7 Signs in Daniel.620
SEVEN SIGNS IN DANIEL
Ref. 620
BIBLE READING: Daniel 1:17-20
INTRODUCTION: It will be seen from a study of the book of Daniel, which first introduces us to the first Gentile King - Nebuchadnezzar, that their are a number of outstanding incidents during his reign and in the reign of those who follow, which will be duplicated at the end of the Gentile era, so that one can say with confidence, “As it was in the beginning of the Gentile era, so shall it be again at the end”.
Let us look at seven of those incidents and compare them with similar events which are to occur before our Lord comes to reign as King of Kings.
1. DIVINE KNOWLEDGE
In chapter 1:17-20 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: .....And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:.....And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. When the test came, they were ‘Ten times’ wiser than all the others in the Kings realm. In a remarkable manner history is providing this same characteristic true of the Jews today. During the present century the Jews have come into prominence in every walk of life, as never before since A.D.70. During the present century Jews have figured largely in Science, Commerce, Finance, Education, Art etc. as well as in the political realms, and noted for their ‘knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom’, as Daniel and his three companions were.
2. PROMOTION
We read “Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.” Daniel 2:48 and again: DAN 3:30 “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.” From the time of the Second World War, many Jews have been raised to political prominence throughout the world.
3. SELF WORSHIP
In DAN 3:4 we read: “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, DAN 3:5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:” What is more likely than the fact that this image was a bust of himself? The attempt made by the first Gentile king at self-deification will be repeated by the beast, the head or Emperor of the last Gentile world Empire of REV 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. . . . . . 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” An image at the beginning and one at the end of the era.
4. PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
In chapters 3:8-30 and 4:1-28 we find that Daniel’s three companions were cast into the burning fiery furnace, because they would not fall down and worship the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and that Daniel himself was cast into the Lion’s den, because he would not submit to the decree as issued by King Darius. How true it is, “If God be for us, who can be against us? “The fiery furnace could not burn the Jews, neither can the Lions eat one. God protected His faithful children, even so it will be at the end, when Jerusalem is surrounded and when there appears to be no way of escape, and no way out for them, God will make provision for them in Edom and Moab. cf. DAN 11:41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. Think of the persecution under the rule of Hitler in Germany, he meant to exterminate them, just as the first Gentile king did, but without success, and it is recorded in the Word of God that the Jews will yet live to bury, in all probability, the very men who helped to put their fathers and brothers to death. cf. EZE 39:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. EZE 39:12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
5. SELF GLORIFICATION
In DAN 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? The last Gentile World-Emperor will repeat this, for we read in REV 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
REV 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
6. MORAL DEPRAVITY
In DANIEL 5:1 “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.” and in DAN 5:4 “They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” Here we have a picture of “Fleshly lusts” predominating, but later on in this chapter we find Daniel reminding the king, that, DAN 5:23 “. . . . the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:” This too will be repeated at the end of the Gentile era, for we read in DAN 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. DAN 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
Truly LUK 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
LUK 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. LUK 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
LUK 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. LUK 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
7. THE FIRST WORLD DICTATOR
In DAN 5:18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: DAN 5:19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. Here you have a remarkable picture of the tree recent dictators of the Second World War: Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. Isn’t it true that whom they would they slew, and whom they would they kept alive?
This was true of Germany, Italy and Russia; if those under the dictators did not fall into line with their views and wishes, they were either sent to concentration camps, or, quietly put to death, because they did not conform to their wishes. This is to be repeated by the last worlds emperor. cf. REV 13:15 “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” As it was in the beginning of the Gentile era under Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, so it shall be at the end of the Gentile era under the last world-emperor.
CONCLUSION:
These are remarkable facts, taken as a whole, and we are a privileged people to be living at a time when some of them are being repeated before our eyes, bringing to our minds, or as they ought to do, His words, When ye see these things begin to come to pass, then look up, for your redemption draweth nigh”.