Daniel tells us that this particular dream and vision came to him in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon. Which means that Daniel at this time was probably some where around eighty-four to eighty-five years old still serving the Lord, still an instrument of God. God is speaking to him of the future.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
He sort of summed up the matter. He gave us the summation of the things that he saw in this vision or dream.
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
In the scriptures, the sea is used as a symbol for the people of the nations. In the seventeenth chapter of the book of Revelation, which is quite parallel to this particular vision that he saw, in verse 15, it says, “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” So, the seas quite often just represent the multitudes of people upon the earth. And, what a apt picture of the worlds population as four winds are striving or blowing and creating this restlessness, this troubled sea, and the scriptures use the troubled seas as a symbol for the wicked who are like a troubled sea. If you have ever seen a sea in a hurricane or a storm, the troubled sea has no rest. It is just restless energy that is there. Thus, he sees the four winds striving upon this great sea of humanity.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagles wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
Now, most Bible commentators see these four beasts as paralleling the four metals of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar. The head of gold, representing the Babylonian Empire, replaced by the chest of silver, representing the Medo-Persian Empire, replaced by the stomach of brass, the Grecian Empire, crushed by the legs of iron, the Roman Empire, and out of the Roman Empire coming the two feet mixed of iron and clay with the ten toes, that weakened revival of the Roman Empire in the last days. And, because there seems to be parallelism in these consecutive kind of kingdoms that rule the world, most people see these as a parallel of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
There have been a few recently, not many, who see in these four beasts or kingdoms that would exist at the end of the world’s present era, the end of the gentile era. And, thus they see the first one, the lion, as Great Britain or the British Empire that had the symbol of a lion. England has the symbol of the lion. And, they see the empire and the wings being plucked and thus the weakened condition of the once great British Empire. In the Bear, of course, the bear has been the symbol of Russia, so they see Russia as the bear. The leopard they see as a federation of Muslim nations that have yet not come to pass, four of the major Muslim nations combining together. Then, of course, the revival of the Roman Empire in the fourth beast. That is a possibility. And, you must always keep your mind open. One thing about prophecy, it is never completely & fully understood until it is completely fulfilled. So, we look at it and we say it appears to be this.
I personally believe that the beasts are parallel to the nations, the kingdoms that parallel the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. And, we will look at it in that way.
Thus, the lion, which of course interestingly enough Jeremiah as he prophesies of the coming Babylonian kingdom likens it as to a lion. In the palaces of the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar, they had these winged lions that sort of guarded the gates to the palace, and thus Daniel being in the palace would have seen them many times, thus the lion could represent the Babylonian kingdom. The power of Babylon was taken. Of course the man’s heart given to it could be a reference to the radical change that came to Nebuchadnezzar after his period of insanity, then the mellowing from the great pride and all that he once had after he came to acknowledge that the God of heaven ruled over the kingdom’s of man.
And behold another beast, a second, like a bear, and it raised itself on one side,
And the Medo-Persian Empire, they see it as it’s raising itself up on one side, the Persian Empire overshadowing the Mede.
and it had three ribs in the mouth
And some see the three kingdoms that were conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. However, they conquered many more.
and it had three ribs in the mouth between the teeth of it; and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
Notice that these are wild kind of devouring animals, thus it fitly describes the kingdoms of man that are basically leading to blood shed, leading to destruction.
After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard,
And people see in this the Grecian Empire.
which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl;
And they interpret that as the tremendous speed with which Alexander the Great conquered the world.
the beast has also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
When Alexander the Great died, at a very early age, there was not anyone in the kingdom that was powerful enough to assume the rule over the whole Grecian Empire. So, the Grecian Empire at the death of Alexander the Great was divided unto four of the generals. And, there came actually four powers out of the Grecian Empire, that of Asia minor, Syria, Egypt and Macedonia. So, the four generals that sort of divided the Grecian Empire and thus the four heads that come out of it.
Now, in verse 7, you get a beast that was indescribable. He can not liken it unto any beast of the forest.
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth;
Of course the iron was the symbol of Rome in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar.
it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it:
This surely does describe the Roman Empire and how it has bludgeon the world into submission.
and it was diverse from all of the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
This parallels the ten toes of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and the final ten nations that will federate together in the last days that will be related in some way to the Roman Empire. And, very possibly the European Community will develop into this, the federation of those kingdoms in Europe.
I considered (looking steadfastly at) the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Three times in the chapter he speaks of the mouth that speaks great things. So, one of the names of the Antichrist could be big mouth, but he is known by many different names, son of perdition, the beast, the Antichrist, the man of sin, and he is known by many different titles.
I beheld (or was watching) till the thrones were cast down,(the kingdoms of man brought to an end) and the Ancient of days (God the Father) did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: and thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Thousand thousands would be millions. Ten thousand times ten thousand would be one hundred million.
In Revelation 5, we find John as he beheld the throne of God and he gives us somewhat of a similar picture in verse 11: “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts(living cherubim) and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands(one hundred million, plus millions); saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing.”
So, we see the similar scene in the book of Revelation. John saw it as Daniel saw it. These are sort of parallel types of visions as they behold the throne of God. Can you picture that? Can you picture this awesome throne of God with millions upon millions of angelic beings, one hundred million plus millions of millions?
So the books were open. It could be the scroll is referred to here. In the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation, John sees a scroll sealed with seven seals writing both on the inside and the outside of it. He hears a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to take this scroll and loose the seals.” And when no one was found worthy to take the scroll, John began to sob, until the elders said unto him, “Wept not John, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, has prevailed to take the book and loose the seals.” And, he saw Jesus as He came forth and took the scroll out of the right hand of the Father sitting upon the throne. And, it was at that time that this worship and praise arose to Christ from the one hundred million, plus millions of angels. And, so the passages are parallel in that the scroll is the title deed to the earth when it is open.
In chapter 10, Jesus comes with the open book or open scroll, puts one foot upon the sea and one upon the land and he proclaims the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Messiah. And, therein is the glorious day that we are anticipating and looking forward to when God’s kingdom comes and His will is done on the earth even as it is in heaven. So, this has to do with that same period of time when the Lord sets up His kingdom and His righteous reign over the earth.
I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake:
Here we have the eleventh horn, which plucked up three. It means that when the Antichrist comes into power, three of the nations that form a part of this ten nation confederacy will be rooted out and he will take their place and then take over.
I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
He watched it until the Antichrist was slain and his body was cast into Gehenna, into the burning flame.
In Revelation 19:20, it says: “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” And, so he watched it till his body was destroyed and given to the burning flame.
In as much as we are going to be looking at the Antichrist, here in Daniel 7, just to give us some other background, turn to the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, and there we read concerning the Antichrist, and you will see the parallelisms between John’s writings and that of Daniel. It says: “I stood upon the sand of the sea, (He saw the beasts coming up out of the sea in Daniel) and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” So, these great things that he says are actually great words of blasphemy against God. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:” We have here the first three kingdoms sort of combined. The lion, the bear and the leopard are combined in this final little horn or the Antichrist. “and the dragon(that is Satan) gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Now, you remember when Jesus came to the earth, the purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ was to redeem the world back to God. God created the heavens and the earth. The earth belonged to God by divine right of creation. He created it. It was His. When God created man and placed man upon the earth God gave the earth to man. God said, “Have dominion over the earth, over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over every moving and creeping thing. For I have given it unto you.” So, God gave to man a glorious gift this beautiful earth. and, God commissioned Adam to take care of it, to dress it, to groom it. But, then when Adam disobeyed God and followed the temptation offered by Satan and ate of the forbidden fruit, Adam in reality turned the world in that action over to Satan. “Know ye not that whomsoever you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you become, whether it be of righteousness to sin or righteousness unto God.” Adam yielded himself to obey Satan’s suggestion. He became then a servant of Satan. And the world at that time was forfeited over to Satan by Adam and now it was under Satan’s control. The purpose of the coming of Jesus was to take the world back, or redeem the world back that it might again once more be God’s who made it in the beginning.
You remember that when Jesus was baptized by John and he was then lead by the spirit into the wilderness for forty days when he fasted. Then afterwards when he was hungry Satan came to him and tempted Him, first of all, to turn the stones into bread. Then he took Him to a high mountain and he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and he said unto Jesus, “All this power I will give thee, and the glory of them if you will just bow down and worship me.” Now Jesus came to redeem the world back to God. Satan is offering to give it up without a fight or struggle. All Jesus has to do is bow down and worship him and he will give it to Him. But, Jesus came to pay the price that was demanded. He came to go to the cross and there pay the price of redemption.
We are redeemed not of corruptible things such as silver and gold from our empty lives, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who was slain as a Lamb without spot or blemish. So, Jesus did not dispute Satan’s claim to own the world. “They are mine,” he said, “I can give them to whomever I will.” He boasted that to Jesus. Jesus did not challenge that boast. Jesus recognized that this world system belonged to Satan, that Adam had forfeited it to Satan. And, Jesus twice called Satan, “the prince of this world.” That is why it is manifestly wrong to blame God for all of the tragedies that are happening in the world today. The tragedies are happening because the world is in rebellion against God’s law. The world is under Satan’s power. It continues to be. And, when the Antichrist comes on the scene, according to Revelation 13:2, the dragon will give to the Antichrist his power, his throne and great authority. What he promised to give to Jesus, he will give to this Antichrist, man of sin, son of perdition, in the last days.
Revelation 13:3: “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon(Satan) which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months,” or three and one half years, one thousand two hundred and sixty days. “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” At that time you will be dwelling there, so he will blaspheme you.
Oh what a time the world is going to have when we go. Phil Donohue is going to have a big thing over this.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:” The saints here, not being the church, but Israel, the Jews with whom God will be dealing in this last seven year period of time. “Power was given to him over all kindred, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” So, this is a description of the antichrist.
Now, in Revelation 17, that we might get a broader scriptural view, it reads: “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto you the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication.” The whore is the false prophet. It is the apostate church, not the true church, that will join forces with the antichrist in leading the world to worship him. “And the inhabitants of the earth have been drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”
So, we recognize this from both Daniel and chapter 13.
“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her head was written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great wonderment. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and the beast that carrieth her, which hath seven heads and ten horns. The beast which you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put it into their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city(Rome), which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
Coming back to Daniel 7:11:
I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.(cast into Gehenna) As concerning the rest of the beasts, (that is the lion, bear and so forth)they had their dominion taken away (their power):yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
Now, Babylon still exists. Today it is called Iraq. Persia still exists. Today it is called Iran. Greece still exists. So these three kingdoms still exist but with no great power anymore. They are minor powers in the world today, yet they still do exist till the present day though not as powerful kingdoms as they once were in history.
Now Daniel says,:
I saw in the night visions, and, behold (here we come back to the vision of the coming of Jesus Christ), one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,
Jesus said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall these see the sign of the Son of man coming with clouds and great glory.’
And he came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
These other dominions have passed away and were destroyed, but not His.
In Psalm 2, a prophetic psalm, the psalmist asks, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” This is the rebellion of man against the laws of God. This is the casting away of the laws of God. This is the casting away of the restraints that God has placed in His laws.
It is interesting that our Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to even have the Ten Commandments posted in the public schools. Let’s cast away His laws. They have taken counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed Jesus Christ. And, they have determined that they are not to have any influence over our national life.
“Let’s break their bands asunder, let’s cast away their cords from us.” But he that sits in the heavens, he comes down and sees these men plotting and this rebellion in man’s heart against Him, and what does he do? He laughs. Foolish man.
“The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” God will speak in the great tribulation. He will allow man to see what will be the consequences when a righteous influence is removed from the earth.
Right now, hell would like to break forth over all the earth. The men of the world are straining against the ropes. Evil is wanting to just flood the earth. The antichrist wants to take over, but the church, weak as it is, the influence of the righteous following after the Lord, is withholding that unrestrained evil.
As when Abraham was talking to God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, “Should not the Lord of the earth be fair? What if their are fifty righteous people in Sodom? Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked?” And the Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous, I will spare the city.” “What if there is just forty-five?” “I’ll spare it for forty-five.” “What if there is just forty?” “I’ll spare it for forty.” “What if there is just ten?” “I’ll spare it for ten.” And God is sparing the world of His judgment today, because of the church. And though we are weak, as the Lord said to the church at Philadelphia, “You have a little strength,” not much, but enough that God is sparing the world His judgment until as He took Lot out of Sodom and then the judgment came, so when the Lord takes out His church the judgment will come.
And, people who have been bashing Christians, and saying, “you rotten fundamentalist who are trying to impose your strict, ridged conviction on the whole world, you are evil.” And oh how they love to get on that band wagon. And, how they would love to get rid of you fundamentalist who believe the Bible, and who believe God’s Word is true. And, one day we are going to give them what they desire. The Lord is going to remove His church out of this world and then they will find out what they have been wishing and longing for, but they will quickly discover it is not what they want.
As the judgments of God begin to fall against the unbridled evil of man, and we see this period of tribulation such as the world has never seen before, so God will speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. “Yet, have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” Immediately after the tribulation of those days they will see the Son of man coming with clouds and great glory to establish God’s kingdom. And, God will set His king, Jesus Christ, upon the holy hill of Zion.
“I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now,” the psalmist exhorts us, “therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoicing with trembling. Kiss the Son.” That is kiss his scepter. It was a sign of submission and yielding and obedience to the king. You would come and he would hold out his scepter and you would kiss the scepter as a sign of your submission to his lordship over your life. So, here it is saying kiss the Son, or surrender yourself to the lordship of Jesus, “lest he be angry, and ye parish with the world around you, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their thrust in him.”
We pray, “Thy kingdom come,” and those prayers shall be answered. God’s kingdom shall come to this earth. His king shall reign. Jesus shall reign where err the son does his successive journeys run. And of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
Daniel 7:13:
I saw in the night visions, and, behold one like the Son of man with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:
Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Now, this is the vision that Daniel saw. And, the result of it was:
I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head trouble me.
Daniel was wondering what is this all about, what does this mean?
Notice it was in the first year of Belshazzar. Daniel was close to Nebuchadnezzar. And, Nebuchadnezzar had had a real conversion type of experience as acknowledged in the fourth chapter as he praises and extols the God of heaven.
When the son of Belshazzar took over, he did not reign long, and he was soon assassinated, but he seems to have followed his fathers faith in the living God of Israel. And, it was at that time that he took Jechoniah out of prison and began to give him a favored position in Babylon. But when Belshazzar came to the throne, here is a young guy, he is not really old enough to have the responsibility of the whole kingdom, and he starts making some foolish moves. And, he starts inaugurating some ridiculous kind of laws. Daniel probably thought what in the world is going to happen to the kingdom now. It made for a questionable future, because of the character of Belshazzar. And the Lord is responding to Daniel showing him what the future holds. But, he was grieved in his spirit. The visions troubled him. He didn’t understand them.
I came near unto one of them that stood by,
They were probably angels, or in the book of Revelation there were elders. When John saw the visions and didn’t understand what was going on the elders often times would explain to him what was going on. When no one could take the scroll and loose the seals, John began to sob, one of the elders said, “Don’t weep John. Hold on a minute. Watch. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is going to prevail. He’ll take the scroll. Don’t cry about it. God has got it in control.” At other times the angels would explain to John a little more fully the visions that he was seeing. Here was one standing by, probably an angel, and Daniel goes up and asks him the truth of all this.
So he told me, and made me to know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings(or kingdoms), which shall arise out of the earth.
Now this is a very brief summation of the vision.
But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
These are the kingdoms of man that will reign for a period of time, but ultimately the kingdom will belong to the saints and they shall reign for ever and ever. As in Revelation, as we hear the worship of Jesus, “Unto Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, and He has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign with Him upon the earth,” the kingdom will be given to the saints forever and ever. Right now Satan is in control. Right now the powers of darkness are holding sway, but there is coming a glorious day in the future when the kingdom will be given unto the Lord and unto His followers, the saints. That is the brief summation. So now Daniel wanted more. He said:
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other one which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
What about that eleventh horn that rose up and all?
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.
Now in Revelation 13, we read that the antichrist made war with the saints in verse 7: “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.” Here it says he prevailed against them.
The words of Jesus to Peter, when Peter acknowledged that He was the Messiah, the Son of the living God, Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are thou for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. I say unto you that you are Petros(a little stone), but upon this rock(petra) I will build my church.” What rock? The confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. He is the Messiah. That is the foundation of the church. And Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That is why the saints could not be the church, because the antichrist does prevail against the saints. And, as we further study the reign of the antichrist, and as you look at it in chapter 12, he makes war against Israel. And many of them are slain. Of those that escape, they escape to Moab where they are protected for a period of time in the rock city of Petra, which we will look at later.
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
“Thy kingdom come , thy will be done.” And, “Come ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth,
In the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, we find the whole world being dominated by the antichrist.
and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first (that is the antichrist), and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints (the Jews) of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of time.
For three and a half years he will have this power over the world and over the Jews. When we get to the ninth chapter, we will read again of the antichrist and we will see the seven year total reign divided into two three and a half year periods. And, the first part will be a deception. The Jews will be deceived and will acclaim him as savior until he reveals his true colors. Then they will flee to the wilderness. He will seek to destroy them, and will make war against them and prevail until his time is up, three and a half years. But he will think to change the times and the laws. A lot of that is being done today, changing of the laws. It is opening the door for more evil to spread its cancer over the world.
But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
God’s judgment will prevail, and the powers of the antichrist will be taken away and he will be consumed and destroyed.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The glorious reign of Jesus Christ over the whole world, reigning with the saints. The Old Testament saints as well as the church of Jesus Christ. will be reigning with Him.
Daniel said:
Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel , my cogitations trouble me much, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
He was humbled by it. He was troubled by it, but he just pondered it and kept it in his heart, these things that God had revealed unto him. Of course, they were not for Daniel to really know. When we get to the twelfth chapter and Daniel is asking some questions about the vision, the Lord said to seal it up. It was for the last days. In the last days knowledge will be increased and people will then begin to understand as they see these events unfold. Daniel didn’t understand it, but wrote it down.
But, it really was sealed until these days as now we see these things happening and we begin to understand more clearly, more fully, the plan of God for this world. And we see it is in the final stages of world history under gentile control. It began with Nebuchadnezzar, but it has just about run its course. And soon the world will again be under the control of Jesus Christ and God’s people. It will be a new world, a glorious true new age in which the Lord will reign in His eternal kingdom.

Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7343
PAGE 2

EMBED MS_ClipArt_Gallery.2