Looking Forward from Behind Part 4 RDS8B

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. Today we're picking up where we left off yesterday in this unique perspective message called, Looking Forward from Behind. You remember yesterday, Daniel chapter 2, we were reading about how Daniel was composed and courageous and uncompromising. I believe a couple of my notes also careful, confident, and controlled.

Well, those are a part of his aspect of life and following the Lord. But inside that, we discover even more today about how we apply that to our own lives. As we study, know that we're available for you. Meeting you online at www.tewonline.org or on the phone at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.

Now today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. Now look what happens here. What Daniel was saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, beginning from verse 36, is that this statue of this huge, awesome, dazzling, wonderful man. I've tried to ask myself why the statue is so enormous and dazzling. Some people say it's because of the prominence of Nebuchadnezzar. Well, that may be true. But I personally believe that it's enormous and dazzling and strong because God created man.

That's why. How did God create man? God created man in his own image and what God was showing to mankind. He was saying, listen, I created man, enormous, dazzling, striking, strong, this incredible thing created in the image of God.

I breathed the breath of life into him, but he's got feet of clay. Sin entered his life. And yes, individually for you and me, the wages of sinners death. But as nations through the transformation of the historicity of mankind, it is no less different that the wages of sin is death. And what God created in his own image because of sin is ultimately going to be destroyed because sin has feet of clay. This is a picture of the chronological downward spiral of mankind from his creation in the image of God until his utter destruction before the power of God. When God rises up and says, I am the rock of Israel.

I am the mountain. I'm going to live and reign forever and forever and forever. And the Bible says that the rock of Israel is going to come from on high. And the battles of the world are going to be gathered together and they're going to come at Armageddon. And God is going to wipe them from upon the face of the earth. And Satan and his cohorts are going to be taken and they're going to be given the ultimate body slam.

They're going to be placed into outer darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth and the kingdom of God will rise and he will rule and reign as the rock of our salvation forever and forever and forever and forever. Who is man that thou art mindful of him? Who is man?

Let's look at this thing. Who is the head? Well, we're told who the head is. Verse 37. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory.

Can you imagine that? Daniel turns to King Nebuchadnezzar and says to him, all right, I've told you that this is a statue and that the head is made of gold and you are the head. Daniel says to King Nebuchadnezzar exactly what King Nebuchadnezzar needed to hear.

He didn't need to hear anything else. Now the interesting part about it is that historical record states that the Babylonian Empire was the empire of gold. Everything was made of gold. Much of the writings that you go back to related to this period of time. When you read about the Babylonian Empire and Nebuchadnezzar, they had so much gold, everything was made of gold.

You talk about streets paved with gold. They were the kingdom of the golden day. They were the golden empire from beginning to end. The Babylonian kingdom. This is also the beginning of the Gentile opportunity to receive the gospel. God has moved the capital from Jerusalem to Babylon. And right here in this particular point and this is one of the reasons why this is a prophecy concerning the Gentiles because in verse 38 God's word says to Nebuchadnezzar, it is in your hands that he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them and you are that head of gold.

I think that God was saying to Nebuchadnezzar, listen let me tell you something Neb, you're a mighty powerful man and I tell you what I've blessed you buddy and you don't know how much you've blessed and you are going to blow it big time because you don't honor me. Somewhere in this and I please do not think I'm trying to read things in but in my heart and I can only say the Spirit of God puts them in my heart. I see a picture of the Garden of Eden here. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

He created them so beautifully in his own image. The Garden of Eden was the ultimate place of gold. They had everything until they sinned against God. And God said I tell you what I'm going to do.

Not only are you going to cover up your nakedness in shame but I'm going to drive you from the Garden of Eden. If you look at the historicity of mankind it begins with the head with the perfectness of God's creation. The divine Word of God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and God created man. But then he says to him from verse 39 he says I want you to know Nebuchadnezzar that after you there's going to be another kingdom. And he moves from the head down to the breast and the arms and he says in verse 39 another kingdom inferior to yours.

Look at the word there in verse 39 back in the Hebrew text the Bible uses the word inferior of less significance not nearly as powerful. And so we have the rise of the Medo-Persian Empire. History records that you and I know that we know about the Medes and the Persians. And we know too that the Medes and the Persians were a nation that were revolved or founded upon silver. Silver was the ultimate asset of the Medes and the Persians.

It was the ultimate trading. These Medes and Persians they were experts in taxing people. The Medes and the Persians were people who spent literally years and decades devising ways in which to be able to get more silver from the people. They were experts in government regulations. The Medo-Persian kingdom.

Remarkable. Then he says after you they're going to be the Greeks. First of all you've got the Babylonians that's the head of gold. Then after you is going to come the Medo-Persian Empire silver. Then we know about the Greek Empire known as the Bronze Age. Basically from 331 to about 63 BC. We know all about Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great not only called himself the king of the world but he thought he was the king of the world. And one thing that distinguished the Greek Empire from the Medo-Persian Empire was that all their armor was made of bronze. They fought in bronze armor.

They were far more mobile because apparently they had a lighter weight on them. And so we find ourselves moving from the Babylonians to the Medo-Persians to the Greek Empire and all of a sudden out of this rises the great Roman Empire. The Empire of iron.

We're down to the legs now. The fourth kingdom in verse 40 of chapter 2. Strong as iron will crush and break all these things in pieces. Remember if we go back to verse 39 we must realize that the Greek Empire the Bronze Empire ruled over the earth. They dominated everything that was done and everything that was said. They were in charge until all of a sudden the Romans turned up.

When the Romans turned up the Romans crushed and broke everything in front of them. They were in charge. The Romans dominated them. You'll remember even at the birth of Jesus the Bible says Caesar Augustus sent out a decree that all the world should be taxed. They ruled with a rod of iron. The Romans were in charge.

They marched across the world obliterated everything in sight. Now I want to tell you something about this folks. From verse 37 until verse 40 we have got historical fact. In fact there's not one of us here today who can dispute that. It's historical fact. The Babylonian Empire is historical fact. The next world empire was the Medo-Persian Empire historical fact.

It's already happened. It's not prophecy. It was prophecy here but to us it's historical fact. The Greek Empire Alexander the Great historical fact. We know about the Greeks. We know what they did. We know that they ruled the world.

The Roman Empire and all the Caesars the iron age historical fact. But from verse 40 we move from historical fact into prophecy. We move into the church age. We move into the time in which we live and on into the future.

And so if you look at me from verse 41. You're going to all of a sudden find ourselves in this area called prophecy. Now folks what did I say about the future? I said two things are required. Number one you and I have got to look at historical fact. And number two we've got to come back to the point of trust and faith. We've got to accept the fact that God's in control. He's telling us what is going to happen but it hasn't yet happened. And we know that whatever it is that's going to happen including those things. He tells us is going to happen is all in the hands of God.

But what does he tell us? Look at verse 41. He says just as you saw the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron. So this will be a divided Kingdom. Yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it. Even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay. So this Kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. Just as you saw the iron mixed with clay. So the people will be a mixture and will not remain united.

Any more than iron mixes with clay. Folks here we move into the whole of the book of Revelation. In a few verses. Which of course I'm not going to summarize the whole of the book of Revelation in a few statements.

Accepting to say this to you. That following the domination of the Roman Empire. As we move into this church age. Which we are in today. The Bible says a new empire is going to be established. That's clear. And the new empire is going to be a mixture of different people.

Alright I want to draw a line. Because we're going to move out of a definitive word from scripture. Into what Pastor Wilton believes God is saying. And to what I believe potentially could illustrate this. And what I would use to illustrate this is the union of the European nations.

I believe that myself. What is happening in Europe today fits the description of the new Roman Empire. The euro came into existence.

Which is the new European currency. There is a conglomeration of nations in the European confederation. Such of which we would never have dreamed.

But do you know that all of a sudden. In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Together with the new European Union. That there are people coming into the new alliance. That you and I would never have dreamed.

Would ever become partners. With the United States of America not under any circumstances. Now I'm not making the statement to pass judgment on what is happening with NATO I've got personal feelings about it. I've got the same kind of feelings that I would have had back in 1937 when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. The British Prime Minister went and had a little cup of tea with a man by the name of Adolf Hitler.

You remember? And he trotted over there to Berlin. They had a jolly good cup of tea together. Neville Chamberlain the Prime Minister came back.

Landed there back in England and waved a piece of paper and said I have it in my hand. Peace for all mankind. Adolf Hitler? Declare war?

Are you joking? He's a man of peace. And if you read the fundamental precepts of Mein Kampf. My story written by Adolf Hitler while he was in prison during the Weimar Republic. You can read there very clearly for yourself that Adolf Hitler always had in mind two things. Number one was a thing called Lebensraum. Lebensraum means literally translated from the German living space. Living space means that I have to have somewhere to live. His second basic presupposition was called Herrenvolk. H-E-R-R-E-N-V-O-L-K. Another German word which means pure race. I have to have living room to provide for my pure race. Neville Chamberlain said don't believe anything you've heard.

I have signed a peace accord. Just thought I'd mention that. There's something about these feet that fascinates me. There's a strange kind of odor that seems to come from these feet.

They are a mixture of iron and clay. Do you know that during the Afghanistan war. In 1979 the national security advisor of the United States of America was a man by the name of Zbigniew Brzezinski. Do you know that Brzezinski is a man of Polish descent who became the national security advisor under President Jimmy Carter. And at the height of the Afghanistan war Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Secretary of State at the time flew to Afghanistan.

And Brzezinski stood there and gave one of the most unbelievable speeches ever recorded by an American in the history of mankind. He stood in front of those Afghan rebels and he said we the American people support you because God is on your side. And if God is on your side you cannot lose.

Which God? Politics makes popular bedfellows. There's something about these feet. I haven't quite got it all worked out. But there's something about these feet. It seems to me that what God is saying that I have created man in my own image with a head of gold. But because of the sin of mankind he is driven from the Garden of Eden and he has feet of clay. And I'm going to totally destroy him because what's going to happen he's going to try and mix Immorality with the standards and the strength of a God who is uncompromising.

You cannot mix iron and clay. I don't know. Perhaps he was talking about this new Roman Empire. That would rise up that we would be politically strong but morally weak. Perhaps there's a word here for the United States of America.

In which we have come to the point at which the only thing acceptable for us is the way a president governs not the way he behaves. Maybe what we're talking about here is the whole issue of feet. The feet of mankind. There's something about the historicity of this person called man.

And so it is here that we are taken for a walk a journey. Yes the Babylonian kingdom of gold even Isaiah the prophet called Babylon the kingdom of gold. The Medo-Persian kingdom of silver the Greeks the Bronze Age the Roman Empire.

Iron strong dominated everything. The new Roman Empire yet to be announced from verse 41 through 43 culminating in verse 44 with God's kingdom the rapture and the revelation of Almighty God. God says in verse 44 in the time of those kings note that that's plural by the way. We started off with one king with Nebuchadnezzar we ended up with kings.

The domination of many peoples all trying to come together. The kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end but will itself endure forever.

This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain but not by human hands. This rock is the rock of our salvation. This is the kingdom of God. This is the kingdom that will never end. This is the kingdom of all kingdoms. This kingdom is so powerful it is part of the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end.

It is a rock that will break the iron, it will break the bronze, it will break the clay, it will break the silver and it will break the gold to pieces. God will set up his kingdom forever. The new kingdom ruled by the antichrist the conglomeration of all the states of all the peoples coming up against God to do battle yea even at Armageddon. But here comes the rider on the white horse and he is king of kings and lord of lords and he reigns supreme.

Now folks just as I close may I suggest something to you. Every time I've tried to put down a little bit of suggested homework in Psalm 118 verse 22. Listen to what Psalm 118 verse 22 says.

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, the cornerstone. The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. So therefore let us rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice in what? Rejoice in the rock of our salvation. Rejoice in the absolute certainty of our future. Rejoice in the fact that Jesus Christ was, is and always will be totally 100% victorious. I've got an announcement to make.

Here it is. The battle has already been won. I tell you what folks we can study history and we can study prophecy. But I tell you God's in control. You know he loves each one of us. He loves us so much. He's the rock of our salvation. And because he's the rock he's going to grow up and he's going to expand and all nations will bow before him. And his kingdom will last forever. Isn't that great? Perhaps as Dr. Wilton was praying you are sensing the power of God in your life to make a change, a course correction, whatever it might be.

Perhaps this is the question you need to answer first from Dr. Don Wilton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. God has spoken to you. Let us talk with you.

Let us pray with you. We can connect right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. There's a wealth of resources there we'd love to connect you with.

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