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you you you you you you you you you you world somewhere beyond the blue the angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world any more although Oh Lord, you know I have no friend like you If Heaven's not my home, then Lord, what will I do? Seeing those back in me from Heaven's open door And I can't feel at home in this world any more Seeing those back in me from Heaven's open door And I can't feel at home in this world any more Seeing those back in me from Heaven's open door And I can't feel at home in this world any more Seeing those back in me from Heaven's open door And I can't feel at home in this world any more Seeing those back in me from Heaven's open door And I can't feel at home in this world any more And I can't feel at home in this world any more And I can't feel at home in this world any more And I can't feel at home in this world any more And I can't feel at home in this world any more And I can't feel at home in this world any more Amen, good morning, welcome to Verity Baptist Church Manila Let's take our sits and get our hymns and turn to hymn number 332 Let's sing the song channels only Hymn number 332 Let's sing the song channels only How I praise thee, precious Savior On the first ready, sing How I praise thee, precious Savior God, I love behold of thee Thou as safe and pleasant bit of me That I might not tell of thee Channels only, blessed Master But behold thy wondrous star Glowing to us, thou canst use us Every day and every hour on us again And it and thou shouldst feel me But be blessed with thy hand With no power but her forgiveness How I praise thee, precious Savior God, I love behold of thee Thou as safe and pleasant bit of me That I might not tell of thee That I might not tell of thee Witnessing thy heart and seeking Sending me from self and seeing Thou who want'st to possess me In thy goodness, Lord, my being Channels only, blessed Master But behold thy wondrous star Glowing to us, thou canst use us Every day and every hour on us again And it and thou shouldst feel me But behold thy wondrous star Glowing to us, thou canst use us Every day and every hour on us again And it and thou shouldst feel me Blessed Master, God with all thy wondrous star Glowing to us, thou canst use us Every day and every hour Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Jesus, I am resting, resting On the first ready, sing. Jesus, I am resting, resting In the joy of what thou art I am finding thou the greatness Of thy loving heart Thou hast made me Age upon thee When thy beauty fills my soul For my guidance, your recovery Thou hast made me whole Jesus, I am resting, resting In the joy of what thou art I am finding thou the greatness Of thy loving heart Sing with us, sing with me In trusting me, Lord Jesus I behold thee as thou art In thy love, so pure, so changeless Satisfies my heart Satisfies its deepest longings Needs supply its every need God passeth me round with blessings Thine is love in the heart of the earth Jesus, I am resting, resting In the joy of what thou art I am finding thou the greatness Of thy loving heart Never leave thy face upon me As I work in wait for thee Resting in touch, my Lord Jesus First back shadows me Brightness of my Father's glory Sunshine of my Father's grace Keep me ever, trusting, resting Wield me with thy grace Jesus, I am resting, resting In the joy of what thou art I am finding thou the greatness Of thy loving heart I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. That's a great verse there. We'll tie into our second sermon here today. We are a family-integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services. We do have a mother-baby room back there for your convenience, as well as the ladies' comfort room. The men's comfort room is up here in front. Remember, no eating during the service. Maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running and making noise during the church service. On the next page, our service time is listed. First service is at 10 a.m. Our second service is at 11 a.m. Wednesday evening Bible study is at 7 p.m. Yesterday, when I preached in the first sermon, I was only through about 20 percent of the chapter with 10 minutes left. Don't worry. We'll just go bullet-style and finish up the chapter and get done on time. So winning time is listed. On Wednesdays, we have so winning at 4 p.m. Meeting here at the church building. Saturdays, we do have so winning 10 to 12 at Casa Memorial Circle. Lunch provided by church and then 2 to 4. Sunday afternoon, we do have so winning here at 2.15 p.m. Salvations and baptisms are listed there for churches and Bible study fellowships. Birthdays and anniversaries for the month of June. On the next page, we still have our Bible memorization challenge and upcoming activities. So we're only two weeks from Father's Day. We do have men's choir practice here today and next week. In two weeks, we have Father's Day and we're going to be doing a men's activity as well as a ladies' activity. So the ladies will have their activity here and the men are going to go out to do their activities. So before, you know, we had a singles activity. And so you guys did a singles activity yesterday, okay? No singles activity, okay? So the single ladies can stay here at the church building with the other ladies and the single guys can go out for the men's activity, the Father's Day activity. And look, by all means, as fathers, you know, try to bring your sons with you to the activity. I mean, it's Father's Day so you don't want to leave your kids behind. So I'm planning to bring Zeph for that. But anyways, Zeph's here in a couple weeks to try to make it for that, invite people for that event. Current and upcoming series, we are in the book of Daniel. We're hitting the second half starting today, the prophetical side. And the Song of Solomon, I am more excited about preaching through Song of Solomon than any book we've done verse by verse. It is an awesome book, you know, a lot of wisdom that's right there. And so I'm excited to present a lot of things. I hope you're excited. I hope it's not a long book. You can study this in your free time and read and things will really tie together even more along with the sermons. Because the reality is, nobody catches everything they hear in a sermon. Right now, there's like 20% of people that are listening to me right now, right? So you catch one fifth of what's being said. We have information there in our group chat. Then on the back, there is a place for notes for the sermons here today. So I believe that's it for announcements. Well, Brother Marlon, lead us in another song. For our next song, let's strengthen Him, number 202. Let's sing the song, My Redeemer. Him, number 202. Oh, I will sing of... Thank you for the first verse. I will sing of My Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. All right? So all together, Him, number 202, My Redeemer. On the first ready, sing. I will sing of My Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. On the crew across this earth, from the curtains set me free. Sing, oh, sing of My Redeemer. With His love He furtives me. On the cross He sealed my heart, made the dead, and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story how my lost mistakes to save. In His boundless love and mercy, He the ransom paid He gave. Sing, oh, sing of My Redeemer. With His blood He furtives me. On the cross He sealed my heart, made the dead, and made me free. I will praise My Redeemer, His love, but for I tell how the victory given over sin and death and death. Sing, oh, sing of My Redeemer. With His blood He furtives me. On the cross He sealed my heart, made the dead, and made me free. I will sing of My Redeemer, and His heavenly love to me. He brought them to life and bought me. Son of God, He came to me. Sing, oh, sing of My Redeemer. With His blood He furtives me. On the cross He sealed my heart, made the dead, and made me free. It's time to sing our offering. Amen. First scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. As our custom we will be reading the entire chapter. Daniel chapter 7. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. As our custom we will be reading the entire chapter. Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. As concerning the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season at a time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like a son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancients of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. I, Daniel, was breathed in my spirits in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth. But a saint with the most eyes shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass, which devoured breaking pieces, and stamped the wretch Jewish with his feet. And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell, even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spayed very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld on the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them. Until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The four beasts shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall divide the whole earth, and shall thread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns that are of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, and another shall arise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, and the dividing of a time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom of dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my clogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me, but I kept the matter in my heart. Blessed be we of God's Word, let us pray. Lord God, in Heaven we thank you, Lord, for this day to be given to us. I pray that you would bless, Lord, this day. We thank you, Lord, for all this people that we have, Lord, in our church, and I pray that you would also bless the preacher and the preaching of your Word, Lord, this day. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we are in Daniel chapter 7, and we're just going verse by verse through the book of Daniel, and we finished last week kind of the, well, the first half of Daniel, which is kind of more the political aspect, and the first half of Daniel is not that complicated. It's pretty simple, you know, other than one chapter that's kind of deep, but pretty simple, not too complicated, but, you know, we preach everything as we're going verse by verse, and today's sermon is complicated, okay? And we do have three sermons on Daniel 7, but the next two sermons are specific topics in Daniel 7, so we're going through every single verse in this sermon, and as I said, there's a lot of information, and if it's like yesterday, you know, you're going to have to pay attention as I'll speak quickly, and there's going to be a lot of information, and, look, Daniel 7 is dealing with a prophetical section, and realize in this chapter, Daniel's just like, you know, my cogitations must trouble me. He's like, man, this is complicated. So, look, if usually the sermon should be pretty simple, you can understand, but honestly, if you walk away, and some of the stuff's pretty deep, it's like, well, that's the way Daniel felt, so, you know, it's okay, all right? So, Daniel 7, verse 1. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Now, the first thing to note is it says in the first year of Belshazzar. Now, remember, Belshazzar dies in Daniel chapter 5, right? So, what you need to realize is that the book of Daniel is not chronological from chapter 1 to chapter 12, because in chapter 6, Belshazzar is already dead, and now Darius, I mean, Babylon's gone at this point. The Medes and the Persians have taken over. Now we're going back in time, okay? Belshazzar was the king after Nebuchadnezzar, but before Darius the Mede, who took over, okay? And so that's kind of important to understand this, the general timeframe, that the events with Nebuchadnezzar have already happened, whereas the Medes and the Persians taking over has not yet happened. And it said he had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Now, here's the thing. The Bible says that in times past, God spake unto the fathers by the prophets and in diverse manners, meaning different ways, and here Daniel's learning in a dream and a vision, but that's not how you're going to learn in 2022, because now we have the completed Word of God. And so if you're going to get wisdom and information, it's going to be because you're reading the Bible, and you see something, and you learn it. Or you hear a sermon that explains what the Bible says, and you're like, that is what the Bible says. But you're not going to just all of a sudden just be like, you know, what is it, Ellen G. White, is that the name of the one from Seventh Day Adventist where all of a sudden she's just like Pentecostal style, and she's like, don't eat meat. Don't eat meat. It's bad, right? It's just like, no, you learn from what the Bible says. That's how we determine our doctrine. But Daniel did learn in dreams and visions, the Bible says. Then it says, then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. Now you say, Brother Stuckey, what are the four winds of the heaven? What's that referring to? Well, you can keep your finger in Daniel 7, because we will be going back there. But go to Revelation chapter 7. Revelation 7. Revelation chapter 7, the four winds of the heaven. The four winds of the heaven. Revelation chapter 7. And Revelation 7 is the famous chapter that's kind of in between when the wrath of God's about to be poured out, and all the seals have already started, the first six seals. Chapter 7 is where there's that great multitude in heaven. And so it says here in Revelation 7, verse 1, And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. And so when it's saying the four corners of the earth, and then it says holding the four winds of the earth, corners think of like north, south, east, west is the general idea. It's not stating that the earth is shaped like a square, okay? That there's literal or a rectangle or some other parallelogram or whatever, right? It's just giving a general idea saying in every direction, because there's north, south, east, west, but there's also northeast, right? There's northwest, and even there's angles at all of those points. And so it's just a general idea saying in every direction. It's a poetic way to say in every direction, the four winds of the earth, saying wind is coming from every direction, okay? And it says holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. Now why is it that the wind is not going to blow on the earth? Well, because this is the chapter where basically there's a great multitude in heaven, he's going to seal the 144,000 first, and in chapter 8 pour out his wrath, and he's saying do not hurt the earth until we seal the 144,000, okay? Stating the wrath of God has not been poured out yet. Make sure nothing is harmed on the earth until they're sealed, okay? So the wrath of God has not been poured out yet according to this. It says in verse 2, And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Now, I don't think Revelation 7 verses 1 and 2 is very confusing, but there's a church right over there that has a very unique interpretation of these verses. They say, well, the four winds of the earth, of course that's World War I. It's like, I mean, I get some of Revelation's confusing, but who would read Revelation and say World War I, right? And the reason why they say that is the church was founded right around the time period of World War I. Not the exact date as they state, but near the start of World War I. And in verse 2 they say, well, another angel, I mean, that's obviously Felix Manalo. And it's just like, how would you get that just reading through the Bible? I mean, there's nothing that would indicate that that is what the Bible's talking about, right? The Bible's just stating another angel referring to one that's up in heaven, and the four winds is just referring to directions, okay? Four winds of the earth, four winds of the heaven, okay? Now turn to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel 7. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel 7. One of the challenges of preaching is you're always tempted to go down a lot of rabbit trails, and you can only go down so many, okay? And so it's kind of interesting, that's like their big verse they use. And what they'll say is this, and I've listened to their videos and stuff. They'll say throughout the Bible, salvation always starts in the east and it heads in the west, right? So it started in the Philippines, and then it makes its way over to the western world, okay? What's interesting is that Jonah was told to go east to Nineveh, right? Salvation does not always start in the east and go to the west. Jonah was told to go east, right? Not west. So don't tell me that throughout the Bible, salvation always starts... I mean, it sounds good. Salvation always starts in the east and heads to the west, but that's not actually what you see. Actually, salvation goes out to the four winds of the earth. The four winds of the heaven. It goes north, south, east, west, and everything in between because everybody's heard the name of Jesus, but not everyone has heard about their church, right? Daniel 7, verse 3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse, one from another. Now, realize that when we're reading the Bible, we're meant to compare spiritual with spiritual, and this is going to sound very familiar to Nebuchadnezzar's dream. It's not mentioned the exact same way because of the fact the Bible's trying to teach us more information. So we'll say things in a bit of a different way, but it's referring to the same four that Nebuchadnezzar saw as well, okay? And I think that's pretty obvious, but there are people that teach things like, well, there's Great Britain in these verses and things like that. I mean, it's really not that complicated. Just look at what we saw earlier in the book of Daniel. Verse 4. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Now, who is this referring to? It's referring to King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, right? Lion is known as the king of the jungle and had eagle's wings. And, you know, an eagle is known basically as the king of the sky. It's the most significant bird in the sky that you would say, the eagle, right? And if you remember, Nebuchadnezzar, he basically became crazy and had the curse of God upon his life, and he started acting like an animal. And look, when you act like an animal, dog or swine or whatever, it's the curse of God upon your life. It's not God's blessing when you act like an animal. And look, in today's world, the percentage of people acting like an animal is increasing with each and every passing year. That's the curse of God upon your life. It's not a blessing to act like an animal. Look, as people, we're better than animals. Not better as in we've evolved over four and a half billion years. No, we were created in God's image. We're better than animals, okay? But if you remember, Nebuchadnezzar acts like an animal and his nails grew, right? You know, he wasn't taking care of himself. And, you know, he's living like a homeless person, kind of crazy. You know, his face probably looked like this. You know, he hadn't shaved recently or whatever. And it's like he's acting like an animal, right? And so here's the thing. It mentions as eagle's wings, and you think of, like, it said bird's claws. When it talked about Nebuchadnezzar, it mentions a bird here. It also says this, I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man. Now here's the thing. He was acting like an animal, and then he stood upon the feet as a man, right? And it says in a man's heart was given to it because before he had a beast's heart. Now here's the thing. Verse 4 is actually very, very simple to Daniel. You say, why? It's already happened, right? It's easy for us to understand because we just saw it in the Bible in Daniel chapter 4. It's not hard for Daniel either. This part of the dream, Daniel understands because Belshazzar is after Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 4 is not prophetic in the future. It's actually looking back at the past, and yet Daniel fully understands this. Now here's the thing. The dream that was earlier, now he's starting to get a better idea because we're progressing forward. And as we progress forward with time, we can actually understand the events of the past better than those that prophesied toward the future. Verse 4 is not confusing, okay? Then it says in verse 5, And behold, another beast, a second like to a bear, and it raised itself up on one side and had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. So it mentions here, a second like to a bear, and what this is referring to is the Medo-Persian Empire that took over for the Babylonians. Now once again, this has not taken place yet, but I would think that Daniel might have a general idea what this is referring to because of the fact maybe he saw that this empire was probably going to be the one that takes over. And I'm sure Daniel realized, hey, you know what Belshazzar, our king's a really wicked person, God might replace that person. I mean, if you've got some evil person that's ruling, I mean, as a godly person, he could realize maybe God's going to replace this guy, and then verse 5 of this stream, maybe that will take place in my lifetime, right? This is referring to the Medes and the Persians, and it said it raised itself up on one side, and what that indicates is one side of this dual monarchy was stronger than the other. Well, which side was stronger than the other? Think of famous kings in history. Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, not Darius the Mede, Darius the Great, Xerxes. I mean, they make movies about these people. Ahasuerus, right? Artaxerxes, these famous kings in history. The Persians, also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, and the first year, that's kind of correlating with Daniel chapter 6 in terms of timeframe after Belshazzar, but it says, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him, and now I will show thee the truth. Behold, there stand yet three kings in Persia. And Daniel's probably thinking, three? That lines up with Daniel chapter 7, right? Because that's happened in the past. Three kings in Persia, and so that correlates with his dream in Daniel 7, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all, and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And so the question is, who are these kings of Persia? Well, the Bible highlights these people. You've got Cyrus, which is the first one mentioned, and he's probably the most famous king in the history of Persia, right? Cyrus is probably top ten most famous kings ever, very famous guy. And then you also have Darius the Great, who is a famous person, and he's mentioned in the book of Ezra, which, as I said, is different than Darius the Mede in verse 1 here of chapter 11. You've got Artaxerxes, which is a king that's mentioned, and the fourth that's far richer is Ahasuerus, and in the book of Esther it starts off, and you see that Ahasuerus is incredibly rich, right? Tons of money, and in our modern day we know Ahasuerus as Xerxes, who's a very famous king. Now, there's a movie maybe, what, 15 years ago called 300, and look, I've seen the movie, so I'm not criticizing you. Who's seen that movie, 300? Anybody? Don't be shy, right? You know, men love that movie, okay? But anyways, in that movie, they make Xerxes out to be this crazy, perverted weirdo. Right? I mean, he's bald, he's got all these things stuck in his face and everything. I mean, he looks like a complete weirdo in that movie. But you know, what's interesting is when you read the book of Esther, Ahasuerus isn't really that bad of a guy. I'm not saying he was a godly person, like he's a Bible believer, but he's not that bad of a guy compared to other leaders in history. In fact, when you read about Cyrus, he's not that bad of a guy. Actually, he's a pretty good guy. I mean, when you read about the kings of Persia, you're thinking of all the empires that have existed, they're by far the godliest. Egypt, wicked. Assyria, wicked. Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar gets saved, but the other ones, you know, wicked. But then you look at the Medes and the Persians, they're not that bad. Now, the reason why people think that they're wicked is they don't use the Bible to trust for their history. What they do is they look at secular knowledge. Here's the thing. The first person outside of the Bible that really wrote down history, where basically they wrote down events and times and things took place, was a Greek by the name of Herodotus. Before that, people lived their lives. They never wrote anything down. And here's the thing. If you don't write about what takes place, others might write about you and they might lie. And so history is written by the winners. The Greeks beat the Persians. So what did the Greeks say about the Persians? They said that they're wicked and we're better than them. And specifically what Herodotus said, which I preached on a long time ago when we went through Esther, he said that the Greeks were better than the Persians and the Persians were basically barbarians because they had no homosexuality and no pedophilia and they said, we're the first ones that introduce that to their society. We are so advanced. So Herodotus bragged, we're a bunch of pedophiles. Now, I'm sorry, but as a Bible-believing Christian, it's not hard to see which side to be on, the Persians or the Greeks. Now, obviously the Persians must have become wicked for God to replace them and I think that's more of a sign of Zoroastrianism becoming the religion of the kingdom, which is sorcery and wickedness. But the bottom line is this. The Greeks were bragging about being a bunch of pedophiles and saying the Persians, they didn't have any homosexuality until we introduced it into their society. We're the ones that infected the Persians is what they basically said. So it's not really a shock to see why God replaced the Greeks when they're bragging about being a bunch of reprobates and wicked people. And look, history tells us this about the Greeks. But see, the reason why people thought the Persians were so evil is they trusted the words of a Greek and history is written by the winners. I've said before that if America lost the American Revolution, then Samuel Adams, who's known as the father of the American Revolution, would be known as the greatest terrorist of all time. No question about it. But he's known as the greatest hero in America because they won the war. History is written by winners. And here's what's interesting. In the past 20 years or so, they've dug up all this archaeology and what they've realized is the Persians, they have proof, were just nicer than any of the other empires. They said they were actually benevolent when they took over. They didn't torture people like the Assyrians. There's no proof of that. And just modern archaeology is confirming that the Bible was always right and Herodotus was just a liar. He's nicknamed the father of history and he's also nicknamed, I think it's the father of lies or something like that. It's a nickname he's given because now everything's coming out. He lied about that. He lied about that. He lied about that. He's just fake. But you can look at the Bible and you can realize the Persians were actually pretty decent compared to other empires. And so look, when I was growing up, I didn't really like history because you're like, what's the purpose? What's the point? History that applies to the Bible is actually pretty interesting, especially when it confirms the things the Bible's already speaking about. So that's who's being referred to in Daniel 11 in terms of kings. Go back to Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Daniel 7. And in Daniel 7, we'll go to the next empire. It says in Daniel 7 verse 6, After this I beheld and lo, another like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl. The beast had also four heads and dominion was given to it. So we move from the Babylonian empire. They're taken over by the Medes and the Persians. They're taken over by the Grecian or Macedonian empire with Alexander the Great being the head person. And it mentions a leopard. Leopard's a very fast, very quick animal, and the Greek empire was known for just very quickly just conquering. Alexander the Great was trying to conquer the world just really rapidly, and they were really quick to basically take power. And it mentions, though, in Daniel 7 verse 6, what is the number that's significant with Daniel 7 verse 6? The number 4. It mentions four wings of a fowl. It mentions the beast had also four heads. And you say, what is the significance of the number 4 with the Grecian or Macedonian empire? Now, we're going to have a whole sermon on Alexander the Great because he's mentioned actually quite a bit in prophecy even later on in the book of Daniel. But the number 4 is significant because when Alexander the Great died as a young man, he basically did not have someone appointed to be the next king or ruler. And his empire was broken into four parts. Four very significant parts. And once again, the Bible is confirmed by history. Right? The number 4 is significant because when basically he lost his power, he died, the empire was divided into four, and that's why the number 4 is significant here with Daniel 7 verse 6. Look at verse number 7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast. And this is the title of the sermon, the fourth beast, because the Bible speaks about the fourth beast more than the other beasts here in Daniel 7. So we will as well. A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly. Now, the Medes and Persians took over for Babylon. The Greeks took over for the Medes and Persians. And who conquered the Greeks? Rome. Right? Rome is the one that took over. And Rome is the one that's in power at the time of Jesus Christ because they made a decree to tax the entire world. Right? Augustus Caesar. So here's what it says in this verse. And strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, it devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. And it kind of highlights the brutality of this empire, and the Roman Empire was a very, very brutal empire. Now I want you to realize one thing we mention is that the Bible says the Jews are responsible for killing the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is certainly true. Now they did get help from the Romans, but it's primarily the Jews responsible. And they said, let His blood be upon us and upon our children. But don't let that make you think the Romans were just so benevolent because they're not the ones that kill Jesus. I mean, historically speaking, Rome murdered more than any other empire that's existed, and it started as this political empire, then it became this Christian organization where basically the pope ruled the world. And they became this religious, political empire, and through thousands of years, I mean over a thousand years, they just brutally killed people and tortured them. And look, although the Jews killed Jesus, that doesn't change the fact the Romans were brutal. The Romans brutally killed and murdered people, even just for getting baptized. I mean, when you got baptized hundreds of years ago, depending on where you lived, you might get killed for that. I mean, imagine if your life, you basically had to be in fear of being killed. It would be like basically living in a Muslim country in 2022. As a Bible-believing Christian, you're in fear for your life when the Catholic Church ruled the world. And they're very brutal, okay? And it says it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it mentions here, and it had 10 horns. The number 10 is going to be very significant. What is taking place is we're transitioning from the fourth beast to the end time. And sometimes you'll see this dual prophecy in the Bible where we'll talk about something that's going to happen or is happening, and then also a future event as well. Verse 8, I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn. So there's 10 horns, and then there's a little horn. The little horn is the antichrist, okay? We're transitioning to the end times. You got the 10 horns, and then you got the little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. And so what the Bible's stating here is the antichrist will destroy three of the first 10 horns. And what's actually interesting, a lot of people aren't aware of this, when the antichrist basically first comes to a political reign to basically take over, he actually meets with resistance. He's not embraced by the world. And there's three horns that stand up against him, and later on in the chapter we'll say he'll subdue three kings. Now I'm not saying they're standing up against the antichrist because they're godly Bible believers. They want political power also. They're evil people as well, and it's basically this battle between who's the stronger reprobate, right? And the antichrist wins that battle, okay? But there's actually three of those 10 that stand up against the antichrist, and he will subdue them and take power. This is the political rise of the antichrist. Then it says, And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. Now go to Revelation 17. Revelation 17. Revelation chapter 17. And the Bible speaks about the antichrist will speak great things and blaspheme the name of God. This is no doubt referring to the antichrist here in Daniel chapter 7 verse 8. Daniel 7 verse 8. Revelation 17. And here's the thing. It might seem strange that we're transitioning from Rome to the end times because in 2022, Rome is not in power. I mean the Pope is still a powerful man, but he is by no means the most powerful man in the world. In my opinion, Joe Biden is just a puppet head, so I'm not really sure who the most powerful person is, but it's not the Pope in 2022. I mean Rome does not rule the world at this point. If there's one nation that rules the world, it's the United States of America. I mean there's no question they're by far the most powerful empire in today's world. Okay? So why would it transition from Rome to the end times, and yet we see this exact same thing in Revelation chapter 17 and 18. Notice what it says. Revelation 17 verse 7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her which hath the seven heads and ten horns. Now in this chapter, it talks about the great whore of Babylon, the mother of abominations, the mother of harlots. And what we teach and believe is that's referring to the Roman Empire. And being the mother of harlots is because the harlot children of the Roman Catholic Church are the Orthodox, the Protestants, and all of these other false religions that are very similar to their mama, the Catholic Church. Has anyone here ever been to an Orthodox church? Anybody? I haven't. I've never been to Orthodox. Protestant. I know I have. Brother Matthias. Anybody else Protestant? You know what you'll notice? It's like, well, I thought this was a Protestant Christian church. I feel like I'm in Catholic Church. Because every single week, this is what we said in the United Methodist Church growing up. We believe in the holy Catholic Church. Just like that. We believe in the holy... And it's like, we're not a Catholic Church. But here's the thing. Martin Luther, he believed in this universal Catholic Church. He just thought Rome went south. He believed in this one church to rule the world and take power. I mean, he was not a Bible-believing Christian. He was not bringing Christianity to the world. What was he doing? Well, he's spawning these harlot children of the Catholic Church. And now instead of one false religion, you've got a lot of false religions coming out of their mama, the great whore, the Roman Catholic Church in this Roman Empire. Because the Roman Catholic Church is from the Roman Empire. Now it says this in verse 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Now I believe this verse is a dual prophecy because it lists seven empires. And basically there's seven different areas where basically the devil has his reign of power using this one powerful kingdom. Seven different locations, which we'll talk about in a minute. But there's also this dual application because Rome in history is known as the city set on seven hills. That is what Rome is known by. The city set on seven hills, Rome. Now it's not the only city that has seven hills, but if you're thinking of a place that is known, that is what it's known for as the city set on seven hills. And so basically there's a dual application of the seven locations or empires and the fact that Rome, which is the empire being mentioned in Revelation 17, is the city set on seven hills. You say, Brother Stuckey, how do you know it's referring to Rome? Verse 10 proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Verse 10, and there are seven kings. Five are fallen and one is, and the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space. So it says five are fallen and one is. And this is referring to empires that rule the world. One is, present tense. When John wrote the book of Revelation, what was the present ruler of the world? Rome. Now you can make applications to the end times empire from Revelation 17, but it's directly referring to the Roman Empire. It's basically letting John know, here's what you're dealing with, you can understand this, and now it's going to help you understand Revelation 18 because it's going to be very similar to what's going on with Rome ruling the world. One is, present tense ruler was Rome when John wrote this. So the Bible's referring to Rome in Revelation 17, but here's the thing. It doesn't mention Rome as being the fourth. It mentions it being the sixth. Five are fallen, past tense, and one is. That would make Rome the sixth. So the question is, what are the two missing empires when it comes to, because with the prophecy in Daniel, you've got Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire, which is one. So you've got one, two, the second. The third is the Grecian and the fourth is the Roman. Where are the other two? Because there's either two in the midst of those ones or two before. Well, here's the thing. There was really no significant empire in between, but there were two significant empires before Babylon. Because realize, Babylon ruling was not something that took place right at the start of history. There's actually other empires that rose up. So if you're reading your Old Testament and you're just using this for your history, what are the two empires that were world powers at one time? Egypt and Assyria. There is no debate about that. I mean, when you're reading the Old Testament, and here's the thing. We know about the Egyptians, very famous, with all the pharaohs and the pyramids. The reason why we don't know much about Assyria is because of the fact Nineveh was destroyed and God said he would wipe out the remembrance. So basically, they're largely forgotten because God made it that way. But when you're reading the Old Testament, you can tell Assyria, I mean, God's people said they truly owned the world. Everybody submitted to Assyria, right? Hezekiah was in fear of Assyria because they ruled the world at one time. After that, you'd have Babylon. So that is the sixth because it was Egypt and Assyria before Babylon, okay? And so here's the thing, though. Revelation 17 is talking about Rome, and I think it's pretty clear because present tense, one is. But Revelation 18 is not talking about Rome. And this used to confuse me because I thought if Revelation 17 is Rome, like I've always heard priests in Baptist churches, the great whore of Babylon, and it makes sense, the mother of harlots, mother of abominations, the Protestants, the Orthodox, it makes sense. I was like, why would Revelation 18 talk about something else? But that's exactly what Daniel 7 does. It goes from the Roman Empire to the end times, okay? It transitions immediately, and this is something the Bible does. And this is why when you're studying prophecy, it's confusing, right? I mean, right now some of you are saying, man, last week's sermon was so much more understandable. I already had the headache, Brother Stuckey. It's like I didn't realize I was showing up to calculus class or whatever. It's pretty complicated, right? And studying prophecy, yes, I mean, it's deep, right? It just is what it is. Verse 11 of Revelation 17, And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and he is of the seventh, and goeth in a perdition. The sixth is Rome, the eighth is the Antichrist, and he is of the seventh because that seventh empire is going to spawn the eighth one. Who's the seventh empire? Well, this is one that we honestly do not know 100% for sure, because the other six are for sure. There's no doubt it's Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greeks, the Romans, and the other two are very clearly Egypt and Assyria. It's not even worth debating in my opinion. I believe the seventh one is the United States of America. But here's the thing, we're also looking at prophecy, so when you deal with prophecy, you've got to be very careful with saying dogmatically there's no doubt whatsoever, because we're dealing with prophecy. I could be misinterpreting something. Here's the thing though, whatever the seventh empire is, it's going to be very similar to the first six. The first six were world empires. There's a lot of wicked countries. I mean, when you really think of the country in this world that's basically spawned more false religions, and you look at India with all the weird religions coming out of there, here's the thing though, India doesn't rule the world. They're not a world power, right? The country that present day is the world power, no doubt, is the United States of America. And honestly, it's not even worth debating China versus the U.S., because it's not even close, right? America has their fingerprints in countries around the world. I'm not saying this because I'm an American, because I'm insulting America right now. I'm just stating it's a fact, America is the most powerful country, and here's the thing, I would say that if it happens in my lifetime, it's hard to imagine another country taking over above another one. There's a few reasons for this. Number one, America, the primary language is English. English dominates the world. There's also no debate on that. People speak English all around the world. It's hard to imagine people saying, nǐ hǎo, nǐ hǎo ma in 50 years. Maybe, maybe that will take place, but I've got to be honest, Mandarin is very different than other languages, and it's extremely hard to learn. So that's a huge hindrance to China taking power. The other thing is this, people around the world listen to what kind of music? American music, American movies, American TV shows. Why do they speak English? Because they're listening to the media and entertainment coming from the United States of America. Same thing with these other empires. That's what took place in our modern day. I mean, people know the famous people from America. Everybody knows LeBron James, Michael Jordan, all the athletes. Everybody knows the singers, the Katy Perrys, the Lady Gagas, right? Everybody knows these famous people, the famous actors, the Tom Cruise, the Will Smith, or whomever, you know, the big actor. I don't know who the young ones are, but, you know, everybody knows those people, right? Tell me who the famous actors are in China. Does anybody know? Because this country is a lot closer to China than it is the U.S., and yet we don't really know that much about the famous people in China, right? America definitely rules the world, and if it would take place now, it would be America. But realize, it did say that it will continue a short space, right? It said that in verse number 10, must continue a short space. You say, Brother Stuckey, but America's been in rule for a long time. Well, realize a couple things. Number one, the empire before America was Rome. How long did Rome rule the world for? More than any other empire that's existed. They ruled for a very long time. Over a thousand years, they were the primary dominant power. The United States is not going to rule for a thousand years. The other thing is, America has not been in that much strength, has not been in that much power for that long. I mean, when World War I rolled around, there was a huge debate, which was the most powerful country, and America was one of the contenders, but honestly, it was after the events of World War II where there was no doubt America is the ruler. Before that, it was very much up for debate. Because here's the thing, with these world empires, it's not like you got Babylon and you got the number one and number two contenders, who's going to win? No, it's like Babylon and everybody else, right? And America was not dominating the world, but they are now. They have not been dominating for a hundred years, though, so it's still been a short time. And look, the bottom line is, with the wickedness coming out of America, the thing that just came out a couple days ago, my parents just sent it to me, I saw it this morning, because it's Gay Pride Month, right? And so America's really proud about the fact that we're supporting the homos and spreading homosexuality around the world, and with their military, they've got these rainbow bullets. And it's just got, when I say rainbow, I don't mean every bullet is a rainbow, I mean they're like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, the six colored rainbow that doesn't exist in real life, right? Because a rainbow is seven colors, right? Number of perfection, and with the homos it's six, imagine that. But anyways, as I said, rabbit trails, go to Daniel 7, Daniel 7. And Daniel chapter 7, Daniel 7, actually, go to, yeah, Daniel 7, Daniel 7, Daniel 7, verse 7, and as I said, we will get through this sermon on time. Okay, we're going to be doing shotgun style toward the end. Daniel 7, verse 7, after this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, it devoured and braked in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. Okay, it mentions ten horns. Verse number 8 mentions little horn, referring to the Antichrist. There's ten horns, then the little horn's the Antichrist, okay? Now go to Daniel chapter 11, Daniel 11, Daniel 11, Daniel 11. And actually, as you're going there, I realize I forgot to read a verse that will help tie this in, and you're there, you don't have to turn here, but in Revelation 17, the next verse I forgot to read, and the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings. So in Daniel 17 and verse 12 it mentions ten horns, and this is what we see in Daniel chapter 7 with Revelation 17, so these are correlating. Ten horns or ten kings. Now realize when we're saying ten kings, we're not saying kings as in like the king of England, because in our modern day, the title king is not really that prominent anymore. But if you're looking at the president of a country or a person in real power, they could be referred to as a king is what it's referring to. When it was written, people would understand what the word king is, so that's the word that it's using, but it's basically the leader of a country or an empire. So the verse that I didn't have you turn, the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which I've received no kingdom as yet, but received power as kings one hour with the beast. So these ten horns, the antichrist is going to basically get rid of three of them, and they're going to get power, they basically give their power onto the antichrist that's going to take over. Now Daniel 11 verse 21, And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, the vile person is the antichrist, it's being referred to, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom. See, here's the thing, what the Bible teaches is that when the antichrist comes, they don't just hand over the kingdom to the antichrist. These political leaders don't just bow down and say, you know what, we're going to promote the antichrist as the leader. Okay, that's not what happens. They do not give the honor of the kingdom. Later on in Daniel 7 it will say he will subdue three kings, the three horns that stand against him. They do not give him the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably. How is he going to take power? Peaceably. You say, wait a minute, the antichrist is going to be peaceable? Well, here's what you need to understand. During the end times there's going to be wars and famines and pestilences and chaos, and everybody's going to be in fear, there's going to be this madness, and everybody around the world except Bible-believing Christians are going to say, I wish we could just have world peace. Right? I mean, when I was a kid, we watched the Miss Universe pageants or stuff like that. I haven't seen them in a long time. But here's the thing, whenever they ask the ladies at the end, what is the number one thing our world is missing? World peace. What a great answer. That's always what they said. I mean, because if you stand up there and say, you know what, what's missing is people aren't preaching the word of God. People would be like, what? They would always say, world peace, because look, that sounds good. I'd love to have peace also. You say, what's the problem with that? Because in the Bible, purity and holiness always come before peace. That's the reason why. It's like, hey, why can't you Muslims and Christians just get along? Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Get saved, Muslims, and you know what? I'll join hands with you. Believe on Jesus, reject Mohammed. You know what? We're on the same page then. You want us to get along with the Hindus? Quit worshipping Shiva. Worship Jesus Christ alone. Right? If they would just get on board with the Bible, we could have peace. But here's the thing. This is the only way. Meaning no compromise. And so if they'll get on board, we can have peace. But if not, you know what? We're going to keep knocking doors and tell people how to go to heaven. Because they can wish hell away all they want. It doesn't change reality. Hell is a real place and they need to get saved. That's the truth. And look, as God's people, I am for peace. We are for peace. But when we speak, they are for war. The problem is they don't like the words of Jesus. Now everybody in 2022 says they love Jesus Christ. Man, I can't believe they crucified him. I can't believe so many people hated him. Look, if they hated him then, they'd hate him now. The only difference is, in our modern day, people think they believe on Jesus. And they don't. But they hated him then because of the words coming out of his mouth. Look, if he was around today, they'd hate him too. You say, well, how do you know that? Because they also killed John the Baptist. They also persecuted all the prophets. If history tells us the truth, pretty much all the apostles were tortured to death. And I would say that there's a lot of history that would actually prove that's probably true. Even if the exact details could be slightly different depending on what source. Pretty much all of history says, I mean, we know that Peter was tortured to death. The Bible prophesies that would take place. I mean, they were tortured to death. Why were they tortured? Because people didn't like the words of the Bible. And here's the thing, people think Jesus came to bring world peace. He got stoned to death for trying to bring people together, peace. I mean, it's just like, that doesn't make any sense. He got stoned to death because he said, you know, he didn't come to bring peace. But I've come to set father against son, you know, mother against daughter. I mean, you know the verse, basically saying, if you're going to serve me, then amen. But if not, you know what, people are going to be mad because they don't serve the same God as you. They're not on board with what the Bible says. But here's the thing, in today's world, people want peace. They want us to put aside all differences. And look, you've seen those conferences where you got the pope, you got some Muslim leader, you got some Hindu leader, you got some Buddhist leader, and they'll take turns praying. I'm not going to listen to some Hindu worship a false god and pray to a false god. We're not going to join hands. And look, as our church, we're an independent church because the reality is, what we preach, a lot of people do not like. They wouldn't like this sermon. They wouldn't like what I'm saying. And that's fine. I'd love it if there's other churches that were like-minded that we could be, you know, in fellowship with and promote, but if not, then it is what it is. We're going to preach the truth and stand up for what God says because purity comes before peace. And people can think I'm a hateful person all they want, but you know what? The reality is, we know what the Bible says. The Bible says they don't. And yet, honestly, it's interesting. This is the only book in the world where people act like an expert about something they've never read. Right? Look, I mean, if you major in English, you know, praise the Lord for that. I honestly love grammar. I like poetry, stuff like that. But if you've never taken math classes, you're not going to say you're an expert at calculus because you haven't taken calculus. But yet with the Bible, it's like, I've never read it, but I know what it says, and then they'll criticize someone who's read the Bible and studied the Bible and tell you why you're wrong and not quote any Bible verses. And it's like, you know, sometimes you tell people at soul winning, I'm showing you Bible verses. You keep saying the word repent. It's like, what must I do? Where does it say repent in Acts 16? Where does it say that in John 3? What about those that believe that don't repent? Because whosoever believeth. Right? But this is a book where people don't know it, and yet they'll act like they're an expert. And people during the end times, here's the reality. People are going to reject God as they're rejecting now. The world is going to be in chaos, wars and famines, and everybody's going to look for someone to bring world peace. Anyway, here's the thing. In other religions, guess what? They are providing that. I remember going soul winning with my friend, Pastor Jason Robinson, a long time ago. And we're talking to this Muslim door to door, and he's explaining to us what's going to happen in the end times. And he's explaining this Savior coming, this Messiah coming, and we're listening, and we're like, he's describing the Antichrist. I mean, he was literally describing, and I didn't know anything about end times eschatology. That means end times. End times beliefs in Islam or with Muslims, and I had no idea, but he was literally describing the Antichrist. If you see end times information with the Hindus, it describes the Antichrist. That's who they're looking for. I mean, just right like the Bible says. I mean, it's amazing how that is. And the world is preparing for the end times. And yet, you know what? Christianity is doing the same thing. Because they're going around telling us there's going to be this pre-Trib rapture, which is not what the Bible says, and just saying the exact opposite of what God says in His Word, and they'll say, well, Jesus can come at any moment. Is that what the Bible says? Right? That's not what the Bible says. And we'll see that here in this chapter, actually. Let's get back to the chapter that we're looking at. We've got several more weeks than Daniel. I can't just preach it all now. But he shall come in peaceably, and basically not saying that he's actually peaceful, but he's going to say, let's have world peace, and most people will love that. Most people love that. And it also says, and shall obtain, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. He is going to flatter people. He's basically going to suck up to people, do a sip-sip and say all these nice things to everyone, and he's going to use that to take power. Go to Daniel 7. Daniel 7. Daniel 7. I mean, isn't that the way that most politicians take rule in today's world? A little bit of sip-sip, a little bit of flattery, a little bit of world peace, and boom! I mean, that's the way it usually works, right? That's the truth with most people that make it in politics. You can't really say everything that you believe. The reality is, as a Bible-believing Christian, unless God specifically made sure you got elected, people would not vote for you, because you'd say things that they would dislike, right? The same reason why people at this church, people will come to a church like ours, and then they just don't like it, because it's just a little bit too hard of preaching. It's like, I like the truth, but I don't like it to be that truthful, brother Stuckey. It's a little bit too much, right? Daniel 7, verse 9. And I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered on to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. So ten thousand times ten thousand, it's referring to a hundred million, okay? Ministering. Now, these ministering, you could be looking at angels, or you could be looking at believers, or a combination. I would say this, in today's world, there are eight billion people on the planet. My estimation is one percent of people are saved. That's my opinion. Realize we have a higher percentage than a lot of countries, to be honest. If one percent is saved, though, that's actually 80 million. So a hundred million in the course of history would be very much possible. But it's giving a large number. I don't think it's to the exact 100 million, but just saying a lot of people, okay? Then it says in verse 11, I beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. Verse 13. You're listening to Alexander Scorby on double speed on YouTube right now. Triple speed if there was triple speed, all right? Verse 13. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Now, I do want to quickly mention here in this verse, one thing you do see here is the Son of God and you see God the Father as well. Two different ones. The Son of Man came to the Ancient of Days. You cannot come to yourself. Of course, we believe in the Holy Trinity at our church. We believe in one God that has eternally existed in three persons. We do not believe God the Father is God the Son, right? We don't believe God the Son is God the Holy Ghost or God the Father is God the Holy Ghost. We believe three in one, and the best way to understand the Trinity, I believe, is just that I am one, yet I have a body, soul, and spirit. It's kind of hard to explain, right? And so, but what we do see is that there is the Son of God, but we also say came to the Ancient of Days. You are seeing different. He's not coming to Himself, obviously, okay? Verse 14. And it was given Him dominion and glory in a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body and the visions of my head troubled me. Now these things are troubling Daniel because he's like I don't understand this, right? Like what is going on, right? Some of you right now are confused, but Daniel is more confused because he doesn't have the benefit of looking back in time. It's a lot easier to see a prophecy and look back and say this is what it's referring to than when we preach about the future, we don't know a hundred percent for sure when we look at verses in Isaiah, or Ezekiel, or even Revelation. We don't know exactly everything that's going to take place because we don't see it, right? We can look back at events and then say okay that's what the Bible is talking about. As we look forward, we basically see through a glass darkly. I mean it's just like we don't fully understand because it's prophetical. It's a lot easier to look back in time, okay, at what has already taken place. And then it says in verse 16, I came near unto one of them that stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts which are four are four kings which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass which devoured and of the ten horns that were in his head and of the other which came up and before whom three fell, even of the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellow's. So the part Daniel is most confused about is the fourth beast which is highlighted and the end times empire. That's what he's specifically asking. Once again he understands Nebuchadnezzar, probably understands the Medes and Persians pretty well and the Grecian empire there's only one verse so it's not a focus for him. But he wants to know more information about the fourth beast. Verse 21, I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them. Now here's the thing about this. The Bible is saying the Antichrist, his goal, his mission is to make war with the saints. And we'll talk about this as we go through the book of Daniel. Here's the thing, if the preacher of rapture was true, basically, you know what, all of us would go up to heaven that are saved, right? And then basically the Antichrist would make war with who? Atheists? Hindus? Buddha? It doesn't make any sense. I mean, the goal of the Antichrist is to make war with the saints. I mean, if there are no saints here, and look, I get it, there's 144,000 which are going to be sealed and everything, but if you're just reading the Bible for what it is, the goal, the mission of the Antichrist is to come and make war with the saints. Throughout the Bible, don't God's people go through persecution? It's going to be no different during the end times. He's going to come and make war with the saints. That is going to be what his ministry, so to speak, is, and prevailed against them. Because he's going to kill many of them. As we saw last week, they'll say, How long, O Lord? Holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? They're going to be persecuting with the Antichrist being the leader of this eighth empire. Verse 22, Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and should devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. So there's the ten horns, the ten kings, ten leaders, and then another one rises after them, referring to the Antichrist, and he should be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. If you're subduing, you're pushing underneath your control. And as I said, the Antichrist will be met with resistance in the end times. They will not just immediately embrace him. There is going to be chaos, and there's going to be countries warring with one another. And there's organizations that have basically all these countries are involved in, you know, various different things, various leaders, which could be as we get the ten horns or something like that, but countries are going to fight over power, basically. And so basically what's going to take place is when all shakes down, the Antichrist is going to be the one that takes rule, and he will basically push three underneath his command, just take power, and basically everyone's going to either get on board with the Antichrist or get killed, and basically people will back down. But he's going to subdue three kings, okay? Then it says, and he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, the saints that change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and dividing of time. We'll have a whole sermon on verse 25, because it's a very important verse that I do not have time to cover right now. Verse 26, But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of his kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my cogitations troubled me, and my countenance changed in me, but I kept the matter in my heart. So Daniel hears all this, and he's like some of you guys right now. Like, what in the world is brother Stuckey talking about, right? It's so complicated. I'm troubled right now. You know, I got this massive headache because of this sermon. Anyway, that's the way Daniel felt, but the takeaway is the end of this verse where it says, I kept the matter in my heart. Here's the thing. You're not expected to get every single thing in a sermon. I mean, you're going to miss some information, some things. And look, some of you have been saved for a long time. You've read the Bible a lot. Some haven't. And you know, there's nothing wrong with that. You know, we're at different levels and everything. Here's the thing, though. You don't have to get super intimidated if a lot of stuff you hear goes over your head because you just learn a little bit each and every passing week. Right? Just unti, unti. And you know, some sermons are more simple. Some like this are more complicated. Here's the thing, though. If you keep reading your Bible, then the next time I preach through Daniel or a chapter or something like that, if you've read the Bible and been saved for a couple of years, heard sermons, read through the Bible, all of a sudden you're like, man, these things are really clicking. It's making sense because you have more information and more knowledge about it. So here's the thing. Whenever you hear sermons, if it's something you don't understand or if it's something that's maybe hard preaching that it's hard to follow or whatever, just do what Daniel did. Do what the Bible says Mary did, the mother of Jesus Christ, where she kept the matter in her heart. Keep it in your heart. And basically as you read the Bible and you study, compare spiritual with spiritual. Search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so. And I encourage you, when you're reading Revelation, you can check out what I said. The next time you read through Revelation or Daniel, I encourage you to fact check me. Check if what I'm saying is true. Here's the thing. Maybe there will be certain things, as we're looking at prophecy, and you see it a little bit differently. Well, I mean, we're looking at prophecy. I would imagine we're going to see things slightly differently on things. People interpret verses differently, but what you'll find is the end times, although there are some deep things, it's actually not that complicated with the timing of the rapture, but these are just things that you need to spend a little bit more time setting out. As I said, we got done on time. Right? Rapid speed just the last 20 verses or whatever. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic. And I ask you to help all of us. Just try to apply this sermon. Just kind of focus on the things we do know in this chapter and the other things. Just, you know, we can learn as we study and read the Bible. Help us to know the end times. Help us to know everything in the Word of God and realize all of it is profitable, all of it is good, whether it's the practical sermon, the hard preaching, or it's the deep, complicated sermons. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's turn to pitch number 37. Let's sing the song This World Is Not My Home. This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home This world is not my home So I have no plan like you If heaven's not my home Then, Lord, what will I do? The angels thank me from heaven's open door If I can't be that Lord in this world anymore I have a happy father off in Copenhagen I don't expect the song until I shake her hand She's waiting out for me In heaven's open door If I can't be that Lord in this world anymore Oh, Lord, you know I have no plan like you If heaven's not my home Then, Lord, what will I do? If heaven's not my home Then, Lord, what will I do? If heaven's not my home Then, Lord, what will I do? If heaven's not my home Can I get to that home in this world anymore? Theashtra took something that we never knew Then return to presence I have the spirit of betting Can I get to that home in this world anymore? So everybody, oh Lord, you know I have no plan like you I have no plan like you And Lord, what could I do? And Lord, what could I do? And Lord, what could I do? And I can't be at home in this world anymore Brother G, can you pray for us? So pray for us. Amen