Why the Book of Revelation Is Not Meant to Terrify You - Daniel 7 / Revelation 13

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. I named this sermon, The

Good, The Bad, and The Ugly after the Clint Eastwood

film. And you'll see why. Basically, our notes

are going to walk us through the good, the bad,

and the ugly. But we're going to start with the

bad, then the ugly, then go to the good. But

as you turn and get yourself prepared there,

I want to tell you guys a story. So when I was

about 10 years old, my grandmother, I had a grandma

and I had a nanny. So my grandma was on one side

and I had nanny on the other side. So my nanny

was this very Pentecostal, dyed in the wool,

hardcore, charismatic lady, okay? But she was

also the lady that did pretty much everything

at her little church. And I was with her one

day and there was a funeral supposed to be that

evening. And so she came and made me go with

her because she was preparing all the food for

the funeral. Well, as you can imagine, a 10 -year

-old, there's nothing really to do in this church.

And so I did what every little boy would do.

literally combed every piece of that church,

every door that I could go through that was not

locked. I went in. I went into every room. I

searched all sort of things. I went under the

stage. Back then, they'd really build the stages

up. So I'd crawl in there. So I was really, really

bored and came across a VHS tape. You guys remember

those? Yeah, you do. And a VCR and a TV. And

I was like, oh, awesome, because I love movies.

As you guys know, you've heard me quote them

all the time. And so I come across this movie,

and it's called A Thief in the Night, 1970s film.

And it should be right up here. I mean, yeah,

that's literally how old it is. You can't even

find a JPEG that will be clear. was called a

thief in the night and I was like oh cool so

I popped this bad boy in having no idea what

I'm about to get myself into and uh if you don't

know it is very uh it's about the end times and

I remember sitting there and then you've got

people getting their heads chopped off and you

got like this creepy guy who's this one world

leader and you got people scanning stuff on their

wrist on their hands and all this stuff and people

are disappearing without their clothes and I'm

like why are they naked like the entire time

I'm just freaked out I watched this entire thing

and I go to my to my nanny and I'm like can we

go now and she's like yeah yeah we're done you

know whatever so we get in the car I remember

the drive home So well, because I had all of

these questions at this point. And remember what

I said, like my nanny was very, very charismatic.

And so I'm like stuttering through these questions,

right? Because I am so terrified. I've never

heard any of this stuff. Like, so everything

I watched, I'm like, is this true? And my nanny,

instead of being like, well, OK, there's some

things we could talk about, you know, whatever.

She goes, absolutely. And if you don't know Jesus,

you are going to be here when the Antichrist

comes and you better hope that you can survive.

Because it's going to be terrible. There's going

to be famines. There's going to be all sorts

of stuff. There's going to be fires everywhere.

It's going to be like Mad Max. Well, she didn't

say Mad Max, but you know. And I'm just like,

okay. So I had decided that day that I would

never ever read the book of Revelation. I would

never study it. I would have nothing to do with

it. And so to the point where I was 19, I was

dating Tracy, and they had this Messianic Jew

teacher come to teach. And my mother -in -law

was like, my future mother -in -law at that point,

I was like, you guys should come listen to this

guy. So we show up, I kid you not, I'm 19 years

old, sit down next to Tracy. That guy is no more

10 minutes into a sermon and he said he's gonna

be talking about the end times in Revelation.

I was like, no, I stood up. I walked out those

doors and left Tracy sitting there. I walked

out the church and I was like sitting in the

car. I'm like, all right, here we go. I'm not

going back in. Tracy's like, what's going on?

I'm like, I am not going back in there to listen

to that. And so I had these like, I was very

anxious about apocalyptic stuff. I was very anxious

because my parents would sit and watch. I remember

when Operation Desert Storm happened and my parents

were like, here it is. Here it is. This is where

it starts. And I'm like, right. Running into

the bathroom, hiding the anti -crisis here. And

so as a kid, I was just completely terrified.

And honestly, I would have panic attacks, like

I said, even into adulthood. And it was it was

like this until I surrendered to ministry, go

off to seminary, and I actually learned about

the Book of Revelation. learned about the book

of Daniel and visions and things like that and

biblical prophecy. And there's so much stuff

that we have interwoven into prophecy as Americans

to try to make sense of it. And it is so far

beyond not correct. And I think that we've really

messed things up. And so if there's anybody here

today that is like, No, like we're about to get

into apocalyptic stuff and you're about to have

a panic attack like I did Let me reassure you

that none of that stuff is gonna gonna happen

Hopefully by the time we're done with this and

when we go through the book of Revelation You

are not terrified, but you're actually built

up and filled with joy and excitement And so

that's that's the purpose of this you want to

write this down These passages that we're gonna

read weren't given to God's people simply to

scare them. They were given to reveal the greatness

of God and the certainty of his victory. I will

get to the big idea in just a second. And so

I don't want you to misunderstand me. There are

very terrifying things that are described in

Daniel and in Revelation. And we're gonna read

about some of those today. But scripture doesn't

hide the reality of evil, the suffering of God's

people, or the judgment that's coming upon the

world. But if we all walk away after studying

these passages in fear, I will feel like I did

not do my job well. If you walk out of here in

fear of what is to come, I did not do my job

well. I think part of the problem is that we

have a tendency to take passages in Daniel 7

and Revelation 13, read them through our modern

Western way of thinking, and assume that the

images we picture in our minds are exactly what

Daniel and John were seeing and communicating

to their original audience. We start trying to

connect every beast to a modern nation, every

horn to a political leader, and every new piece

of technology to the mark of the beast. Before

long, we're spending more time trying to figure

out who the Antichrist might be than we are paying

attention to the actual passages and what God

is saying in them. Here's what I would say, if

you are the type of person that you have a newspaper

in one hand and you have the book of Revelation

in the other hand, you're doing it wrong. Put

the newspaper down, turn Fox News off, all right,

and just read the Bible. It will do much more

It'll do wonders for you and your spiritual walk

than to try to filter everything that you're

seeing or reading through this when that's not

how it goes when it comes to prophecy. And I'm

gonna go into that in just a little bit. Should

we filter the world through the scriptures? Yes,

but when it comes to prophecy, it's not the same

thing. And so. Sometimes, whether intentionally

or not, we've used these passages to frighten

children and unbelievers into making a profession

of faith. We use them in a way in order to manipulate,

and honestly, that's called spiritual abuse,

by the way. You don't scare somebody into the

kingdom because that's not a true believer. You

want them to see the beauty of who Jesus is and

what he has saved them from. And so I know what

that type of fear does to kids and what it does

to to them futuristically, as far as the way

they view the scriptures. And so, but that's

not why God gave us these passages, not to scare

people into the kingdom. But I do want to say

something else before we get started. I don't

claim to be an expert on biblical prophecy, okay?

I, yes, have gone to seminary. Yes, I had to

study eschatology. Yes, I had to study these

books. But that doesn't mean that, and I've learned

all the different interpretations and pre -trib,

mid -trib, post -trib, all of these different

things, dispensationalism, yada, yada, yada.

Yes, I know those things, but I don't claim to

be an expert on this stuff. It's not something

that just riles me up and gets me going in the

morning, okay? So if you do have questions, feel

free to ask them, but I will more than likely

be like, hey, give me some time to go back and

just kind of research and look. so I can give

you a good clear answer. So I want you to know

that too, but I will say I do feel like I know

enough to build up who Christ is and help you

get a better understanding and a better lens

for the end times, prophetic stuff. Is that fair?

Okay. So we're gonna spend some time this morning

not trying to identify who the anti -Christ is.

I'm not going to pull out of newspaper headlines

and try to convince you that some politician

or world leader is secretly the beast of revelation,

and that's not the purpose of this sermon, and

it won't be our focus as we continue working

through these prophetic passages. What I do want

to do this morning is help you to see Christ

more clearly. So I want you to understand that

Jesus isn't the only the suffering lamb who willingly

laid down his life for our sins. He's also the

victorious lion of Judah, the king who possesses

all authority and whose purposes cannot be thwarted.

And no matter how terrifying the beast in these

passages may appear, none of them can overturn

what God has determined to accomplish. That's

why I titled the sermon today, The Good, The

Bad, and The Ugly. We're gonna see some things

that are bad. We're going to see some things

that are downright ugly, and we're going to see

some things that are so awesome and so amazing,

it will hopefully, like I said, bring joy and

excitement to your heart. And so my hope this

morning is that you'll leave here with a better

understanding of these difficult portions of

scripture, and I hope some of the confusion surrounding

them begins to clear up. And if you've carried

any kind of fear, like I said, like I did as

a little boy, I hope that God's word would settle

your heart. And so I want you to leave here excited

about the return of Christ, not fearing it. And

that's where the big idea comes from. So if you

want to write this down, the big idea this morning

is gonna be right up here. No matter how terrifying

the beast, Christ is greater and his kingdom

will reign forever. And so with that, let's go

ahead and read our passages this morning once

you guys have written that down. No matter how

terrifying the beast, Christ is greater. and

his kingdom will reign forever. Now, as we look

at Daniel chapter seven, there are going to be

some things that we will need to, I will hearken

back to that we already read, specifically Daniel

chapter two. But remember what I said last week,

that these, it doesn't go Daniel's 82, he was

in the lion's den and now all of a sudden he

starts having these visions. No, this vision

that he has in Daniel 7, it tells us happened

during the time of Belshazzar. All right. So

about this time, he's in his 70s when he has

this vision. And so each vision that we walk

through in the final chapters, it's different

times, different ages. So you guys there, you

ready? All right, let's do it. 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 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, and it was raised up on one side.

It had three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth,

and it was told to 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 the night visions

and behold a fourth beast terrifying and dreadful

and exceedingly strong and 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 speaking great things. And 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, and

his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were

burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came

out from him. A thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before

him, and the court sat in judgment and the books

were opened." Now let me pause for just a moment.

When you read that part, of the description of

the Ancient of Days. First off, do you remember

when we talked a little bit about the supernatural

realm? There was a divine council we talked about.

Do you see how we're starting to, you're starting

to kind of get a glimpse into the supernatural

realm with how it's made up? And you're seeing

that there is the Father who sits as a judge,

right? and they, all of the angels and all these

varying types of beings have to come before the

king and they hold court. It's pretty impressive,

but I love the way that the ancient of days is

described. Verse 11, I looked then because of

the sound of the great words that the horn was

speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed

and its 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 and a time. And I saw

in the night visions, behold, with the clouds

of heaven, there came one like the 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, and that all people's nations

and languages should serve him. His dominion

is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass

away in his kingdom. one that shall never be

destroyed. As for me, Daniel, my spirit within

me was anxious and the visions of my head alarmed

me. And I approached one of those who stood there

and asked him the truth concerning all of this.

So he told me and he made known to me the interpretation

of the things. These four great beasts are four

kings who shall arise of the earth. Now, let's

pause for a second. If we think back to Daniel

chapter two, we have a statue, right? Who's the

golden head? Nebuchadnezzar, right? And he represents

what nation? Babylon, right? So if you'll recall,

when we set up the background to Daniel and Babylon,

there was an image that represented Babylon and

still does to this day on their flag. Do you

know what it is? A lion with wings. So there

you go. You've got your first beast, right? You've

got Nebuchadnezzar. Then we go from Nebuchadnezzar

We go to the chest that was made of silver. Who

was that? The Medes and the Persians, right?

So that we have next, right? So then we go to

the Greeks. They're like, what does it describe

as that third beast? A leopard. And so with the

Greeks, you had Alexander the Great, and he swiftly

moved across whenever he created war and brought

in uh and brought all them under so so you see

how they are the leopard by the way all of these

nations still those beasts that Daniel saw they

do still claim these these visions or these images

not because of Daniel but because this is who

they are and what how they're described and so

then we get to the the bottom of the feet or

the fourth beast and how does it describe it

you guys remember and the in the statue how was

the statue described Iron and clay right it was

mixed right because of multiple nations And so

who do you think Daniel is seeing in this? Hmm

Rome he's seeing Rome one that would the Romans

how they would come and destroy and Stamp underneath

well pastor Logan. I thought we were talking

about the Antichrist and and the future things

Daniel's not Daniel is looking into what's coming

okay, but We're going to go to Revelation 13

because it's important. So verse 19, 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 and

bronze, and which devoured and broken pieces

and stamped what was left with its 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. The horn that had eyes and

the mouth that 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."

You should underline that. Verse 23, thus he

said, As for the fourth beast, there shall be

a fourth kingdom on earth which shall be different

from all the kingdoms and it shall devour the

whole earth and trample it down and break it

into pieces and ask for the ten horns out of

this kingdom ten kings shall arise and another

shall arise after them and he shall be different

from the former ones and shall be put down and

shall put down three kings he shall speak words

against the most high and shall wear out the

saints of the most high and shall think to change

the times and the law, and they shall be given

into his hand for a time, times and a half."

Underline that as well. But the court shall sit

in judgment and his dominion shall be taken away

to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And

the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness

of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall

be given to the people of the saints of the most

high. His kingdom shall be everlasting. an everlasting

kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey

Him. Here is the end of the matter. As for me,

Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my

color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart."

What did you see repeat? There was something

that repeated. Yeah, do you see it? He shall...

So it's that last from 23 to 27. It repeats twice

in the kingdom and dominion. and the greatness

of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall

be given to the people of the saints of the Most

High God." There's your flashing red lights that

you guys have heard me talk about when you see

something repeat. That's the important part that

they're trying to drive home. All right, keeping

your finger in Daniel 7, let's go to Revelation

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

Chapter 13 together. Man, probably gonna have

to divide this into two different sermons. with

ten diadams and its horns and blasphemous names

on its head. And the beast that I saw was like

a leopard. Hmm, sounds familiar. Its feet were

like a bear's. Hmm, sounds familiar. And its

mouth was like a lion's mouth, and to it the

dragon gave his power and his throne and great

authority. One of its heads seemed to have a

mortal wound. But its mortal wound was healed,

and the whole earth marveled as they followed

the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, for

he had given his authority to the beast, and

they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like

the beast, and who can fight against it? And

the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty

and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to

exercise authority for forty -two months. It

opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against

God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that

is those who dwell in heaven. And also it was

allowed to make war against the saints and to

conquer them. You should highlight that, that

is important. And the authority was given it

over to every tribe and people and language and

nation. And all who dwell on earth will worship

it, everyone whose name has not been written.

before the foundation of the world and the book

of life of the lamb who was slain. If anyone

has an ear, let him hear." All right. Here we

go. Let's move quick. And if I have to divide

this up to next week, that's okay because I still

got a lot left. So the first point, the bad.

The beast will bring war against the saints.

So before we go any further into Daniel's vision,

there's something important that you need to

understand about biblical prophecy, because I

think that's where we get confused over the years.

Okay, so when we think of prophecy, we have this

very Greek, remember how we talked about there's

a difference between knowledge, Greek knowledge,

and there's a difference between Hebrew knowledge,

and I told you guys I used the father as an example.

You can be an orphan and study what it is to

have a father, but that doesn't mean that you

know anything about having a father. And so my

kids or you and I, if your dad was in your life,

you don't have to study what it's like to have

a father because you just know him. And the same

way we treat prophecy the same way, like Greece,

where we look at a prophecy and then we go, it

has a fulfillment and that's it. So we go, yeah,

so here's the prophecy. It's been fulfilled.

That's it. But, and you need to write this down

because I didn't put this up here, but the way

prophecy actually works from a Hebrew mindset,

and it's going to make a lot of sense to you

when I say this, they see it as patterns. Prophecy

is patterns. So you know how we've seen all throughout

the Old Testament, I've been pointing out to

you guys, foreshadowing of Christ and we keep

seeing these Messiah figures. pointing to the

coming of Jesus, and it's the same thing with

the Antichrist. So prophecy is all about patterns.

And so most of us approach prophecy through this

Western way of thinking. Like I said, we read

about a king, a kingdom, or some terrifying beast,

and immediately we start trying to figure out,

is that Russia, China, Iran? Is the Antichrist

currently running for political office? And before

long, we've got our Bibles open, the evening

news playing, and we're trying to connect every

headline to something in Revelation. But biblical

prophecy doesn't work that way. One of the things

we see throughout Scripture is that God often

reveals His purposes through patterns. We see

individuals throughout the Old Testament who

foreshadow the coming Messiah. Moses was a deliverer,

Joshua led God's people into the promised land,

and David was the shepherd king. None of them

were the Messiah, but each one pointed to a greater

deliverer who would come. So, we see similar

patterns when it comes to those who oppose God.

Listen to what John says in 1 John 2, 18. Children,

it is the last hour. And as you have heard that

Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists

have come." So, wait a second. I thought there

was only supposed to be one Antichrist, right?

Yeah, John tells us there's many, many Antichrists,

and many of them have already come. So now in

that passage, John is specifically addressing

those who deny the truth about Jesus, but the

larger point is that opposition to Christ wasn't

something that would suddenly appear for the

first time at the end of history. That's just

not how it works, right? Like we've seen the

Jews from their inception have constantly been

brought into slavery, yes, because of their own

sin, but also because they are God's people.

But then think about this. We also have men in

maybe not in our time, but men who have been

in our more modern times that reflect the spirit

of Antichrist. Can you think of a couple? Hitler,

Stalin, Mao, right? All of these were spirits

of Antichrist. So you think about the suffering

and the persecution that took place under their

governments. And I'm not saying any of these

men were the Antichrist, but they very much mirror

what he will be like. They led rebellions against

against God and the desire of absolute power

that scripture warns us about And there's something

else we need to remember when studying these

kingdoms We cannot simply look at them through

the lens of our modern political maps. Here's

what I mean when Daniel speaks about Persia Okay,

we immediately think about what modern -day country?

Iran and we should but when we look at Iran from

the political perspective of Daniel's time, the

historical heartland of Persia, yes, is Iran

now, but the empire actually stretched way beyond

Iran's borders. It was a lot bigger than what

it is today. So we don't want to think about

countries and borders like we see them today.

It's much different. And that's why we're going

to see in Daniel chapter 10, we're going to see

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

this spirit called the Prince of Persia. He still

exists. and he has dominion over certain areas.

And so there's a figure involved in spiritual

opposition to a heavenly messenger. There's a

supernatural dimension to that passage that we'll

unpack when we get there. But for now, I simply

want you to understand that these visions are

showing us more than political boundaries on

a map. And so when we look at Daniel 7, verse

Daniel 7:21

21, it says, as I looked, this horn made war

with the saints and prevailed over them. What's

the scary part about that? They prevail. We want

to think that as the saints, we will always be

protected by God, but is that what we see in

the scriptures? Even in the book of Daniel, yes,

Daniel was rescued, but yet still we see the

persecution and the exile of God's people. Then

you look at Revelation 13, seven, it says, also

it was allowed, allowed to make war on the saints

and to conquer them. And so John is drawing on

the same imagery of Daniel centuries earlier.

And what both passages reveal is that God's people

will experience genuine persecution at the hands

of powers that oppose him. This isn't simply

somebody disagreeing with our beliefs. We're

talking about suffering, imprisonment, and death.

And brothers and sisters, that's something we

need to understand because somewhere along the

way, particularly in American Christianity, we've

gotten the idea that if we're faithful enough,

God will somehow protect us from anything terrible

from happening. If you hold to a pre -tribulation,

meaning... Christ returns before the Antichrist

comes on the scene and all that stuff and we're

taken away. I'm not saying that you're wrong.

When you read the scriptures, if that's what

you feel like is taking place, great. I'm just

telling you, don't tell yourself, I won't experience

any sort of suffering or persecution, because

that literally is not what the scriptures say.

Think about last week. Daniel's thrown into a

lion's den and God delivered him. which was an

incredible demonstration of God's power. But

now, just one chapter later, Daniel sees God's

people being overcome by a beast. So what happened?

Did God suddenly stop protecting his people?

No. But God's faithfulness doesn't mean every

believer will escape suffering. Daniel was delivered

from the lions, but Stephen was stoned to death

for proclaiming Christ. Just read the book of

Acts. James was killed, the brother of Jesus,

by a sword. Were they somehow less faithful than

Daniel? No. Did God love them less? Absolutely

not. In Daniel 725, we are told this ruler will

wear out the saints of the Most High. That language

describes a sustained oppression, the kind of

persecution intended to exhaust God's people

and break their faithfulness. And while most

of us have never faced anything remotely close

to that kind of persecution, we do know what

it's like to feel pressure, the pressure of compromise.

We know what it's like to remain silent because

speaking about Christ might make someone uncomfortable.

And sometimes we're tempted to surrender our

convictions simply because standing by them might

cost us something. Following Christ has a cost.

You guys hear me say it all the time. Jesus told

his disciples in John 16 33 in the world you

will have tribulation, but take heart finish

it for me And here's what I don't want you to

miss in Revelation 13 7 It says the beast was

allowed to make war against the Saints write

this down. It'll be right up here for you even

this terrifying enemy operates under the limits

established by God Its authority isn't ultimate

and its victories aren't permanent That's the

beauty of this Pastor Logan, that doesn't sound

like beauty. Oh, but it is to know that this

beast, the enemy, the wicked one, is on a leash.

So we're gonna come to the good news, hopefully

by the end of this sermon. If we have to pause

it for next week, that's okay. But there is good

news coming, I promise you. But for now, I want

you to remember something from last week. Daniel

didn't suddenly become faithful when somebody

threatened. to throw him into the lions, then

he spent decades learning to trust God through

the ordinary decisions. And if we want to remain

faithful when following Christ becomes costly,

then we need to be faithful with what God has

given us today. Yes? The little things. I said

last week, how you practice is how you play.

The Huskers need to probably write that down.

I was going to tell you guys real quick, has

nothing to do with my sermon, of course. I stayed

up and watched that entire game and I was so

angry. I was awake until four o 'clock in the

morning and I have to get up at six to get dressed

and shower and come here. Man, I'm angry. Anyway,

all right. Point number two, the ugly. A beast

unlike any other. If you notice that you've got,

Daniel's got these four beasts, right? He describes

them and then. John ultimately describes this

beast that will come and it looks a lot like

the others, but it's not any of the others. Why

is that? Well, Daniel describes four beasts and

he's describing kingdoms that would rise and

exercise power over the world around them. And

the fourth beast which Daniel describes as terrifying,

dreadful and exceedingly strong, has traditionally

been understood by many Christians as representing

Rome in the Roman Empire, which I fully agree

with. Now, there are other interpretations, but

I believe the Roman understanding makes good

sense in the broader prophetic picture, especially

when we begin to connecting Daniel's vision to

what John sees in Revelation. So just think about

Rome for a moment. Rome was incredibly powerful.

had an empire that conquered nations, demanded

allegiance, and eventually became responsible

for some of the most brutal persecution of Christians

in history. And while Daniel doesn't name Rome

in chapter 7, the description of the fourth beast

certainly fits the kind of power of Rome that

would eventually exercise. But here's where things

get super interesting. When we turn over to Revelation

13, John sees another beast, and this beast seems

to have characteristics like the beast, like

I said, that Daniel saw. It has an appearance

of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and a mouth

of a lion, and John deliberately is drawing our

attention back to Daniel's vision. So why does

this beast have a combination of all the others?

Well, it's to my point, right? He's going to

be like no other. I believe it's because we're

seeing the same prophetic pattern we've been

talking about all morning. Throughout history,

kingdoms have risen to oppose God. They demand

allegiance of people and persecute those who

refuse to bow. And here in Revelation, we see

the same kind of rebellion expressed in a beast

that brings together the characteristics of earlier

kingdoms. But I also believe scripture is pointing

us toward a future expression of that rebellion,

one that would be unlike anything the world has

experienced today. And I want to tell you why

in just a minute. But when you look at Revelation

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

Chapter 13, verses five through six, John tells

us that this beast was given a mouth uttering

uttering haughty and blasphemous words and it

opened its mouth to blaspheme God, His name,

and His dwelling. This isn't simply a political

leader who disagrees with Christianity. We're

talking about a power that openly exalts itself

against God and demands an allegiance that belongs

to God alone. This isn't Justin Trudeau making

fun of Christians. This is a man who is filled

with the spirit of the devil and he blasphemes

and calls himself God. So when we bring in what

Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2, 3, and 4, we

find a description of a man of lawlessness who

exalts himself against every so -called God or

object of worship and takes his seat in the temple

of God, in the tabernacle, which, by the way,

is being rebuilt if you didn't know that in Israel

right now. And so he proclaims himself to be

God. And now Christians disagree about whether

Paul is describing a future physical temple.

I believe that he is. But my understanding is

that this points towards a future ruler who will

openly claim divine authority. But I want you

to recognize what that Paul is describing something

related to this rebellion, not something Revelation

13 explicitly happens in a rebuilt temple. And

this is where I think we need to pay attention

to the world we're living in. So I'm not gonna

stand up here and tell you I know who the who

the Antichrist is I'm not gonna do that That's

I don't I don't have that kind of knowledge or

nor do I want it But I will say that there are

some things going on in front of us today where

we can start to see the developments of the coming

Antichrist There are some there are some Well,

let's just do this AI We're living in a time

when technology is developing at a pace that

is honestly difficult to comprehend. Governments

and corporations already have extraordinary abilities

to collect information, monitor behavior, and

influence what people see and believe. And AI

has the potential to make those capabilities

even more powerful. I'm gonna give you an example.

So preparing for my Revelation series, I've been

diving into John Lennox, who is an apologist.

He wrote an entire commentary based upon Revelation

and also looking at he studied AI and its capabilities

and he brought up a good point. Many people wear

smartwatches, right? What does a smartwatch do?

It monitors you, right? It can monitor where

you go. It monitors your heart rate. It monitors

all these different things about you. It can

tell you when to sit down because you've been

moving too much or you've been sitting down too

much so you need to get up and keep moving, right?

It can do all of these things. Did you know they

already have the capabilities? This is a real

thing. They already have capabilities to within

a watch like thing that would ultimately emit

an ability. If you are not doing what it says

to do, it will emit an ability to inject a poison

into your body and kill you immediately. They

already have those capabilities like it's not

something that's in the thief of the night. that

I watched in the 70s, like this is legitimately

a real thing that's going on. And it's like,

holy smokes. You know, it talks about revelation,

which we'll get there. It talks about the two

profits that would come. And that it says that

everyone in the world will see their bodies laying

in the streets. And I remember as a kid thinking,

how is that even possible? Oh, we have it now.

There are so many things that are taking place.

But here's another one. I'm not telling you that

AI is the beast. Although I do think that there's

going to be some things to it, but I won't wrap

it true. I don't think that that's the beast

of Revelation 13, but I do think that it will

interplay. And scripture doesn't say anything

about AI, and I'm not going to pretend that it

does, but when John describes a system in which

people are pressured to worship the beast and

where participation in buying and selling is

restricted, it's understandable that we might

wonder how modern technology could be used to

enforce that kind of control. But here's something

else. Has anybody been paying attention to this

or been wondering about it? There's something

else happening in our political world that I

find very interesting. We're seeing instances

where groups with very different worldviews find

common ground around certain political causes.

For example, there are movements influenced by

Marxism and socialism, ideology and movements

rooted in political Islam. That sometimes cooperate

despite holding fundamentally different beliefs

about religion, sexuality, government, and society.

Has anybody else wondered how can these two worldviews

come together and be aligned politically? Pretty

interesting, yes? And I think that illustrates

something worth remembering. As we study these

passages, opposition to God's people doesn't

always come from one particular political party.

religious movement or nation. It can arise through

very different systems of power. But here's where

I want us to be careful because I don't want

us leaving this point thinking that the purpose

of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 is to make us suspicious

of every new technology or political development.

That's not the purpose of what I'm trying to

say. Do not hear me saying that. What I'm merely

trying to say is you can see it taking shape,

but you don't have to be afraid of it. And that's

exactly the kind of fear -driven approach to

prophecy I told you I did not want to do. We

need discernment, absolutely, and we should pay

attention to the world around us. We should never

confuse our observations about current events

with what scripture explicitly reveals. What

scripture does reveal is that the beast will

exercise terrifying authority, speak against

God, and wage war against his people. And whatever

form that rebellion takes, It will be part of

the same pattern of opposition we've seen all

throughout history, specifically Daniel, specifically

Exodus. But here's what I find so interesting

about Daniel's vision. Daniel is clearly disturbed

by what he sees. And in verse 15, he sees his

spirit was anxious within him and the visions

of his head alarmed him. By the end of the chapter,

he says he sees His thoughts greatly alarmed

him and his color changed. And I understand what

that's like because of that 10 -year -old little

boy watching that movie. I know for a fact my

color changed. But there's something else Daniel

sees that is far more important than the Beast.

Far more terrifying than the Beast. What do you

think that is? What do you think was the thing

that made him lose his color? It wasn't the Beast.

What do you think it was? My last point, and

we'll move through this one real quick. What's

that? Yeah, my man. I like that. Yes. He sees

the ancient of days So point number three if

you're taking notes the good we win and the Saints

received the kingdom So we spent this morning

talking about some terrifying things but here's

something that I that Should give give you excitement

Daniel says in verse 9 through 10 Daniel sees

the ancient of days taking his seat His clothing

is white as snow, his throne is made of fiery

flames, and thousands upon thousands stand before

him. Then Daniel says, the court sat in judgment

and the books were opened. It means it's about

to go down. Once again, we're getting a glimpse

into the supernatural world. Daniel sees a heavenly

court, an enormous assembly of heavenly beings,

and something of the order and hierarchy of heaven.

And at the center of it all is God himself seated

in his throne. Write this down. The kingdoms

that seem so powerful on earth are now standing

before the one who has authority over them all.

But then Daniel sees something else. This is

where I start getting excited. It says in verses

13 and 14, Daniel says, I see one like the son

of man coming on the clouds, approaching the

ancient of days and receiving dominion, glory

and kingdom that will never pass away. I don't

know about you guys, but I find that description

terrifying, but in a good way. When I was a kid,

did anybody watch wrestling? Got some people

shaking their heads, yeah. It's okay, you can

admit it. I did too as a kid, I don't watch anymore,

all right? But as a kid, I watched the WWF and

there was always this portion where you have

guys like Hulk Hogan or Andre the Giant, the

Undertaker. But if you watch wrestling, there

will always be these moments where the good guy,

the baby face, would be getting beaten by the

bad guy, the heel, right? The bad guy's probably

cheated. The referee's not been paying attention

and somehow he's missed it all. And then right

when you think that the good guy is going to

lose, you hear music. And then what would always

happen? Another guy would run into the ring,

right? You see like Andre the Giant or the Undertaker

would come running out and you knew that it was

about to go down, right? Those guys, the Undertaker,

Andre the Giant, those guys were terrifying looking,

but if you were on their side, you weren't so

terrified. And this is absolutely what I believe

is what we're seeing. The bad guys are the only

ones afraid when the good guys show up that are

terrifying. Now, Jesus isn't a professional wrestler.

I hate to burst some of the rednecks bubbles,

but you understand what I'm saying, right? This

is how things are going to play out. From Daniel

7, we've been watching these terrifying beasts

rise to power, destroy kingdoms, persecute God's

people. And in Revelation 13, we see a beast

blaspheming God and making war against the saints

from an earthly perspective. It looks like evil

has won. But then Daniel says he sees a throne

room in heaven and the son of man comes before

the ancient of days to receive a kingdom that

will never be destroyed. Daniel is describing

the son of man receiving His authority in the

rest of Scripture reveals that this is Jesus

Christ whose reign will ultimately bring every

rebellious power to judgment. I don't have to

read the rest of this to ultimately tell you

this. Do you remember in what happens to the

statue in Daniel chapter 2? What does it say?

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

It happens. There's a stone that comes, a small

stone, and it busts these all these the statue

that represents all these worldly kingdoms and

then it says that small stone turns into a giant

mountain that overtakes the entire world and

thus meaning jesus's kingdom reigns forever and

so here's why i end here all the stuff i've referenced

yeah it's terrifying yeah it can feel like does

evil win evil is terrifying at times But then

it's gonna come the time when the Son of Man

will part the sky. You will hear his entrance

music with trumpets and in he comes. And if you

are on his side, yes, it's terrifying for you.

But for those of us who are on his side, rejoice.

There's two things for me to have you guys write

down. They're meant Talk about the passages.

They're meant to remind us that no matter how

powerful evil becomes, it will never overthrow

the king. And then the last one is just this.

We win. You need to write that down and remind

yourself. We win. Amen. Let's pray.