INTRODUCTION:
1. PAGE FOR PAGE AND VERSE FOR VERSE DANIEL
IS ALLOWED TO REVEAL MORE
ABOUT THE MESSIAH,
HIS KINGDOM AND FUTURE EVENTS IN THE WORLD THAN ANY
OTHER MINOR PROPHET.
2. MUCH OF THE CONFUSION ABOUT THE END
OF TIME THAT WE SEE IN THE
RELIGIOUS WORLD
TODAY STEMS FROM MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL.
3. FROM THE IMAGE OF CHAPTER TWO TO
THE 70 WEEKS OF CHAPTER NINE WE FIND
VARIED AND WIDE
COMMENTARY ON WHAT DANIEL SAW AND WROTE ABOUT.
4. LIKE ALL OF GOD’S WORD WHEN KEEP
IN THE CONTEXT IN WHICH IT IS WRITTEN
AND ALLOW THE
REST OF GOD’S WORD TO DO THE INTERPRETATION WE FIND THAT
EVEN THE DIFFICULT
PASSAGES OF DANIEL ARE OPENED TO US TO UNDERSTAND.
I. IN CHAPTER TWO, KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR WAS GIVEN A DREAM FROM GOD ABOUT
FUTURE EVENTS IN THE WORLD.
A. READ CHAPTER 2:31-35
1. NEBUCHADNEZZAR SAW A GREAT
IMAGE, BUT LIKE US THIS DREAM LEFT HIM AND
EVEN
HIS SO CALLED WISE MEN AND MAGICIANS AND ASTROLOGERS COULD NOT
REVEAL
TO HIM WHAT HE HAD DREAM AND THE INTERPRETATION.
2. NEBUCHADNEZZAR THREATEN TO
KILL THEM FOR THE FAKES THAT THEY REALLY
WERE.
3. FINALLY DANIEL FINDS OUT WHAT
IS GOING ON AND HE SPOKE TO AROICH THE
KINGS
CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD, THAT IF HE COULD SPEAK TO THE KING THAT HIS
GOD WOULD
REVEAL THE DREAM AND THE INTERPRETATION.
4. AFTER SEEKING GOD’S HELP IN THIS
MATTER WITH HIS FRIENDS, IT WAS GIVEN
TO DANIEL TO
KNOW THE DREAM AND THE INTERPRETATION.
B. READ 2:36-45.
1. HERE WE FIND FOUR WORLD KINGDOMS
AND IT IS REVEALED THAT THE MESSIAH
WOULD
COME IN THE FOURTH KINGDOM AND ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM THAT WOULD BE
AN EVERLASTING
KINGDOM, A KINGDOM THAT WOULD BE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE
WORLD.
2. THESE VERSES ALONE SHOULD BE
ENOUGH TO SHOW PEOPLE WHO HAVE AN HONEST
HEART THAT PRE-MILLENNIALISM IS FALSE.
II. IN CHAPTER SEVEN, DANIEL HAS A DREAM AND VISION ABOUT FOUR KINGDOMS
MUCH LIKE NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM OF CHAPTER TWO.
A. 7:1-8
1. VERSE 2, THE FOUR
WINDS ARE A REFLECTION OF DISTURBED PEOPLES, AND
THEY ALSO REFLECT THE OVERRULING PROVIDENCE OF GOD, WHETHER BY MEANS OF
ANGELS OR OF MEN.
2. THE FOUR BEASTS
DID NOT ALL COME UP AT THE SAME TIME; RATHER, THEY
CAME UP ONE AT A TIME.
a. THE FOUR BEASTS WERE DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER, THEY WOULD BE
DIFFERENT IN AREAS OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL GOALS.
b. EACH WOULD HAVE IT’S IMPACT UPON SOCIETY AT LARGE, THE BABYLONIAN
EMPIRE CONTRIBUTED THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUES; THE MEDO-PERSIAN CONTRIBUTED
A
HIGH RESPECT FOR LAW AND ORDER; THE GRECIAN EMPIRE CONTRIBUTED A NIGH
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE CONTRIBUTED A GUARDED
CRADLE FOR THE NEWBORN INFANT CHURCH.
3. THE TEN HORNS OF THE
FOURTH BEAST IN VERSE 7 HAS CAUSED ALL KINDS OF
SPECULATIONS AS TO WHAT THEY REPRESENT.
a. MUCH OF THE CONFUSION EXIST OVER WHICH DANIEL SAW THE FOURTH BEAST
COME OUT OF THE SEA WITH TEN HORNS OR DID THEY LIKE THE BEAST COME UP ONE
AT A TIME?
b. WHEN ONE READS WHAT THE REST OF THE CHAPTER REVEALS ABOUT THESE HORN
ONE GREAT A BETTER UNDERSTANDING.
c. BEGINNING IN VERSE 19-27 WE FIND MORE ABOUT THE HORNS ESPECIALLY THE
LITTLE HORN, THE ELEVENTH HORN THAT PUTS DOWN THREE OF THE OTHER HORNS
AND WARS AGAINST THE SAINTS OF GOD.
d. SINCE THE FOURTH BEAST IS THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE HORNS ARE KINGS IT
SEEMS BEST TO UNDERSTAND THAT THESE TEN HORNS ARE RULERS OF THE ROMAN
EMPIRE.
e. POMPEY ALL THOUGH HE IS NOT CALLED AN EMPEROR HE HELD ALL THE SAME
POWERS THAT THE EMPERORS OF ROME HELD.
f. IF WE BEGINNING NUMBER THE TEN FROM HIM THAN VITELLIUS WAS THE TENTH
HORN OR RULER WHICH ALONG WITH GALBA AND OTHO ALL RULED IN 69 A.D. AND
WERE PUT DOWN OR REPLACED BY VESPASIAN, THE LITTLE HORN.
g. VESPASIAN WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE EMPERORS BEFORE HIM BECAUSE HE CAME
FROM MODEST ANCESTRY.
h. HE PUT DOWN THE JEWS THE SAINTS OF GOD LIKE NO OTHER RULER EVER DID,
IN SHORT VESPASIAN ORDERED THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
i. JUST PRIOR TO HIS CRUCIFIXION, JESUS SPOKE CONCERNING THE FORTHCOMING
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
1) HE WARNED HIS DISCIPLES, SAYING, “WHEN THEREFORE YE SEE THE
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION [THE ROMAN ARMY], WHICH WAS SPOKEN THROUGH
DANIEL THE PROPHET, STANDING IN THE HOLY PLACE (LET HIM THAT READETH
UNDERSTAND), THEN LET THEM THAT ARE IN JUDAEA FLEE UNTO THE MOUNTAINS:
LET HIM THAT IS ON THE HOUSETOP NOT GO DOWN TO TAKE OUT THE THINGS THAT
ARE IN HIS HOUSE: AND LET HIM THAT IS IN THE FIELD NOT RETURN BACK TO
TAKE HIS CLOAK...AND EXCEPT THOSE DAYS HAD BEEN SHORTENED, NO FLESH
WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED: BUT FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE [THOSE WHO EMBRACED
JESUS] THOSE DAYS SHALL BE SHORTENED” (MT. 24:15-22).
j. THUS WHAT DANIEL AND JESUS WERE BOTH REVEALING WAS THE DESTRUCTION OF
JERUSALEM AND NOT THE END OF TIME IN THESE PASSAGES.
III. IN THIS CHAPTER IN VERSES 9-14 DANIEL HAS A GLIMPSE INTO HEAVEN.
A. THE THRONES OF THE FOUR BEASTS
WERE CAST DOWN AND THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
DID SIT UPON HIS GREAT WHITE THRONE.
1. IN THIS VISION IT IS REVEAL THE SON OF MAN THE MESSIAH RECEIVING HIS
KINGDOM IN HEAVEN.
2. THIS SHOWS WENT CHRIST RECEIVED HIS KINGDOM, HE IS NOW A KING REIGNING
OVER HIS KINGDOM WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED DURING THE FOURTH WORLD KINGDOM
AS REVEALED TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
IV. IN CHAPTER NINE 24-27, THE SEVENTY WEEKS WERE REVEALED TO DANIEL.
A. THE ANGEL GABRIEL HAD APPEARED TO SHOW
DANIEL NOT JUST A SEVENTY YEAR
PERIOD, BUT RATHER
SEVENTY WEEKS OF YEARS OR SEVEN TIMES SEVENTY.
1. IN SHORT, A PERIOD
OF 490 YEARS HAD BEEN DECREED FOR DANIEL’S PEOPLE,
AND FOR THE HOLY CITY (JERUSALEM) AS WELL.
2. THE 490 YEARS WOULD
BE NECESSARY IN ORDER TO FINISH TRANSGRESSION, TO
MAKE AN END OF SINS, TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY, TO BRING IN
EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, TO SEAL UP VISION AND PROPHECY AND TO ANOINT
THE MOST HOLY.
B. TO FINISH TRANSGRESSION MEANT THAT THE
SEVENTY WEEKS, AS ANNOUNCED BY
GABRIEL SIGNALED
THE FULL END OF THE DESOLATION WHICH HAD BEEN IMPOSED
UPON THE JEWISH
NATION FOR THE PEOPLE’S SIN OF IDOLATRY.
1. JUDAH LIKE ISRAEL
BEFORE IT BEGAN TO JOIN THE NATIONS ROUND ABOUT IT
IN WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS.
C. TO MAKE AN END OF SINS MEANT THAT
BY THE END OF THE 490 YEARS A WAY
WOULD
BE PROVIDED WHEREIN SINS COULD BE FORGIVEN THAT IS, BLOTTED OUT
ENTIRELY,
NOT JUST ROLLED FORWARD.
D. TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY
MEANT THAT BY THE END OF 490 YEARS
A SYSTEM WOULD BE ESTABLISHED OR ANNOUNCED WHEREIN THE SINNER ANY AND ALL
SINNERS MIGHT COME IN CONTACT WITH THE CLEANSING POWER OF THE BLOOD OF
CHRIST.
1. THIS
SYSTEM DID NOT MEAN THAT ALL SINS, AS SUCH, WOULD BE FORGIVEN;
INSTEAD, IT MEAT THAT A MANS FOR THE REMOVAL OF SINS WOULD BE PROVIDED.
E. TO BRING IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS
MEANT THAT WITHIN THE 490 YEARS
PERIOD A SYSTEM
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WOULD BE ESTABLISHED ON THE BASIS OF
FAITH IN THE
REDEEMER COUPLED WITH A COMMITMENT TO A LIFE OF HUMILITY AND
GOOD WORKS AND
SUCH A RIGHTEOUS COURSE WOULD BRING ABOUT ETERNAL
SALVATION.
F. TO SEAL UP VISION AND PROPHECY MEANT
THAT WITHIN THE PERIOD OF 490
YEARS
THE VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CONCERNING THE
MESSIAH
[THE REDEEMER] WOULD BE FULFILLED THAT IS, THEY WOULD NO LONGER
BE OPEN AND
AWAITING FULFILLMENT.
G. TO ANOINT THE MOST HOLY MEANT THAT WITHIN
THE PERIOD OF 490 YEARS THE
“MOST HOLY”
THE CHRIST, WOULD BE ANOINTED THAT IS, HE WOULD BE SEATED ON
THE THRONE
OF GOD.
1. TO
ILLUSTRATE, IN THE MIDST OF THAT SEVEN YEARS, THE CHRIST SUFFERED
DEATH ON THE CROSS.
2. HIS BODY WAS BURIED IN A BORROWED TOMB, AND ON THE THIRD DAY, THE
CHRIST AROSE FROM THAT GRAVE AND APPEARED UNTO HIS DISCIPLES FROM TIME
TO
TIME OVER A PERIOD OF FORTY DAYS.
3. THE END OF THE SEVEN YEARS WAS THE BEGINNING OF PERSECUTION OF THE
CHURCH WHICH CAUSE IT TO BE SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD.
CONCLUSION:
1. GABRIEL’S
MESSAGE TO DANIEL RELATIVE TO THE SEVENTY WEEKS WOULD BE
DIVIDED INTO THREE MAJOR PERIODS.
a. THE FIRST WAS 7 WEEKS OR 49 YEARS WAS A PERIOD OF TIME WHICH WAS
ALLOWED FOR THE COMPLETE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM WITH WALLS, TEMPLE AND
STREETS WITH OLD MEN AND WOMEN WALKING IN THE STREETS AND CHILDREN
PLAYING IN THOSE STREETS.
b. THE SECOND DIVISION WAS 62 WEEKS OR 434 YEARS WAS INTERIM BETWEEN THE
FIRST PERIOD OF 49 YEARS AND THE LAST PERIOD OF ONE WEEK OR SEVEN YEARS.
c. THE LAST PERIOD OF ONE WEEK OR SEVEN YEARS WAS THE PERIOD OF GOOD NEWS
THE MEANS OF SALVATION FOR JEWS AND GENTILES, THE CHRIST A MEMBER OF THE
GODHEAD WOULD INHABIT THE EARTH THEREBY MAKING A TOTAL PERIOD OF 490
YEARS.
2. AS
YOU SEE WHEN KEPT IN CONTEXT IN WHICH IT WAS REVEALED AND ALLOWING
THE REST OF THE BIBLE TO HELP INTERPRET THESE VISION THEY ARE NOT SO HARD
TO UNDERSTAND.
3. IT
IS WHEN WE DECIDE WHAT THEY MEAN AWAY FROM GOD’S WORD THAT WE GET
INTO TROUBLE.
4. AS
WAS REVEALED IN TONIGHT’S LESSON GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE AND HIS WORD
IS SURE.
5. WILL YOU NOT COME TONIGHT AND ACCEPT HIS SALVATION FOR YOU BY BECOMING
ONE OF HIS CHILDREN?
(some of the material for this sermon was apt. or copied from the book
“Daniel A Prophet Of God” by Rex A. Turner SR.)