Unveiling The Beast | Revelation 13:1-2 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

In Revelation chapter 12, we learned that one of Satan's final fits of rage before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is that he will wage war against followers of Jesus Christ across the world in an unprecedented way. And it's in Revelation chapter 13, where we discover how he will attempt to pursue this. The way that the evil one will seek to exterminate what's left of Christian witness during the tribulation period is by possessing a human being in a manner unlike what we have seen in the past. We are about to be introduced to a figure in this prophetic book that you have most likely heard about before, but not in the detail presented in this passage. If you've been with us in this series of the book of Revelation, then you most definitely have heard about this individual.

If you're visiting for the first time, and you are hearing what I'm saying and this already sounds strange or unfamiliar, I wanna let you know from the beginning that we are studying a book in the Bible that makes predictions. Another way of putting it, this is a book filled with prophecies. These are not predictions made by men merely, but by God who through men gave insight into what will come. And the reason why as a church, we take these prophecies seriously is because the Bible has given us predictions before, and history testifies that those predictions have come to pass. And so it is our conviction that if God was right before, then he's probably gonna be right again.

And so we're taking these claims very seriously. We believe that they are indeed from God. And at this point here, what we discover is the blueprint for the last days. What we are looking at here are some of the final marks of what's to come before the culmination of the age. And the focus of our study this afternoon is a person, and this person is famously known as the Antichrist.

The Antichrist goes by many other titles in the bible. In Paul's writings alone, he is known as the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, or the lawless one. And that's not even counting what this man is known as in other places of the Bible. But what we're about to see in Revelation chapter 13 is an identity about this man that is new. This agent of Satan who arrives near the end of time is called the beast.

The beast. A name that accurately reflects the twisted nature and personality and behavior of this one man. Now this is not the first time that the beast is referenced in the book of Revelation. He appeared in Revelation 11 verse seven, when we're told there briefly that the beast will kill the two witnesses. But John now in this chapter reintroduces this diabolical character.

And more specifically, he's going to give us insight into his career. What he is going to do and how he is going to do it. Evidently, this is something that the Lord wants us to know because it's in our Bibles. And the reason why I say this is because I'm fully aware of how some can be overwhelmed, maybe even intimidated by something like this given its symbolism. We have to trust something.

We gotta trust that by meditating on these things, we're gonna do more than just satisfy our curiosity. If we interpret it faithfully and apply it rightly, it will bless us. It will bless us. It will equip us. It will stir us.

It will move us in a deep way. At least, it should. And this is what we seek to do by God's help. So again, let me emphasize why we're here today. We are looking at Satan's plan to extinguish the light of the gospel near the end of time during his final few years of tyranny.

And he will attempt to do this by raising up a powerful individual known as the Beast. And in this session, we will begin looking at five insights about the career of the Beast. And the reason why I say begin, is because we're only gonna look at the first one today. The first one is the most dense. The the first one is the most packed with information.

And I don't want us to be overwhelmed, but I wanna let you know that if we decode this first one, this initial insight, it's only gonna get easier from here. And we'll look at that by God's grace next week as we simply focus on the first foundational point about the career of this man known as the beast. This is what it is. He will be a global leader. He will be a global leader.

Turn with me to Revelation 13. We're gonna look at the first two verses together. John writes, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads with 10 diadems, that is crowns, on its horns, and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth.

And to it, the dragon gave his power, and his throne, and great authority. Let's pray. See your wisdom, your beauty, in this very text. Help us understand it with clarity. May the delivery be accurate.

May it be faithful to your design, and to the message that you desire to give through it. And Lord, may we all be transformed as a result. We believe that every corner of the word of God has this purpose, our sanctification, and you being glorified. May we experience that now as a church, in Jesus name we pray. Amen and Amen.

John's first sight of this beast is truly hideous. He has seven heads, and with each of those heads there's a blasphemous name. He has 10 horns, and there are 10 crowns upon these horns. And if that wasn't frightening enough, the other parts of the beast are just as grotesque. We see here that he looked like a leopard.

We learned that his feet are like that of a bear's. And when you looked at its mouth, it was ferocious. It was like the mouth of a lion. And there is no doubt that these characteristics portray the vicious and monstrous nature of this beast, whoever he is. And that's significant already, because we've studied about the Antichrist before, and and we have determined from the bible that he will be a future political leader, a ruler, who will win the affection and the devotion of the globe.

Now, if you're gonna do that, it's very unlikely that you're gonna be successful if you look like this. So this is indeed symbolic, but more than symbolic, it's God's perspective on the beast. From a human standpoint, he he has to be charismatic. He has to be a genius. He he has to be successful.

He has to be charming to some degree, if he's going to sway the world to surrender to his leadership. But from God's standpoint, he's hideous. He's ugly. He's vile. He's destructive.

And all I want to tell you from this point is that God sees things differently than we do. But these details also provide incredible insight, and the best way to understand the message of these symbols is to examine them individually. And this is our practice as a church. When we come to something that seems cryptic, challenging, strange, we have to step back and ask ourselves, have we seen any of these features in other parts of the Bible? Have we seen paralleling scriptures?

And if we have, we have to visit them to to see if they will shed light on what's presented before us, and that's what we're going to do. So we're gonna turn these verses that we just read, these first two verses into bite sized portions. And we'll begin by examining where the beast comes from. Look again at Revelation 13 verse one. And I saw a beast, John says, rising out of the sea.

Throughout the scriptures, especially the Old Testament, the sea often represents things. Obviously, there are parts of the bible where the sea is literal, but in different areas, we see that the sea can represent chaos, danger, even forces of evil that oppose God. But there are also other places in certain contexts where the sea simply symbolizes nations, especially gentile nations. We find that in the book of Daniel and we even find it in the book of Revelation. Consider another vision that John experiences where the beast is included and other characteristics similar to what we have in Revelation 13, where God gives him the interpretation of some details that help us understand what's before us.

Do you have your Bible with you? I hope so. Go to Revelation 17. Look at verse 15. This is the middle of another vision John will experience, but I look at this one verse to shed some light on the verse that we're looking at in our main text.

Revelation 17 verse 15. And the angel said to me, the waters that you saw John, you saw a sea. You saw a body of water, a large body of water. The waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. Do you see that?

So this body of water again speaks of nations. With this in mind, we can understand that the beast emerging from the sea signifies that he's going to come from this world. Specifically, the Gentile world. Now there's debate. Is the beast a Gentile?

Is he a Jew? Is he a mix? We won't get into that conversation now, But what is obvious is that he is a human being, and that he is summoned by Satan at a particular point. At what point? Well, remember how Revelation 12 ended.

When he was kicked out of heaven, he pursued the woman and he failed, so he vented his anger toward the rest of her offspring, those who bear the testimony of Jesus, and he stands at the border there beside the water, and then the next thing you see in Revelation 13 is the emergence of this beast. He is summoning this individual. But let's go to the next detail. In Revelation 13, we learned that, yes, he comes from the sea, but also with 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 diadems on its horns, and blasphemous names on its heads. What do we make of these details?

What do we do with these features? Well, let's ask ourselves this, have we seen something similar before? We're gonna keep asking that question by the way. Have we seen these horns and these heads in a similar fashion associated with a different creature that we've studied recently? Answer?

Yes. Just go back to Revelation 12. Look at verse three of Revelation 12. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns, and on his heads, seven diadems.

Not exactly the same, but close enough, and that's intentional. There is differences in in the details, but we're not looking at the differences, we're looking at the similarities. The beast shares the same qualities as the dragon. Who's the dragon? Satan.

So he resembles the devil. He is distinct from the dragon. He's his own thing, but he reflects the nature and the ambitions of the evil one. So he does arise from men. He comes from the sea.

He comes from the world. He is a human being, but he also carries the likeness of Satan. In other words, he's practically the devil incarnate. And that's why in other parts of Revelation you'll read the beast who arose from the abyss. Well, which one is it?

Well again, he's coming from the sea, the world, but he's also energized, he is summoned, and he's operating under the power of Satan himself. This is in a sense Satan trying to mimic God, where God who in Christ came in the flesh, he wants to do the same. He wants to appear in a way in the flesh. He wants to embody someone. He wants to take over and he wants to operate through a human being and he will do so successfully.

But the shared features between the beast and the dragon are not only to emphasize this point, it's also to highlight the influence the beast will have in the world. What do I mean by that? Well, let's go back to the same vision that interpreted the sea, because in it, we're also gonna get further clarity about what these symbols represent. So let's go back to Revelation 17. I want you to see what it says here in verse eight down to verse 10.

Revelation 17 verse eight and ten. Is there anything here to help us understand what these heads and these horns mean? Well, let's read. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come.

This calls for a mind with wisdom. Pause there for a moment. God tells us that in order to understand these things, we have to use our minds. We have to think. We can't be lazy in our study of God's word and expect to get answers.

So there's a challenge even in this. This calls for a mind of wisdom. Somebody who's willing to do the work of the word to arrive at conclusions. Just throwing it out there because we're gonna be doing a lot of traveling in our Bibles. This calls for a mind with wisdom.

The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. But look at verse 10 now. There are also seven kings. There are seven kings. Five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come, he must remain only a little while.

Now scroll down to verse 12. And the 10 horns that you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. I'm aware that we just read a lot of data. There's a lot of information here, and we'll get to the details once we arrive at this chapter.

But for now, all we need to see is that these heads and these horns clearly represent political leaders, and their kingdoms, rulers in this world. And the reason why these powers symbolized by these horns and heads are first associated with the dragon. Remember Revelation 12? He had several heads. He had many horns.

The reason why these political leaders, their kingdoms are associated with the devil, well, we studied in Revelation 12, It's because it's being communicated through the word of God that these powers are ultimately under the dominion of Satan. The Bible teaches that this world to a certain degree is under the influence and the leadership of the devil himself. I don't think I need to give many examples to you to prove that. Real world cultural illustrations. It's not even subtle anymore.

It's right in our face. Sometimes it is more deceptive. Sometimes it is cloaked in supposed righteousness and goodness, but the day that we're living in is just in your face. And it's even causing unbelievers to wonder. I mean, there's gotta be something operating behind the scenes for these devilish agendas and symbolisms and all these acts and what we find in our entertainments.

This is something beyond the natural. Well, the Bible has answers. So Satan ultimately is the puppet master and God has granted him a level of control, but not total control. But here's what's interesting, we find that in Revelation 12. The devil has his horns and the heads, but then you go to Revelation 13 and those horns and heads are now upon who?

The beast. Yes, because they they're they're sharing the same qualities. They're from the same family. They they carry the same DNA, But more than that, because Satan at that point, will delegate these authorities to the beast. He will hand over these positions, and these powers, and these governments over to this one man.

So here's what this means. This beast, whoever he is, will be a leader indeed, but he will be spearheading a global agenda. He's not gonna be just leading a powerful nation, he is going to rule over all nations. And the nations at that time will gladly surrender their power to him. Now you might be wondering, what will the world come to for for such a decision to be made?

Well listen, if you if you actually just lean in a little bit, there have been talks of of globalism for decades. There's a push for it even in our day. To erase borders, to erase distinctions, to all come under one banner. And so we even see undertones of this. We we realize this from time to time it rears its ugly head, but it will reach its fulfillment in this person.

And one of the reasons why it will actually happen is because the world will be such a mess. There will be so much confusion and havoc. There'll be such a lack of competent leadership that when this figure does eventually emerge on the scene, people will desperately throw themselves at him. He's gonna put a spell on them. He's gonna make promises.

In fact, the Bible shows us that initially, he's gonna solve world issues that global leaders have not been able to do. They only dreamed about doing. And so he's going to win the allegiance of the nations, and it's ultimately gonna be a satanic trap. He's gonna deceive these world leaders to surrender their power. He's going to work through this individual to make it even more convincing, and the power of the beast and his system is expounded on in the next set of details back in Revelation 13.

Look at verse two. John says, after describing where he came from and what he looked like, to zoom in and give us more details of his appearance in verse two. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

So the second part of that verse confirms what we just heard. Right? That Satan is gonna orchestrate it for the world to be united under this one system, the beast. But what do we do with all of this? That much is clear I hope, but why is he described as a part leopard, part bear, part lion?

What was the question I said that we were gonna repeat over and over again? Have we seen these features in the same context in different parts of the Bible before? Answer? Very good. Yes, we have.

Who saw it? Daniel. Very good. So let's go to Daniel chapter seven now. This is where things get very interesting.

Daniel, the prophet had a vision about the same beast. And notice how these two texts will complement each other. You're saying, well what's so impressive about that? Well, Daniel existed and lived hundreds of years before the time of Christ. John who's writing Revelation is doing so decades after the resurrection ascension of Christ, and yet there's perfect harmony in their writings.

In their not just writings, in their predictions. Daniel seven one. Notice what the Holy Spirit says through him. In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter.

Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. Isn't that interesting? Here we see the sea again, and what's gonna happen with the sea? Verse three. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Then as I looked, its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and and made to stand on two feet like a man. And the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one like a bear. It was raised up on one side.

It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth and it was told, arise, devour much flesh. After this, I looked and behold another like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads and dominion was given to it. This is fascinating. This is exhilarating. And in case you're a little bit confused of what we just read, Daniel actually gives us the interpretation because he was granted the interpretation.

What Daniel is seeing here is the trajectory of human governments, more importantly and more specifically world empires from his time until the return of Christ. Proof? Are you still in Daniel seven? Scroll down to verse 17. Here's a part of the interpretation of this vision.

He's told, these four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth, but the saints of the most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever, and ever. It's right there. It's plain. But what kingdoms is Daniel seeing? Well biblically and historically, we know.

The first king that Daniel saw was represented by a lion, and that represents and speaks of the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire. Babylon in the Bible is referred to both as a lion and an eagle in certain passages. And notably, these symbols also appear as some claim in Babylonian historical artifacts. So we know that Babylon is represented by this majestic creature because it was a majestic empire.

Powerful, fierce, lofty, impressive. Following the line, we learn about the bear. The bear speaks about the Medo Persian Empire, because this is the historically speaking and biblically speaking, there's history in the Bible, the Medo Persian succeeded the Babylonian Empire. Why a bear? Because it wasn't as majestic as Babylon, but it was powerful.

It was scary. Maybe not as swift, but very destructive. But then we come here and we realize something about the third and it is a leopard or like a leopard. Leopards are fast, are they not? But more than just a leopard being fast, we're told that it had four wings on its back.

So it's very fast. And this is an image that points to the Greek empire. And this empire, especially led by Alexander the Great, swiftly conquered the Persian dynasty. The speed, the agility, the far reaching success of Greece's military campaigns are perfectly captured by this image of a leopard that is winged. Now, there are other details I skipped over, but if you are intrigued by this and you look more carefully at these other symbolisms, you'll be blown to blown away to realize that there are so many historical fulfillments in them.

So much so that skeptics of the book of Daniel refuse to believe that Daniel wrote this at his time. That's how accurate these pictures are. And so you'll have some who say, whoever wrote the book of Daniel wrote it long after these empires emerged and succeeded one another. But there are differences between what we find in Daniel's vision and John's. Two main ones.

This is interesting. The same beast appear. Right? But did you notice that the order is different? What's the sequence of the beast, these kingdoms in Daniel?

It begins with the lion, then the bear, then the leopard. In Revelation 13, what do you find? The same beast reverse order. He saw the leopard. Right?

And then the bear and then the lion. Is that detail significant? I think so. It just speaks about how surgically precise our Bibles are. And I think the simple answer is that Daniel is looking forward to these empires rising.

So he's seeing it from the front end. His perspective, he's looking ahead. Whereas John is reflecting. He's looking backwards on these empires and the order that they had already appeared. But John's vision is more than just a reflection.

Because in Daniel's perspective, he sees these beasts as separate entities. Right? Different kingdoms. But then when John sees it, he sees these beasts compiled, merged, mashed up into a single beast. What does that mean?

It means that John's vision is that this new beast that will appear in the last days will be convergence of these former world empires that are historically known for persecuting the people of God. In other words, the future empire John sees will be a combination of the strengths of these historical empires who have persecuted the people of God in the past. So this empire, whatever this beast is, will have the strength of Babylon. It will have the authority of Babylon. It will have the ferocious force and movement of the bear, and it will have the agility like a leopard.

All in one. All rolled up in a single one. So the impression that we're supposed to have, if you if you read that with a Hebrew mind and with a biblical mind like we do, understanding the implications of the the strongest traits of those former empires now colliding into one empire, this thing is gonna be unstoppable. It's gonna be so overwhelming. You think America is powerful?

You've seen nothing yet. This will eclipse all former things. Whatever the history books have testified about, this will be unlike anything that we've ever known. Now some of you might be wondering, but I thought Daniel saw a vision of four beasts. So why is John, by the spirit, only borrowing from the imagery of the the first three that we read about?

And if you thought that, I applaud you because you're paying attention. I commend you for that. Yes, there is a fourth beast that Daniel describes. And I think looking at that fourth beast will give us even more understanding of the beast that we see in Revelation 13. Let's go look at it.

Daniel seven, are you there? Look at verse seven. After this, I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.

It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns. Wow. At face value, Daniel seems to be seeing the same beast that John is seeing in Revelation 13. Right? Is that the case?

I would say yes, but with a clear distinction. A very important difference. He is looking at the same beast, but at two different stages. Let me explain. Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, you're seeing the succession of these kingdoms, and we come to the fourth one.

Historically speaking, who does this fourth one represent? Rome. Rome. And this accurately fits Rome. I mean, Rome conquered Greece and became one of the most impressive and lasting empires in all of human history.

And that's why Daniel says here that it was different from all the other beasts. Nobody can stop Rome. But what Daniel does here is that he goes on to give details of the fourth beast that don't completely match the historical Roman Empire. Namely, that when the reign of Rome expires of the fourth beast, when when it comes to an end, evidently the literal eternal reign of Christ will what? Begin.

That's something repeated over and over in Daniel chapter seven. And here's one example of that. Are you still in that chapter? Look down at verse 23. There's further understanding of what this fourth beast means.

And in Daniel seven twenty three, we read, thus he said, as for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces. Okay. Look at verse 26 now. This is the same breath. This is the same train of thought.

But the court shall sit in judgment and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high. His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Do you recognize the difficulty of this interpretation? If the fourth beast symbolizes the Roman Empire and that God says here that he will destroy it, and not just destroy it, but hand over all the kingdoms under heaven to the saints, How can this be reconciled with the fact that the Roman Empire collapsed around fifteen hundred years ago?

Are we living in that reality of all the kingdoms of heaven being given over to the people of God? Some say, yes, we are. Which would be a disappointment to me if this is it. No? So there's only three possible answers.

You ready? Three possible answers to this apparent dilemma. Number one, this prophecy failed. It failed. The fourth kingdom would end, and immediately after, we're talking about the return of the Son of Man.

That's in the same context, the same chapter. Where is it? Which leads to the second possible answer that even good hearted, genuine believers would say, well, this is referring to a spiritual dominion that Christ inaugurated when he entered into history under the Roman rule and reign. During the time of their peak success, because we know that even in the Gospels, that Rome was in power when Christ came into the world. And so they would say all the stuff that you're you're reading about, dominion and the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom being handed over to the people and the saints of the Most High, that's all spiritual.

This is how they would try to reconcile this. But here's the third and final option. The prophet Daniel is speaking about the same beast that John saw about the future, but in two stages. And if the beast is the same here as it is in Revelation 13, then I believe option number three is the most accurate. Which would mean what?

That in the last days, there will be some form of revived Roman Empire. That there will be this confederation of nations that will dominate in a way that was previewed by the Roman Empire. Now that conclusion alone has led to many speculations, many crazy applications. Some are more safe than others. What does that really mean?

Well, we can't get into that now, but I would just say that is the understanding of this beast. That yes, historically Rome fell, but there is gonna be some kind of renewal that reflects its dominating influence in the last days known as the beast. And it will carry the strongest characteristics of former empires in that last period of time. Now if you're hearing this interpretation and you're finding difficulty to accept it, let me mention one more thing to hopefully persuade you. There are other details that Daniel gives about this fourth beast that are very difficult to say being historically fulfilled in ancient Rome.

Let Let me give you just one example of that. We read Daniel seven twenty three, but we skip to verse 26. What's in between? Let's read from verse 23 again. Thus he said, as for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces.

As for the 10 horns, out of this kingdom, 10 kings shall arise and another shall arise after them. He shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the most high and shall wear out the saints of the most high and shall think to change the times and the law and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. And then he goes on to describe how God's reign will come and take over everything. Again, I'm aware that there are more details even here.

Here's the main point however. The reason why I read this is because you would be very hard pressed to try to see the fulfillment of the fourth beast, the fourth empire in this way in history. Especially when you consider the duration of the fourth kingdom's maniacal reign. What does it say there at the end of verse 25? Does this sound familiar to you?

They shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. Have we seen that before in Revelation? Yes. That is describing the final few years of the tribulation period. It's the same duration.

So it's gotta be speaking about the same thing. So here's here's what we've gathered so far. Daniel and John are seeing the same thing. The same beast, but at two different stages. It was historically fulfilled in part, but there's gonna be some kind of revival of a Romanesque type of empire in the last days.

Now this is had this has led some to believe then the beast in Revelation 13 is not a person, it's a system. Right? Because what what have we been studying the past few Well, I don't know how long it's been, but what A beast is a kingdom. So then, why are we making it sound like a beast is an individual? Is the beast in Revelation 13 a person or a political power?

Like a government? And my answer is it's both. It's both. Both. You actually consider this in history that in any empire, the government tends to be almost wholly identified with a ruler, especially if it's a dictatorship.

And if you look back at Revelation 13, we only read the first two verses, but you go on and you read that the beast will be worshiped. It's very unlikely that people will worship an ideology. Maybe so. But then you go on to read Revelation 13, and there will be another beast that we're gonna study about in the coming weeks, and he's going to persuade the world to worship the image of the beast. The image of what?

A set of laws? A creed? And here's the most convincing part. When you get to the end of Revelation, in Revelation chapter 19, when Christ returns, one of the first things that he will do is judge the beast. And it says this, that he will throw him and the false prophet alive into the lake of fire.

To me, case closed. He's not just an idea, he's not just a system, he's not just a form of government, he's not just an empire. It is an empire, but it's also a person who's running it. Well, we've heard a lot, haven't we? I'm sure you can see why we couldn't cover every point.

Today was meat and potatoes in the first point alone. So let's just pause here and consider something marvelous. Isn't it amazing that Daniel and John are seeing the same thing? Centuries apart in their ministries, but seeing and complementing each other's visions of the last days. How is this possible?

Well, it's the same God as revealing it to them. You can't convince me that this book is not supernatural. But then we look at this and we think to ourselves, okay, what do we do with all this information? I mean, hopefully clarified. Hopefully, again, it provides some tools of how to interpret the scriptures.

But if I myself wanting to ask this question whenever we come to text like this, what does it do for me now? How does it influence me in my day to day with all the responsibilities I have? And yes, I know we're studying about the end of the world, but my world seems like it's ending on its own. So preacher help me. Well, I have nothing to offer except the word of God.

And I think one thing that we can do in terms of application, in terms of how to relate this to ourselves, is to see Daniel's reaction to the vision that he saw. It's the last verse of Daniel seven. Notice how he wraps things up in verse 28. Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me and my color changed, but it kept the matter in my heart.

Apart from Daniel experiencing a supernatural thing, the reason why he responded in such a way was because the thoughts that he was having about the implications of this vision overwhelmed him and moved him. It provoked something internal. And I'm not here concluding this message to suggest that the way we should feel about what we just heard is to be frightened, anxious. But I do want to say that it should do something in you. Something.

When Daniel saw what he saw, sure the experience in itself was moving, but I believe when he saw it, he believed it. It wasn't just an experience, it was something that he believed to be true and that's why it did the work in him to the point that it physically manifests. I mean, he was losing the color in his face. How did you respond in this past fifty minutes sitting there today to what was just said? What did it do for you?

Oh, I'm sure some light bulbs went off in our minds. That's okay. God wants us to use our minds. But do you actually understand the implications of these predictions? Where this is all heading?

How the story is going to conclude, how it speaks to the temporal nature of the things that we think are gonna last forever, like your house and your body, your relationships. All of that has an expiration date. And we know that from personal experience, but the Bible wants to tell us it's not just gonna be an individual thing where we're all one day gonna die. This whole world, this whole world is gonna be flipped over. This this whole thing, all of history is leading to one point and that's Christ ruling and reigning.

That's Christ returning to redeem and to establish his kingdom. That's where all of this is headed. So maybe you're here today, you're visiting and we're so glad you're here. Maybe you've been coming, but you're not a believer in Jesus Christ and you don't know what to do with what you just heard. Here's how I wanna speak to your heart.

You may not believe it, but at least leave this place questioning what you just heard and asking yourself, what what does this mean if it's true? And are these claims just coming from one author? No. I just mentioned it more than once. You're talking about a library of books of ancient literature that are speaking about the same thing.

How is that possible? I want you to ask those questions. Don't just leave out of here scoffing. Don't just walk out of here thinking, Okay, I don't know what that was, but glad it's over. No, no.

Ask yourself, What did I just hear? And if it's true, what does that mean for me? And if you're so confident that this is not true, then challenge it. Disprove it. Believer, again and again you are being reminded of what your purpose is.

Now there's question of why Daniel was alarmed. I mean, this ends on a good note. All these other kingdoms will will fall, they will collapse and Christ's kingdom, the Son of Man will come and rule and reign. But I believe Daniel's wrestling with different emotions here. So what we need to consider also as we study this, is yes our future, but also the future of those who don't know Christ.

The loved ones that don't have faith in the Messiah, what's their future gonna be? Our children, are we praying for them? You know, you have some parents who are more concerned about their future job and their salary and who they're gonna marry more than where they're gonna spend eternity. And so all these things need to be considered. And if you find yourself sitting there today unmoved, well, here's how we can pray and ask God's help.

Lord, do something in my own heart. If I can hear these things, these prophecies and your perspective on life and humanity and history and it doesn't do anything to me, then Lord do something in me. And that is something that God is willing to do because this book that has been written by him is also written by God who is alive even now. And he can work in your heart right now if you would just humble yourself. What that means is if you don't believe in Christ, you can know salvation today, and you can be assured that your future is absolutely set on the path of redemption and hope and everlasting joy and bliss.

And if you're a believer here, and you find yourself for whatever reason week after week becoming more stale and indifferent and more excited about the things of this world than the things that are gonna happen to this world, ask God to revive your heart. That's something he's willing to do. Can we pray? Father we stand amazed at your word. We thank you that in this one service alone, we heard verses that minister to our personal needs.

How you know about all things from Psalm one thirty nine. We're reminded in the same service of the gospel truth how we are guiltless because of our faith in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. And now we've come to prophecy to see what you will do in the days to come and how you are telling us ahead of time, I know tomorrow. All these things happen in one service. We do not take your word for granted.

We are blown away by your revelation. But Lord, we don't want to just be stimulated intellectually. We pray like Daniel shows us even in this one brief moment how it moved him and it provoked him. Lord move us. It is our prayer that what we heard would make us holier.

It will make us more intimate with you in the place of prayer. It will want us to get deeper into the word for ourselves. That it will help us detach from the things of this life. Help us love those who need to be loved. Serve those who are called to be served and reach out to those who don't know the truth.

So Lord take all the things that we've just studied together and translate them into our lives and be glorified by our obedience. We thank you for this in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. Alright. Let's stand.