Daniel Chapter 8 The title of this morning's message is The
Future. Do you fear it?
I remember when Helen and I were newly married and those we knew
of the same age would then ask, well, are you planning on having
children? And the motive behind the
question was that many couples we knew said that they would not
have children, nor could they raise children.
In such a difficult world that has only a bleak future coming
next year in March. That's 50 years ago.
The same question is still being asked today.
How could you have children, raise children in this world?
I can see the fear in reality for those who are non believers
to ask that and believe that. But for those of us who have
Christ as our Lord and Saviour there's no such fear or concern.
Nor should there be, for we know, we know God has our future
in his hands and he says we are safe in Him.
I remember the first song as a child of the Lord that I
remember was in the world. In his hands he's got the whole
world. In his hands he's got the whole
wide world. In his itty bitty hands, he's
got the whole world. John chapter 10 tells us where
that song came from. I recommend John 10 for you to
know. John 10.
It's one of the greatest securing and fear driving away
chapters in the Bible. John 10 verse 27.
My sheep hear my voice, Jesus said.
And I know them. They follow me, and I give them
eternal life. They will not die.
They shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of
my hand. Jesus says My Father who has
given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to
snatch them out of my Father's hand.
The Bible is the only book that reveals our future, the future
of the world. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 10 in
the new Living Translation says God says only I can tell you the
future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to
pass. Now we're in chapter 8 of
Daniel. Before the fall of Babylon.
Daniel is given a vision by God that Babylon, indeed this mighty
empire under Nebuchadnezzar, would fall.
It's the year 551, chapter 8 BC. It's 12 years before the events
of chapter 5, Belshazzar's feast, when the Medes and the
Persians came in, entered through the gates where the
river Euphrates came into the city of Babylon, the last night
of living for Belshazzar when the writing was on the wall.
It's 12 years before that. And at the time of this vision
and Daniel 8, Babylon itself is in its zenith of power.
It's dominating the world. And yet here Daniel is told by
God, this empire, what you see, it's not going to last.
It has an end day in God's plan. As I drive to church every
Sunday and I see people walking their dog, cups of coffee,
they're at the Dome and people going about their business,
going to all the gyms, etcetera. You know, all this is going to
this is going to end. This ain't going to be like it
is much longer. Verse 1 Daniel eight in the
third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, A vision appeared to
me, to me, Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first
time I saw in the vision. And it so happened while I was
looking that I was in Shushan, the citadel which is in the
province of Elam, and I saw in the vision that I was by the
river. You lie there.
Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and they're standing beside
the river was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns
were high, but one horn was higher than the other, and the
higher one came up last. And I saw the ram pushing
westward, northward, southward, so that no animal could
withstand him, nor was there any that could deliver from his
hand. But he did according to his will
and became great. Daniel in this vision is
transported to the river of Ulah.
It's modern day Iran. 362 kilometres to the east of
Babylon was the city of Suzanne or Sousa.
Suzanne was the home base of Nehemiah where Pastor Israel was
teaching Sunday nights and from where he carried out his role in
this location as cup bearer to the king Axexis.
It is also the city where a young Jewish girl by the name of
Hadassah. That's a great name, isn't it?
Hadassah. She rose up to become Queen
Esther, wife of the great king Ahasiris.
Daniel sees a ram. We know what a ram looks like
being Australians, and it's the Medo Persian Empire.
The two horns are the two leaders of the Medes and the
Persians, Cyrus and Darius. One horn was larger than the
other. That's Cyrus.
He became greater in power than Darius.
Now the headdress, it's interesting if you go onto any
history site you see the headdress that the Persian
Empire's wore in those days was fashioned in the image of Iran.
Now for more than 200 years the Medes and the Persians ruled in
great power over the nations and they conquered the Babylonians
who ruled roughly around 7090 years.
Only verse 5, as I was considering, suddenly a male
goat comes from the West across the surface of the whole earth
without touching the ground. That means travelling fast.
The goat had one notable horn between his eyes.
He came to the ram that had two horns, which I'd seen standing
beside the river ran at him with furious power, colliding with
him. I saw him confronting the ram.
He was moved with Rage Against him, attacked the ram and broke
his two horns. There was no power now in the
ram to withstand him, but he cast him to the ground and
trampled him, and there was no one that could deliver the ram
from the goats hand. Therefore the male goat grew
very great. When he became strong, the large
horn was broken, and in place four small horns came up toward
the four winds of heaven, N, SE and West.
So from the West comes this goat at flank speed and attacks the
ram, breaking its two horns. This is the rise of the Grecian
Empire. Now this is all yet future.
Daniel is living in Babylon. Babylon is still ruling and
reigning. So this is all yet to happen.
The Greeks, their armies were known, renowned for their
military genius, their swiftness in battle, conquering the
Persians, the turning point of the Grecian and the Medo.
Persian battle plan occurred in 480 BC.
It was a naval battle. The Greek commander to Mastocles
lured the Persian fleet with their great ships into the
narrow waters of the straights, Straits of Salami, where the
mass Persian ships couldn't manoeuvre, it was too shallow.
And the Greek trimarines came out and attacked the Medes and
the Persians, ramming and sinking many of their vessels,
and the king sleeking back home. And so the mean Persian Empire
would fall to the Grecians. But there's a notable horn,
remember in this one goat that was Alexander the Great in June
323 BC. However, Alexander died at the
age of 32 following a two week febrile illness at which he said
they said, well, what are we going to do about the Kingdom?
He said to the strongest. And the Grecian Empire was
divided between the four powerful generals at that time.
Verse 9 And out of one of them came a little home, which grew
exceedingly great toward the South, toward the east, toward
the glorious land. And it grew up to the host of
heaven, and it cast down some of the hosts.
Now this is not talking about Alexander and some of the stars
to the ground and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high
as the Prince of the host. This is someone claiming to be
God. Alexander didn't do that.
And by him, notice the daily sacrifices in Israel were taken
away, stopped. The place of his sanctuary was
cast down, the Temple because of transgressions.
An army was given over to the Horn to oppose the daily
sacrifices. So power was given to this evil
new ruler, and he cast truth down to the ground.
Notice the wording. He did all this and prospered.
What happens is out of the dividing of the Grecian Empire
came the Seleucans, a 175 BC. Out of the solutions came a
dynasty. In Syria arose a wicked man, a
most wicked man, a type, a shadow of the coming Antichrist,
yet to appear, an enemy of God, an Israel.
His name, Antiochus Epiphanes, the 4th Philipeter, was his full
title. This man, Antiochus, was pure
evil. He believed himself to be God.
He even christened himself Epiphanies, meaning God
manifest. He was called Epimenes, however,
by the end by those who were against him, which means Mad
Men, he sent out a decree. Now this is happening back after
the breakup of the Grecian Empire before the Roman Empire,
and Antiochus sent out a decree throughout all the empire as his
ruling, demanding that every citizen in the empire worship
him as God. Does that sound familiar?
Everyone in the empire followed. I bowed down.
They worshipped Antiochus, called him God, deity, but for
one group of people who refused the Jews.
When Antiochus found out about the Jews and their resistance of
worshipping him as God, he went ballistic with rage.
He sent an army to Jerusalem and there he sorted over 100,000
Jews. His army stormed Jerusalem, and
as Daniel prophesied in the verses we've just read, he
ceased all morning and evening sacrifices.
He stopped all Jewish worship in the Temple.
He shut it all down. He forbid them having a Sabbath
or any feast. Instead, he built idols and
shrines throughout the holy City.
But worse was to come, for in 167 BC he had a sow that is a
pig sacrificed in the holy of Holies and then spread its blood
throughout the whole temple. He banned circumcision, outlawed
it. Finally, anyone who didn't bow
down to him and worship him as God was killed, executed.
That's back. This is a type and a shadow of
what's to come. You'll see this verse 13.
Then I heard this is Daniel, a holy one speaking, and another
holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, how long
is this going to occur? How long will the vision be
concerning the whole thing of the daily sacrifices and the
transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and
the host to be trampled under foot?
And he said to me, 2300 days and then the sanctuary shall be
cleansed. Daniel heard the holy ones,
angels we believe talking together.
And he said he wondered, how long is this Antiochus going to
do this blasphemous thing in the temple when all sacrifices, all
worship is suspended and the sanctuary desecrated?
This prophecy was written in 350 years before the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes, amazing for 2300 days, as the Bible said in
this prophecy, from 171 BC to 165 BC, Antiochus, this evil
rule committed great abomination against God and against the
people of Israel. But then in December, 165 BC,
culminating in that date, there arose of priests by the name of
Judas Maccabees, and he drove out, raised up an army, drove
out the Syrian Army. He cleansed the temple,
rededicated it, got the priest to rededicate it after its
pollution, and this cleansing was thereafter celebrated and
called the Feast of Lights. It's also known as Hanukkah.
There was just enough oil, because to light the menorah in
the temple, you had to have a special oil.
The Vegas tells us they had to grind up a special oil ground
out and made with this, and only the priest could do that.
There was enough oil to put in the menorah for one day and they
put it in, lit the menorah, but it went for eight days.
It was a miracle. And so the festival is
celebrated today. The cleansing of the temple, the
lighting of the menorah. It's often, it's also called the
menorah. It's also called Hanukkah.
It was a nine branched lamp and it's celebrated December 2025
each year. Now this prophecy, however you
go, So what? What's that?
What's all that stuff in the past got to do with me today,
2025, stay with me. This prophecy that Daniel gave
had a dual prophecy. Yes, Antiochus Epiphanes, but in
the days yet ahead for you and I in Matthew chapter 24 verse 15,
Jesus is on the Mount of Olives and he gives what's called the
Olivet discourse when they said Jesus tell us, tell us what's
going to be the end of the age. And then you go through Matthew
24. He deals with the tribulation
and all the events that are going to occur with Israel.
Hear Jesus words. Matthew 24 verse 15.
Therefore Jesus said when you see the abomination of
desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
So who refers back to Daniel's words standing in the holy
place? It happened in Antiochus before
Jesus. Now Jesus says this is going to
happen in the future. Whoever reads, let him
understand. Then let those who are in Judea,
it's Jewish, flee to the mountains.
Let him who was on the housetop not go down to take anything out
of his house. Let him who was in the field not
go back to get his clothes. Run for your life, but woe to
those who are pregnant, to those who are nursing babies in those
days. Pray that your flight may not be
in winter or on the Sabbath, for then there will be great
tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world
until this time, nor ever shall be.
So Jesus takes us into the seven year tribulation period in this
passage. And unless those days were
shortened, no flesh, no one would be saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
And so for you and I, what happened with Antiochus and the
temple back at the time in Daniel's vision, it happened
with Antiochus. But now we look forward to
events that have not yet happened because there's a
coming world leader, the Antichrist.
The Bible calls him the Lawless 1, and he's soon to appear on
our political ward. It's very interesting that many,
many people now, many people who aren't Bible scholars, aren't
believers, are saying certain people have this, this, this
thing, this, you know, they call him the Antichrist because many
people are going, well, you know, is Trump, is it him?
Is it, Is it Putin? Is it GG Ping?
Just who is this This powers? We see the powers in our world
just seemingly going about their everyday affairs now, aren't
they? We've got the pressure now on
Ukraine. Give up the land, reduce your
army. That's a pretty good deal, isn't
it, Putin? Remember, he invaded.
Who is the Antichrist? Well, becoming Antichrist, what
he will do is he too, Jesus says, will cease all temple
worship. You go, well, that doesn't make
sense. Why doesn't that make sense?
Because you and I, when we go to Israel, we have to get
permission to go up on the Temple Mount.
And ladies, you remember, you went up.
You had to put on dresses over the clothing that you're wearing
to cover up. You weren't allowed.
Hal and I were holding hands, which we walked past.
No, no, I'm not allowed to hold hands on the Temple Mount by the
Muslims who are in charge of the Temple Mount at the moment.
So for temple worship to be started, you need something, a
temple, for it to be halted, it needs means, it needs to be
underway. It has to be instituted in the
1st place. And so it requires in Israel.
And as you and I look at Israel now with the war in Gaza, a new
template to be built in Israel. And there's only one place you
can build the temple. You can't build it down just
over here or over here or over here.
There's only one place. The place where Abraham offered
up Isaac. There's only one place with the
Temple of God can be built. That's on the Temple Mount.
The question is you and I ask, with the current world, rising
anti Semitism, hatred against Israel, the conflict in Gaza,
they're still fighting, how on earth is this going to be
possible? How will the Muslims allow the
Jews to rebuild a temple when they've been?
The Muslims have been saved for years.
There's never been a temple there in any place any time,
even though it's built on the foundations of the temple.
Well, the New World leader will bring all this to pass.
And the Mount Lawley synagogue we visited, David Solomon was
the rabbi. And I said to him, David, how
the Messiah hasn't come. He says, no, he isn't.
How will you recognise the Messiah?
Oh, it's easy. The Messiah will be the man who
will allow us to rebuild the temple, be the man who will
enable us to rebuild the temple. Verse 15 We'll come back.
Then it happened when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was
seeking the meaning, that suddenly they stood before me,
one having the appearance of a man, and I heard a man's voice
between the banks of the EULA, which call who called and said,
Gabriel, make this man, that's Daniel understand the vision.
So Gabriel the Angel. So he came near where I stood.
Daniel said, When he came I was afraid, and I fell on my face.
But Gabriel said to me, Understand, Son of Man, that the
vision refers to the time of the end.
Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my
face to the ground, but he touched me and stood me upright.
And he said, Look, I'm making known to you what shall happen.
Notice in the latter time of the indignation, for at the
appointed time the end shall be the ram which you saw.
He goes back dual purpose to the prophecy, having two horns.
They're the kings of Media and Persia.
The male goat is the Kingdom of Greece.
The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king and
the broken horn, and the four that stood up in its place. 4
kingdoms. The four generals shall arise
out of that nation, but not with its power.
Verse 23. And in the latter times notice
of the Kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their
fullness, a king shall rise. This is Antiochus, initially
having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.
His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.
Antiochus, but also Jewel. Speaking of the Antichrist,
notice that his power shall be mighty, but not by his own
power. Antiochus was a type of the
Antichrist, absolutely the coming world leader.
The coming Antichrist will be superhuman in intelligence and
cunning. How in Revelation chapter 13
John writes this one. Then I saw a beast rising out of
the sea. It had 7 heads and 10 horns with
10 crowns on its horn and written on each head were names
that blasphemed God. This beast looked like a
leopard. It had the feet of a bear and
the mouth of a lion. And the dragon, that's the
dragon is Satan gave the beast his own power and throne and
great authority. You remember what Satan promised
to Jesus on the 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness if he
would just bow down to him. I'll give you the world.
Well, Satan is going to take over the world and he's going to
do it through the embodiment of the coming world leader.
He will personally possess the Antichrist.
Is that was that going to happen really Well back in John chapter
13 verse 27, you remember a fellow called Judas when Jesus
said Judas, I know it's you go and do what you got to do and
says in John, John Judas went out into the night and it said
verse 21 Satan entered him. So the Antichrist will be
empowered by Satan himself and he shall prosper and thrive.
He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people.
He was 25 of Daniel. Through his cunning, he shall
cause deceit to prosper under his rule.
That's a good politician, isn't it?
And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
What did Satan do? What did Lucifer do?
I will exalt myself. I will be like the Most High
God. He will exalt himself in his
heart. He shall destroy many in their
prosperity. He shall even rise against the
Prince of Princess. He'll come against Jesus Christ
himself. But there's a semi colon there.
Notice what happens. But he shall be broken.
That is the Antichrist. How?
Without human means. In other words, no army's going
to defeat him. No man's going to defeat him.
God's going to take him out. This coming New World leader
called the Antichrist, the Lawless 1, the Bible tells us,
will rise in the power of Satan himself.
He will promise false security. This is where he'll dupe the
world. Because you and I, aren't you
tired of the way the world is? Can't someone just settle
things, bring things to ease? I mean, everyone's getting
robbed. I'm in Melbourne now.
People are just leaving Melbourne in droves because
they're sick and tired of being burgled over and over and over.
People are scared to go out into the streets.
This is in our cities. But the Antichrist, he will
bring false security because the first horseman of the
apocalypse, What horse does he come riding in on?
White one. Here comes the good guy, and
he'll bring a seeming peace to our land, but in particular to
the Middle East. He will be intelligent and
persuasive, so persuasive that three nations, Daniel tells us,
will actually give over their sovereignty to this man.
We want to have a parliament. You rule us, and the other 10
will follow. He will gain, and here's the
here's the here's the the key. But he will gain the trust of
Israel, who will accept him as Messiah.
Now, right at this moment, Israel trusts nobody.
Can you blame him? They like Trump, but somehow
rather this man will rise up and he will do a deal that Israel
will go. You know what?
Yes, because he will say, I'll arrange for peace to come and
you can rebuild the temple and you can begin what you haven't
been able to do since AD 7. And the nation of Israel will
accept him as Messiah, and they will sign an agreement of a
seven year period covenant. But this man will be controlled
by Satan. He will be, in the end, Israel's
greatest adversary, because halfway through that agreement,
as Jesus said in Matthew 24, he will March into the Holy of
Holies. He will set up an image of
himself in there, and he will say, I am God.
Stop everything else, and you will now worship me.
You'll receive my mark, and if you don't, you'll die.
Flee, literally, Jesus says. Run for your lives.
He will raise himself up in opposition to Jesus Christ
Himself, the Prince of Princess, but his rule will be terminated
by divine judgement. But he will rule after breaking
that agreement, after going into the Holy Hole of Holies for 3
1/2 more years, he will rule the world and great tribulation will
be upon this planet and anyone who becomes a Christian during
that time and many millions of people will come to Christ.
But each one will die for their faith.
You will die. You'll become a Christian.
Yes you can, but you will die for your faith.
Are you troubled when you read this for your future?
Well, man, that's a great I'm going to read that to the kids
tonight as they go to bed. Are you concerned for the future
of your children? Daniel was was 26.
The vision of the evenings and the mornings which was told is
true. Therefore seal up the vision for
refers to many days in the future.
And I Daniel fainted is all sick for days sick.
When I heard about this, understood it, after what I rose
and went about the King's business, I was astonished by
the vision, but no one understood it.
Or maybe this morning you're wondering.
Hang on a minute. Stop, stop, Keith.
Why did and why does Israel have to?
Why did they have to go through all this?
Why are they yet still to go through so much more?
There's more for them in the future.
They're going to be duped. Remember, Jesus said this would
happen. He says, oh, you net you, you
rejected me, but there will come another and him you'll accept.
Why does this role go through all this?
You've got to ask that question. Well, the Bible tells us book of
Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a young kid between
the age of 14 to 17. God calls him.
He says, I knew you before you were born.
I've got a mission for you. He says I'm just a kid.
I kill you. No, you're not a kid.
I'll tell you what to say. See, you can't go.
It's my age and I'm like, no, no, no.
God says, I'll tell you what to do.
I'll enable you. So God told Jeremiah, the
prophet in Chapter 7 to tell the people of Israel the exact
things they needed to do to repent of this is prior to their
the Babylonians invading Israel. In Chapter 7, verse 3, God says
he told Jeremiah, I want you to go to the temple.
Can you imagine? You're standing out in front of
the church. You go to the temple.
I want you to stand there. He's just a teenager, but we
still got pimples and everything else.
Stand there. Then I want you to say these
words to everyone, every Jew that's coming to worship me.
Wow, what a task. Amen your ways.
You Amen your ways. Amen.
Your ways, in other words, repent of your sins, turn your
lies back to me, turn your lies back to God.
Can you imagine saying that in front of a church?
People are coming. In verse 4 of Chapter 7 and
verse 8, Jeremiah was told to say stop trusting in lying words
that cannot profit because the false prophets of those days
were saying, hey, everything's going to be good, everything's
going to be good. Everything comes between our
right. Jeremiah 7, verse 4, do not
trust in these lying words saying the temple of the Lord.
Well, we got the temple and nothing's going to happen to us.
The temple of God is here, the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord. Oh well, I go to church, I've
been going to church, I go to church.
Nothing will happen to Australia.
We think of our nation, we're a Christian nation.
We're far from it, aren't we? Oh, we're a Christian nation.
Nothing terrible could happen to us as a as a people, as a
nation. In verse 9, Jeremiah said to
those coming in, stop worshipping other gods.
He says, will you steal, murder, commit adultery?
Now we think of this and we go, wow, remember Jesus on the
Sermon on the Mount said we can do all these things in here.
In here people don't steal, people don't murder, people
don't do other thing because they don't want to get caught
and they don't want to go to gaol, but they wish they could
stop swearing falsely. You burn incense the ball, walk
after other gods whom you do not know.
It's funny how people will worship every other God but
Jesus Christ. They don't know anything about
the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses.
If you read any of their histories, you read their
background. I mean, you got to be kidding.
Mormons believe someone's on the moon, that every man and woman
eventually have their own planet, start their own.
They'll be the new Adam and Eve. That's what Mormon doctrine
says. You know, that black people
couldn't be in a Mormon church had to change that.
Now they allow black people in because they first of all
initially killed anyone that had colour.
Verse 10, Jeremiah 7. But we're still he says, you,
you come to, you come to temple, you come to my house and you say
you will be delivered by me from all your abominations.
But you keep serving them. You come and you keep living
exactly the same way. You don't change.
And then you come here and stand before me in my temple and
chant, we're safe. Oh, I believe in God.
I need to go right back. You walk out Sunday, place the
Bible down and you go back and you live exactly like every
other Tom, Dick and Harry. These words are for us.
And God says through Jeremiah, but God says, hey, hey, finally
verse 19. He doesn't leave it there.
He said don't provoke me to anger.
God says I don't want to do this by continuing to ignore all that
I said don't just keep coming to temple, coming to church and
just ignoring what what I'm I'm telling you Jeremiah 719.
Do they provoke me to Angus says the Lord.
Do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces?
In verse 23, God says obey my voice and I will be your God.
We heard Nat, Pastor Nat talking about grace.
Do you know about grace? Obey my voice and I will be your
God and you shall be my people. Walk in my ways and it may be
well with you. You know what?
That's for you and I today. I fear for so many people today
who treat God as a casual, part time religious thing that they
fit in when they can. I can't.
Can you imagine a marriage where the husband and the wife is
treated casually and just? It's fitted in when you you
might, when you have a little bit of time.
Instead of giving him the best, you give him the the leftovers.
The coming new world leader, the Antichrist, will be a ruler of
fierce countenance, understanding dark sentences.
And to the future political world, it will seem as if the
Antichrist with his relentless power and ungodliness, it will
seem to the world that he's defeated God, that he's crushed
Israel. In today's world, as Jeremiah
said to the children of Judah coming to temple, if you live
arrogantly against God, if you live indifferently to him, if
you are too walking the path like those that Jeremiah was
warning, if any of those words bring the conviction of the Holy
Spirit into your life, don't this morning turn your back on
God. I feel like a watchman today
because I'm desperate for our nation.
We had a gay parade in Perth last night.
People are lost. As people are lost, they need
Christ. You know you can be living in
that lifestyle and you can come out of it.
Christ can save you. The blood of Jesus Christ washes
away every sin. Everything.
You can be living in an adulterous situation this
morning. Maybe you're here and you're
sleeping with someone and you're not married today, right?
Today, without Christ, you stand condemned before God and you
will not go to heaven. Should you die, you will go to
hell. But God gives you the
opportunity to repent and you can receive forgiveness right
now and the blood of Jesus Christ will wash away all of
your sins. But you see, today we kind of
treated indifferent. Well, are we getting away?
It's not real. I'll just wait and I'll, I'll be
on my deathbed and I'll just say, God forgive me.
You don't know when your deathbed is going to be.
You don't know if you're going to be alert.
You don't know what's going to happen to you.
And I want to warn you today, today we're living in the last
days. God is giving you time now to
repent. If you think you can get away
with things and that God is not noticing, that he's not stopping
you, that he's turning a blind eye to you, and that as you look
at the world, you say, well, Satan's winning.
You know, evil is just going on. You're very, very wrong and
you're living in great spiritual danger.
The people and nation of Israel, you know what, sadly, they did.
They didn't listen to Jeremiah, they didn't listen to God's
word. They continued living foolishly.
And I see Australians, we're living foolishly.
We're the richest nation in the world.
We have everything before us. We have the greatest beaches,
the greatest lifestyle, whether and we have turned our back upon
God. And I tell you, I fear for our
nation. We go to Daniel Chapter 9 next
week and you know what that that Chapter 9 is?
It's Daniel's prayer for his people, which you and I as a
church, we're going to be called into that because I think the
hand of God is about to fall upon the nation of Israel, of
Australia. Sorry.
You see, the people of Judah did not heed Jeremiah's words, and
they continued living foolishly. You know what happened.
God opened the door and the Babylonians came and judgement
fell. The temple was destroyed.
Millions of lives were lost. Those remaining like Daniel,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken captive.
They were made to March for four to five months, all the way to
be slaves in Babylon. There thou were emasculated and
became servants of King Nebuchadnezzar, simply because
they refuse to heed God's Word. The Bible tells us in Galatians
chapter 6, verse 7, Do not be deceived.
God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he
will also reap. What you're sowing in your life
today, you'll reap. He goes on to say, he who sows
to his flesh you mean that means you live without God.
You'll reap corruption. He who sows to the Spirit, that
means you live for God. Will of the Spirit reap.
Is this everlasting life There is coming to this world?
A world leader like Antiochus, but so much more.
Worse Bible prophecy, this vision from Daniel.
Why has God given it to us today?
To read and to know. Ask yourself that question.
Why would we need to know this now?
Here's the reason. Because God is not willing that
any should perish to have us all ready for Christ's return.
There is nothing biblically in prophecy that needs to occur for
the rapture of the church. Nothing.
It is imminent. It's it's, it's ready to happen.
It's just when God says now and the speed of it will be at the
twinkling of an eye, faster than twinkling of an eye.
As the worship team comes forward, I want you to listen to
these last words. We have been given this
prophecy. Why?
Because God is deeply concerned about how we are living in these
last days. He doesn't want you to be here
when the world leader hits the stage.
Who's the Antichrist? I don't know, I don't care, and
I won't find out because the church will be raptured before
He comes to power. But once the church is gone and
you're left behind, he will rule your life.
You'll have Satan living in a man ruling the world.
Jesus warned us of this. This vision should help us to be
passionate about knowing Christ, serving Him as this new world
leader who I believe is alive today and preparing to make His
presence soon. The world is ready.
The political stage is absolutely ready for someone to
fix the Middle East problem. How amazing.
Will it be a turn around for the Jews to sign a peace agreement
and the Muslims to allow a temple to be built?
This guy is sharp and he will pull off the greatest deal.
But then that's just the first horse, the white one.
But then the other three follow and you wish you'd never been
here. Let's pray.
Father, I pray for our hearts to be repentant here today.
I pray for any who are uncertain of their future, uncertain as to
whether the rapture will involve them or not.
I pray for any who have never received Christ that today
they'll not walk out these doors without having their salvation
cure and their life everlasting.