Untitled Sermon

- Ghastly Visions

Today will be closing our series on the prophet Daniel.

The book of Daniel has twelve chapters.

The first six are history, and the last half are about visions, and end time prophecy.

The first couple of dreams and visions seem to be referencing the fall of Persia and the Medes, and the rise of Alexander the great and the Grecian Empire.

He sees visions of a Lion, with eagles wings, a lopsided bear, and a leopard

Daniel 7:1–8 (NKJV)

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.

2 Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. 3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.

5 “And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’

6 “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

7 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.

Theses visions are interpreted somewhat in by an angel.

Daniel 7:17 (NKJV)

17 ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.

We know from history the succession of these four kingdoms from Daniels day and after

Babylon, Persia, and then after Daniel, the Greeks came under alexander the great.

Describing the third beast, assumed from history to refer to the swiftness like a Leopard that the young Greek ruler swept across and conquered the known world of his day,

6 “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

The Leopard had four heads.

After the death of Alexander his four generals took split up the territories,

These four eventually merged back together and became the Roman empire.

Which was know for its destruction and breaking up things, and ruing with an Iron fist so-to-speak.

Which was still the reigning power and ruled the land of Palestine in the time of Jesus.

- Prophetic Precision

Because this last half of the book deals with prophecy, we will cover them later when get into Biblical prophecies

There is a prevalent view against the authorship of Daniel and the date of its writing

Of course, people and groups are always trying to find ways to discount the Bible as fairy tales or made up stories.

Especially given the nature of the precision or the accuracies of the prophecies of Daniel.

The view that the book of Daniel was written by someone other than Daniel at some point during the Maccabean revolt around 167 BC. - 164 BC

Came from a third century AD Philosopher by the name of Porphyry.

(Hurst, Clyde J. “Daniel, Book Of.” Edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer, Howard F. Vos, and John Rea. The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia. Moody Press, 1975.)

Although these questions have their rightful place, and should be defended against exegetically,

We also can be assured about them when our Lord and Messiah Jesus Christ quotes from them.

As he does from the book of Daniel.

Matthew 24:15 (NKJV)

15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

Surely Jesus Christ, wouldn’t be party to leading us to believe that Daniel wrote it when knowing someone else did.

So, the last half of the book is dealing with visions and prophecies, which we’ll get more into detail when we explore prophecies.

- Spiritual Encounter

But today, I want to explore a part of the book that deals with a snap shot, if you will,

Behind the scenes, of heaven and our reality.

Meaning, for a bit, we get an idea of what is going on in the spiritual realm.

Daniel 10:4–6 (NKJV)

4 Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris, 5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.

So, here he is standing of the bank of the Tigris river, an angel appeared to him.

Again that demonstrates the ability of angels to indeed interact with us in our physical dimension.

There was one account in the beginning of my own personal ministry years ago,

I believe I encountered an angel. So strongly do I believe this that I developed a character in my fictional novel, Opposing Babel, in representation of him.

Here Daniel describes his encounter with an angel.

There are several places in the Bible where the writer details accounts where angels showed up.

All the way from the Old Testament book of Genesis through to the book of Revelation.

In fact, they happen so often its no surprise to hear someone believe they may have seen an angel

What does that tell us?

It tells us that Angels are real, for one.

And it tells us that there is truly a dimension outside of our human reality that the Bible calls the spiritual realm

The first heaven is where the birds fly

The second heaven is where the sun and moon are

The third is where the Spiritual realm is,

In this tenth chapter of Daniel, an angel appears to Daniel and has some interesting insight to tell Daniel from beyond our dimension.

Daniel 10:12 (NKJV)

12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

He said, from the first time that your prayer left your mouth, your prayers were heard, and I came to you because of them

Wow,

I don’t know about you but, I take tremendous courage in the fact that I know when I pray, someone is listening.

But the next verse gives is far more interesting.

Daniel 10:13 (NKJV)

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

So, he was dispatched from the time the pray was established in his heart,

But his arrival was hindered until then because another angel,

The angel assigned to the prince of Persia withstood him.

Boy, that makes a lot of sense to me then

Maybe, its not that our prayers sometimes aren’t being heard,

Its that the responses to those respective prayers are being hindered by foul evil spirits.

Have you ever felt that way?

Where you have been praying and praying for something, but it seemed to take forever and ever to get to you?

I know I have.

In fact there are still prayers I am waiting to hear back from.

- Third Heaven

Maybe there are being held up by other opposing spirits.

I mean after all, Paul tells us that our true enemy is the powers and principalities in heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:10–12 (NKJV)

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

So, he was right, our real enemy is in the spirit realm.

Although we as sinful human beings encounter opposition here on earth in the physical,

Our help comes form heaven.

Psalm 121:1–2(NKJV)

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

When you realize this, things start to make sense.

That’s why you have to be right with the Lord, because the Lord is Spirit,

and we must worship in Spirit and truth, the Bible says.

You see, we are in a Spiritual Battle, and so are the Angels

This is why God told Zerubbabel in

Zechariah 4:6 (NKJV)

6 So he answered and said to me:

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:

‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’

Says the Lord of hosts.

There is a Spiritual war going on right now in the spiritual realm that you and I can’t see.

- Spiritual War

But it is happening all around us.

Elisha’s servant got a peek behind the scenes at the power of the Lord’s army in

2 Kings 6:15–17 (NKJV)

15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

This is why we must be right with God, because the only way to worship Him is in Spirit and truth.

Because you and I are part of this great Army of the Lord,

Thats right.

You and I sitting right here right now and watching all over the world,

You are a soldier in Christ, you are to fight the good fight Paul tells us.

This is why Paul warns us in Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God,

Why else if not to be engaged in battle?

Now even though it is God that does the fighting, as we read what He said to Zerubbabel.

“It is by His Spirit”

There is still death and carnage.

Follow me, Although you and I don’t physically have to fight,

We still do fight, and there is still death.

When ever you accept Christ, you war against your inner spirit,

- Casualties of War

Eventually one of you has to die,

Either your old self, or your faith in Christ.

But if you die, to yourself, Christ will raise you up again

Colossians 2:12 (NKJV)

12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

Amen.

Whenever you evangelize or go on a mission trip to evangelize,

You will see times where the actual real Spiritual Battle manifest into the physical by the appearance of demons acting out in the physical

Because the soul that you are trying to win, was already on the devils side, and they want to keep it.

That’s war!

On our last mission trip to Durango Mexico, our team was confronted by ravenous uncontrollable barking and snarling dogs, shop owners radical transformation into the demonic in our conversations where she began to mock Christians, etc.

Or especially in the air waves, by pushing back our flights, causing travel nightmares, and on and on.

Angels are real, just like the one the appeared to Daniel in chapter 10.

And so are the demons and fallen angels like the ones encountered on the mission fields across the world,

You know my Son Jacob is a soldier in the United States, Army

Many times when we go out to eat at a restaurant they will ask if I am military

Although I have never had the honor of wearing a uniform, I always tell them yes

I tell them I am a member of the Lord’s Army, does that count?

Usually it doesn't, but sooner or later it will.

Trust me, the Bible says it will at the end.

The job of a soldier has changed however from our descriptions in the Bible.

In the time of Joshua and the conquest after God’s people were liberated by God from Egypt,

The job of the soldier was to kill

Now, after the liberation of God’s people from sin through the blood of His Son Jesus.

The job of His soldiers now, are to Love!

Amen

You must be right with God, because God is Spirit, we must worship Him in Spirit.

The last chapters of the book of Daniel demonstrate the reality of the Spiritual realm and that we are at war.

A Spiritual war and we can’t win on our own,

But with God, it’s already won.

This is why we live in Victory.

Amen