Daniel: The Beast and The Beauty

Chapter 7, which I think is on page 892.

If you miss any of the talks, you can get them online, the church website, www.carigolinebaptist.org.

There's not just sermons there, but there's also other bits of information.

So, Daniel chapter 7, page 892.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

And Kirsty is going to come and read for us.

So, chapter 7, verses 1 to 15.

In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed.

He wrote down the substance of his dream.

Daniel said,

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.

Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.

The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle.

I watched until its wings were torn off, and it was lifted from the ground, so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.

And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear.

It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.

It was told,

Get up and eat your fill of flesh.

After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.

This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast, terrifying and frightening and very powerful.

It had large iron teeth.

It crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.

It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.

While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them.

And three of the first horns were uprooted before it.

This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouse that spoke boastfully.

As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

His clothing was as white as snow.

The hair of his head was white like wool.

His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.

A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.

Thousands upon thousands attended him.

Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court was seated, and the books were opened.

Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking.

I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.

The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power.

All peoples, nations, and men of every language worshipped him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kirsty.

Well, let's pray and ask for God's help.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our Father God, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this book of Daniel.

And as we read through it, we perhaps read things that are hard and difficult to understand.

And therefore, we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit to open up our minds that we may understand intellectually.

But also, we ask that you would, by your Spirit, open up our hearts so that we may see how this applies to us today.

Father, we pray that none of us will leave this morning without being clear about our God, who rules and reigns for all eternity.

Father, we pray that we may be clear about our God, who rules and reigns for all eternity.

Father, we pray that we may be clear about our God, who rules and reigns for all eternity.

We pray that this would cause us to trust you all the more, to find our security and to find our hope in you.

Amen.

Amen.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, apocalypse now.

It seems like Daniel has been eating too much cheese again.

His dreams are becoming rather bizarre.

We might even think that he's been on the magic mushrooms, because what Daniel sees in his vision is right up there with the weird and the wonderful.

But don't worry.

Daniel is not partial to the odd joint.

Chapter 7 through to chapter 12 is what scholars call apocalyptic literature.

Now, I don't want that to put you off in any way, and it might sound strange, and maybe you've heard about it before, and you're a little worried about it and a little scared by it.

But really, it's a form or a type of writing that uses all kinds of imagery and language to tell us what is happening and what will happen.

Apocalypse simply means revelation.

It reveals things to us.

So these visions that we have from chapter 7 to chapter 12 reveal something to us.

They tell us something.

They tell us two things.

First, what is going on in the world?

First, what is going on in the world?

He's living in a time where there is great opposition to God and great persecution of God's people.

So these visions that he gets right the way through to the end of the book are there to provide encouragement for him and for us to say to us that when it's hard to be a Christian,

when we face opposition, God has not abandoned the world.

God has all things in control now and in the future.

So what does this vision reveal to us?

Well, we're going to look at two big ideas.

The first is this.

The vision reveals to us the beast.

What is going on in the world?

Let's read verse 2.

Daniel said,

Now, the scene here is wild and scary and it's meant to be.

As it says in verse 15, if it disturbed Daniel, it's meant to disturb us.

Well, what does he see?

Verse 4.

The first beast, he says, was like a lion and it had the wings of an eagle.

So this is a ferocious beast.

And with its wings on its back, it seems to be able to go wherever it wills, doing as it pleases.

But with all its might, its power is quickly removed.

We're told its wings are torn off and he is given the heart of a man.

He is stripped of all his power.

Why?

Well, because another beast has come to take its place.

Verse 5.

And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear.

It was raised up on one of its sides.

So we could imagine it standing up on its hind legs with its paws or its claws coming out before him.

And it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.

This beast is also ferocious.

But it's devouring and eating all that is around and it is not content.

Look at the end of verse 5.

It was told, get up and eat your fill of flesh.

This beast is not satisfied until all he sees has been destroyed and consumed.

But as great as that beast is, he too meets his match.

Another beast has come to take its place.

Verse 6.

After that I looked and there before me was another beast.

One that looked like a leopard.

And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.

So this beast moves more quickly than the others.

And it acts unexpectedly with great speed.

End of verse 6.

This beast had four heads.

And it was given authority to rule.

Its four heads meaning that it can look in every direction.

Looking for its next prey.

Ruling over everything that it can see.

And if all that is not wild and scary enough.

Look at verse 7.

After that in my vision at night I looked and there before me was a fourth beast.

Terrifying and frightening and very powerful.

Did you notice as we went through that each of the beasts becomes more terrifying and more powerful than the one before.

And this last beast is not like anything.

You can't compare it to any kind of wild animal.

It stands in a class of its own.

Look at the rest of verse 7.

It had large iron teeth.

It crushed and devoured its victims.

And trampled underfoot whatever was left.

It was different from all the former beasts.

And it had ten horns.

What was it all about?

Well Daniel tells us.

Look at verse 16.

I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this.

So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things.

The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth.

Now most scholars agree that these beasts represent the four great kingdoms or four great empires of the past.

The lion represented the Babylonian empire.

The bear, the Persian empire.

So we've met those two great empires already through the book of Daniel.

The leopard was the next great empire which was the Greek empire.

And the last beast which we read in verse 7 was the Roman empire.

But each empire as we move through time becomes bigger and stronger and more powerful than the one before.

They are, as the beasts are described, they were there devouring whatever was before them.

Expanding their borders with a terrible ruthlessness.

Trampling on the nations around them and incorporating them in to their own empires.

Daniel, of course, has already met the full weight of the Babylonian empire.

So as he receives this vision, if he thinks it's bad under Babylon,

then it's going to be nothing compared to what lies in the future with the empires that are to come.

Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better.

Now what Daniel sees in these visions is really just a pattern that is repeated continually throughout history right up to the present day.

We continually have one empire or one kingdom or one nation becoming greater and bigger than all the rest.

Nations and rulers are still set on conquest, on conflict and control.

So just think for a minute about the last 100 years of our history.

As the great Ottoman Empire, modern day Turkey, as it came to an end and to a decline of its vastness,

it came with great cruelty.

One historian notes that on the 24th of April 1915,

600,000 Armenians were brutally killed in one day.

Some with their heads placed in vices and squeezed until their heads collapsed.

As Japan sought to expand its territory, it massacred thousands of innocent people.

On what became known as Black Friday, Japanese troops went through Alexandra Hospital in Singapore

and bayoneted all the patients, all the doctors and all the nurses

and then tied hundreds of Chinese hand to hand and massacred them on the beaches.

Stalin's Russia sought to flex her muscles in attempts to provide food for all the troops

and enough resources for all of his people.

And to squash any kind of rebellion, he ordered the Ukrainian peasants to provide more food that they could grow.

And because of his ruthless control, almost 7 million Ukrainians starved to death.

Hitler and his Nazi Germany trampled across the continent of Europe,

exterminating 6 million Jews and 5 million other so-called undesirables,

stripped, beaten, forced into the gas chambers because shooting them was too slow and it took too long.

In later years, we've seen the terror of beastly figures like Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe,

who literally and physically smashed and clubbed their own people to death,

cutting off their limbs and letting them bleed out.

Or Saddam Hussein, who on the 16th of March 1988 dropped chemical bombs,

killing 5,000 Kurds, letting them burn and blister before they died.

But that's all in the past, isn't it?

These sort of crimes and wars don't happen anymore, do they?

Well, today we turn on the news and we see the rise of an even uglier beast in the form of ISIS.

With an army of 40,000 strong, they are massacring hundreds, raping at will,

cutting off heads, sticking them on railings to spread fear and terror.

You see, the beast that Daniel saw is what we continue to see in our generation.

Kingdoms replace kingdoms.

The next one that arises is always more terrifying and frightening.

Kings replace kings, crushing and devouring and trampling their victims underfoot.

With all that man says about how mankind is developing and becoming more mature and more sophisticated,

let's not pretend that our world is good and beautiful.

The world we live in is ugly, nasty, brutal and beastly.

This is what is going on in our world all the time.

But as Daniel looks in his vision, it becomes more specific.

Because it seems these three beasts that we read in Daniel chapter 7

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

are especially opposed to God's people.

Look at verse 23.

He gave me this explanation.

The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth.

It will be different from all the other kingdoms

and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.

In this context, this fourth beast was the Roman Empire.

One of the largest empires the world has ever seen

as it did go and crush its enemies.

And what did it do?

Well, look at verse 25.

He, that is, the leaders, the kings of this, or the emperors of this empire,

will speak against the Most High, that is, God,

and oppress his saints, God's people,

and try to change the set times,

that is, do away with times of worship

and change the laws.

The saints, God's people, will be handed over to him

for a time, times and half a time.

So for a set period of time,

they will be under this terrible oppression.

To be a Christian and live in the Roman Empire

was dangerous for 250 years.

You were lucky to survive and live

if you were a Christian in the Roman Empire.

Rulers such as Nero,

one of the first great empires to arrive on the scene,

hated Christians.

He's the one to blame for the great fire of Rome

on the Christians.

There was a great fire and he said the Christians had done it

and he killed them.

He was also notorious for his crucifixions

and burning Christians as torches

for his garden parties.

And the ten kings that we read about,

or the ten horns that we read about in this passage,

if you look at the Roman Empire,

there were ten great periods of persecution.

You can look that up and find it out for yourself.

But every empire, one ruler after another,

created great opposition and persecution to God's people.

This is what happened.

But this is what continues to happen all across the world.

Kings and kingdoms speak against God and oppose his people.

Nations ban the worship of God.

They say they're not allowed to meet together like we are today.

rulers make having a Bible illegal.

Laws are put in place to deliberately discriminate against God's people.

Everywhere throughout the world,

God's people, the saints,

are opposed and oppressed.

The vision of Daniel is crystal clear.

The world we live in is a beastly place to live.

And it's especially beastly if you are a Christian.

So that's the first thing Daniel sees.

What is going on in the world.

The second thing Daniel sees is the beauty.

What God will do in the world.

Look back to verse 8.

While I was thinking about the horns,

there before me was another horn, a little one,

which came up among them.

And three of the first horns were uprooted before it.

This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man

and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

And as I looked,

thrones were set in place.

And the Ancient of Days took his seat.

You see, before we even have a chance

to figure out who or what this little horn is all about,

the vision changes tact.

All of a sudden, the focus moves from the beast

to the beauty.

From the terrifying and frightening

to majesty and glory.

Look at verse 9.

The Ancient of Days takes his seat.

The Ancient of Days is the God who created the universe,

who exists from before time began.

And here he arrives and he takes centre stage

as he sits on his throne.

What will he do?

What's going to happen?

Well, first,

he will bring universal judgement.

Look at verse 9.

We're told that his clothing was white as snow.

The hair of his head was white like wool.

A sign of his absolute purity.

No fault can be found in him.

No charge is levelled against him.

And his purity is matched by his awesome power.

Look at the rest of verse 9.

His throne was flaming with fire.

And its wheels were all ablaze.

A river of fire was flowing,

coming out from before him.

The rivers of fire around the throne

dispel any thought of frailty or inability.

There is no weakness here.

This is absolute raw power.

Thousands upon thousands attended him.

Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

This infinite number of people who are gathered around the throne,

who attend him,

display his supreme control,

that he rules over all things.

No one dares speak.

All are transfixed on this pure and powerful one

who is sitting on the throne.

And what happens?

Look at the end of verse 10.

The court was seated.

And the books were opened.

Universal judgement is about to take place.

All that has ever been done

is accounted for.

Every act has been seen.

Every word has been heard.

Everything in history

has been written down in the book

and it has been recorded.

Everyone who has ever lived

must listen.

All has been weighed.

And now judgement

is about to begin.

What else will happen?

There will be eternal punishment.

Look at verse 11.

Then I continued to watch

because of the boastful words

the horn was speaking

to one of the great kings of this empire.

And you could imagine like,

well, God may judge

but you're not going to judge me.

I'm the one who rules over this great empire.

Nobody's going to take over me.

I kept looking

until the beast was slain

and its body destroyed

and thrown into the blazing fire.

The other beasts

had been stripped of their authority

but they were allowed to live

for a period of time.

But their end would come also.

There is no appeal here.

There is no chance of reprieve.

It's final

and it's eternal.

The beasts who have wrecked havoc,

destroyed nations,

trampled their victims underfoot,

are punished once and for all,

destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire,

completely destroyed,

never to rise again.

Justice

is done.

So what will take place

or what will take the place

of these terrible beasts

and their terrifying rule?

Well, he goes on to tell us

that there will be a king

and a kingdom

in their place.

Verse 13.

In my vision at night

I looked and there before me

was one like

a son of man.

Not beastly

but like a human.

One like a son of man.

Coming with the clouds

of heaven

which symbolise

that he comes with

divine status.

So we might call him

a God

man.

And he approached

the Ancient of Days

and was led

into his presence

not to be judged,

not to be punished

but,

verse 14,

to be given authority,

glory

and sovereign power.

This God

man

has absolute power

and supreme authority.

He rules

and he controls

all things.

Here is an eternal

universal king

whose strength

and wisdom

is infinite.

And all peoples,

verse 14,

nations and men

of every language

worshipped him.

Instead of running

in fear

from the beast

they now stop

and bow

and worship

worship

the one

with amazing

beauty.

Why?

Look at the end

of verse 14

because his dominion

is an everlasting

dominion

that will not

pass away

and his kingdom

is one

that will never

be destroyed.

In place

of those

beastly rulers

comes a king

who rules

with power

and authority.

in place

of those

cruel nations

comes a kingdom

that is marked

by peace

and justice.

A kingdom

that is never

to be destroyed.

A kingdom

that is eternal

and one

that is universal.

But what about

God's people

in the midst

of all of this?

What will happen

to them?

Well Daniel's

vision

is given

we are given

a deeper insight.

Look at verse 26.

What happens

to God's people

at this time?

We're told

the court

will sit

and his power

that is

the beast's power

will be taken away

and completely

destroyed forever.

Then the

sovereignty

power

and greatness

of the kingdoms

under the whole

heaven

will be handed

over to the saints

the people

of the most high.

What a beautiful

picture we have

there.

The saints

God's people

who have been

opposed

and tortured

and persecuted

throughout history

who have been

imprisoned

who have been

separated

from loved ones

who have been

broken

who have been

destroyed

who have been

inflicted

all the saints

throughout history

will become

rulers

with the most

high.

The power

and greatness

of the kingdoms

under the whole

heaven

will be handed

over to the saints

the people

of the most high.

His kingdom

will be an

everlasting kingdom

and all the

rulers will

worship

and obey

him.

This king

will not

abandon

his people

despite

everything

they have

been through

he is going

to take

them to

his kingdom

to be with

him

forever

and forever.

That's what

God is going

to do.

But let's

ask the question

how do we

know

this will

happen?

How do we

know this is

going to

happen?

How do we

know God

is going

to do

all of

this

that he's

going to

bring

his kingdom

in?

Well

2000 years

ago

a man

walked

on this

earth

who did

the kinds

of things

that only

God

could do.

he began

to heal

people.

He began

to raise

the dead.

He controlled

nature with

just a word.

A man

who did

what only

God could

do.

His name

we know

is Jesus

and yet

he repeatedly

referred to

himself as

the

son of

man.

Jesus

knew the

vision of

Daniel 7

and he

knew that

he was

verse 13

the one

like a

son of

man who

was given

authority and

glory and

sovereign power.

In fact

when Jesus

faced his

own beastly

execution and

trial under

the Roman

Empire we

read this

keep your

finger in

Daniel 7

but just

flick forward

to Mark

Mark 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14.

So Jesus

knew what

it was to

be under

the beast

of the

Roman Empire

and their

terrible

persecution

and opposition.

Mark 14

Mark 14:61

verse 61.

So here's

Jesus just

before his

execution his

trial has

begun.

The end of

verse 61 he's

asked the

question are

you the

Christ the

son of the

blessed one?

Are you

are you God?

Do you say

your God?

I am

said Jesus

and you

will see

the son

of man

sitting at

the right

hand of

the mighty

one and

coming on

the clouds

of heaven.

Today

Jesus is

saying to

them you

judge me

me.

But a

day will

come when

I will

judge you.

One day

you will

stand before

my throne

because I

am the

son of

man with

all power

and all

authority

and you

along with

all creation

will be

silent and

listen to

me.

Jesus'

words were

not just

empty.

He proved

what he

said as

he rose

from the

grave.

With

absolute

power and

supreme

authority

Jesus defeated

and destroyed

his enemy

and he

reigns and

he rules

and one

day he

is going

to come

again on

the clouds

of heaven.

And one

day we

too will

face this

son of

man.

One day

we will

all be

gathered and

we will

stand before

his throne

and judgment

will take

place.

But for

the saints

for those

who love

him for

those who

worship him

for those

who follow

him and

entrust

their lives

to the

son of

man Jesus

Christ the

one with

all power

and all

authority

they will

not face

the eternal

punishment

instead

Daniel chapter

Daniel 7:18

7 verse

18 the

saints of

the most

high will

receive the

kingdom and

will possess

it forever

yes forever

and forever

this is what

God will

do

this is

what will

happen

the beauty

with all

his glory

and all

his power

will come

again and

destroy once

and for

all the

terrifying

and frightening

beast

let's

pray

father we

see an

amazing

vision

in your

words

something that

terrifies us

as we look

out on the

world and

see the wars

the violence

the aggression

of one nation

towards another

the rise of

rulers

and the

things that

they do

to people

but yet

we also

see in

this vision

the beauty

and the

glory

of a

mighty

king

one who

did not

stay

immune to

the suffering

but one

that entered

in

we thank

you that

one day

the risen

Lord Jesus

will come

again

on the

clouds of

heaven with

all power

and authority

and glory

and every

eye will

see him

and everyone

will know

that he

has come

universal

judgment

will happen

and those

who have

been against

him

will be

punished

eternally

but those

who trust

him

will live

forever

in his

kingdom

and will

rule over

the nations

and the

kingdoms of

this earth

forever

and forever

we praise

you and

thank you

that you

are a

great

God

we bow

and we

worship

you

and trust

you with

all of our

lives

amen

we're going

to sing

in response

to what

we've been

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you

you