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December 11 - Daniel 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends. It's Sean here.
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  It's Thursday. It's the 11th of December.
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  Oh, we are into the double digits.
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  Not long till Christmas. I hope you are going well,
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  preparing that special time of celebration for the coming of
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  our King born as a helpless babe.
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  Ah, so good. But that is still to come in a
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  couple of weeks time. But today, today we are
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  continuing through the book of Daniel.
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  And this is where we leave our Sunday school territory.
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  And we now enter into the back half of the book where, let's be
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  honest, none of our Sunday school teachers ventured.
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  They did not finish off Daniel in the lion's den and say, now
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  children, let's talk about Daniel's vision of the four
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  beasts. No, that didn't happen to me.
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  Maybe you did. Maybe you're, you had a much
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  more adventurous Sunday school syllabus than I did.
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  But we now enter the back half, which is not the stories of
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  Daniel's life, but the visions that Daniel himself had.
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  And when we read these apocalyptic visions, it can
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  sound wild. And you think, I don't
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  understand what on earth is going on.
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  And so we can kind of steer clear of it and not read this
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  because it it feels just too difficult.
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  So let me give you a little bit of a lens to use as we read
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  through these. So apocalyptic visions are not
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  literal. We're not meant to read these,
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  these stories of beasts and horns as literal beasts and
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  horns, but these are stories with the themes that reflect
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  what we've already heard in the stories about God's dominion and
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  rulership over the world, and that all these nations, they are
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  given their authority by a much more powerful God.
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  And so we will hear stories of these beasts, which are these
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  different kingdoms that will come and go.
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  And then we will hear about the everlasting, incredible Son of
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  Man. And we're familiar with that
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  term Son of Man because Jesus calls himself the Son of Man in
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  the Gospels. And when he calls himself the
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  Son of Man, people go completely mental.
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  And the reason they go mental is because he's referring to this
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  vision in Daniel. And when he says the Son of Man,
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  he is making himself the person in this vision, which to them
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  seems incredibly blasphemous. So let us settle in and not
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  listen with a critical ear thinking, ah, what am I meant to
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  think, but rather with a gut as we listen to think, oh boy, this
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  feels good, or this feels scary or this feels the way it does.
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  So go with your gut and let's hear the story and the themes
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  that will talk of our very, very powerful God as we read together
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  Daniel Chapter 7. Earlier, during the first year
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  of King Belshazzar's reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and
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  saw visions as he lay in his bed.
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  He wrote them down, and this is what he saw in my vision.
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  That night, I Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface
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  of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every
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  direction. Then four huge beasts came up
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  out of the water, each different from the others.
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  The first beast was like a lion with eagle's wings.
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  As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was left
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  standing with its two hind feet on the ground like a human
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  being, and it was given a human mind.
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  Then I saw a second beast, and it looked like a bear.
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  It was rearing up on one side and it had three ribs in its
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  mouth between its teeth. And I heard a voice saying to
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  it, Get up, devour the flesh of many people.
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  Then the third of these strange beasts appeared and it looked
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  like a leopard. It had four birds wings on its
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  back and it had four heads. Great authority was given to
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  this beast. Then in my vision that night, I
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  saw a fourth beast, Terrifying, dreadful and very strong.
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  It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and
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  trampled their remains beneath its feet.
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  It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had 10
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  horns. As I was looking at the horns,
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  suddenly another small horn appeared among them.
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  Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make
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  room for it. This little horn had eyes like
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  human eyes, and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.
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  I watched as Thrones were put in place, as the Ancient One sat
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  down to judge. His clothing was as white as
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  snow, his hair like purest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with
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  wheels of blazing fire, and a river of fire was pouring out,
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  flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to
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  him. Many millions stood to attend
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  him. Then the court began its session
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  and the books were opened. I continued to watch because I
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  could hear the little horns boastful speech.
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  I kept watching until the 4th beast was killed and its body
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  was destroyed by fire. The other three beasts had their
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  authority taken from them, but they were allowed to live a
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  while longer. As my vision continued that
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  night, I saw someone like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of
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  heaven. He approached the Ancient 1 and
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  was led into His presence. He was given authority, honour
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  and sovereignty over all the nations of the world so the
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  people of every race and nation and language would obey Him.
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  His rule is eternal. It will never end.
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  His Kingdom will never be destroyed.
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  I, Daniel, was troubled by all I had seen and my visions
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  terrified me. So I approached one of those
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  standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant.
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  He explained it to me like this. These four huge beasts represent
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  4 kingdoms that will arise from the earth, but in the end, the
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  holy people of the Most High will be given the Kingdom, and
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  they will rule forever and ever. Then I wanted to know the true
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  meaning of the 4th beast, the one so different from the others
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  and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its
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  victim with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their
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  remains beneath its feet. I also asked about the 10 horns
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  on the 4th beast's head and the little horn that came up
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  afterward and destroyed three of the other horns.
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  This horn had seemed greater than the others and it had human
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  eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.
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  As I watched, this horn was waging war against God's holy
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  people and was defeating them until the Ancient One, the Most
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  High came and judged in favour of His holy people.
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  Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the
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  Kingdom. Then he said to me, this 4th
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  beast is the 4th world power that will rule the earth.
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  It will be different from all the others.
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  It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing
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  everything in its path. Its 10 horns are 10 kings who
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  will rule that empire. Then another king will arise,
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  different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them.
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  He will defy the Most High and depress the holy people of the
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  Most High. He will try to change their
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  sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under His
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  control for a time, times and half a time, but the court will
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  pass judgement and all His power will be taken away and
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  completely destroyed. Then the sovereignty, power and
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  greatness of all the kingdoms under Heaven will be given to
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  the holy people of the Most High.
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  His Kingdom will last forever and all rulers will serve and
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  obey Him. That was the end of the vision.
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  I, Daniel, was terrified by my thoughts, and my face was pale
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  with fear, but I kept these things to myself.
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  Our Lord, As we hear these stories of visions, we feel
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  Daniel's fear as he sees these terrifying beasts doing terrible
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  things. Then we hear that the Most High
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  God is so much more powerful than any terrifying beast which
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  may come to rule over what seems like something so great.
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  You are the Most High. You are the Most High who rules
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  higher with more authority than any other.
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  You are the holder of all power, all holiness and all might, and
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  we worship you alone, our wonderful King, our most holy
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  God and our precious Saviour. Thank you that your rule is 1 of
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  kindness and grace. Your rule that reaches out to
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  all the lowly to draw them up and to assure them that everyone
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  has a place at your banquet table, in your family, in your
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  embrace. And here we are, your lucky
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  children with no option other than to just bask in your glory
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  and your love for us. Thank you for all of this and
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  for giving us Jesus who wins that victory for us on the
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  cross. And we praise you and we love
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  you, and we pray all of this in Jesus name, Amen.