Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world, so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Jump into is going to be an interesting sermon. We're going to see how you handle prophecy on a Sunday morning.
Some of you are already. I just said prophecy and you went kind of a thing. And I will do my best to make it very interesting. It's not going to be the entire time, but as we're doing this series on the King is coming, this is as impactful a passage about this that you will find in the entire Bible. And we're going to do our best to try to just briefly explain the book of Daniel to you, and some things that that happen here in chapter seven, and how it relates to our King, and our subject today is an everlasting kingdom.
Let's pray. Pray for Brother Bill. Pray for the Nelson family, and we have a lot going on. And I appreciate you being here today. Lord, we love you.
Thank you for every person that's here, Lord. There is a lot of churches they could be at today, and Lord, I am glad that they're here. Lord, we we're not a perfect church, and there there might be bigger, might be better. I don't know, but Lord, I am just thankful that we get to be here. I am thankful for this church.
And we are here to preach Your Word today, and everybody that's here in this building, you knew they would be here. And so, Lord, what You want to apply to our hearts today, I pray that You would help me to rightfully divide, to clearly explain. Pray that You'd bless the Nelson family, bless Mike and his daughters today, and I just pray You'd bless as the family. Celebrates and memorializes, and Lord, I pray that you'd bless them. Bless Bill at the hospital.
Pray you'd give doctors the ability and wisdom. And Lord, you know our request, and we pray that you would protect Brother Bill and bless Miss Carolyn and the whole family. We sure do love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Now we read really the first couple verses for you to understand that Daniel has this vision. How many of you dream a lot when you go to bed? All right. How many of you just hardly ever dream? Raise your hand.
All right. There's my CPAP guys, and we. You just went from hey now you're mad me mad I'm tired. I um, I've had I've had some doozies of some dreams over the years, and we're not here to talk about all those. But I had a dream.
What was it last week? I think Jules. That I had a dream, and in the dream, my boys play ball all the time. We have basketball goals all over our house. We I even mounted one in our vaulted.
Living room in our house. I know that's hard to believe. I did it while my wife was gone years ago. It's still there, and and so was she.
So, but anyway, um, and we have one hanging on the door in the kitchen, and over there they just always play, and they get kind of rough. And now it started when they were this, you know, and it was real fun.
Now, you know, they're six four and and six three, just about, and and and now Caden's growing up, and man, it's it's stuff's broken all the time. Dogs are stepped on. It's just it gets Vicious.
So I had this dream, and in this dream, my oldest Daniel was playing basketball with my youngest Caden, and you know Daniel's twice the size in a sense and in height and everything. And they were playing, and so Daniel decides he's going to get this ball and he's going to go up for a dunk. And Caden's trying to guard him, and Daniel just plowed through him and knocked him against a wall to make this thing. And Caden came up and had blood all over his face. And I woke up.
It was probably three in the morning, and it upset me so bad. I I couldn't go back to sleep. I ended up I was in the living room. I was mad at my oldest. I was very mad at him.
I was worried about Caden. I'm already thinking of the long wait in the emergency room and what do we do? And I'm all I was so it was so realistic. How many of you that are married have had a dream so bad you were mad at your mate the whole next day? Anybody have that?
Every once in a while, my wife will have a bad one, and she won't talk to me for an entire day, and I didn't do anything, but I did in her dream apparently, and so it you get in trouble.
So we're not here talking about that in a sense, but I am saying this: that I get people ask me all the time, "Does God use dreams?" And I would say this: that God can use anything He wants to use. I think he can use them. I don't think that I would create my whole doctrine and life quest over a dream, you know. And you know, God told me to be a clown for the rest of my life. I don't think Nick will ever have that dream.
So, but when we're talking here in Daniel chapter seven, this is the real deal. This is something different than you and I have ever experienced, and God used through Daniel to give us some prophecy. If you know anything about prophecy, the Book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation are just your two biggies.
Now I have walked you through Genesis all the way through, and we still have a couple other stops in the Old Testament tracing.
Some prophecy and there's more there, but we you know we're trying not to have a three year long series, and so we're keeping it just about two or three months. But we've been tracing the king through this, but now we come to Daniel chapter seven, and this is very very different.
Now let me explain if I can a little bit. Hope that this will help. The book of Daniel can be divided into two themes and into two languages. And and just I want I want to make sure that some of you are educated on this and that you understand the first portion of the book of Daniel describes what happened in Daniel's early life.
Okay, the second portion of the book, starting in chapter seven, it shifts to prophecy about the future.
So that ought to help you a little bit right there. And beginning in really chapter two, all the way through the end of chapter six, is Daniel's earthly life. But in chapter seven, his life. And the future events of prophecy begin to what we call dovetail.
Now, not only is it separated into those two themes—his his earthly life and future prophecy—but with those two themes, it's in two different languages. Daniel chapter two, all the way through about chapter seven, is is written in Aramaic, okay, and then beginning in chapter seven onto the end is written in Hebrew. And many you know sometimes people think the entire Old Testament. No, there's different. Pieces that are written in Aramaic, and one of the reasons for that is for these things to not just be given to Jewish people, but they're written Aramaic.
So this this was something they wanted that even the Gentile nations and obviously to have access to.
So it was written in Aramaic.
So you can separate the Book of Daniel in his earthly life and future prophecy, Aramaic and Hebrew. And some of you have already learned something. If you have, say Amen.
Some of you have learned nothing at all so far. That's okay. We're not even going to ask for that response.
Okay. Daniel has this prophetic dream, and beginning really in verses three all the way down, I'm going to explain this to you. If you read, if we read it, obviously you're welcome to read it. I'm going to try to help you decipher it.
Okay. Daniel has this dream, and in his dream there are winds that come out of heaven. And they they kind of hit the Mediterranean Sea, and this by the time I'm done, this will sound like a really bad pizza dream, but this was a God given dream and vision, really not dream, but a vision to Daniel.
So there's this rolling wind that comes down on the Mediterranean Sea, and out of the Mediterranean Sea, four animal like creatures come out of the sea in Daniel's dream.
Now I have written here just so you can understand it. You say, "Why are we going?" You've got to understand this so that we can get to the prophecy about our King.
Okay. So first, this creature number one is a lion with wings, and this first creature comes out.
Now we know from Daniel chapter two, a couple of different references in Daniel chapter two, that this first Creature, this lion with wings represents the Babylonian Empire, and it's depicted as a winged lion that comes out of the water. And all these powers, these creatures, are going to be fighting each other.
Okay, creature number two is a bear, and and this second creature, according to Daniel chapter seven, in in Daniel's vision, looks like a bear, and this is representing Nebuchadnezzar's had this same dream image of the Medo Persians.
Okay, and so you have. The Babylonian Empire in the first one, the lion with wings, and then you have the Medo-Persians, which is this this second creature, a bear coming out of the water. Then you have a third authority, you would call it government, whatever you want to call it, power, a ruling power, is a leopard with wings, and he has four heads. This is getting even more interesting, right? And this third creature symbolizes the predicted line of who would kind of dominate the Mediterranean, and that is the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great.
Okay, now we know this because a little bit later it explains who these creatures are.
Okay, and so Daniel has this vision that God gave him. Here's here's the wind that comes out of the heavens onto the Mediterranean Sea, and these four creatures come. Out, you have a lion with wings. You have a bear come out. You have literally a leopard with wings and and four heads.
So so far, you have the Babylonians, the Medo Persians, and then you have the Grecian Empire and all these powers. But then comes the fourth creature, and the fourth creature is not. We're not told exactly what creature it was, but here's how he describes it. He had iron teeth. Bronze claws.
I just described some of your mother-in-laws, but anyway, iron teeth, bronze claws, and tin horns. All right, very interesting creature.
Now, this fourth creature is not like any specific animal, and it wasn't like any other animal. Very unique.
Now, for now, at this point, Daniel can only describe it as horrifying and powerful. And then out of this creature, Daniel sees a series of horns, ten horns. But what's interesting in Daniel's vision, you have these ten horns, which we know later would represent ten kings and rulers. But there is a little horn that all of a sudden comes out above from behind these ten horns and kind of exalts itself, this smaller horn above these ten horns.
Now this little horn displaces three of the original ten. You say, "Well, you need to know." Let me get through it. This little horn, as it appears, takes the place of three horns. In other words, conquers them. And this little horn has human-like eyes.
He speaks strong and impactful words. We later learn that this fourth beast represents the Roman Empire.
Okay, but this little horn that shows up out of that, we'll talk about that in just a minute.
So that's kind of the vision that Daniel saw. Wind comes down; these four creatures come out. The fourth creature comes out. It's very unique. It's got ten horns.
All of a sudden, this little horn takes over and and comes out among it. And then these three, these four powers begin to fight. And literally, they have a system where one rises, the other one falls, then the other one rises back up, and the other one falls. And Daniel watches this jockey. Of power, everybody, kind of with me so far.
Say amen.
Now I know it's like, well, I don't really. Neither did Daniel.
Okay, Daniel, by the way, was very concerned, very distraught by this vision that he saw. But next. In the middle of all this happening, these four powers are going after each other, and one will rise, one will fall, one will rise, one will one will fall, and then this fourth beast kind of conquers all these other three beasts, and then this little horn behind the ten rulers of this fourth beast, you know, kind of comes to the forefront, and in and in the middle, all this Daniel has a vision of seeing God the Father seated on his throne, and he is surrounded. By an unbelievable amount of heavenly beings.
Now the Lord here, another name for God, giving here in this passage is the Ancient of Days, and I have preached on that particular name, the Ancient of Days. And here, God shows up on the throne. While here's these four kingdoms and ruling powers, and they're jockeying for position. And all of a sudden, God shows up on the throne to bring judgment. To the world, now this fourth beast is kind of out jockeying the others, but then he's killed, he's destroyed, and listen, he's incinerated, he's burned up.
What Daniel sees next is crucial to what we're going to talk about today, and it's crucial for you to understand what's going to happen in the future.
Now, here's what's interesting.
So far. In these last couple months, we have been talking how the Bible is pointing to the fact that the King is coming. That man fell. That that sin reigns, and there has to be an answer. And so, a Messiah was predicted.
And so, this entire time, we're talking about the fact that the King is going to come. And here in Daniel, before the King ever comes, we have a prophecy that not only will he come, but that he will conquer, and he will go back to heaven, and then he will come back again.
So now we have skipped to the pact of where oh the king is going to come.
Now he has a vision that the king already has come, and now he's come back again for the second time. Oh my goodness!
Now I want you to notice this: of Daniel sees God on the throne. What he sees next is interesting. He has this vision that displays, and Brother Frank read it to you, that a heavenly figure approaches God the Father on His throne. And this new person is described as one like the Son of Man, but very interesting here—it's capitalized, Son of Man.
Now, this is understood as a reference to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ. And Jesus often refers to himself as the Son of Man, in Matthew and Mark, even in Revelation. And the Son of Man, according to the Bible, was endowed with power and authority over the entire earth.
Now, these images made Daniel very anxious. He was very troubled.
So, in the middle of this vision, listen to me. Daniel asked help from one of the heavenly beings if he would help him understand it.
Now, many commentators believe that this is the angel Gabriel. All right. Now we don't know that. What we do know is that later Gabriel is mentioned and specifically tasked with explaining prophecies to Daniel in chapter eight and in chapter nine.
So we think this might be Gabriel. And Daniel says, "I don't know what these things mean." So, what do these things mean? And so, Gabriel explains that these beasts are four kings, or there are four nations, and they all come from humanity.
Okay, and he reassures Daniel in the middle of all this, in verses fifteen to eighteen, that God's people will conquer, that God's people will have an eternal, unending kingdom, while all these other four kingdoms rise. And fall, and then they're finally utterly destroyed. God's people will have a kingdom that will last for an eternity. Very interesting.
So now, the same being we think might be Gabriel, he also explains some other things. As prophecy goes, it's very unusually direct and kind of very simple. Not all prophecy is completely explained. But the fourth beast in Daniel's dream is a unique government, and it will dominate. It will conquer the entire world, and out of this fourth beast there will be ten kings, some kind of rulers or leaders in this worldwide empire.
And it will look like the fourth beast is winning, and it will look like these ten rulers, represented by this fourth beast, is actually. Conquering God, that it's actually overshadowing God's kingdom. That's what it's going to look like. Gabriel tells Daniel. Yet at this time, this.
Little horn from these ten rulers. This little horn that obviously shows himself. The Bible says that this new leader will emerge. This little horn out of these ten horns, and he will defeat some of the original leaders. And he will blaspheme God.
He will persecute the saints of God, and he will arrogantly presume to change the laws of God. Yet the Bible here in verses 23 to 25 in Daniel 7 says that his time will be short, and this is exactly what it says. It says that he will have three and a half years.
So who is this little horn? It's the Antichrist.
So out of this one beast, this fourth beast that conquers everybody, it's going to look like now they've conquered the world. And how are they going to conquer the world? Where it's going to look like they're bringing peace. But they're not bringing peace; they're bringing chaos. But it's going to look like that, and then out of these ten rulers, there's one that's going to show up on the scene—the antichrist—and he will rule for three and a half years.
But when the time is right, Jesus will obliterate this evil kingdom and this ruler. And the people of God will be restored. Believers will be given an eternal place in an eternal kingdom, serving an eternal King. Prophecy's heavy, isn't it? But it's interesting, isn't it?
Even on a Sunday morning, isn't it?
Some of you were like, "Can I go to Olympic?" I'm getting really hungry. This is a lot to take in. Not yet, all right.
Now, even though he knows what this vision means, Daniel is deeply affected by what he sees.
So, I want us to pick back up at verse nine. It's on the screen, and then I'm just going to give you some points, basically out of verses twelve and thirteen, fourteen. Notice this. Look at verse nine. Daniel says, "Now that you understand it a little bit, I beheld till the thrones.
That's these four kings were cast down." And the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment—now here we have a description of God the Father, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame.
Now, notice this about his throne and his wheels, as burning fire.
Some of you car guys got to be really interested in this. You think you can burn rubber? By the way, Ezekiel says the same thing about the throne of God. Describes wheels. Why?
Well, commentators believe because this means that the throne of God can move, and literally means this: God's on His throne in heaven, but guess what? His throne's going to be right here on this earth.
Now, here's what interesting. Notice this. Look if you would. Look at verse ten. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him.
Wow. Here's what it says: Thousands, thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were open. Daniel says this: I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. I beheld even till the last beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away. Yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. And here it comes, number one. I want you to see beginning in verse thirteen and fourteen. I want you to see Daniel's vision of our King.
As we continue in this series, as we build to Easter, you have to understand here. Listen to me. All this time, I've been telling you, showing you in the Bible where the King is going to come, come to earth, die on the cross for our sins, raised from the grave. But now we're told by Daniel, before it ever even happened, that it already happened, and now we are after that. Look if you would at verse thirteen.
I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man. Came with the clouds of heaven. Number one, I want you to see the first thing Daniel saw. Daniel saw the second coming.
Now, do not get confused. This is not the rapture of the church.
Okay. You say, "Well, but that's what's happening next." Yes, remember what I said—the first time Jesus came, He came to us on Earth. The next time He's going to come, He's not coming to Earth; He's coming to the heavens, and He's coming for us. And you and I, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds.
Okay, but the third time is actually the second coming of Jesus to this Earth. The first time he came as a baby, born in a lowly manger, and he was—they tried to kill him from the moment he was born. He lived an inconspicuous, basically poor life. Look at me. But the second time he comes to Earth, he is not coming as a baby, and he's not coming in a manger.
He is approaching Earth with us. He is coming with the clouds. Of heaven.
Now, I want you to notice what Daniel sees here: the Son, capital S, of man. Why is it capitalized? Why?
Who? Who are we talking about here? The Son of man.
Well, this is a reference to the Messiah, and this is a reference to Jesus Christ. But listen to me. What you need to get this: capital S means he's God. Little man means he's man.
So the Son of man means he is the Son of God, and he is man. He is God. And he is man. He is both. He is the son of man, which means this is a reference that God is going to come, that our King is going to come, but he's going to be born a man.
Daniel sees the second coming.
So now this shows that not only does it happen, does he come? That he is born, that he does live a perfect life, that he does die on the cross, that he is buried, that he is risen again, that he does conquer death, hell, and the grave, and that he ascends back into heaven, leaves us the Holy Spirit, and on this whole time the church is being gathered together, the body of Christ is. Being built, and listen to me, dear friend. The day is going to come, the trumpet's going to sound, and you and I, which have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, will be caught up with Jesus in the clouds, and we will be with Him in heaven. And then there will come the time that we will all come back with the Son of Man to this earth.
And that's what we're talking about here. The King, Kerwin Baptist Church, is coming again. Not only that, here we go from being told the King is coming to seeing that He's coming again. Listen to me; don't you ever lose sight of it? We've dedicated a whole year at this church to remind ourselves.
The king is coming. The son of man is coming. I want you to notice, secondly, what Daniel sees here. He doesn't just see the second coming. Daniel sees the sun approaching.
Daniel sees in this vision that the son of man comes with the clouds of heaven. We're not talking about the. We're talking about the millennial reign of Jesus. He rules and reigns for a thousand years here on earth. Notice this, and came to the Ancient of Days, God the Father, on His throne, and they brought Him near before Him.
Remember, earlier in this vision, Daniel saw God the Father seated on a fiery throne of judgment. God is called here the Ancient of Days, and He. Is called that in Psalm chapter ninety. Also, this Son of Man figure, which we believe we know is Jesus the Messiah, is brought before God, and he is given power and authority. The concept of Messiah, by the way, is from a Hebrew word.
It's Mishiaq. It means the Anointed One. In the Greek, the Messiah, the ideal Messiah, comes from the word Christos, which is where you and I get our word Christ, which which obviously is the title.
So here we have the Son of Man approaching God the Father at the throne. That means this: that all the way from where man first fell in the garden in Genesis chapter three, it is promised that the Son of Man would come. All the way in Genesis chapter twelve, it is affirmed that he would be the descendant of Abraham. All the way to Genesis chapter forty-nine, that he would be of the tribe of Judah. All the way to Second Samuel chapter seven, that he would be.
Of the line and lineage of David and Solomon, these are all indicators that point that this is Jesus of Nazareth. He is all God and He is all man, and He came and He died and He rose and He ascended, and He's already come back for His bride. And now you and I are right here in Daniel chapter seven. We're with the King.
Now here's what's interesting about it. Number three, I want you to see in verse fourteen, Daniel sees the Savior receiving. He sees the second coming. He sees the Son approaching, and as he comes to the throne, notice in verse fourteen, and there was given him, given him.
Now we see the Savior receiving. By the way, may I say something? Up until now. All our Savior has done is give. Do you understand?
To this point, all Jesus has ever done is given to you. He gave you life. He gave you hope. He gave you salvation. He gave you a new family.
He gave you His righteousness. Can I have an amen this morning, Corwin Baptist Church? Up until now, it's all been about what He has given you, but now He comes, and now His kingdom is eternally set. We believe this is going to happen. We know it's going to happen.
It's as if it's already happened, and now He finally gets something. He's earned it. What does he get first? He gets dominion. This is simply the word; it means to have mastery of, to have power, to bear rule, to be the ruler.
Now, Jesus, he's always ruled, he's always reigned, but now we're not just talking about the saved. Look at me. This is the entire. Population on Earth at this—this is the world giving him dominion.
Now, listen, everybody in this building should be giving him dominion. But can I tell you something? Everybody outside this these walls don't give him dominion. I don't know about you. Ninety percent of what I see on media and TV and everything—they don't give Jesus dominion.
But what we're talking about now—he finally is going to get what he deserves. Everybody will recognize and claim him that he is the ruler. Notice second he receives glory. This is simply honor.
So far here on earth, all he has gotten is ridicule.
So far, all of what he's gotten here has been made fun of. He's been belittled. He's been given hate. He's been given criticism. Thank you for listening today.
We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at KerwinBaptistChurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today.
God bless you.
