with who these nations are.

One is described

as a lion

with eagle's wings

to be Nebuchadnezzar

in Babylon,

referencing back

to Daniel 4.

One is a bear

with three ribs

in its mouth,

the Medo-Persian empire

that took over Babylon.

Next, we'll see a leopard

with four wings

and four heads

to represent

Alexander the Great

in Greece.

And then lastly,

what we find here

is just a beast.

a beast that's not

described

in what it looks like

for the most part,

some aspects,

but described

as terrifying

and dreadful

and exceedingly strong.

Stronger than the others

with iron teeth

and ten horns

coming from its head

and a smaller horn,

an eleventh horn

that it says

that from its mouth

speaking great things.

That's a little bit

complicated in translation

and it doesn't mean

that it's speaking

great things

like we would think

of speaking great truths,

but instead of

bragging,

boasting

in itself.

This beast

with iron teeth

and ten horns

will represent

the Roman Empire.

The ten horns

represent the complete

and lasting power

and influence

of the world.

And the eleventh horn

speaks

to the Antichrist.

So we begin

to get into

a little bit

of the apocalyptic

visions

that we see

also

in Revelation

with John.

So the question is

how does

this

show that God

is sovereign

over nations?

Well,

the Bible

interprets the Bible

and gives us context

within the Bible

and what we found

from the very beginning

in Daniel chapter 1

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

is we understood

who's at work,

who's at play.

Is this Daniel?

Is this the powers

of the world?

Like who gets credit

for what's going on?

Daniel chapter 1

Daniel 1:1

verse 1

into verse 2.

In the third year

of the reign

Jehoiakim king

of Judah

Nebuchadnezzar

of Babylon

came to Jerusalem

and besieged it.

And then verse 2.

And the Lord

gave Jehoiakim

king of Judah

into his hand.

And so what we see

here is God

at work

and at move

amongst nations.

That this isn't

God just telling

what he knows

will unfold

but it's God

speaking to

the very work

of his hand.

And it's not just

in the matters

of your life

and mine

but it's in the matters

concerning nations.

The history

of the world.

Things that will

play out.

We see this

in Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

It says that

the lion

is lifted up

and made to stand.

Divine power

over nations.

It says that

the bear

it was raised up

on one side.

It was told

arise and devour

much divine power

over nations.

We see that

the beast

that looked like

a leopard

that dominion

that Greece

that dominion

was given over

to it.

All of these

speaking to

the divine

power of God

in

and amongst

nations.

And then the last

the beast

that is terrifying

and dreadful

and exceedingly

strong

what we'll see

in the next

is that

that beast

was killed.

We see

God's sovereignty

over

the nations.

You and I

can live today

in the chaos

of the world

all of the

death

all of the

uncertainty

all of what

appears to be

hopelessness

but we

must

be

a people

of hope

hoping not

in what we

wish would

take place

but hoping

in what we

know will be

and so we

can

folks

because God

is in

control

he is

I know

in my

limited

understanding

and

perspective

I may

believe the

lie from

time to

time that

he's not

but folks

God is

in control

and you

feel like

well Bo

you've already

said that

apocalyptic

literature

is difficult

to translate

it's difficult

to understand

it's difficult

to convey

the message

of what's

being said

there

okay

well then

let's

look at

three

passages

of scripture

this morning

that are

not apocalyptic

but that

speak to

God's

sovereignty

and God's

control

over nations

Proverbs

19 21

many are

the plans

in the

mind

of man

but it

is the

purpose

of the

Lord

that will

stand

Colossians

117

that he

is before

all

things

he's

before them

and in

the next

section

he

God's

going to

be

identified

as the

ancient

of days

he's

always

been

he's

always

existed

there

isn't a

moment

that he

wasn't

he's

God

all

and he

is before

all

things

and in

him

all

things

hold

together

he's

in

control

Psalm

33

10

the

Lord

brings

the

counsel

of

the

nations

to

nothing

he

frustrates

the

plans

of

people

God

is

sovereign

and he

is in

control

even

over

the

nations

it

doesn't

mean that

we're not

going to

walk

through

difficult

things

it's

not

that

there's

going to

be

difficult

pieces

that are

there

we're

going to

read

and we're

going to

see

and we're

going to

try to

understand

all of

these

things

that

happen

and take

place

of what

God

is

telling

us

but in

through

all

of

this

the

reminder

of

the

hope

is

that

God

is

in

control

and right

now

God's

palm

in

God's

timing

and in

God's

reason

and God's

perfection

is open

handed

in a lot

of things

but what

we're

reminded

about

as we

look

toward

end

times

as we

look

toward

what

God

is

going

to

do

and

as we

look

toward

what

God

has

done

the

beautiful

hand

of

God

will

say

no

more

because

God

is

in

control

so

here's

what

I

choose

I

will

choose

to

believe

the

Bible

I

will

choose

to

believe

the

Bible

over

news

reports

I

will

choose

to

believe

the

Bible

over

politicians

and

I

will

choose

to

believe

the

Bible

even

over

the

deceitfulness

of my

own

heart

that

wants

me

to be

afraid

about

tomorrow

but

I

can

be

confident

in

Christ

verse

nine

one

of the

most

beautiful

passages

in

all

of

scripture

9

through

14

it

says

as I

looked

thrones

were

placed

and the

ancient

of days

took

his

seat

his

clothing

was

white

as

snow

and

the

hair

of

his

head

like

pure

wool

his

throne

was

what

was

fiery

flames

its

wheels

were

burning

fire

a

stream

of

fire

issued

and

came

out

from

before

him

a

thousand

thousands

served

him

and

ten

thousand

times

ten

thousand

stood

before

him

the

court

sat

in

judgment

and

the

books

the

books

of

judgment

were

opened

I

looked

then

because

of the

sound

of

great

words

that

the

horn

was

speaking

and

as

I

looked

the

beast

was

killed

and

his

body

destroyed

and

given

over

to be

burned

with

fire

as

for the

rest

of the

beast

their

dominion

was

taken

away

but

their

lives

were

prolonged

for a

season

of

time

I

saw

in the

night

visions

and

behold

with

the

clouds

of

heaven

there

came

one

like

a

son

of

man

and

he

came

to

the

ancient

of

days

and

was

presented

before

him

and

to

him

was

given

dominion

and

the

glory

and

a

kingdom

that

all

peoples

nations

and

languages

should

serve

him

and

his

dominion

is

an

everlasting

dominion

which

shall

not

pass

away

and

his

kingdom

one

that

shall

not

be

destroyed

maybe

my

points

today

are

a little

repetitive

maybe

we could

cut

them out

and copy

and paste

them

and they'd

be the

same

but

I think

it's

a reminder

for us

of God's

control

so point

number

two

is

God

is

sovereign

over

plans

God

is

sovereign

over

plans

in this

scene

in scene

two

Daniel

sees

the throne

room

he

first

sees

the

ancient

of

days

this

is

God

the

father

he

is

the

ancient

of

days

because

he

is

before

time

and

he

is

eternal

he

says

that

I

read

Tony

Marita

said

that

he

is

eternal

but

not

old

he

is

wise

but

not

senile

he

is

a

big

God

bigger

than

Daniel

realized

and

bigger

than

the

petty

beast

kingdoms

of

this

world

the

symbolism

that

is

given

of

him

is

the

symbolism

of

white

and

fire

both

describe

his

holiness

his

wisdom

his

purity

his

judgment

and

thousands

upon

thousands

upon

thousands

are

before

him

then

in

verse

11

we

see

that

the

small

horn

the

antichrist

is

still

speaking

still

bragging

still

boasting

of

himself

and

the

ancient

of

days

takes

him

out

and

then

verse

13

through

14

let me

reread

them

this

will

be

the

third

time

that

we

read

them

today

and

I

saw

in

the

night

visions

and

behold

with

clouds

of

heaven

there

came

one

like

a

son

of

man

and

he

came

to

the

ancient

of

days

and

was

presented

before

him

and

to

him

was

given

dominion

and

glory

in a

kingdom

that

all

peoples

nations

and

languages

serve

him

his

dominion

is

an

everlasting

dominion

which

shall

not

pass

away

and

his

kingdom

one

that

shall

not

be

destroyed

so

here's

what

Daniel

sees

Daniel

sees

someone

coming

Daniel

sees

someone

coming

described

as

like a

son

of

man

but

the

son

of

man

is not

like

everyone

else

has

come

before

that

he

comes

into

the

throne

room

on

a

cloud

of

heaven

and

here's

what

this

would

have

meant

in

the

imagery

that

the

one

who's

coming

the

one

who's

like

the

son

of

man

is

divine

and

he

comes

into

the

presence

of

the

ancient

of

days

folks

say

hello

to

Jesus

say

hello

to

Jesus

Jesus

is

referred

to

time

and

time

again

in

the

New

Testament

by

different

names

son

of

God

prince

of

peace

we

see

all

of

these

things

Emmanuel

but

the

son

of

man

is

the

title

that

he

most

often

gives

himself

I

believe

81

times

in

the

New

Testament

that

it's

recorded

that

Jesus

says

I

am

the

son

of

man

and

so

the

lunacy

that

people

say

that

Christ

does

not

even

claim

his

own

divinity

is

just

stupid

Daniel

7

says

that

there's

someone

like

a

son

of

man

who

comes

on

a

cloud

in

divine

nature

and

that

the

kingdom

is

handed

over

to

him

Jesus

says

I'm

the

son

of

man

and

we

can

look

at

the

end

times

and

not

hide

with

fear

we

can

look

at

the

end

of

times

and

not

worry

because

for

the

fourth

time

I

want

to

read

verse

14

and

to

him

was

given

dominion

and

glory

and a

kingdom

that

all

people

that

all

nations

that

all

languages

that

every

people

tribe

and

tongue

should

serve

him

and

unlike

the

pettiness

of the

kingdoms

that

will

come

before

him

that

his

dominion

is an

everlasting

dominion

which

shall

not

pass

away

and

his

kingdom

one

that

shall

not

be

destroyed

folks

treaties

are made

to be

broken

governments

are made

to fall

earthly

rulers

will come

to an

end

but

Jesus

Christ

rules

over

a

kingdom

that

will

never

be

destroyed

and

I

don't

care

what

picture

Hollywood

politicians

this

world

the

deceitfulness

of our

hearts

the

appeal

of

Satan

wants

to

portray

the

truth

of

God's

word

is a

kingdom

is given

to him

and to

him

alone

folks

God's

in

control

God's

in

control

it's

hard

when we

look at

the

circumstances

of this

world

to see

that

but

what

would

happen

if we

stopped

reading

scripture

through

the

filter

of

this

world

and

we

started

looking

at

this

world

through

the

filter

of

scripture

it

doesn't

mean

we

have

to

like

what's

going

on

doesn't

mean

that

we

have

to

be

happy

about

what's

going

on

but

we

can

know

that

God

is

control

that

God

is

sovereign

over

plans

and

that

God

himself

has

a

plan

and

it

will

unfold

God

so

look at

verses

15

through

28

read

all

of

this

last

bit

as

for me

Daniel

my

spirit

within

me

was

anxious

and

the

visions

of

my

head

alarmed

me

I

approached

one of

those

who

stood

there

and

asked

him

the

truth

concerning

all

of

this

so

he

told

me

and

made

known

to

me

the

interpretations

of

things

these

four

great

beasts

or

four

kings

who

shall

arise

out

of

the

earth

but

the

saints

of

the

most

high

shall

receive

the

kingdom

and

possess

the

kingdom

forever

forever

and

amen

then

I

desired

to

know

the

truth

about

the

fourth

beast

which

was

different

from

all

the

rest

exceedingly

terrifying

with

its

teeth

of

iron

and

claws

of

bronze

and

which

devoured

and

broke

in

pieces

and

stamped

what

was

left

with

his

feet

and

about

the

ten

horns

that

were

on

its

head

and

the

other

horn

that

came

up

and

before

which

three

of

them

fell

and

the

horns

that

had

eyes

and

a

mouth

spoke

great

things

and

that

seemed

greater

than

its

companions

as

I

looked

this

horn

made

war

with

the

saints

and

prevailed

over

them

until

the

ancient

of

days

came

and

judgment

was

given

for

the

saints

of

the

most

high

and

the

time

came

when

the

saints

possessed

the

kingdom

thus

he

said

as

the

fourth

beast

there

shall

be

a

fourth

kingdom

on

earth

which

shall

be

different

from