Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel had a dream of four beasts.  These beasts also represent the four empires that were present and were still to come.  The first beast represented Babylon, the second the Medes and Persians, the third was Greece, and the fourth represents the Roman Empire.  It’s on this beast that we see the mention of the horns.

Daniel 7:7-8 –   ⁷ “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns
 ⁸ “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

I wrote a postearlier on the ten hornsand my current take on it. 

It’s the little one that comes up from among them that is the focus here today.

Daniel was troubled and asked one who was there in the vision the meaning of the things he saw.  When he got to the fourth beast the scripture says:

Daniel 7:23-27 –   ²³ “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. ²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. ²⁵ He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.

 ²⁶ “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. ²⁷ Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’

In these verses we see that the fourth beast or revived Roman Empire devours the whole earth.  The other king is the little horn and he subdues or rips up three of the original ten kings.  This is also the second time in the chapter that Daniel indicates he is a boastful, proud individual and here he shows it by speaking against God.

I’ve heard Chuck Missler refer to him as Mr. Big Mouth.  I believe that is a very fitting name for the antichrist as he is going to be the world’s biggest politician and leader someday, which chooses to speak against God any chance he gets.

Tomorrow will be a part two but I didn’t name them that way because the two posts can stand on their own.

We have talked about some End Time Prophecies to date.   Those have been Israel becoming a nation again.  We’ve talked about a one world government and a one world banking system.  That brings us to the world ruler in the end times.

The next few weeks we will talk about the world ruler that will come along.  The Jews rejected Jesus as the Christ that was to come.  They weren’t looking for a sacrificial lamb that came to die for the sins of the world.  They were looking for a ruler/king that was going to help them rule the world and give them peace.

John 5:43 – ⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.

The antichrist will come in his own name.  The antichrist has many different titles in the bible and we will go over those in the coming weeks.  What is the term antichrist referring to?

Well if you’re anti-Semitic, you’re against people of different races.  If you’re anti gun rights, you’re against gun rights.  If your antichrist, you’re against Christ.

1 John 2:22 – ²²Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.

The antichrist is a man who has a destiny and a deal with Satan.  In the beginning he is just a man and half way through the Tribulation is killed.  That is when Satan is allowed to enter his body and making it appear that he has came back to life.

How long has the battle been going on between Satan and God?  At least since the beginning of the Bible.

Genesis 3:15 – ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

God had a prophecy for Satan by the 3^rd chapter of the Bible which is immediately after the fall.  Satan was going to have his head crush by the Son of God. 

Satan has always wanted to be like the Most High.  It is his pride that allowed him to fall.  He won’t stop until the Lord casts him into the Lake of Fire along with his partner the false prophet.

Next week we’ll discuss more on the antichrist.

Last week we started looking at Daniel’s dream in chapter 7 and how it was parallel the dream Nebuchadnezzar had.  Both dreams describe four kingdoms that were to rule the earth.

The Lion represented Babylon and the Bear represented Medo-Persia. 

Daniel 7:6 – ⁶ “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

The leopard is a very fast animal and signified the quick conquest of Alexander the Great.  Alexander led the Greeks to a world conquest.  Alexander died at a young age and his son was too young to take over.  So the four main generals took over and created four divisions.  That is believed to be the four heads on the leopard.

Daniel 7:7 – ⁷ “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.

Daniel’s dream like the statue dream the King Nebuchadnezzar had, shows a symbolic feature of this empire that has ten of a specific feature.  In the statue in was toes mixed with clay.  On the beast it’s ten horns.

So the ten horns and the ten toes are driving home the significance of ten something which has to do with world government.  I personally believe that it refers to ten regions that the new world order groups are trying to separate the globe into.  This is just my opinion and it is based on a couple of things.

One, we know that this government engulfs the whole world, otherwise the antichrist wouldn’t have control of all those who buy and sell.

Revelation 13:7 – ⁷He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

Revelation 13:16-17 – ¹⁶He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, ¹⁷so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Two, the horns are ten kings that have not received a kingdom.

Revelation 17:12-13 – ¹²“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. ¹³They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.

As I said I believe its ten regions because the whole earth has to be involved and two, that’s what the one world order groups are pushing for. 

There is a lot more to Chapter 7 of Daniel.  It also finishes with the last Kingdom being run by the Son of Man which we now know is Jesus.  Much of the rest gets into the antichrist and that is another end time prophecy.   In fact starting next week I will start into the antichrist.

Here is some more on the one world government which is to come.  Overkill? 

No it just goes to show you there is quite a bit of prophecy concerning a one world government.

Daniel had another dream after Nebuchadnezzar had finished his kingship and Belshazzar had taken over.  Daniel had the dream during Belshazzar’s first year as king.  He saw four great beasts.

Daniel 7:3 – ³ Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.

Interesting how both Daniel and John speak of the nations.  John speaks of the beast that comes from the sea.

Remember that in Daniel chapter 2 there were 4 kingdoms represented in the statue we read on earlier.  The 4^th kingdom had a change from straight iron to iron mixed with clay when they got to the feet.

Daniel’s dream in chapter 7 is going to reemphasize Nebuchadnezzar’s dream he interpreted in chapter 2.

It talks about 4 animals which are going to represent the 4 world governments.

Daniel 7:4 – ⁴ “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.

The Lion represented the Babylonian Empire.  It’s possible that the wings signify the graceful swoop in which Nebuchadnezzar did when conquering the land.  When the wings were torn off it could be explaining when Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by God in Daniel chapter 4 when he got too proud.

Daniel 7:5 –  ⁵ “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’

The second beast is a bear.  Bears are very powerful.  It is believed that since it was raised up on one side that it had one half of its kingdom stronger than the other.  History tells us that the Persians were stronger than the Medes and maybe this was what it was saying.  The three ribs could be referring to its three major conquering which included Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt.  The Medes reigned over the area of where Daniel was as we read at the end of chapter 5.  Darius the Mede took over the night Belshazzar of Babylon was slain.

Next week we will go over the other two kingdoms that were considered one world governments.

We left off speaking about the fourth kingdom and finished with verses 41-43 from Daniel chapter 2.

This week we talk about the greatest one that will come and it will never end.

Daniel 2:44 –   ⁴⁴ “In the time of those 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 it will itself endure forever.

This will be a kingdom that never ends.  Who is going to set it up?  The God in Heaven and this one will not be left to another people.

Daniel 2:45 – ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
      “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”

Who is the Rock that is cut out of the mountain?  None other than the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, which is Jesus Christ. 

Revelation 19:11-21 – ¹¹I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. ¹²His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
       KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

 ¹⁷And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.”

 ¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Quite an entry!  It is after this that Jesus starts to run His kingdom.  Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven.   Recognize that prayer and didn’t know what it stood for? 

Don’t be one of those trying to make war against the Rider on the horse.  Their fate is revealed right here.  

The armies of Heaven were following Him.  This is the army you want to be in.  Uncle Sam isn’t calling your name to join in this scenario.  If you don’t know Him yet as your Savior and King, it’s the Holy Spirit your hearing.  I invite you to go over to the right column of this blog and click on Accept Jesus As Your Savior if you haven’t done so already in your life.

In Part 2 we got through the first three world governments.  If you haven’t read parts 1 & 2, I invite you to go over to the End Time Prophecy category and click on it.  The next two below this one will be parts one and two.

Daniel 2:40 – ⁴⁰ Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.

In 63 BC, Rome became the fourth world government.  It truly has been the strongest and the largest government of them all.  No one else defeated the Roman Empire.  It just started dying and decaying from within and was so big that it just dissolved.  Bits and pieces began to be conquered.   Probably a better way to put it is the decline of the Roman Empire.  By 500 AD it was a remnant of what it was.

Daniel 2:41-43 –  ⁴¹ Just as you saw that 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. ⁴² As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

Even though the scripture doesn’t really break from verse 40 to 41, you can see that we are now adding clay with the iron and we are going from the two legs into toes.  It’s these toes that are Iron mixed with clay.  Ten toes to be exact.  Ten is a significant number because both in Daniel and Revelation we see 10 horns as a description.  But let’s talk about the toes.

The ten toes are a divided kingdom, though they do have some strength like iron in them they still are partly brittle, as clay is brittle.  This revived kingdom is definitely linked to the one before it or something other than iron would be mentioned with the clay. 

There has been no other world government since the Roman Empire.  We have had those who have tried to make one.

A couple of the most recent rulers that have tried were Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte.  Both fell short of their goals.  They both have tried to do it by the means of conquering.

The world government we see forming before our very eyes is definitely brittle.  However, it’s not hard to understand why.  Powerful influences have been pushing us towards this world government, but you still have so many different thought processes amongst the people themselves.

They have done a good job of tearing down a great country like America, but do they really think Russia is on board?  According to Ezekiel they’re not.  They have their own goals and plans.  How about the Muslim nations?  Sure Christians are taught vengeance is Mine sayeth the Lord and to turn the other cheek.  When Christian’s aren’t they bring up the crusades.  Do you think the Muslims are going to roll over?  No.  They have a goal on conquest and their rulers aren’t trying to sell them out like the Christian nation rulers are.

Iron mixed with clay.  This world government will definitely be just that.  But it’s coming.  All one has to do is look at what they have been attempting to accomplish, read bible prophecy, and realize…it’s coming together quickly.

Next week let’s talk about that last Kingdom mentioned in Daniel 2.

Last week we went through a simple rundown of Daniel after he and other Israelites were taken to Babylon after the capture of Judah.

This week we start in on the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had.  He summons all of the wise men of Babylon and explained that he had a dream and wanted it interpreted.  If none of the wise men could do it, he would have them all killed.  Daniel sought God and the Lord gave him the dream and the interpretation.

Daniel 2:31-35 – ³¹ “You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

An amazing dream and what’s even more amazing is that God gave the interpretation to Daniel to share with Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 2:36-37 – ³⁶ “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands 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 all. You are that head of gold.

Daniel referred to Nebuchadnezzar as the king of kings.  The reason he was saying that is because at that time King Nebuchadnezzar had pretty much controlled the world at the time as a kingdom.  He was the head of gold at the top of the statue.

Daniel 2:39 –  39 “After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours.  …….

Inferior meaning not as rich.  The chest and arms were made of silver.  Interestingly enough there are two arms.  The Medes and the Persians working together indeed conquered Babylon later on in 539 BC.  Daniel was still alive at this time and that story is written in Chapter 5.

Going on and finishing the rest of verse 39 we see another kingdom.

Daniel 2:39 – ….. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.

In 330 BC, Greece conquered the Medes and the Persians and became the next kingdom on the earth.  They were the belly and thighs of bronze.   Also still going down in wealth as bronze is not as rich as silver and gold.

Next week we will continue on with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and work our way into the fourth kingdom.  Why is this dream so important?  As you can see we are talking about world governments.

Last week we went over Revelation chapter 13 concerning the one world government.  Daniel is a great book and actually reveals the different world empires to come. 

Daniel was taken captive when Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel finally fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.  Some of the nobility of the Royal Israelites were taken and trained for three years to be of service to the King (Nebuchadnezzar).  Some of the others that were trained were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They were the ones thrown into the fire for not worshipping an idol and God saved them.

In Daniel Chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.  He summons all the wise men and astrologers.  He tells them he had a dream and it troubled him.  Nebuchadnezzar told them that not only did he want them to interpret the dream, but they had to tell him what it was about.  If they couldn’t then he was going to kill them.

For a few verses more the astrologers pleaded with the King and stated what he asks is too hard.

Daniel 2:12 – ¹² This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel got wind of this and he along with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego prayed to God for the dream and the interpretation. 

Did God give them the interpretation?  Absolutely!  Did He give it to them before the earnestly prayed and sought God?  No.  Is there a lesson to be learned here?   Yes.  Pray and seek God always.  Now back to the story.

Daniel 2:19-23 – ¹⁹ During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven ²⁰ and said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.  ²¹ He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them.  He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.  ²² He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.  ²³ I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:  You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

Daniel is then taken before King Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 2:26-28 –  ²⁶ The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”

 ²⁷ Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:

Am I going to stop here?  Of course I am.  We’re at about at that 60 to 90 second mark.  I do want to reiterate what Daniel just said.  Only God knows the future and He didn’t just give it to Nebuchadnezzar.  He has revealed it and shared it with each and every one of us.  We’re living in the days when more of it than ever is coming to pass.  Don’t get caught up into the world and miss it.  Next Friday we continue on with this End Time Prophecy Post.