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Fall Asleep to Daniel_s Prophecies _ He Predicted Jesus_ Death 600 Years Before It Happened · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: What if some one could predict the exact year of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ's death six hundred years before it happened. Not
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  Speaker 1: a guess, not a coincidence, but a calculation so precise,
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  Speaker 1: so mathematically perfect, that when you trace the time line,
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  Speaker 1: it lands on the very year the Messiah walked to
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  Speaker 1: the cross. His name was Daniel, a young man taken
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  Speaker 1: captive to Babylon, a stranger in a foreign land. He
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  Speaker 1: had no army, no throne, no power, but God gave
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  Speaker 1: him something far greater, the ability to see the future.
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  Speaker 1: He saw empires rise and fall before they were even born.
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  Speaker 1: He saw beasts and kings, thrones of fire, and the
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  Speaker 1: ancient of days. He saw a time line that stretched
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  Speaker 1: across centuries, leading to one moment, one person, one sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: that would change everything to night. As the world grows
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  Speaker 1: quiet and the stars take their place in the heavens,
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  Speaker 1: let the visions of Daniel unfold before you close your eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Breathe deeply, and let this ancient story carry you into rest.
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  Speaker 1: For what Daniel saw was not just prophecy. It was
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  Speaker 1: the unfolding of God's perfect plan written before time began.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Daniel in Babylon, the exile begins in the
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  Speaker 1: year six hundred five before Christ, the world as the
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  Speaker 1: people of Judah knew it, came to an end. The
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  Speaker 1: armies of Babylon swept across the land like a storm.
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  Speaker 1: King nebucud Nezar, ruler of the greatest empire on Earth,
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  Speaker 1: stood at the gates of Jerusalem. His soldiers wore armor
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  Speaker 1: that gleamed like bronze in the sun. His chariots thundered
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  Speaker 1: across the hills, and his voice when he spoke, carried
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  Speaker 1: the weight of a kingdom that had never known defeat.
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem trembled. The elders gathered in the temple, praying, weeping,
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  Speaker 1: asking God why this was happening. But the prophets had
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  Speaker 1: already spoken. Jeremiah had warned them for years, if you
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  Speaker 1: do not turn back to the Lord, he will give
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  Speaker 1: this city into the hands of the King of Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: They had not listened, and so on that day the
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  Speaker 1: gates were opened, not by force, but by surrender. The
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  Speaker 1: King of Judah, Jehoyakim, bowed before nebucud Nezar and handed
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  Speaker 1: over the treasures of the temple, gold, silver, sacred vessels
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  Speaker 1: that had been used in the worship of the most
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  Speaker 1: High God. All of it was carried away to Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: But nebucud Neza did not stop there. He also took people.
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  Speaker 1: Not soldiers, not warriors, but the brightest, the strongest, the
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  Speaker 1: most noble, young men of Judah, boys who had grown
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  Speaker 1: up in the shadow of the Temple, who had been
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  Speaker 1: taught the law of Moses, who carried the hope of
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  Speaker 1: their nation in their hearts. Among them was a boy
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  Speaker 1: named Daniel. He was young, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old, handsome, intelligant,
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  Speaker 1: from a family of royalty, the kind of boy who
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  Speaker 1: in another time might have become a priest, a scholar,
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  Speaker 1: a leader of his people. But now his hands were bound,
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  Speaker 1: his feet were on a road that led far from home,
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  Speaker 1: and his future was no longer his own. The journey
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  Speaker 1: to Babylon was long, over eight hundred miles on foot,
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  Speaker 1: through deserts and mountains, across rivers and plains. Daniel and
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  Speaker 1: the other captives walked in chains, their eyes filled with
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  Speaker 1: dust and tears. At night, they sat beneath foreign stars,
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  Speaker 1: speaking in whispers about the city they had left behind.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think we will ever see Jerusalem again? One
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  Speaker 1: boy asked Daniel, looked up at the sky. The same
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  Speaker 1: stars that hung over Babylon also hung over Judah. The
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  Speaker 1: same God who had made the heavens still saw them
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  Speaker 1: even here. I don't know, Daniel said quietly, but I
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  Speaker 1: know this, the Lord has not forgotten us. When they
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  Speaker 1: finally arrived in Babylon, the city took their breath away.
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  Speaker 1: It was nothing like Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a city of
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  Speaker 1: stone and prayer, of narrow streets and the scent of
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  Speaker 1: incense rising from the temple. But Babylon, Babylon was a
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  Speaker 1: city of gold and glory. The walls were so thick
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  Speaker 1: that chariots could race along the top of them. The
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  Speaker 1: Ishtar Gate rose high into the sky, covered in blue
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  Speaker 1: tiles that shimmered like the surface of a calm sea.
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  Speaker 1: Lions and dragons were carved into the walls, their eyes
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  Speaker 1: gleaming in the sunlight. Gardens hung from terraces, green and lush,
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  Speaker 1: as if the earth itself had been lifted into the air.
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  Speaker 1: And at the center of it all stood the Palace
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  Speaker 1: of King Nebuchadnezzar, vast and magnificent, a monument to the
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  Speaker 1: power of man. But for all its beauty, Babylon was
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  Speaker 1: a city of idols. On every corner, there were statues
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  Speaker 1: of gods made by human hands, Maduk, the chief god
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  Speaker 1: of Babylon, Ishtar, goddess of war and love, Nabu shamash Sin.
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  Speaker 1: The people bowed before them, offered sacrifices to them, sang
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  Speaker 1: songs in their honor, and the air, thick with incense
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  Speaker 1: and the smoke of burnt offerings, carried the scent of
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  Speaker 1: a thousand prayers to gods who could not hear. Daniel
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  Speaker 1: stood in the courtyard of the palace, his heart heavy.
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  Speaker 1: This was not his home. These were not his people,
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  Speaker 1: and these gods, they were not the god of Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: Isaac and Jacob. The chief official of the king, a
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  Speaker 1: man named Ashpenaz, walked among the captives, studying them carefully.
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  Speaker 1: He had been given orders, let the best of the
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  Speaker 1: young men from Judah, train them in the language and
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  Speaker 1: literature of Babylon, feed them from the king's own table,
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  Speaker 1: dress them in fine robes, and in three years present
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  Speaker 1: them to Nebuchadnezzar so they might serve in his court.
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  Speaker 1: Ashpanaz stopped in front of Daniel. He looked him over,
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  Speaker 1: noting the strength in his frame. The clarity in his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: the quiet dignity in the way he stood this one
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  Speaker 1: Ashpanaz said he will do well. Daniel and three of
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  Speaker 1: his friends, Hannaniah, Michael, and Azariah were chosen. They were
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  Speaker 1: given new names, names that honored the gods of Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel became Beltashazar, which means bell protects his life. Hannanaiah
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  Speaker 1: became Shadrak, Mischa'el became Meyshak. Azariah became a bed Nigo.
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  Speaker 1: It was meant to erase who they were, to make
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  Speaker 1: them forget the god they had worshiped all their lives,
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  Speaker 1: to turn them into Babylonians. But Daniel made a decision
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  Speaker 1: in his heart, a quiet, private decision that no one
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  Speaker 1: else could see. He would serve the King of Babylon
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  Speaker 1: with all the skill and wisdom God gave him. But
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  Speaker 1: he would not abandon the God of Israel. He would
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  Speaker 1: not defile himself, and he would not bow. The first
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  Speaker 1: test came quickly. The king's servants brought food to the
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  Speaker 1: young men, rich food from Nebucadnzer's own table meat that
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  Speaker 1: had been sacrificed to idols. Wine poured out in honor
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  Speaker 1: of Marduk. It was the finest food in all the world,
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  Speaker 1: food that most people would never taste in their entire lives.
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  Speaker 1: But Daniel knew the law of Moses. He knew that
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  Speaker 1: to eat this food would be to participate in the
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  Speaker 1: worship of false gods, and so with great respect he
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  Speaker 1: approached the god who had been assigned to watch over them. Please,
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  Speaker 1: Daniel said, do not make us eat the king's food.
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  Speaker 1: Give us only vegetables and water. Test us for ten days.
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  Speaker 1: If we do not look as healthy as the other
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  Speaker 1: young men, then you may do with us as you wish.
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  Speaker 1: The guard hesitated. If the boys grew weak, if their
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  Speaker 1: faces became pale, if they looked sickly, Ashpannahs would have
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  Speaker 1: his head. But there was something in Daniel's voice, something
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  Speaker 1: in his eyes, that made the guard trust him. Ten days,
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  Speaker 1: the guard said no more. For ten days, Daniel and
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  Speaker 1: his friends ate only vegetables and drank only water. The
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  Speaker 1: other young men feasted on the king's meat and wine.
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  Speaker 1: Their plates piled high, their cups overflowing, But Daniel's plate
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  Speaker 1: was simple, lentils, cucumbers, bread, and water from the well.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of ten days, the guard returned. He
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  Speaker 1: looked at Daniel and his friends then at the other's,
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  Speaker 1: and his eyes widened in disbelief. Daniel and his friends
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  Speaker 1: looked healthier, stronger, their skin glowed, their eyes were clear,
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  Speaker 1: They stood taller, moved with more energy, spoke with more
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  Speaker 1: clarity than any of the others. The guard shook his
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  Speaker 1: head in wonder. From that day on, he let them
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  Speaker 1: eat as they wished, But it was not the vegetables
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  Speaker 1: that made them strong. It was God, the same God
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  Speaker 1: who had fed Elijah by the brook, who had multiplied
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  Speaker 1: the widow's oil, who had rained manner from heaven in
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness. He was with Daniel, and he was preparing
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  Speaker 1: him for something far greater than any one in Babylon
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  Speaker 1: could imagine. Three years passed. Daniel and his friends studied
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  Speaker 1: the language of the Chaldeans, the literature of Babylon, the
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  Speaker 1: movements of the stars, the interpretation of dreams. They learned
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  Speaker 1: faster than any one else. They remembered everything they understood,
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  Speaker 1: not just the wordds but the meaning behind them. And
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  Speaker 1: when the time came for them to stand before King
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  Speaker 1: nebucad Nezar, the king questioned them personally. He asked them
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  Speaker 1: about wisdom, about understanding, about matters of judgment and insight,
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  Speaker 1: and the Bible records this. In every matter of wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and understanding about which the King inquired of them, he
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  Speaker 1: found them ten times better than all the magicians and
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  Speaker 1: enchanters in his whole kingdom, ten times better, not a
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  Speaker 1: little better, not slightly more knowledgeable, ten times because the
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  Speaker 1: wisdom they carried did not come from books. It came
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  Speaker 1: from the spirit of the Living God. But even as
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  Speaker 1: Daniel settled into life in Babylon, even as he learned
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  Speaker 1: their language and served their king, his heart remained in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: Every evening he would open the window of his room,
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  Speaker 1: face toward the west, toward the city of his fathers,
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  Speaker 1: and pray three times a day, every day without fail.
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  Speaker 1: He prayed for his people. He prayed for the temple.
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  Speaker 1: He prayed that God would not forget the covenant he
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  Speaker 1: had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he prayed
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  Speaker 1: for something else, something he could not yet name, that
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  Speaker 1: one day the Lord would send the promised One, the Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: to restore all that had been lost. He did not
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  Speaker 1: know in those early years that God was about to
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  Speaker 1: show him the answer, not in words, not in promises,
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  Speaker 1: but in visions, visions of empires, visions of beasts, visions
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  Speaker 1: of thrones and fire, and a time line so precise,
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  Speaker 1: so perfect, that it would reveal the exact moment the
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  Speaker 1: Messiah would come. Years later, in the reign of another king,
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  Speaker 1: in the dead of night, Daniel would stand before the
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  Speaker 1: throne of Babylon once more. But this time he would
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  Speaker 1: not be a student. He would be a prophet, and
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  Speaker 1: the words he would speak would echo across centuries, reaching
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  Speaker 1: forward in time to the very moment when the Son
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  Speaker 1: of God would walk the earth. But for now, Daniel
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  Speaker 1: was just a young man in a foreign land, a captive,
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  Speaker 1: a servant, a dreamer, waiting, watching, praying, and the God
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  Speaker 1: who had called him, the God who had never left him,
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  Speaker 1: was preparing to reveal the future of the world. Chapter two,
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  Speaker 1: nebuchad Nezar's Dream, The Statue of Four Kingdoms. Years passed
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  Speaker 1: in Babylon, Daniel grew from a young captive into a
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  Speaker 1: trusted servant of the king. He had proven himself wise, faithful,
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  Speaker 1: and discerning, but he had not yet been tested in
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  Speaker 1: the way that would change his life forever. One night,
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  Speaker 1: King nebuchad Nezar could not sleep. He tossed and turned
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  Speaker 1: on his royal bed, his mind troubled by something he
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  Speaker 1: could not name. The palace was silent, the guards stood
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  Speaker 1: watch in the hallways. The city of Babylon slept beneath
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  Speaker 1: the stars, but the King's eyes remained open, staring at
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  Speaker 1: the ceiling, his heart heavy with a strange unease. And then,
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  Speaker 1: in the depth of the night, he dreamed. It was
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  Speaker 1: not an ordinary dream. It was vivid, overwhelming, filled with
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  Speaker 1: images so powerful that when he woke his whole body
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  Speaker 1: was trembling. He sat up in bed, gasping for breath,
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  Speaker 1: his heart pounding in his chest. He knew somehow that
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  Speaker 1: this dream was important, that it meant something, that it
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  Speaker 1: carried a message from the realm, beyond the visible world.
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  Speaker 1: But when he tried to remember it, the images slipped
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  Speaker 1: away like water through his fingers. He could feel the
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  Speaker 1: weight of it, the urgency of it, but he could
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  Speaker 1: not see it any more. The dream was gone. Nebuchadnezza
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  Speaker 1: called for his servants, me the wise men, He commanded,
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  Speaker 1: bring me the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, the chaldeans,
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  Speaker 1: Bring them all. No. Within the hour, the throne room
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  Speaker 1: was filled, men in long robes, their faces marked with
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  Speaker 1: the symbols of their craft, stood before the king. They
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  Speaker 1: bowed low, confident in their abilities. For years they had
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  Speaker 1: served nebucud Neza, interpreting omens, reading the stars, offering counsel.
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  Speaker 1: They believed there was nothing they could not do. The
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  Speaker 1: King looked at them with cold, hard eyes. I have
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  Speaker 1: had a dream, he said, and my spirit is troubled.
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  Speaker 1: I want to know what it means. The wise men nodded,
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  Speaker 1: O King live forever. They said in unison, tell us
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  Speaker 1: the dream, and we will give you the interpretation. But
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  Speaker 1: nebucud Nezar shook his head. No, he said, I have
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  Speaker 1: forgotten the dream. You must tell me both the dream
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  Speaker 1: and its meaning. If you can do this, I will
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  Speaker 1: give you gifts, rewards, and great honor. But if you cannot,
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  Speaker 1: he paused, letting the silence hang in the air like
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  Speaker 1: a blade, I will have you torn limb from limb,
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  Speaker 1: and your houses will be turned into piles of rubble.
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  Speaker 1: The room went deathly silent. The wise men looked at
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  Speaker 1: each other in shock. O King, one of them stammered,
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  Speaker 1: there is no one on earth who can do what
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  Speaker 1: you ask. No king, however great, has ever asked such
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  Speaker 1: a thing of any magician or enchanter. What you ask
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  Speaker 1: is impossible. Only the gods can reveal it, and they
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  Speaker 1: do not dwell among mortals. Nebuchadnazar's face turned red with fury.
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  Speaker 1: He stood from his throne, his voice like thunder. If
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  Speaker 1: you cannot tell me the dream, then you are all frauds.
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  Speaker 1: You have been lying to me all these years, pretending
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  Speaker 1: to have wisdom you do not possess. I will not
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  Speaker 1: be deceived any longer. He turned to his captain of
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  Speaker 1: the guard. Execute them, he said, all the wise men
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  Speaker 1: of Babylon. The decree went out. Immediately, soldiers moved through
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  Speaker 1: the city, going from house to house, rounding up every magician,
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  Speaker 1: every sorcerer, every man who had claimed to possess secret knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: And because Daniel and his friends had been enrolled among
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  Speaker 1: the wise men of Babylon, they too were marked for death.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel was at home when the soldiers came to his door.
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  Speaker 1: The captain of the guard, a man named Arioc, stood
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  Speaker 1: at the threshold, his face grim I am sorry, Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: Arioch said quietly. The King has given the order. All
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  Speaker 1: the wise men must be executed. Daniel did not panic.
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  Speaker 1: He did not plead. He simply looked at Arioch and asked,
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  Speaker 1: why has the king issued such a harsh decree. Arioch
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  Speaker 1: explained everything, the rhim, the king's demand, the failure of
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  Speaker 1: the wise men. Daniel listened carefully. Then he said, give
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  Speaker 1: me time. I will go to the king and ask
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  Speaker 1: for more time, and I will tell him the dream
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  Speaker 1: and its meaning. Ariok hesitated. He liked Daniel. There was
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  Speaker 1: something different about him, something that set him apart from
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  Speaker 1: the other so called wise men. He nodded, I will
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  Speaker 1: speak to the king, but hurry. Daniel went home and
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  Speaker 1: immediately gathered his three friends, Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego. He
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  Speaker 1: told them everything, and then he said, we must pray.
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  Speaker 1: Only the God of heaven can reveal this mystery. If
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  Speaker 1: we do not receive an answer, we will all face
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  Speaker 1: the king's judgment to morrow. That night, the four young
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  Speaker 1: men knelt together in Daniel's room. They did not pray
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  Speaker 1: to Marduk or Ishtar, or any of the gods of Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: They prayed to the Lord, the god of Abraham, Isaac
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  Speaker 1: and Jacob, the god who had parted the Red Sea,
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  Speaker 1: the god who had given wisdom to Solomon, the God
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  Speaker 1: who sees all things, knows all things, and holds the
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  Speaker 1: future in his hands. Lord Daniel prayed, you are the
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  Speaker 1: revealer of mysteries. You know what is hidden in darkness,
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  Speaker 1: and light dwells with you. Please show me the King's dream,
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  Speaker 1: not for my sake, but so that your name may
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  Speaker 1: be glorified in this place. They prayed through the night,
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  Speaker 1: and as the first light of dawn touched the sky,
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  Speaker 1: Daniel fell into a deep sleep, and in that sleep
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  Speaker 1: God gave him the vision. He saw everything the dream
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  Speaker 1: nebucud Nezza had seen in perfect clarity, as if he
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  Speaker 1: himself had been standing in the king's chamber. And more
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  Speaker 1: than that, he saw them, meaning every detail, every symbol,
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  Speaker 1: every kingdom, every century, the whole time line of human history,
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  Speaker 1: laid out before him like a scroll. When Daniel woke,
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  Speaker 1: his heart was pounding. He fell to his knees and worshiped.
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  Speaker 1: Praise be to the name of God. Forever and ever,
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  Speaker 1: he whispered. Wisdom and power are his. He changes times
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  Speaker 1: and seasons, He sets up kings and deposes them. He
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  Speaker 1: gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
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  Speaker 1: He reveals deep and hidden things Daniel went immediately to Arioc.
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  Speaker 1: Do not execute the wise men, he said, take me
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  Speaker 1: to the king. I will tell him the dream. Arioc
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  Speaker 1: brought Daniel before nebuchad Nezzar. The king looked at him
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  Speaker 1: with a mixture of hope and suspicion. Are you able
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  Speaker 1: to tell me what I saw in my dream and
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  Speaker 1: interpret it? Daniel stood tall. He did not boast, He
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  Speaker 1: did not take credit. He simply said, no wise man
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  Speaker 1: in chanter, magician, or diviner can explain to the king
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  Speaker 1: the mystery he has asked about. But there is a
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  Speaker 1: god in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King
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  Speaker 1: nebucud Nezza what will happen in days to come. The
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  Speaker 1: king leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Daniel. Daniel continued,
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  Speaker 1: as you were lying on your bed, o King, your
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  Speaker 1: mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of
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  Speaker 1: mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me,
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  Speaker 1: this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I
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  Speaker 1: have greater wisdom than any one else, but so that you,
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  Speaker 1: O King, may know the interpretation. Then Daniel began to
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  Speaker 1: describe the dream. You looked, O King, and there before
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  Speaker 1: you stood a great statue. It was enormous, dazzling in appearance,
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  Speaker 1: and terrifying to behold. The head of the statue was
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  Speaker 1: made of pure gold, Its chest and arms were silver,
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  Speaker 1: Its belly and thighs were bronze, Its legs were iron,
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  Speaker 1: and its feet were partly iron and partly baked clay.
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  Speaker 1: Nebucudnezzar's eyes widened. That was it, That was exactly what
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: he had seen. Daniel went on. While you were watching,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: a rock was cut out, but not by human hands.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: It struck the statue on its feet of iron and
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the silver, and the gold were all broken to pieces
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and filled the whole earth. The king sat in stunned silence.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Every word Daniel spoke matched the images that had filled
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: his mind that night. This was the dream, Daniel said,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Now I will tell you what it means. He took
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: a breath, and then, with the authority of one who
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: speaks not his own words, but the words of God
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: he began to interpret. You, o King, are the King
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: of kings. The God of Heaven has given you dominion, power, might,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: and glory. He has placed in your hands the children
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: of the air, wherever they live. He has made you
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar's chest swelled with pride. He was the head of gold,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the greatest king on earth. But Daniel was not finished.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: After you, another kingdom will rise inferior to yours. It
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: will be like the chest and arms of silver. This
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: kingdom will be strong, but not as glorious as Babylon.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: It will conquer, but it will lack the unity and
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: splendor of your reign. Daniel paused, let the weight of
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: his words settle. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: will rule over the whole earth. It will be vast,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: spreading farther than any kingdom before it. Its armies will
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: move like the wind, swift and unstoppable. But it too
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: will pass away, And finally there will be a fourth kingdom,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: strong as iron, iron breaks and smashes everything, and just
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: as iron breaks things to pieces, so this kingdom will
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: crush and break all the others. But you also saw
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: that the feet and toes were partly baked clay and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: partly iron. This means the kingdom will be divided. It
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: will have some of the strength of iron, but it
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: will also be brittle like clay, just as iron and
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: clay do not mix, So the people of this kingdom
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: will not remain united. Nebucadnezza leaned back on his throne,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: his mind racing four kingdoms, four empires. His own was
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the first, But what would come after. Daniel's voice grew
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: softer but more powerful. In the time of those kings,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom that
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: will never be destroyed. It will never be left to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: This is the meaning of the vision of the rock
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: It struck the statue and broke the iron, the bronze,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. Daniel
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: looked directly into the King's eyes. The Great God has
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: shown the king what will take place in the future.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: The dream is true, and the interpretation is trustworthy. For
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: a long moment, the king said nothing. Then slowly he
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: rose from his throne, and, to the shock of every
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: one in the room, King Nebuchadnezza, the most powerful man
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: on earth, fell to his knees. For Daniel, surely your
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: God is the God of gods and the lord of kings.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezza said, his voice trembling. He is a revealer of mysteries.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: For you were able to reveal this mystery. The King
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: honored Daniel greatly. He gave him gifts, made him ruler
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: over the entire province of Babylon, and placed him in
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: charge of all the wise men. At Daniel's request, the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: king also appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to high positions.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: But Daniel did not forget what he had seen the
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: statue the four kingdoms, the rock cut without hands. He
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: knew what it meant. God had just revealed the entire
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: timeline of human history. Four great empires would rise and fall,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and at the end, a fifth kingdom not built by
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: human hands would come, a kingdom that would never end.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: The head of Gold was Babylon. The chest and arms
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of silver would be the meadow Persian Empire, The Bellian
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: thighs of bronze would be Greece under Alexander the Great,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: The legs of iron would be Rome, the most powerful
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and brutal empire the world would ever see. And the
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: feet of iron and clay would be the divided kingdoms
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: that followed. And the rock. The rock was the kingdom
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of God, the Messiah, the one who would come not
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: to build an empire with swords and chariots, but to
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: establish a reign of righteousness that would fill the whole earth.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Daniel had seen the future, and though he did not
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: yet know the details, Though he did not yet know
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the exact moment when the rock would strike, he knew
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: one thing for certain. God's Kingdom was coming, and nothing,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: not Babylon, not Persia, not Greece, not Rome, nothing on
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: earth or in Heaven could stop it. Chapter three, The
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Fiery Furnace, Faith under fire. Years passed, Nebucadnza remained king,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: his power unshaken, his glory unmatched. But something had changed
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: in him. Perhaps it was the dream, Perhaps it was
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the image of that statue with its head of gold,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: perhaps it was pride. Whatever the reason, one day the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: king made a decree that would test the faith of
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Daniel's friends in a way they had never been tested before.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: On the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Nebucadneza ordered the construction of an enormous statue. It was
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: ninety feet tall and nine feet wide, covered entirely in gold.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: It gleamed in the sunlight, visible for miles in every direction.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: And it was not a statue of a god. It
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: was a statue of Nebucadnezza himself. When the statue was finished,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the king sent word throughout the empire. Every official, every governor,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: every leader from every province was commanded to come to
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the Plain of Dura for the dedication ceremony. On the
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: appointed day, Thousands gathered. The plane was filled with people
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: as far as the eye could see. Soldiers stood at attention,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: musicians held their instruments waiting for the signal, and at
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the center of it all, towering above them, stood the
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: golden image. A herald stepped forward and shouted in a
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: loud voice, peoples, nations, and men of every language, this
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: is what you are commanded to do. As soon as
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and all kinds of music, you must fall down and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezza has set up.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: thrown into a blazing furnace, a blazing furnace. The threat
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: was clear, obey or face the consequences. The musicians raised
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: their instruments. The signal was given, and the sound of
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: music filled the air. Horns blared, flute sung, harps shimmered,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and as the music swelled, every person on the plane
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: of Dura fell to their knees, thousands upon thousands, bowing
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: in unison, their faces pressed to the ground. Every person
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: except three Shadrak, Mishak and Abed Neigo, stood tall. Their
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: eyes were not on the statue, their hearts were not
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: bowed in worship. They stood quiet and still as the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: world around them knelt. It did not take long for
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: someone to notice. Some of the astrologers, men who had
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: always been jealous of the favor shown to the young Jews,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: hurried to the king o King nebucud Nezzar lived forever.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: They said, bowing low. You have issued a decree that
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: everyone must fall down and worship the image of gold.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: But there are some Jews whom you have set over
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadraq, Meshak, and Abednego,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: who pay no attention to you, o King. They neither
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: have set up. Nebucud Nez's face turned dark with rage.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: He had shown these men favor, he had trusted them,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and now they dared to defy him in front of
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the entire empire. Bring them to me, he commanded. The
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: three friends were brought before the king. Nebucad Neza looked
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: at them, his voice low and dangerous. Is it true, Shadrak, Mishak,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: worship the image I have set up. They did not flinch,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: They did not tremble. The king's voice softened just slightly.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he did not want their blood on his hands.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he wanted to give them one more chance. Now,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: when you hear the sound of the music, if you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: are ready to fall down and worship the image I
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: made very good, But if you do not worship it,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: what God will be able to rescue you from my hand?
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: It was a challenge, a threat, and a question. Shadrak,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Meishak and Abednego looked at each other. Then they looked
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: at the king, and they spoke not with fear, but
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: with a calm, unshakable certainty, O, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: serve is able to save us from it, and he
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: will rescue us from your hand, O King. The King's
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: eyes narrowed, they continued, But even if he does not,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: we want you to know, O King, that we will
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: not serve your gods or worship the image of gold
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: you have set up, even if he does not. Those
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: five words carried the weight of eternity. They were not
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: bargaining with God. They were not trying to manipulate him
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: into saving them. They believed he could, but even if
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: he chose not to, they would not bow. Nebucadnezar's fury
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: exploded heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual. He roared,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: tie them up and throw them in. The soldiers obeyed.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: They bound Shadrach, Meshak and a Bednigo with ropes, fully
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: clothed in their robes and turbans. The furnace was stoked
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: until the flames roared like a living beast, so hot
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: that the soldiers who threw the three men inside were
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: overcome by the heat and perished instantly. The three friends
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: fell into the fire. The crowd watched in horror. The
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: king stood at the edge of the furnace, his eyes
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: fixed on the flames. He expected to see three bodies
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: consumed in seconds, reduced to ash and smoke. But then
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: something impossible happened. Nebucadneza leaped to his feet, his face pale.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: into the fire, he asked his advisers. Certainly, o King,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: they replied, Look, the king shouted, pointing into the furnace.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: the gods. The crowd gasped inside the blazing furnace, where
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: no human could survive. Four figures walked calmly through the flames.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: The ropes that had bound the three friends had burned away,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: but their bodies, their clothes, even their hair remained untouched.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: And beside them walked another being, radiant and majestic, his
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: form glowing with a light that was not of this world.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: It was the Angel of the Lord, the pre incarnate Christ,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the same one who had walked with Adam in the garden,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: the same one who had wrestled with Jacob, the same
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: one who would centuries later walk the dusty roads of Galilee.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Nebucadnezzar approached the opening of the furnace as close as
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: the heat would allow. Shadrak, Mishak and Abdnigo, servants of
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the Most High God, come out, come here. The three
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: men walked out of the furnace. The governor's prefects and
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: advisers crowded around them, staring in disbelief. The fire had
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: not touched them. Their robes were not scorched, their hair
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: was not singed. They did not even smell of smoke.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: The king stood in silence, his mind struggling to comprehend
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: what he had just witnessed. Then he spoke, his voice
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: filled with awe. Praise be to the God of Shadrach,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: his servants. They trusted in him and defied the king's
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: command and were willing to give up their lives rather
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: than serve or worship any god except their own god.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: He issued a new decree that day. No one in
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: any nation or language may say anything against the God
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: of Shadrak, Meyshak and Abdnigo, for no other god can
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: save in this way. The three friends were honored and promoted,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: but they did not boast, they did not take credit.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: They simply returned to their work, their hearts full of
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: gratitude because they had learned something that day, something that
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: every believer in every generation must learn. When you walk
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: through the fire, you do not walk alone. The God
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: who made the flames is the God who walks beside
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: you in them, and no fire on earth, no furnace
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: of trial, no blaze of persecution, can consume those whom
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: he has chosen to protect. And perhaps, as you face
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: your own trials to day, the pressure at work, the
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: conflict at home, the fears that keep you awake, at night,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: You too can remember this. You do not face them alone.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: The same God who stood with Shadrak, Mishak and Abednego
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: stands with you now. Chapter four, The Writing on the Wall,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Judgment in the Palace. Many years passed after the miracle
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: of the Fiery Furnace. King Nebuchadneza grew old, and eventually
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: his time on earth came to an end. He had
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: seen the power of the God of Israel, had acknowledged
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: him as the most High. But the heart of man
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: is frail, and pride can take root even in the
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: most fertile soil of faith. After Nebucadneza, the throne of
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Babylon passed through several kings, and in time it came
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: to rest in the hands of a man named Belshazar,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: grandson of Nebucadnezzar. He was young, ambitious, and unlike his grandfather,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: he had never witnessed the humbling power of the living God.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Belshazar ruled during a dangerous time. The Empire of Babylon,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: once unshakable, was beginning to crack. To the east. The
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: armies of the Meads and Persians were growing stronger. Their
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: king Cyrus had already conquered nation after nation, and now
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: his forces surrounded the great city of Babylon itself. But
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: inside the palace walls, Belshaza felt safe. Babylon's walls were impenetrable,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: rising high into the sky, thick enough that chariots could
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: race along the top. The city had enough food and
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: water stored to last for years. Let Cyrus camp outside
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: the gates, Belshazzar thought, Let him wait. Babylon would never fall,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: and so, in defiance of the siege outside, in mockery
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: of the enemies at his door, Belchazzard decided to throw
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: a feast. It was not a small gathering. He invited
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: a thousand of his nobles, his governors, his military commanders.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: The great banquet hall of the palace was filled with tables,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: overflowing with food and wine. Musicians played dan moved through
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: the crowd. Laughter echoed off the high ceilings, and the
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: wine flowed freely, cup after cup, hour after hour. Belshazar
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: sat at the head of the hall, his face flushed
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: with drink, his eyes bright with arrogance. He raised his
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: cup and shouted to his servants, bring me the gold
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: and silver goblets that Nebucadnezza, my grandfather took from the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: temple in Jerusalem. Let us drink from them. The servants hesitated.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: Those goblets were sacred. They had been used in the
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: worship of the God of Israel, set apart for holy purposes.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: To drink from them in honor of Babylon's gods would
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: be an act of deliberate desecration. But the king had
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: given the order, and so the servants obeyed. They brought
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: out the sacred vessels, the cups and bowls that had
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: once sat in the Temple of the Lord, where priests
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: had offered prayers and incense before the ark of the Covenant.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: They placed them on the tables, and the nobles grabbed
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: them eagerly, laughing, filling them with wine. Belshazar lifted one
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: of the golden cups high into the air to Marduk.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: He shouted to ishtar, to bell, to all the gods
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: of Babylon, who have made us great. The crowd roared
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: in approval. They drank deeply, toasting their idols of gold
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. Gods made
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: by human hands, Gods that could neither see, nor hear,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: nor save and in that moment, the laughter stopped. A
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: silence fell over the hall, sudden and complete, as if
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: all the air had been sucked from the room. Every
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: eye turned toward the wall, where the torches flickered and
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: the shadows danced. And then they saw it. A hand,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: not a whole body, not an angel, just a hand
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: visible from the wrist down, with fingers that moved slowly,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: deliberately across the white plaster of the wall. It was
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: not flesh, it was not spirit. It was something in between,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: glowing faintly, solid enough to leave marks, but transparent enough
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: to see through. And it was writing. The fingers traced
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: letters across the wall, each stroke precise, unhurried, as if
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the hand belonged to some one who had all the
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: time in the world. The sound of the writing was
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: the only sound in the room, a soft scraping like
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: a pen on parchment, but louder, echoing through the silence.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Belshazer's face went white, His hands began to shake, his
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: knees knocked together, and he gripped the arms of his
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: throne to keep from falling. The wine cup slipped from
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: his fingers and clattered to the floor, spilling red liquid.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Across the stones like blood. The hand finished writing full words,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: strange words, words in a language the king did not recognize.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Mene emrne decil pass in, and then the hand disappeared.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: For a moment, no one moved, no one spoke. The
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: nobles stared at the wall, their faces pale, their breath shallow.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: The musicians stood frozen, their instruments silent. Even the servants
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: stood motionless, their eyes wide with terror. Belchazar found his voice.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Bring in the enchanters, he shouted, his voice cracking, Bring
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: the astrologers, Bring the diviners. Whoever can read this writing
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: and tell me what it means, will be clothed in purple,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: given a gold chain, and made the third highest ruler
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: in the kingdom. The wise men of Babylon hurried into
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: the hall. They crowded around the wall, squinting at the words,
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: muttering to one another in low voices. They studied the
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: letters from every angle. They consulted their scrolls, their charts,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: their books of ancient knowledge. But none of them could
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: read it, none of them could tell the king what
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: it meant. Belshazzar's terror grew. He paced back and forth,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: wringing his hands, his breath coming in short gasps. The
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: nobles whispered among themselves, fear spreading through the room like
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: a cold wind. Then the Queen mother entered. She had
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: heard the commotion and came to see what had happened.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: When she saw the king's face pale and trembling, she spoke, calmly,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: O King, live forever. Do not be alarmed. There is
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: the Holy Gods in him. In the time of your grandfather, Nebucadnezza,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: this man was found to have insight, intelligence, and wisdom
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: like that of the gods. Your grandfather appointed him chief
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners. His name is Daniel.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: Call for him and he will tell you what the
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: writing means. Belchazar seized on the suggestion, bring Daniel to
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: me at once. Daniel was no longer young. Decades had
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: passed since he had first stood before nebucad Nezza and
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: interpreted the dream of the statue. His hair was now gray,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: his face lined with age, but his eyes were still clear,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: his mind still sharp, and the spirit of God still
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: rested upon him. When Daniel entered the banquet hall, He
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: looked at the king without fear. Belchazar gestured toward the wall.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Are you, Daniel, one of the exiles my grandfather brought
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: from Judah. I have heard that the spirit of the
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: gods is in you, and that you have in sight,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: intelligence and extraordinary wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: brought before me to read this writing and tell me
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: what it means, but they could not. Now I have
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: heard that you are able to give interpretations and solve
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: me what it means, you will be clothed in purple,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: given a gold chain, and made the third highest ruler
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: in the kingdom. Daniel looked at the king, then at
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: the wall, then back at the king. He spoke slowly,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: his voice steady. You may keep your gifts for yourself
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: and give your rewards to some one else. Nevertheless, I
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: will read the writing for the king and tell him
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: what it means. Then Daniel did something unexpected. He did
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: not go straight to the interpretation. He reminded the king
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: of history of his grandfather of the lessons Belshazzar should
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: have learned, but had ignored. O King, the most high
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: God gave your grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, and glory
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: and splendor. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: and given the mind of an animal, until he acknowledged
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: of men, and sets over them any one he wishes.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: Daniel's voice grew sharper. But you, his grandson, have not
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: and your nobles, your wives and concubines drank wine from them.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: But you did not honor the God who holds in
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: his hand your life and all your ways. The room
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: was silent, Belshazar's face was ashen. Daniel turned to the wall.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: is what these words mean. He pointed to the first word, men,
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: it to an end. He pointed to the second word, tikel,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: He pointed to the third word, passin. Your kingdom is
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: divided and given to the Medes and Persians. The silence
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: that followed was heavier than stone. Belshazzarh true to his word,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: commanded that Daniel be clothed in purple and given a
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: gold chain. He proclaimed him the third highest ruler in
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: the kingdom. But it was an empty honor. That very night,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: while the feast continued, while the nobles tried to resume
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: their drinking and laughter, something was happening outside the walls
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: of Babylon. The armies of Cyrus the Persian had found
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: a way into the city. They had diverted the Euphrates River,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: which flowed beneath the great walls, and marched through the
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: river bed into the heart of Babylon. The guards, distracted
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: by the feast, did not notice until it was too late.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: The soldiers moved swiftly through the streets. They reached the palace,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: They broke through the doors and in the early hours
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: of the morning, as the first light of dawn touched
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: the sky. Belshazzar's reign came to an end that very night.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: The Empire of Babylon, the head of Gold, the kingdom
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: that had stood for generations, fell in a single night,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: and Daniel's words came true, every syllable, every prophecy, every warning.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: The kingdom was divided. The Medes and Persians took the throne,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: and the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: moved one step closer to its end. The chest and
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: arms of silver had arrived. Chapter five, the vision of
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: four beasts empires as monsters. Years passed once more. Babylon
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: was no longer the center of the world. The Meadow
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: Persian Empire now ruled, vast and powerful, stretching from India
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: to Ethiopia. The new king, Darius the Mead, honored Daniel
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: and placed him in a position of great authority. But
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: Daniel was growing old. He had lived through the rise
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: and fall of empires. He had seen kings come and go,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: and yet God was not finished speaking to him. One night,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: during the first year of Belshazzar's reign, before the writing
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: on the wall before the fall of Babylon, Daniel had
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: a dream. It was unlike anything he had experienced before.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: He was not interpreting some one else's vision. This time
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the vision was his own. He saw himself standing by
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: the edge of a great sea. The water was dark, churning,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: whipped into a frenzy by violent winds that came from
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: every direction. The waves rose and crashed, and the air
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: was filled with the sound of thunder and the roar
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: of the deep. And then from the sea, four great
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: beasts emerged. The first beast was like a lion, but
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: it had the wings of an eagle. It moved with
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: power and speed, its roar shaking the ground. Daniel watched
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: as the wings were torn from its back, and it
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: was lifted from the ground and made to stand on
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: two feet like a man, and a human heart was
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: given to it. This, Daniel understood, was Babylon, the lion,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: king of beasts, the eagle, king of birds, a kingdom
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: of glory and pride. But in the end it would
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: be humbled, stripped of its power, and given the heart
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: of a man, just as nebucad Nezza had been humbled,
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: driven into the wilderness, and then restored. The second beast
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: rose from the sea like a bear. It was raised
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: up on one side, and it had three ribs in
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: its mouth between its teeth. A voice said to it,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: get up and eat your fill of flesh. Daniel knew
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: this was the meadow Persian Empire. The bear, strong and brutal,
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: raised up on one side, because the Persians were stronger
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: than the Meds. The three ribs represented the three kingdoms
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: it had devoured, Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt. It would conquer
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: with relentless force, consuming nation after nation, never satisfied. The
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: third beast appeared next, and it was like a leopard,
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: But this leopard had four wings on its back, and
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: it had four heads. It was given authority to rule.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: This was Greece. The leopard swift and deadly. The four
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: wings represented the speed of Alexander the Great's conquests. In
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: just over ten years, he swept across the known world
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: from Macedonia to India, moving faster than any army in history.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: But the four heads symbolized what would happen after his passing.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: His empire would be divided among his four generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: and Seleucus Greece would rule, but it would not remain united.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: And then the fourth beast emerged, and Daniel could find
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: no animal on earth to compare it to. It was terrifying, dreadful,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: exceedingly strong. It had large iron teeth that crushed and
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: devoured everything in its path. What it did not eat,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: it trampled under foot. It was different from all the
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: beasts that had come before it, and it had ten horns.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: This was Rome, the empire that would crush all others.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: The legs of iron from Nebucudnez's statue. Rome would conquer
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: with a brutality the world had never seen. It would
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: build roads and cities, bring law and order, but it
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: would do so with the sword. It would crucify rebels,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: burn cities in slave nations. And the ten horns represented
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: ten kings or kingdoms that would arise from it. But
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: as Daniel watched, something even stranger happened. While he was
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: considering the ten horns, another horn, a little one, came
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: up among them. Three of the first horns were uprooted
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: a man, and a mouth that spoke boastfully, Daniel's heart pounded.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: This little horn was different. It was not just a king.
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: It was a person of great cunning and ambition. It
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: spoke words against the most high, oppressed his saints, and
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: tried to change the set times and the laws. It
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: would rule for a time, times and half a time,
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: three and a half years. Many scholars believe this points
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: to a pattern we see repeated in scripture, a figure
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: who rises in rebellion against God and his people. Some
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: see this fulfilled in part by Antiochus Epiphanes, who persecuted
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: the Jews and defiled the temple. Others believe it points
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: forward to a future time when another such ruler will
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: arise at the end of the age. But then the
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: scene changed. Daniel saw thrones set in place, and the
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: Ancient of days took his seat. His clothing was white
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: as snow, his hair was white like wool. His throne
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: A river of fire flowed from before him. Thousands upon
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: thousands attended him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: The court was seated, and the books were opened. Daniel
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: watched as the fourth beast, with its boastful horn met
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: its end. Its body was destroyed and given over to
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: the burning fire. The other beasts had their dominion taken away,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: but they were allowed to live for a period of time.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: And then Daniel saw something that made him fall to
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: his knees. In his vision. He looked up, and there
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: before him was one like a son of Man, coming
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory,
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: and sovereign power. All peoples, nations, and men of every
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: language worshiped him. His dominion was an everlasting dominion that
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: would not pass away, and his kingdom was one that
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: would never be destroyed. Many scholars believe this figure represents
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: the Messiah fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who would later refer
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: to himself as the Son of Man throughout the Gospels.
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: When Jesus stood before the High Priest and declared, you
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: will see the Son of Man sitting at the right
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: of heaven, he was echoing the very vision Daniel saw
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: six centuries earlier. Daniel's mind reeled. He had seen the
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: future four empires would rise Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: each one more brutal than the last. But in the
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: end they would all fall, and the Kingdom of God,
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: eternal and unshakable, would fill the earth. But Daniel was troubled.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: The vision was overwhelming. He approached one of those standing there,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: an angel, and asked him the meaning of all this.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: The angel said, the four Great Beasts are four kingdoms
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: that will rise from the earth. But the Saints of
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: it forever, Yes, forever and ever. Daniel asked specifically about
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: the fourth Beast, the one that was different from all
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: the others, terrifying and destructive with its iron teeth and
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: bronze claws, and especially about the little Horn that waged
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: war against the saints and seemed to be prevailing. The
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: angel explained, the Fourth Beast is a fourth kingdom that
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: will appear on earth. It will be different from all
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: it down and crushing it. Dawns are ten kings who
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: will come from this kingdom. After them, another king will arise,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: different from the earlier ones. He will subdue three kings.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints.
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: He will try to change the set times and the laws.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: The saints will be handed over to him for a
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: time times and half a time. Then the angel's voice
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: grew stronger, filled with hope. But the court will sit
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of the kingdoms under
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints,
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Daniel stood in silence. The vision was complete, but his
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: heart was deeply troubled. He kept the matter to himself,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: turning it over in his mind again and again. He
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: had seen the rise and fall of empires. He had
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: seen the pride of kings and the suffering of the faithful.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: He had seen war, oppression, and the arrogance of those
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: who thought they could overthrow the plans of God. But
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: he had also seen something else. He had seen the throne.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: He had seen the ancient of days. He had seen
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: the Son of Man coming in glory, and he had
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: heard the promise, the kingdom will be given to the saints,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: and it will last forever. Babylon would fall, Persia would fall,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: Greece would fall, Rome would fall. Every empire built by
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: human hands, no matter how powerful, no matter how glorious,
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: would crumble into dust. But the Kingdom of God, that
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: kingdom would never end. Daniel lay down that night, his
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: mind still full of the images he had seen. Lions
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: with wings, bears with ribs, leopards with four heads, beasts
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: with iron teeth, horns that spoke against heaven, and above
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: it all, a throne of fire, a river of light,
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: and a figure who would reign forever. He did not
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: understand everything, but he understood enough. History was not random.
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: Empires did not rise and fall by chance. Every king,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: every nation, every moment in time was part of a
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: story that God himself was writing, and the final chapter
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: had already been decided. The beasts would rage, but the
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven would overcome. Chapter six, the Ancient of
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: Days and the Sun of Man, the Throne of Heaven.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: The vision of the four beasts left Daniel shaken. For days.
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: He carried the weight of what he had seen the beasts,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: the horns, the violence, the oppression. But more than anything,
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: it was the final image that stayed with him. The throne,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: the fire, the Ancient of days, and the one who
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: came with the clouds of heaven. Daniel could not stop
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: thinking about it. He had seen many things in his
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: long life. He had interpreted dreams, witnessed miracles, and stood
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: before kings, but nothing, nothing had prepared him for this.
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: He had looked into the throne room of God himself
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: in the vision. After the beasts had risen from the
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: sea and wreaked havoc upon the earth, the scene shifted,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: the chaos gave way to order, the noise fell silent,
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: and Daniel found himself standing before something far greater than
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: any earthly kingdom. Thrones were set in place, not one throne,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: many arranged in a court room, as if heaven itself
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: were a place of justice, where every deed would be judged,
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: every word weighed, every hidden thing brought into the light.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: And then the Ancient of Days took his seat. Daniel
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: had no words to describe what he saw. Human language,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: even the language of angels, seemed too small to contain it,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: but he did his best. He wrote it down so
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: that future generations might glimpse, even faintly, the majesty of
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: the one who sits above all thrones. His clothing was
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: as white as snow, not the white of cloth or marble,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: but a white so pure, so radiant, that it seemed
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: to glow from within, a white that had never known
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: stain or shadow, a white that spoke of holiness, of purity,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: of absolute perfection. His hair was white like wool, Not
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: the white of age, though he is older than time itself,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: but the white of eternity of one who has always
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: been and will always be, the Alpha and the Omega,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: the beginning and the end. His throne was flaming with fire,
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: not a fire that consumes, but a fire that purifies,
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: a fire that reveals, the kind of fire that burns
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: away everything false, everything corrupt, leaving only what is true
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: and good and eternal. And the wheels of the throne
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: were all ablaze. They moved, turned, spun with the life
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: of their own, as if the throne itself was alive,
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: responding to the will of the one who sat upon it.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: The wheels within wheels burning with eyes, seeing everything, knowing everything,
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: missing nothing, a river of fire was flowing coming out
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: from before him, not a trickle, not a stream, a river, endless, eternal,
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: pouring forth from the presence of God, like the very
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: source of light itself. This was the fire of His holiness,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: his justice, his unquenchable glory. Thousands upon thousands attended him,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. Daniel tried
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: to count them, but it was impossible. Angels beyond number, seraphim, cherubim, archangels,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: beings of light and power, each one perfect in beauty,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: each one burning with the love and glory of God.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: And all of them, every single one, bowed before the throne,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: not in fear, but in worship, not in servitude, but
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: in adoration. The court was seated and the books were opened.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: Daniel saw them, vast scrolls, books that contained every moment
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: of human history, every word spoken, every thought conceived, every
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: act of kindness, every act of cruelty. Nothing was hidden,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: nothing was forgotten, Everything was written down, waiting for the
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: day when justice would be complete. And then the beasts
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: were judged. Daniel watched as the fourth beast, the one
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: with the boastful horn, met its end. Its body was
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: destroyed and given over to the burning fire. The other
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: beasts had their authority taken away, but they were allowed
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: to live for a season. Their time was finished, their
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: empires were over. The kingdoms of men had come to
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: an end. But Daniel knew this was not the end
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: of the vision. Something greater was coming. He could feel it.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: The air itself seemed to hold its breath. And then
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: he saw him in my vision at night. I looked,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: and there before me was one like a son of man,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: coming with the clouds of heaven. Not a beast, not
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: a monster, not a conqueror on a war horse, but
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: one like a son of man, some one who looked human,
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: someone who had walked the earth, who had known hunger
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: and thirst, who had felt the dust of the road
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: beneath his feet, and the weight of sorrow in his heart.
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: But this was no ordinary man. He came with the
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: clouds of heaven, the clouds that had covered Mount Sinai
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: when God gave the law to Moses, the clouds that
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: filled the temple, when the glory of the Lord descended,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: the clouds that belonged to God alone. He approached the
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: Ancient of days and was led into his presence. Daniel's
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: heart pounded. This was the moment, the moment when heaven
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: and Earth would meet, when the eternal plan of God
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: would be revealed. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: All peoples, nations, and men of every language worshiped him,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: worshiped him, not honored, not respected, worshiped the kind of
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: worship that belongs to God alone. And the Ancient of
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: days did not stop them. He gave this authority, He
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: crowned this figure with glory. His dominion is an everlasting
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: one that will never be destroyed. Daniel understood. The beasts
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: had their time Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. They rose, they conquered,
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: they fell. But this kingdom, the kingdom of the Son
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: of Man, would never fall. It would outlast every empire,
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: every throne, every power on earth or in heaven. Centuries later,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: when Jesus of Nazareth stood before the high Priest, bound
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: and beaten, the priest would ask him, are you the Messiah,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: the son of the Blessed One? And Jesus would answer
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: with the very words of Daniel's vision, I am, and
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: right hand of the Mighty One, and coming on the
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: clouds of heaven. The priest tore his robes and cried
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: black for me. But it was not blasphemy. It was
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: the truth, the same truth Daniel had seen six hundred
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: years earlier. Daniel did not see the cross in this vision.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: He did not see the nails, the thorns, the blood.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: But he saw the throne, and he knew that the
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: path from earth to throne, the journey from manger to crown,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: would be paved with suffering, sacrifice and love beyond measure.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: And now, as you lie here to night, remember this.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: The same throne Daniel saw still stands, the same ancient
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: of days still reigns, and the same promise holds true,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: that one day every power that has ever opposed him
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: will bow, every empire will crumble, and his kingdom will
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: fill the earth. Daniel lay awake that night, staring at
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: the ceiling, replaying the vision in his mind. He thought
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: of the fire, the thrones, the books, the river of light,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: and the face of the Son of Man radiant with
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: the glory of the Father. He did not know when
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: it would happen, he did not know how, but he
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: knew this God had already written the ending, and it
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: was good. The kingdoms of this world would become the
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: would reign for ever and ever. Chapter seven, the seventy
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: Weeks Prophecy time line to the Messiah. It was the
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: first year of Darius the Mead, the year after Babylon fell.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: Daniel was now an old man, his hair white, his
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: body frail. He had lived through two empires, served under
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: multiple kings, and witnessed the rise and fall of the
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: greatest city on earth, but his heart had never left Jerusalem.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: Every day, three times a day, he opened the window
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: of his room, faced west toward the Holy City and prayed.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: He prayed for his people, He prayed for the Temple.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: He prayed for the restoration of Israel. And one day,
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: as he was reading the scrolls of the prophet Jeremiah,
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: he came across a passage that made his heart leap.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: This is what the Lord says, when seventy years are
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: my good promise to bring you back to this place
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: seventy years. Daniel did the calculation. It had been nearly
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: seventy years since the first captives, including himself, had been
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: taken to Babylon. The time was almost complete, the exile
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: was almost over. But as Daniel looked around, he saw
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: no sign of restoration. Jerusalem still lay in ruins, the
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: temple was still a pile of rubble, the people were
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: still scattered. What was God waiting for? And then Daniel
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: understood the promise would be fulfilled, but not because Israel
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: deserved it. They had sinned, they had turned away from God,
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: they had broken the covenant. If God was going to
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: bring them back, it would not be because of their righteousness.
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: It would be because of his mercy. So Daniel did
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: what he had always done. He prayed. But this was
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: not an ordinary prayer. This was a prayer of confession,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: of repentance, of desperate pleading. Daniel fell to his knees,
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: covered his head with sackcloth, and poured out his heart
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: before the Lord. O, Lord, the Great and awesome God,
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: who keeps his covenant of love with all who love
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: him and obey his commands. We have sinned and done wrong.
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: We have been wicked and have rebelled. We have turned
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: away from your commands and laws. We have not listened
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name,
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: all the people of the land. Daniel did not blame others.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: He did not point fingers. He included himself. We have sinned,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: we have done wrong, we have rebelled. Lord, You are righteous,
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: but this day we are covered with shame, the men
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: of Judah and people of Jerusalem, and all Israel, both
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: near and far, in all the countries where you have
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: scattered us, because of our unfaithfulness to you. He confessed
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: the sins of his people, not just the recent ones,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: but the sins of generations, the idolatry, the injustice, the pride,
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: the refusal to listen when God sent prophet after prophet,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: warning them, pleading with them to turn back. O, Lord,
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: we and our kings, our princes, and our fathers are
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord,
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: rebelled against him. We have not obeyed the Lord, our God,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: or kept the laws he gave us through his servants,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: the prophets, and then Daniel's voice grew more urgent. He
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: was not just confessing, he was interceding. He was standing
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: in the gap between a holy God and a sinful people,
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: asking for mercy. Now, o Lord, our God, who brought
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: who made for yourself a name that endures to this day,
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: we have sinned, We have done wrong, O Lord, in
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: those around us. He was appealing to God's name, to
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: his reputation. Lord, if Jerusalem remains in ruins, if your
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: people remain scattered, the nations will mock you. They will
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: say you are not powerful enough to save. They will
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: say you have abandoned your covenant. But you have not.
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: You are faithful, you are merciful. So please, for your
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: name's sake, restore us. Now, our God, hear the prayers
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord,
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, o God,
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: and hear. Open your eyes and see the desolation of
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: the city that bears your name. We do not make
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: requests of you because we are righteous, but because of
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: your great mercy. And then, with tears streaming down his face,
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: Daniel cried out the most desperate words of all. O, Lord, listen,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hear and act for your sake. O,
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: my God, do not delay, because your city and your
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: people bear your name. It was a prayer that echoed
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: through the heavens, a prayer of brokenness, a prayer of faith,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: a prayer that moved the heart of God. And while
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: Daniel was still speaking, while he was still in prayer,
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: still confessing his sin and the sin of his people,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: something happened. The air in the room grew warm. A
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: light appeared, soft at first, then brighter, and from within
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: the light stepped a figure radiant and powerful, his face
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: shining like the sun. It was the angel Gabriel, the
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: same messenger who had appeared to Daniel before, the same
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: one who would centuries later appear to a young virgin
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: in Nazareth and tell her she would bear the son
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: of God. Gabriel spoke gently, Daniel, I have now come
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: to give you insight and understanding, as soon as you
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: began to pray, an answer was given, which I have
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: consider the message and understand the vision. Daniel looked up,
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: his face still wet with tears, his heart still trembling.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: Gabriel continued, Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: your holy city. Seventy weeks, but not weeks of days,
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: weeks of years, seventy times seven, four hundred ninety years,
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: This was not just about the return from exile. This
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: was about something far greater. This was about the Messiah,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: the one who would finish transgression, who would put an
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: end to sin, who would atone for wickedness, who would
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: bring in everlasting righteousness. Gabriel gave Daniel the time line,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: the exact time line, a prophecy so precise, so mathematically perfect,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: that it would point to the very era when the
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: Messiah would appear. Know and understand this from the issuing
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: anointed One, the ruler comes. There will be seven weeks
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: and sixty two weeks. Seven weeks plus sixty two weeks
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: sixty nine weeks total four hundred eighty three prophetic years.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: The decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was issued by
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: King art Exerxes of Persia in the year four hundred
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: fifty seven before Christ. It was recorded in the Book
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah. The command was clear,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: go back, rebuild the city, restore the walls. From that
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: moment the clock started. Now. Scholars have used different methods
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: to calculate this timeline. The Jewish prophetic calendar used three
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: hundred sixty days per year, not three hundred sixty five.
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: Using this prophetic calendar of three hundred sixty days per year,
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: many scholars calculate that four hundred eighty three per prophetic
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: years would bring us to approximately the time of Christ's
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: public ministry in the first century and what happened during
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: that time. Jesus of Nazareth, at the age of thirty,
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: The heavens opened, the spirit of God descended like a dove,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: and a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son,
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: in whom I am well pleased. The Anointed One, the Messiah,
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: had appeared. The time line had brought the world to
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: the very era when salvation would break into history. But
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: Gabriel was not finished. After the sixty two weeks, the
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: cut off, a term that means removed, executed. The Messiah
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: would not come to set up an earthly throne. Not yet,
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: he would come to give his life. Gabriel continued. The
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: people of the ruler who will come will destroy the
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood.
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: This was a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. In
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: the year seventy after Christ, just forty years after the
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: Crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman army, led by General Titus,
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: surrounded Jerusalem. They broke through the walls, burned the temple,
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: and left the city in ruins. The sanctuary was destroyed,
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: just as Daniel had foreseen, But there was one more
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: peace to the prophecy. One final week, the seventieth week,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: he will confirm a covenant with many. For one week.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: In the middle of the week, he will put an
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: end to sacrifice, an offering, and on a wing of
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: the temple he will set up an abomination that causes
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: on him. This final week has been understood in different
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: ways by different scholars. Some believe it refers to the
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: ministry of Christ and the year years immediately following. Others
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: believe it points to a future time at the end
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: of the age. But all agree on this. Every prophecy
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: God gives will be fulfilled with perfect precision. Daniel sat
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: in silence, his mind reeling. Gabriel had given him more
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: than a prophecy. He had given him a time line,
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: a road map through history, a calendar that spanned centuries,
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: pointing to the exact era when the Messiah would come,
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: from the decree of art Exerxes in four fifty seven
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: b C. Through the centuries to the time of Christ's appearance.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: The math, when understood through the prophetic calender, pointed to
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: the very generation that would witness the coming of the Savior.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: This was not guesswork. This was not coincidence. This was
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: the hand of God writing history before it happened, so
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: that when the Messiah came, the world would know the
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: prophets had spoken, the time line had been set, and nothing,
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: not kings, not empires, not all the forces of darkness
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: could delay it by a single day. Daniel closed his eyes, overwhelmed.
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: He had asked God to restore Jerusalem, and God had answered.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: But the answer was bigger than Daniel had imagined. It
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: was not just about rebuilding walls. It was about rebuilding humanity.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: It was about the coming of the one who would
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: take away the sin of the world. Seventy weeks, four
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: hundred ninety years from the decree to restore Jerusalem through
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: the coming of the Messiah to the final week when
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: all things would be made new. And Daniel, the faithful Servant,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: the man who had prayed three times a day for
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: seventy years, had been chosen to see it, to write
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: it down, to pass it on so that we thousands
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: of years later might read his words and know the truth.
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: The Messiah came not by accident, but according to the
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: time line God revealed to Daniel, and he will come
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: again at the appointed time on the exact day in
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: the fullness of time. Because the God who spoke to
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: Daniel is the god who keeps his promises, and his
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: word never fails. Chapter eight, The Ram and the Goat,
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: Persia versus Greece. Two years after the Vision of the
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: Four Beasts, in the third year of King Belshazzar's reign,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: Daniel received another vision. This one was different, more specific,
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: more detailed. If the vision of the four Beasts had
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: shown him the broad sweep of history, this vision would
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: zoom in on two particular empires and reveal the conflict
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: between them with startling precision. Daniel found himself standing beside
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: a canal, the Ulai Canal, in the Citadel of Susa.
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: The water flowed quietly beside him him the sky above
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: was clear, and then as he looked up, the vision began.
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: He saw a ram standing beside the canal. It had
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: two horns, both of them long, but one horn was
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: longer than the other, and it grew up later than
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: the first. The ram was powerful, charging in every direction, west, north,
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: and south. No animal could stand against it, no one
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: could rescue anything from its power. It did as it
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: pleased and became great. Daniel watched carefully. He knew he
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: was seeing something important. The ram moved with confidence, dominating
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: everything in its path. It was unstoppable. And then from
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: the west another creature appeared. A goat came from the west,
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. It moved
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: with incredible speed, as if flying, and between its eyes
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: was a prominent horn, large and power. The goat charged
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: toward the ram with great rage. Daniel could feel the
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: fury radiating from it. This was not just a battle,
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: this was personal. This was conquest, driven by ambition and pride.
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: The goat struck the ram with savage force, shattering both
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: of its horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it.
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: The goat knocked it to the ground and trampled it,
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: and there was no one to rescue the ram from
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: the goat's power. The goat became very great, but at
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: the height of its power, its large horn was broken off,
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: and in its place four prominent horns grew up, pointing
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: toward the four winds of heaven. Daniel stared at the scene,
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: his heart pounding. What did this mean? Who were these animals?
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: What kingdoms did they represent? But the vision was not finished.
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: Out of one of the four horns. Came another horn,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: which started small, but grew in toward the south and
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: the east, and toward the beautiful land Israel. It grew
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: until it reached the host of the heavens. It threw
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: some of the starry host down to the earth and
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: trampled on them. It set itself up to be as
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: great as the prince of the Host. It took away
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: sanctuary was brought low. This horn was different. It was
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: not just conquering territory. It was attacking Heaven itself. It
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: was defiling the temple. It was stopping the worship of God.
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: Daniel watched in horror as the horn cast truth to
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: the ground. It prospered in everything it did. Then he
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: to him, how long will it take for the vision
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: to be fulfilled? The vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: and of the host that will be trampled under foot.
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: The answer came, it will take two thousand, three hundred
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated. Daniel
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: was trying to understand what he was seeing, when suddenly
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: standing before him was one who looked like a man,
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: and he heard a human voice calling from between the
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: banks of the Ulai. Gabriel, tell this man the meaning
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: of the vision. Gabriel, the same angel who had brought
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: the prophecy of the seventy weeks, the same messenger of
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: God who stood in the presence of the Almighty. Gabriel
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: approached Daniel, and as he came near, Daniel was terrified.
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: He fell face down on the ground. But Gabriel said
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: to him, understand, son of man, that the vision concerns
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: the time of the end. While he was speaking to Daniel,
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: Daniel fell into a deep sleep, his face to the ground,
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: but Gabriel touched him and raised him to his feet.
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: I am going to tell you what will happen later
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: in the time of wrath, Gabriel said, because the vision
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: concerns the appointed time of the end. Then Gabriel explained
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: the vision piece by piece with perfect clarity. The two
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: horned ram that you saw represents the kings of the
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: Meads and Persians. Daniel understood immediately. The meadow Persian empire,
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: the bear from his earlier vision, the chest and arms
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: of silver from Nebucudnezer's statue. The ram with two horns,
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: one longer than the other, represented the dual nature of
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: the empire. The Meads came first, but the Persians grew
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: stronger and took the dominant roll. Together they conquered Babylon
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: and ruled over a vast territory stretching from India to Ethiopia.
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, Gabriel continued,
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: and the large horn between his eyes is the first
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: king the goat Greece, and the prominent horn was Alexander
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: the Great. Daniel's heart raced. This was history written in advance.
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: Alexander the Great, born in the year three hundred fifty
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: six before Christ would rise to power. In his early twenties.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: He would lead his armies across the known world with
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: breath taking speed, moving so fast that it seemed he
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: flew across the earth without touching the ground. In just
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: over ten years, he would conquer the Persian Empire, Egypt,
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: and lands as far east as India. The Ram Persia
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: would be utterly destroyed. Its two horns shattered, its power
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: trampled into the dust. But Gabriel was not finished. The
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: four horns that replaced the one that was broken off
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation, but
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: will not have the same power. Alexander the Great passed
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: away suddenly at the age of thirty two in the
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: year three twenty three before Christ. His empire, the largest
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: the world had ever seen, was divided among his four generals.
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: Cassander took Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus took Thrace and Asia Minor.
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: Seleucus took Syria and the eastern territories. Ptolemy took Egypt
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: four horns pointing toward the four winds of Heaven, exactly
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: as the vision had shown. And then Gabriel came to
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: the most troubling part of the vision. In the latter
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked,
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: a stern faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise.
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: He will become very strong, but not by his own power.
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper and he
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: destroy many and take his stand against the prince of princes.
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: This was the Little Horn, the one who would rise
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: from one of the four divisions of Alexander's empire and
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: wage war against the people of God, and history records
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: exactly who this was. His name was Antiochus Epiphanes. He
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: was the eighth ruler of the Seleucid Empire, one of
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: the four kingdoms that came from Alexander's divided empire. He
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: reigned from one hundred seventy five b C to one
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: hundred sixty four b C. And he did exactly what
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: the prophecy said he would do. Antiochus saw himself as
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: a god. He called himself Epiphanes, which means God manifest.
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: He demanded worship. He despised the Jewish people and their
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: worship of the One True God. And in the year
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: one hundred sixty seven b C, he did the unthinkable.
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: He marched into Jerusalem with his armies. He entered the temple,
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: he stopped the daily sacrifices. He set up an altar
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: to the Greek god Zeus in the Holy of Holies,
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: and then to defile the temple completely. He sacrificed a
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: pig on the altar, an unclean animal, an abomination in
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: the eyes of God. He banned the practice of the
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: Jewish faith. He ordered the Jewish people to eat pork,
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: to bow before idols, to abandon the law of Moses.
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: Anyone who refused faced severe consequences. For two thousand, three
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: hundred days, roughly six and a half years, the temple
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: remained defiled, the sacrifices stopped, the worship of God was outlawed.
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: But Antiochus did not know that he was fulfilling a
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: prophecy written four hundred years earlier. He thought he was
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: acting on his own. He thought he was conquering in
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: his own strength. But he was nothing more than a
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: piece in the hands of a God who sees the
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: end from the beginning. And just as the prophecy said, Antiochus,
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: Epiphanes met his end not by human power, but by illness.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: In the year one hundred sixty four beasts, he fell
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: gravely ill while retreating from a failed campaign in Persia.
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: He passed away far from home, despised even by his
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: own people, and when he was gone, the Jewish people,
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: led by a family known as the Maccabees, rose up
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: in revolt. They reclaimed the temple, they cleansed it, they
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: rededicated it to the Lord, and the sacrifices began again.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: This event is still remembered to day. The Jewish people
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: celebrated every year during the festival of Hanukah, the feast
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: of Dedication. It is a celebration of the faithfulness of God,
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: who kept his people even in their darkest hour. Daniel
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: stood in awe. The vision had shown him not just empires,
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: but individuals, not just broad strokes of history, but specific events,
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: specific years, specific acts of rebellion and redemption, the Ram
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: and the Goat, Persia and Greece, Alexander and Antiochus, all
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: of it written down centuries before it happened, all of
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: it fulfilled with perfect precision. Gabriel looked at Daniel and said,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: the vision of the evenings and mornings that has been
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: given you is true, but seal up the vision, for
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: it concerns the distant future. Daniel was exhausted, overwhelmed. The
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: weight of what he had seen pressed down on him
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: like a heavy stone. He fell ill for several days.
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: When he finally recovered, he went about the king's business,
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: but his heart was troubled. He had seen the future.
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: He had seen empires rise and fall. He had seen
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: kings who thought they were gods brought low by the
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: hand of the Almighty. He had seen the temple defiled
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: and then restored. And he knew deep in his soul
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: that this was not just history. It was a pattern,
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: a warning, a glimpse of what would happen again and
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: again through out time. Many scholars see an Antiochus not
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: only a historical figure, but also a foreshadowing, a pattern
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: of what would come again at the end of the age,
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: when another ruler would set himself against God and his people.
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: But just as Antiochus met his end, so too will
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: every enemy of God be brought low, not by human hands,
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: but by the breath of the mouth of the Lord,
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: by the appearing of the King of Kings and Lord
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: of lords. Daniel sealed the vision, just as Gabriel had instructed.
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: He did not understand everything, but he understood enough. History
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: is not random. Empires do not rise by chance, Kings
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: do not reign by their own power. Every throne every crown,
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: every kingdom is under the sovereign authority of the God
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: of Heaven. And in the end, every knee will bow,
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: every tongue will confess, and every enemy of God will
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: be brought low. The ram fell, the go fell, the
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: little horn fell, and one day every power that has
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: ever opposed the Lord will fall as well, because the
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: kingdom belongs to God and his reign will never end.
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Daniel's final Vision, Kings of North and South.
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: In the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia, a
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: revelation was given to Daniel, who was also called Belta Shaza.
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: The message was true, and it concerned a great conflict.
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: Daniel was now very old. His hair was white, his
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: body was frail. He had lived longer than most men,
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: seen more than most men, and carried burdens heavier than
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: most men could bear. But his spirit was still strong,
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: his faith was still steady, and his heart was still
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: turned toward Jerusalem. For three weeks, Daniel had been mourning.
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: He ate no choice for oood, no meat or wine
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: touched his lips. He used no lotions. He simply prayed
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: and fasted, seeking understanding from the Lord. On the twenty
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: fourth day of the first month, as he was standing
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, he
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: looked up and saw a vision that would change him forever.
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 1: Before him stood a man dressed in linen, with a
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: Daniel was the only one who saw the vision. The
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: men with him did not see it, but such terror
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. Daniel was
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: left alone gazing at this great vision. He had no
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: strength left. His face turned deathly pale, and he was helpless.
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: Then he heard the man speak, and as he listened,
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: he fell into a deep sleep, his face to the ground.
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: A hand touched him and set him trembling on his
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: hands and knees. The voice said, Daniel, you who are
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: speak to you, and stand up, for I have now
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: been sent to you. When he said this, Daniel stood
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: up trembling. The man continued, do not be afraid, Daniel.
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: Since the first day that you set your mind to
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: words were heard, and I have come in response to them,
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: But the Prince of the Persian Kingdom resisted me twenty
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: to help me, because I was detained there with the
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: King of Persia. Daniel's eyes widened. The Angel had been
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: delayed not by earthly forces, but by a spiritual battle
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: in the heavenly realms. The Prince of Persia, a spiritual
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: power assigned to that kingdom, had fought against God's messenger,
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: and it took the archangel Michael, the Protector of Israel,
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: to break through. This was a glimpse behind the veil,
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: a revelation that the battles on earth are reflections of
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: battles in heaven, that kingdoms rise and fall not just
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: by the will of men, but by the movements of
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: spiritual powers, both good and evil. The Angel said, now
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: I have come to explain to you what will happen
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: to your people in the future. For the vision concerns
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: a time yet to come. And then the angel began
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: to speak. What followed was the most detailed prophecy in
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: all of scripture, a vision that covered hundreds of years
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: of history, naming kings, describing wars, foretelling alliances and betrayals,
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: all with astonishing precision. The angel spoke of the kings
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: of Persia. Three more kings will appear in Persia, and
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: then a fourth who will be far richer than all
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: the others. When he has gained power by his wealth,
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: he will stir up every one against the kingdom of Greece.
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: History records that after Cyrus there were indeed three more
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: kings of Persia Cambices Smerdis and Darius. The first and
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: the fourth was Xerxes the First, who launched a massive
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: invasion against Greece in four hundred eighty b c. Just
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: as the prophecy said, then the angel spoke of a
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: mighty king who would appear and rule with great power,
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: doing as he pleased. This was Alexander the Great. After
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: not go to his descendants, nor will it have the
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: power he exercised again perfect accuracy. Alexander's empire was divided
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: among his four generals, not his children, and none of
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: the four kingdoms had the power that Alexander had wielded.
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: And then the vision narrowed its focus. From this point on,
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: the prophecy would concentrate on two of the four kingdoms,
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: the King of the South and the King of the North.
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: The King of the South was the Ptolemaic dynasty, ruling
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: from Egypt. The King of the North was the Seleucid dynasty,
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: ruling from Syria, and between them lay the land of Israel,
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: caught in the cross fire of their endless wars. The
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: angel described their conflicts in minute detail. The King of
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: the South will become strong, but one of his commanders
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: will become even stronger than he, and will rule his
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: own kingdom with great power. This was Seleucus, the first
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: one of Alexander's generals. He started as a commander under
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 1: Ptolemy the First of Egypt, but then broke away and
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: established his own kingdom in Syria, which became more powerful
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: than Egypt. After some years, they will become allies. The
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: daughter of the King of the South will go to
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: the king of the North to make an alliance, but
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: she will not retain her power, and he and his
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: power will not last. This referred to Berenice, daughter of
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: Ptolemy the second of Egypt, who was given in marriage
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: to Antiochus the second of Syria, to seal a peace treaty.
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: But the alliance failed, Berenice and her son met tragic ends,
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: and war broke out again. On and on the prophecy went,
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: describing battle after battle, alliance after alliance, betrayal after betrayal,
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: kings rising and falling, daughters given in marriage for political gain,
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: armies marching back and forth across Israel like a tide
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: that never stopped, and every detail came true. Historians have
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: compared the prophecy in Daniel chapter eleven with the historical
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: records of the Greek and Roman historians Polybius, Livy Josephus,
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: and the matches so precise that skeptics have argued the
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: Book of Daniel must have been written after these EVAs
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: events occurred, but it was not. The Dead Sea scrolls
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: discovered in the caves of Cumran contain fragments of the
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: Book of Daniel dating to the second century before Christ,
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: proving that the prophecy was written long before the events
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: it describes. God had shown Daniel the future, not in
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: vague symbols, but in specific details, specific wars, specific years.
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: And then the prophecy came to the figure Daniel had
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: seen before, the Little Horn, Antiochus Epiphanes. Then a contemptible
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: person will arise to whom royal honor has not been given.
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure,
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: and he will seize it through intrigue. Antiachus, the fourth Epiphanes,
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: was not the rightful heir to the throne. He took
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: power through manipulation and deceit, and once he had it,
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: he used it to wage war against Egypt, against his rivals,
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: and against the people of God. God. He will set
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: his mind against the Holy Covenant. He will take action
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: against it, and then return to his own country. At
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: the appointed time, he will invade the South again, but
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: this time the outcome will be different from what it
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: was before. Antiochus invaded Egypt twice. The first time he succeeded.
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: The second time he was stopped by the Romans, who
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: ordered him to leave Egypt. Immediately humiliated and enraged, he
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: turned his fury on Jerusalem. His armed forces will rise
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: causes desolation. This was the same event Daniel had seen
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: in the vision of the Ram and the Goat. Antiochus
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: stopped the sacrifices, defiled the temple, and set up an
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: altar to Zeus in the Holy of Holies. But the
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: prophecy also spoke of a remnant. The people who know
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: their God will firmly resist him. This was the Maccabean revolt,
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: a family of faithful Jews who refused to bow, who
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: took up arms against the tyrant, who fought not for
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: political power, but for the right to worship the One
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: True God. And after years of struggle, they won. They
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: cleansed the temple, they rededicated it, and they preserved the
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: faith for future generations. But then the angel's voice grew
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: more somber. At the time of the end, the king
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: of the South will engage him in battle, and the
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: King of the North will storm out against him with
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood.
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: This part of the prophecy points beyond the historical Antiochus
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: to a time still future. Many scholars believe this describes
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: events that will unfold at the end of the age,
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: when another conflict will arise involving the land of Israel.
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: He will hitch his royal tents between the seas at
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: the beautiful Holy Mountain. Yet he will come to his end,
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: and no one will help him. The beautiful Holy Mountain, Jerusalem.
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: The final enemy will make his stand there, but he
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: will fall not by human hands, but by the return
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: of the King of Kings. Daniel listened to every word,
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: his heart heavy. The Angel had shown him centuries of war, suffering,
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: and oppression. He had seen kingdoms rise and fall. He
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: had seen the faithful persecuted. He had seen the temple defiled.
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: But he had also seen something else. He had seen
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: that God was in control, that every king, every battle,
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: every moment of history was part of a plan. That
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: nothing happened by chance, That even in the darkest times,
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: God's people were never abandoned. The Angel finished speaking, and Daniel, overwhelmed,
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: fell to the ground once more. But the Angel touched
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: him again and said, go your way, Daniel, because the
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: words are closed up and sealed until the time of
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: the end. Daniel did not fully understand everything he had seen,
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: but he trusted, he believed, and he wrote it all
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: down so that future generations might read and know that
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: the God of Heaven sees all, knows all, and controls all.
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: From Persia to Greece, from Alexander to Antiochus, from the
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: Maccabees to the end of time. Every step of the
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: journey had been revealed. And one day, when the final
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: battle comes, when the last enemy rises, when the world
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: trembles in fear, the faithful will remember Daniel's words, and
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: they will stand firm because they know their God, and
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: their God will never fail. Chapter ten, The End Times,
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: Resurrection and Judgment. After the vision of the Kings of
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: the North and South, after seeing centuries of war and
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: suffering unfold before his eyes, Daniel stood trembling. His body
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: was weak, his heart was heavy. He had seen so much,
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: too much for one man to carry. But the Angel
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: was not finished at that time. The Angel said, his
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: voice filled with both warning and hope. Michael, the Great
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: Prince who protects your people, will arise, there will be
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: a time of distress such as has not happened from
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: the beginning of nations until then, a time of distress,
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 1: the greatest tribulation the world has ever known, Darker than
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: the Fall of Jerusalem, more intense than the persecution under Antiochus,
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: more challenging than any period that has ever come upon
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: the earth. This was the final chapter of human history,
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: the last battle, the end of the age. But the
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: angel's voice grew softer, filled with promise. But at that time,
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: your people, every one whose name is found written in
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 1: the book will be delivered the book, the Book of Life,
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: the same book Daniel had seen in his vision of
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: the ancient of days. When the court was seated and
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: the books were opened, every name written there would be saved,
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: not because of their goodness, not because of their strength,
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: but because of the mercy of God, who inscribed their
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: names before the foundation of the world. And then the
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: Angel said something that made Daniel's breath catch in his throat.
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake,
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Resurrection.
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: The dead would rise, not just spiritually but physically, bodies
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: that had been buried for centuries returned to dust scattered
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: by wind and time would be restored. Souls that had
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: long dept would return, and every person who had ever
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: lived would stand before the throne of God, some to
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: everlasting life, to dwell in the presence of God forever,
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: where there is no more pain, no more tears, no
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: more death, where the light never fades and the joy
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: never ends. Where the righteous will shine like the brightness
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: of the heavens, like stars forever and ever. Others to
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: shame and everlasting contempt, to face the judgment they had
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: spent their lives avoiding, to stand before the Holy God
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: they had mocked, ignored, or denied. Daniel had seen this
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: before in fragments, in glimpses, but now it was clear.
• 1:47:43
  Speaker 1: Death was not the end. The grave was not the
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: final word. Every human being would rise, and every human
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: being would be judged. The Angel looked at Daniel with compassion.
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: the heaths, and those who lead many to righteousness like
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: the stars forever and ever. The wise, not those who
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 1: accumulated knowledge, not those who built empires or wrote books
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: or won battles, But those who knew God, those who
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: walked in his ways, those who turned from darkness to
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: light and led others to do the same, They would shine,
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: not for a moment, but forever, Like stars in the
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: night sky. They would burn, with the glory of God
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: guiding others, illuminating the darkness, reflecting the light of the
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: one who had saved them. But then the angel gave
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: Daniel a command. But you, Daniel, close up and seal
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: the words of the scroll until the time of the end.
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. Seal
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: the scroll not because it was secret, not because it
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: was forbidden, but because it was not yet time. The
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: prophecies would remain a mystery until the appointed hour. And
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: when that hour came, when the end drew near, people
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: would search. They would study. They would go back to
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: the ancient words and finally understand what Daniel had written.
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 1: And in those days knowledge would increase, not just spiritual knowledge,
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: but knowledge of all kinds, technology, science, information, spreading faster
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: than ever before, the world would change at a speed
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: no previous generation had witnessed. Daniel looked up and saw
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: two other angels standing on opposite banks of the river.
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: One of the masked the man clothed in linen, who
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: was above the waters of the river. How long will
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled? The man
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: raised both hands toward heaven and swore by him who
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: lives forever, saying, it will be for a time times
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: and half a time, when the power of the Holy
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: People has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: Time times and half a time three and a half years,
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: the same period mentioned in the Book of Revelation, the
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: same duration given for the final time of testing forty
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: two months, one thousand, two hundred sixty days, the final
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: countdown before the return of the King. Daniel heard all this,
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: but he did not understand, so he asked, my Lord,
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: what will the outcome of all this be? The angel replied,
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: and sealed until the time of the end. Many will
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: be purified, made spotless, and refined. But the wicked will
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand,
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: but those who are wise will understand. It was a
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: difficult answer. The wicked would not change. They would continue
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: in their rebellion, blind to the truth. Deaft the warnings,
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: but the righteous would be refined, tested, purified like gold
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: in the fire, and through it all they would grow
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: in understanding, in faith, in the knowledge of God. Then
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: the Angel gave one final word. From the time that
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: the daily sacrifices abolished and the abomination that causes desolation
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 1: is set up, there will be one thousand, two hundred
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: ninety days. Blessed is the one who waits for and
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: reaches the end of the one thousand, three hundred thirty
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: five days numbers specific days, a timeline that Daniel did
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: not fully understand, but that God had numbered with perfect precision.
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: Every day counted, every moment measured, nothing left to chance.
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 1: And then the Angel spoke his final words to Daniel,
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: words of comfort, words of rest, As for you go
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: your way till the end you will rest, and then
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: at the end of the days, you will rise to
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: receive your allotted inheritance. Go your way, Daniel, your work
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: is done. You have been faithful. You have prayed, you
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: have fasted, You have served kings and interpreted dreams. You
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: have stood firm when others bowed. You have kept the
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: faith when the world forgot. Now rest close your eyes,
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: let your weary body return to the dust, because this
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: is not the end. At the end of the days,
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: you will rise, you will wake, You will stand before
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: the throne of God, and you will receive the inheritance
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: that has been waiting for you since before the foundation
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: of the world. Daniel fell silent, the vision faded, the
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: angel departed, and Daniel was left alone standing by the river,
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: the words still echoing in his heart. He did not
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: understand everything, but he understood enough. God was in control.
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: History was moving toward a conclusion, and no matter how
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: dark the days became, no matter how fierce the trials,
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: no matter how long the wait, the end was secure.
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: The righteous would rise, the wicked would be judged, and
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God would stand forever. Daniel returned to
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: his home. He continued to serve faithfully until the end
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: of his days, and when his time came, when his
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: breath grew faint and his eyes closed for the last time,
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 1: he did not fear because he knew one day he
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: would wake. One day he would rise, One day he
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: would see the face of the God he had served
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: all his life, and on that day, every prophecy would
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: be fulfilled, every promise would be kept, and every tear
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: would be wiped away, and perhaps to night, as you rest,
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 1: you can hold on to the same promise that this
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 1: life is not the end, that those who trust in
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: God will rise, that one day you too will stand
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: before the Throne, not in fear, but in joy, to
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: receive the inheritance that has always been yours. Chapter eleven,
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: The time line fulfilled from Daniel to Jesus to to day.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: As we come to the end of Daniel's journey, it
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: is time to step back and see the full picture.
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: To look at the time line he was given and
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: trace it through history, from the courts of Babylon to
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: the Cross of Calvary, and from that moment to the
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: world we live in to day. Daniel lived in a
• 1:54:45
  Speaker 1: time of empires. He saw Babylon fall and Persia rise.
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: He was given visions of Greece and Rome. He was
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: shown conflicts that would span centuries, and the final judgment
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: at the end of time. But woven through all it,
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: like a golden thread, was a single promise, The Messiah
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 1: is coming. Let us walk through the time line one
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: more time. Let us see how every word Daniel wrote
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: came true, and let us consider what it means for
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: us here now, in this moment. The statue that King
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream had four parts. The head
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: of gold was Babylon, the empire that ruled the world
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: in Daniel's time, powerful, glorious, but destined to fall, and
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: it did in the year five hundred thirty nine before Christ.
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 1: On the very night Belshazzar saw the writing on the wall,
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 1: Babylon fell to the Meads and Persians. The head of
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 1: gold was replaced by the chest and arms of silver,
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: the Second Kingdom, Just as Daniel had prophesied. The meadow
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: Persian Empire lasted for over two hundred years. It stretched
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: from India to Ethiopia, ruling with strength and determination, but
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: it too was destined to fall. In the year three
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: thirty three before Christ, Alexander the Great, the young king
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: of Macedonia, led his armies across the known world. He
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 1: moved with the speed of the wind, conquering Persia, Egypt,
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: and lands all the way to India. The belly and
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: thighs of bronze the Third Kingdom the leopard with four wings,
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: just as Daniel had seen. But Alexander passed away young,
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: at the age of thirty two, and his empire was
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: divided among his four generals, the four heads of the leopard,
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: the four horns of the goat, History unfolding exactly as
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: the vision had shown. And then came Rome, the legs
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: of iron, the beast with iron teeth, the empire that
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 1: crushed and trampled everything in its path. Rome built roads,
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: established laws, and brought order to the world. But it
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 1: did so with force, with crucifixions, with the might of
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: those who dared to resist. And it was into this world,
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: under the rule of Rome that the Messiah came. Remember
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: the prophecy of the seventy weeks. Gabriel told Daniel that
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: anointed One, the Messiah, there would be seven weeks and
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: sixty two weeks, sixty nine weeks total four hundred eighty
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: three prophetic years. The decree was issued in the year
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: four hundred fifty seven before Christ, using the prophetic calendar
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: of three hundred sixty days per year. Many scholars calculate
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 1: that this time line brings us to the very era
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: when Jesus of Nazareth appeared in history, and in that
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: era Jesus of Nazareth, at the age of thirty, was
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 1: baptized in the Jordan River. The heavens opened, the spirit
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: descended like a dove, and the voice of the Father declared,
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: this is my loved son, in whom I am well pleased.
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: The Anointed One had come, the Messiah, the son of Man,
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 1: the one Daniel had seen coming with the clouds of heaven,
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: approaching the ancient of days, receiving authority and glory and
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: an everlasting kingdom. For three and a half years, Jesus
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: walked the dusty roads of Israel. He healed the sick,
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: He opened the eyes of the blind, He raised the dead.
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: He taught with authority, speaking words that pierced the heart
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: and awakened the soul. He fulfilled prophecy after prophecy, miracle
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 1: after miracle, and then in the year thirty after Christ,
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: he was arrested, betrayed, beaten, mocked, and nailed to a
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: Roman cross. After the sixty two weeks, Gabriel had said,
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: the anointed One will be cut off, cut off, removed,
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: just as the prophecy foretowd. But that was not the end.
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: Three days later, the tomb was empty, the stone was
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 1: rolled away the grave. Clothes were left behind, and Jesus,
• 1:59:12
  Speaker 1: the Son of God, rose from the dead. Death could
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: not hold him, the grave could not keep him, because
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: he was not just a man. He was the eternal Son,
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 1: the one who had existed before Abraham, before Moses, before
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: the foundation of the world, the one who spoke and
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 1: light came into being, the one who breathed and stars
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: filled the sky. He rose, and in rising, he defeated death.
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: He conquered sin. He opened the way for all who
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: believed to pass from darkness into light, from death into life,
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: from judgment into grace. Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: stood on the Mount of Olives with his disciples. He
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: lifted his hand to bless them, and then before their
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: very eyes, he was taken up into heaven. A cloud
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: received him, and he disappeared from their sight. The disciples
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: stood staring into the sky, overwhelmed, not knowing what to do.
• 2:00:16
  Speaker 1: And then two angels appeared beside them and said, men
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 1: of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky.
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 1: This same Jesus who has been taken from you into
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: heaven will come back in the same way you have
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: seen him go into heaven, This same Jesus, the Son
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: of Man, the Messiah, the King. He will come back,
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: not as a baby in a manga, not as a
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 1: suffering servant, but as the conquering King, riding on the
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 1: clouds of heaven, just as Daniel saw. And when he returns,
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: every prophecy will be fulfilled. Every word Daniel wrote will
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: come to pass. The Resurrection will occur, the Judgment will
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: be rendered, and the Kingdom of God will fill the earth.
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 1: But what about now? What about this time? We live
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: in this space between the first coming and the second.
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: We live in the age of the feet of iron
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: and clay. The Roman Empire fell, but it divided into
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: many nations, some strong like Iron, some fragile like clay. Europe,
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: the Americas, the nations that trace their roots back to Rome,
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: united in some ways, divided in others. Just as the
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: statue showed, we live in a time of increasing knowledge.
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: Just as the Angel told Daniel, many will go here
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: and there to increase knowledge. We have seen technology advance
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: faster in the last hundred years than in all of
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: human history combined. We have the Internet, we have instant
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: communication across the globe. We have knowledge at our finger tips.
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: And we live in a time marked by both great
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: progress and great turmoil, wars, rumors of wars, conflicts that
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: seem unending. But we also live in a time of hope,
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: because the same God who kept his promise to send
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 1: the Messiah the first time, will keep his promise to
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 1: send him again. Daniel did not live to see the
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: first coming. He passed away centuries before Jesus was born.
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: But he believed, he trusted. He wrote down what God
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 1: showed him, knowing that one day it would all make sense.
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: And it did. Every word came true. The statue crumbled,
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: just as Daniel said it would, The beasts rose and fell.
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: The seventy weeks unfolded with remarkable precision. The Messiah came,
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: gave his life, and rose again, exactly according to God's plan.
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: And now we wait for the final act, the return
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 1: of the king, the resurrection of the dead, the judgement
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: of all, the establishment of the kingdom that will never end.
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: We do not know the day or the hour. Jesus
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 1: himself said that no one knows except the Father. But
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: we know the signs, we know the season, and we
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: know that with each passing day we are one day
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: closer to the moment when the trumpet will sound, the
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: sky will open, and the Son of Man will appear
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: in glory. So what do we do while we wait?
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 1: We live as Daniel lived. We pray, We remain faithful.
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: We do not bow to the idols of this world.
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 1: We do not compromise our faith for comfort or safety.
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: We stand firm even when the fire is hot, even
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: when the lions roar, even when the writing is on
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 1: the wall. We remember that this world is not our home.
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: That empires rise and fall, but the Kingdom of God
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: endures forever. That kings come and go, but the King
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: of Kings reigns eternally. And we hold fast to the
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: promise that one day, just as Daniel was told, we
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: will rise, We will wake from sleep, we will stand
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: before the throne, and we will receive the inheritance that
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: has been waiting for us since before time began. Daniel's
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: story is not just history. It is a road map.
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: It is a testimony. It is proof that God keeps
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: his word. He said Babylon would fall, It fell. He
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 1: said Persia would rise, it rose. He said Greece would
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: conquer it conquered. He said Rome would crush, it crushed.
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 1: He said the Messiah would come. He came, and he
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: said the Messiah would come again, and he will. Every
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 1: prophecy fulfilled, every promise kept, every word proven true. So
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: to night, as you close your eyes, as you let
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 1: the weight of the day fall away, remember this. You
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 1: are living in the time line Daniel saw. You are
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: part of the story he wrote. And the God who
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: spoke to him is the same God who watches over you.
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: He has numbered your days, he has written your name,
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 1: and he has promised that if you trust in him,
• 2:05:20
  Speaker 1: if you call upon the name of his son, you
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: will not be forgotten. One day the last trumpet will sound.
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 1: One day the sky will open. One day the king
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: will return, And on that day every prophecy will be complete,
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 1: every tear will be wiped away, and every soul that
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: belongs to him will shine like the stars forever and ever.
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: Until then, Rest in his promises, walk in his light,
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 1: and hold fast to the hope that cannot be shaken,
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: Because the God of Daniel is still on the throne,
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 1: and his word will never fail. And so Daniel's visions
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 1: come to a close, But the story they tell is
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: not over. You have walked with a young captive from
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem to Babylon. You have seen him stand before kings,
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 1: interpret dreams, and remain faithful through every trial. You have
• 2:06:21
  Speaker 1: watched empires rise and fall exactly as God said they would.
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: You have seen the timeline unfold, from the decree of
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: our Taxarxes to the coming of Jesus Christ, through the
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: prophetic calendar to the very era when Salvation entered the world.
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 1: You have seen prophecy become history, and history become a
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 1: testimony to the faithfulness of God. And now, as the
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 1: night grows deep and the world around you falls silent,
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 1: let these truths settle into your heart. The same God
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: who kept his promise to Daniel keeps his promise to you.
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: The same God who numbered the years until the Messiah
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: came has numbered every breath you take. The same God
• 2:07:05
  Speaker 1: who raised Jesus from the dead will raise you too
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: when the final trumpet sounds. So rest tonight, not in fear,
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: but in the certainty that you are held by the
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 1: one who holds all things. Close your eyes, let your
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: body relax, Let your thoughts drift like clouds across a
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: quiet sky. And know this, You are loved, You are seen,
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 1: You are not forgotten. The God of heaven watches over
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: you even now, and when the morning comes, his mercies
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: will be new. Sleep well, beloved. The King is coming,
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: and until he does, his peace is with you. Good Night,