This is Connect with Skip-Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. At Connect with Skip, the heart of what you hear each day is to help you go deeper in your walk with Jesus through clear, practical Bible teaching and real-life encouragement. but you don't have to wait for a broadcast to connect. When you sign up for Pastor Skiff's weekly devotional email, you'll receive inspiring messages and free resources right in your inbox, all to help you weave God's word into daily life.
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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. I believe that some Christians too easily and too flippantly say things like, God spoke to me. You make sure God spoke to you if you say that. Make sure it wasn't last night's. Onions on a burrito.
Well, God showed me.
Well, that's cool, if God indeed showed you, but here's Daniel saying, Can you believe it? I, even I, Daniel. It's a Chinese proverb that says, great men never know that they're great. Moses was like that. When God called him at the burning bush, he said, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?
and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. The first king of Israel, King Saul, started out humble. When he was chosen, He said, but am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel? And is not my clan the least of all the clans in the tribe of Benjamin? When David became king, he said, Who am I, O sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you have brought me?
This far. And finally, there's Paul the Apostle. Who knew what he used to be before he came to Christ and never Let go of that memory. And Paul wrote these words: Unto me, the one who is less than the least of all the saints is this great. or grace given.
So a great person is one who bows before a great God. That's humility. A second characteristic that made Daniel great was not only humility, but singularity. He was a Person with a one-track mind. When he was young, if you remember in chapter one, it says, He purposed in his heart, he made a decision.
He purposed in his heart not to defile himself with a portion of the king's food. And in virtually every situation, Daniel pointed up. to God. When he stood before Nebuchadnezzar, when he stood before Belshazzar, when he stood before Darius the Mede, he pointed up. to God.
He had a one-track mind.
So, a great person is one who bows before God and one who points toward God. He's humble before God, but he points others. toward God. A third thing that made Daniel great It was not only humility, not only singularity. But consistency.
He was consistent over time. What he was as a youth, he continued to be all the way through the scripture. In that incident I just mentioned in Daniel chapter 5, when Daniel was not brought in to the court with the rest of the wise men of Babel, and finally, The Queen Mother after The king Belshazzar was so shaken by what he had seen, he said, Bring Daniel in. She said, Bring Daniel in. For she said, In that man is an excellent spirit, and he was the guy who in times past made all these things known.
To your father the king. Chapter six. Daniel is described as one who distinguished himself regularly or consistently.
So, a great person is one who bows before God, points toward God. and one who is faithful to God. over time. True story. There were two brothers having a discussion after their Sunday school class.
They were in Scotland. And they were discussing their life's goal. The first brother said that he wanted to be rich and famous. The second brother said his goal was to follow Christ to the fullest. That second brother achieved his goal.
He was the famous David Livingstone. the missionary medical doctor and explorer of the continent of Africa. His brother became rich. But his fame was not due to his wealth, but to the fact that he was David Livingstone's brother. When John Livingstone died, on his grave were written these words: Here lies John Livingstone, the brother of David Livingstone.
He was remarkable. David Livingstone, above average, above normal. He was a great man. Because he was humble. Spiritual.
and faithful. That's greatness. Would you rather be king of the mountain for a day? or the child of God for eternity.
Now listen, parents. When you have children and you see and you dedicate those little children, and you think, I want this child to be great. What do you have in mind? How do you define greatness? I know grades are important.
We make a big deal out of grades. Johnny, you made a C, you need to make at least a B. You have it in you to make an A, but you at least have to make a B.
Okay, grades are important. But are they that important? Um excelling in that sport. You want to be really notable in that sport. Hey, listen.
Build within your children. The goal of them being a great person in these terms: the greatness of Daniel: humble, spiritual, faithful, humble, spiritual, faithful, humble, spiritual, faithful. If they get a C minus, but they're humble, spiritual, faithful. If they don't get picked for the team, but they're humble, spiritual, faithful. You have a great child.
A prophet. Named Daniel. He was great. Let's look at a second person in our text. Not named, but inferred, and you'll see what I mean in the first few.
A Persian named Cyrus. In the third year, verse 1, of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, to me, Daniel. after one that appeared to me the first time. I saw in the vision And it so happened while I was looking that I was in Shushan, the citadel, or Susa, the palace, some translations say. which is in the province of Elam.
And I saw in the vision that I was by the river Euli.
Now, get this. I lifted up my eyes and saw there standing beside the river. was a ram which had two horns And the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other. And the higher one came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him.
Nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will. and became great. Yeah. Another wild, weird w Wacky vision. Right?
Think, did this guy have like a Babylonian burrito the night before? Daniel had this in chapter 7, he has it now in chapter 8, and it's like these things just get weirder with each vision.
Now, I will say that I've also had weird, wild, wacky visions, but That was before Christ, and it wasn't inspired by the Spirit of the Lord, but by another substance. That's a whole other story. that I was delivered from. This is the revelation of God. And I find it fascinating that God revealed himself sometimes through dreams, sometimes through visions.
And if you get the picture of. The biblical author sitting in a room, a dark, cold, dim room with the candle, and they're just sort of taking dictation as God's voice is coming through the walls. You got it wrong.
Sometimes they wrote poetry, sometimes narrative, and sometimes they saw an animation before them. Like this wild cartoon of these beasts or animals where one thing represented something else. First of all, in his vision, he is not where he is in person. In person, he's in Babylon. In the vision, he is transported 350 miles to the east.
In the headquarters of the Medo-Persian Empire, where Cyrus the Great. was setting up his kingdom. It says Shushan, the citadel. He sees in the vision a ram with two horns. What's odd about these horns is they don't grow up simultaneously, but one grows up.
Then a second grows up. And it's much More notable, it's taller, it's bigger than the other.
So This is like a ram with an attitude. that he sees. This ferocious ram. Rambo. Just want to see if you're awake.
Why a ram? Because the ram was the animal that depicted the Medo-Persian Empire, just like the eagle is the. Bird that has been chosen to represent the United States of America or for Great Britain, a lion or a bear for the Soviet Republic in times past. The ram what was on the coins of The Persian Empire. The ancient coins have a head of a ram on one side, a recumbent ram on the other.
The king of Persia would often wear as the crown uh A gold Jewel-studded head of a ram. The armies marched with the banner of a ram. on their banners above them and on the shields that they wore.
So Like The two horns, the Medo-Persian Empire, would come in two parts. Media And Persia. Media came first and it was a significant power. Persia was an insignificant power at the time that Daniel was writing, but it was growing, growing, growing. In notoriety.
And it was Cyrus the Great, he was called, and his son Cambyses II, who brought a Medo-Persian coalition.
So that the second part of the empire, the Persian Empire, grew in strength bigger, and by this coalition, They became a world governing power that was the biggest to that date. They had an interesting strategy, history tells us. According to history, they first marched westward and took Babylon and Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, including Macedonia. Then they marched. Northward.
and conquered Colchis where the Region of ancient Georgia and the Soviet Republic, Armenia, Iberia, and the lands around the Caspian Sea. And then they conquered southward, seizing the Levant, Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. Their armies were so large, the historians tell us, that no single nation. nor a coalition of nations could stop them. Daniel sees all that.
Question, how could Daniel know that? That's the whole point. He couldn't know that. This wasn't some Food-induced vision. This was a revelation of God.
God was telling him what is going to happen.
Now, notice verse 4. Notice a word in verse 4. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, southward, so that no animal could withstand him, nor was there any that could deliver from his hand. But he did according to his will and became Great. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Before today's message continues, there's a special offer for your family this Christmas. Hey, this is Nate Heitzig. And if you're like me, one of the best parts of the Christmas season is gathering your kids to share the story of Jesus in a way that makes it come alive. That's why I wrote Christmas Under the Tree. A beautifully illustrated book and companion audio experience for families of all ages.
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Now, let's get back to today's teaching. He became great. The Medo-Persian kingdom was great. Cyrus was Cyrus the great. The word gadal is the Hebrew word.
It means to grow, to become important, to do great things, or to magnify himself. Yes, Cyrus would make it in Time Magazine's top 10 most influential people list. He was great. But you know, the problem is when you're great. As an emperor, There's always somebody greater around the corner.
There's always somebody ready to take your great spot. And Cyrus would learn that the powers that be will someday become the powers that have been. Even Solomon, great King Solomon, said in his writings, the book of Ecclesiastes: I have attained unto greatness. But as soon as he wrote that, he said, yet all of this. It's grasping for the wind.
Grasping for the wind, it's empty. My greatness is so short-lived. Jesus said, What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul. Daniel was great. Cyrus thought he was great.
But somebody greater was right around the corner. Verse 5 tells us. As I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west. across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground, and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Then he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing beside the river.
and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram. He was moved with rage against him. Attacked the ram and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him.
But he cast him down to the ground and trampled him And there was no one that could deliver the ram from. His hand. Therefore, the male goat Grew very, there's the word again, great. But when he became strong, The large horn was broken. And in place of it, four notable ones came up toward the fore.
winds of heaven.
So you have a goat with a prominent horn that moves like lightning speed. feet don't even touch the ground from the west toward the east. This is turbo goat. This is In Star Trek terminology, the goat at warp speed. Moving from the west toward the east.
Now, we don't have to guess who this is, just like we don't have to guess that the first emperor. Is Cyrus the Great part of the Medo-Persian Empire? I want to move you ahead to verse 20. Look at verse 20. The ram which you saw having the two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
Verse 21. And the male goat? is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first King. As for the four As for the broken horn and the ford that stood in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its Power.
So we know who the fourth king was. In history, that was Alexander the Great, the son of Philip of Macedon. Let me give you a little biographical sketch. When Alexander was growing up, His dad, who was a warrior, Philip, The head of the Macedonian emperor. Philip didn't think his son would amount to much.
Isn't that funny? Little Alex, he's not going to grow up to be anything great. Because little Alex Was like an indoor kid. He was like a bookworm. He wouldn't go outside and play.
army like all the other boys. And this was a warrior. He noticed his son just likes to read books. But he was particularly brilliant with books, and so Philip decided to give him a tutor. By the name of Aristotle, Who would help him along?
And tutored him until he was age nineteen. At nineteen, Philip, his dad, died. And when he died, something rose within Alexander to want to become a warrior like his father and avenge his father's death, especially against the Persians who had attacked 150 years prior. That empire that they were living in. And so Alexander Emassed an army not large in comparison to Medo-Persia, but very fast, very swift moving.
And he moved from West, Greece, Toward the east. And wherever he went, history tells us he slaughtered thousands of people and sold people groups into the hands of others. For instance, Alexander the Great came to the city of Tyre and asked for supplies for his men because they wouldn't give him supplies. He decimated every citizen of Tyre. After conquering Tyre, he moved south toward Egypt.
After conquering Egypt, he moved north. Toward the Medo-Persian Empire finally crushing them at the ancient city of Nineveh. After crushing and defeating them, he attacked Shushan. Akbatana and finally Prosopolis. In verse 8, Notice The male goat Grew Very Great.
His dad said, you're not going to amount to much. He became great. History tells us that Alexander's mother, convinced him That he was divine. That he really wasn't the son of Philip of Macedon, but he was a son of the gods. And that he was great.
So he went around telling people. I'm divine. My mama said so. Didn't go over well with his generals. But notice something else in verse 8: the large horn was broken.
On December, no, on June the 10th, In Babylon, after conquering the world, Took him 10 to 12 years to do it. Did it very swiftly. At age 33, Interesting age. Alexander the Great died. He had been drinking the night before.
Some say he was poisoned. Most historians say he just got a fever, some weird fever out of nowhere. And the next day he died. When he was on his deathbed, they said, To whom shall go your kingdom? He said, Give it to the strong.
And they divided it up between, guess how many generals? Four. Four generals, just like this vision predicts. Four generals. Alexander the Great, the horn was broken.
So great, so vulnerable, so weak. Got some virus. He died. There was a reporter who years ago asked the great Walt Disney, the theme park maker, the movie maker, et cetera. How it felt to be such a great Celebrity His answer is classic.
You say, well, it's pretty good, especially when you want to get. Good seats at football games. Or grape. tables in restaurants. But then he said, But Being a great celebrity has never helped me make a good picture, nor command the obedience of my daughter, nor impress my wife.
It doesn't even keep the fleas off of our dogs. And if being a great celebrity won't give me the advantage over a couple of fleas, I guess I can't be that great after all. Net classic? In other words, If you're not a great dad and a great husband, and even a great pet owner, I don't care what else you're great at, you're not that great. Kings don't impress God.
He's the king of kings and the lord of lords. Conquerors don't impress God. One day through Jesus Christ, he will conquer the world that he created. Movie stars and executives and musicians and politicians, none of them ever make God say, Wow. Wow.
God didn't say that. God didn't have to. He's God. Except one type of person. There's one type of person that God would take note of and say, ah.
That person's great. What kind of a person is that?
Well, do you remember when the disciples, the 12 disciples, were arguing among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God? Can you imagine that argument? Peter going, I'm going to be the greatest. I'm Peter. He's called me the rock.
I have a bigger beard than you guys. I'm always first in the list of the 12 disciples. You're not. I'm going to be the greatest. John and James going, I don't think so.
You couldn't fish all that great anyway. You got your mama-in-law living with you. I think we're greater than you are.
So they had this argument, who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom? Finally, Jesus said this, the greatest among you. will be your servant. will be your servant. That's a great person.
Not the person who says, I want to be the greatest, the person who stoops and bows as a servant.
Now that's a great person. Humility. The way up is down. You want to be great? Bow.
Be a slave to people. Be a slave to your wife, husband. Serve them. Serve your husbands, women, serve your children. At work, you're fellow workers, your friends, serve them.
The greatest example is Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he humbled himself. and became a servant. He was great. I mentioned that Alexander the Great. Died at age 33.
How old was Jesus when he died? Yeah. What a contrast. Alexander the Great. Jesus the Christ.
I close with this little poem. Jesus and Alexander died at 33. One lived and died for self, one died for you and me. The Greek died on a throne, the Jew died on a cross. One's life a triumph seemed, the other but a loss.
One led vast armies forth, the other walked alone. One shed a whole world's blood, the other gave his own. Jesus and Alexander died at 33. One died in Babylon. and one on Calvary, One gained all for self, and one himself he gave.
One conquered every tongue. the other every grave. The one made himself a god. The other made himself less. The one lived but to blast, the other but to bless.
Jesus and Alexander died at 33. The Greek made all men slaves. The Jew made all men. Free. King for a day?
Child of God for eternity. Serving Bowing. That's great. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skiff Heidzig. Before you go, don't miss your chance to request Christmas under the tree.
the beautifully illustrated book and audio experience by Nate Heitzig that helps your family see the Christmas story with fresh wonder and excitement. It's yours for your gift of $25 or more to help reach more people with biblical teaching through Connect with Skip. Call 800-922-1888 or go to connectwithskiff.com slash offer. And don't forget to sign up for the free weekly devotional for encouragement from Pastor Skip right in your inbox. Thanks for spending time with us today, and we'll see you next time on Connect with Skiff Heitzig.
Make a connection Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on his wood. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
