There is no stability to it whatsoever. Now let's read on.

Daniel 2:34

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands (no human element involved. Now Who does that have to be? A Person in the Godhead. And as most of you now know, when you have a reference to a rock or stone in Scripture it is Christ), which smote the image upon his feet (we will come back in a moment and explain. So this stone, coming out of nowhere, strikes this image. And remember this is speaking in symbolism. It is teaching us a literal truth.) that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces."

It is already top heavy, so what happens? That thing just tips right over and this stone just literally rolls it like a steam roller building a highway. It just rolls over all the metals of this great image

Daniel 2:35

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors: and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone (Christ) that smote the image became a great mountain,"

Now I always stress, when a mountain is used, as it is here, it is always a kingdom. Most generally the Kingdom. And remember the Kingdom is the Kingdom is the Kingdom. All through Scripture there is only one Kingdom. And it is the Kingdom that Christ will set up on the earth when He returns, to become King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Even in His earthly ministry, when He said the Kingdom is within you, theologians have taken that and they have so twisted it out of shape that no one can recognize it. But literally what He was saying is, "That in order for us become part and parcel of that literal physical, political Kingdom that is one day coming on the earth, we have to have that inner spiritual relationship with God to become part of it." That's what He meant when He said to Nicodemus in John's Gospel, Chapter 3, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of heaven." And that is so true. But this Kingdom of heaven is going to be the Kingdom on earth. It is the same Kingdom.

Today, during the Church Age, we need to look at some Scriptures. Go to the Book of Colossians. When John the Baptist began his ministry, what was the crux of his message? The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. What was he talking about? Jesus was just around the corner. He was about to begin His earthly ministry. And He is the essence of the Kingdom. But it is not a spiritual, ethereal, invisible Kingdom, although that is also involved. This Kingdom is spiritual, it's physical, and it is political. And it will come to its fruition when Christ returns and sets it up on the earth. In the interim, since He is no longer on the earth, and we can no longer say the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; when He went back to heaven, the Kingdom went with him.

I have stressed Genesis 1:1 from the beginning. What does it say? "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." All through Scriptures we have these two entities. The Nation of Israel, the earthly people of God, and the Church (the heavenly people of God). In Colossians Chapter 1, Paul is writing to us Gentiles, and he is praying for the Colossi believers and it is valid for us today.

Colossians 1:12,13

"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet (or prepared us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who (speaking of the Father) hath (past tense) delivered us (believers) from the power of darkness, and hath (already) translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:"

If you are a child of God today, where are you? In the Kingdom! Now when Christ comes at His second coming and sets up the Kingdom on the earth, where will we be? With Him. And as the New Testament teaches so plainly (Paul, as well as the Book of Revelation), when that Kingdom is set up, if you and I are in the Body of Christ today and we are truly born from above, we are going to rule and reign with Christ over that Kingdom.

So remember the Kingdom is the Kingdom, is the Kingdom. It's spiritual yes; it's physical yes; and it's going to be set up on the earth. When you read Isaiah Chapter 11 (we've read it even here on television) how the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and little children will be playing with them - that's physical. He is going to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the whole earth. That's political. And yet it is going to be a Kingdom of righteousness, holiness, and sinlessness, no death, no curse, and that makes it spiritual. So the Kingdom is all three wrapped up together, but it is still the one and only Kingdom.

Come back to the Book of Daniel with me. Christ, the Stone, smites all these metals that make up this image, beginning with the feet, and they become like the dust or chaff of a threshing floor that the wind just blows away. In other words, everything that these metals represent will just be blown away, and nothing will be left of it. And the Stone becomes a Kingdom, and I like to emphasize the last two or three words of verse 35. Is that Kingdom just going to be in the land of Israel? No, "the whole earth." Let me show you another verse. Turn with me to Zechariah Chapter 14. We must follow this up with more than one verse, because you know I'm not one of those who take one or two verses and build a doctrine on it. There are many more verses other than this one in Zechariah that say the same thing. We know that this is in reference to the Kingdom that will follow His second coming. We almost have to go up to verse 1 in order to get the flow:

Zechariah 14:1,3

"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; (what is that? Armageddon, the last great battle) and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished;... Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle."

Zechariah 14:4

"And his (The Lord, the same One that ascended from the Mount of Olives in Act Chapter 1, and went back to the Father. Now He's coming back, and where do His feet stand? On that same Mount of Olives.) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,... Let's move all the way to verse 8:

Zechariah 14:8

"And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea (the Mediterranean Sea), and half of them toward the hinder sea (the Dead Sea); in summer and in winter shall it be.

We won't take time to go back to the Book of Ezekiel and look at it, but Ezekiel says that this river of water flowing from the throne room in Jerusalem, back to the Mediterranean and down to the Dead Sea, will have every species of fish in it that the Mediterranean has now. In other words, it will no longer be a salt water sea. It's going to be living water. Now if you ever get to Israel, and you get to the Dead Sea, you'll find nothing can live in it now, but the day is coming when that will change. Let's just stop and look at it. But first let's read verse 9 here in Zechariah:

Zechariah 14:9

"And the LORD shall be king over all the earth:...Where is this Kingdom going to be? On the earth.

Let's go to Ezekiel and follow up on our previous discussion. I do some of these things only for interest. I may have to look for a moment. Look in Chapter 47. Remember, this is another one of those three Books spoken in symbolism. Ezekiel is speaking of a river, coming out from under the sanctuary there in Jerusalem, just as we saw in Zechariah. Come down to verse 9 and 10:

Ezekiel 47:9

"And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed (waters in the Dead Sea); and every thing shall live whither the river cometh."

Ezekiel 47:10

"And it shall come to pass (this is when the Kingdom is set up), that the fishers shall stand upon it (the Dead Sea) from En-gedi (now when we get to Israel we will be going to this little village of Engedi; it is still there right on the shores of the Dead Sea.) even unto En-eglaim, they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea (the Mediterranean), exceeding many."

These are all physical elements of the Kingdom. We have already alluded to Isaiah Chapter 11, about the wolf and the lamb. So this Kingdom that Daniel is prophesying in Chapter 2 will indeed cover the whole earth. It will be a glorious earth, everything is going to be productive. This is a verse everyone knows: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares,..." What do plowshares do? They prepare the earth for production. There will be tremendous production. There will be no want, or poverty, no famine. That is part of the physical aspect of the Kingdom. Yet it will be a glorious spiritual Kingdom, because there is no curse. There is no sin. And it will be political because Christ is going to rule over the whole earth.

I remember one of my children went to a Sunday School class while he was at the university, and they happened to be talking about the Kingdom in the Book of Matthew. He tried to tell them what it was referring to, and they about laughed him out the door. And they said, "You mean a political Kingdom?" So he called that Sunday afternoon, and asked me how to answer them when they just ridicule that there will be that kind of Kingdom? I told him when people are blind, it's pretty hard to open their eyes. It takes time and showing them lot of Scripture. Now let's go back to Daniel. He is going to interpret what that means. The Scriptures always interpret for us. You don't have to go to seminary to learn how to interpret Scriptures, but a lot of people think you do. Always let The Book interpret itself:

Daniel 2:37

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings (and indeed he was, we saw that when he could put all of magicians to death with just a word.): for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory."

Daniel 2:38

"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he (The Sovereign God) given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all (he was an absolute dictator king. He didn't have to consult with anyone to make a decision. Now Daniel says). Thou art this head of gold." So what are we seeing in symbolism? Empires.

Daniel 2:39

"And after thee (in other words after Babylon rises and falls, as all empires do) shall arise another kingdom (or empire) inferior to thee,..."

When I started teaching this many years ago this word "inferior" bugged me. How does an inferior kingdom defeat a superior kingdom? Militarily it just doesn't happen. So what you have to look at, as you look at this progression of metals, we go from what we normally think of as the most precious, the most expensive, to the next, to the next, and so forth down to the least. And so the progression is from something great to something less great. So this is why the prophets say that a kingdom inferior to Babylon would defeat them. Daniel wasn't talking about the military side of it. He was talking about the political. Because this head of gold was an absolute under-god. He was a government of one.

After the head of gold, you come down to the kingdom that was inferior to him, and politically we know that the next kingdom that came on the scene and defeated Babylon was the Mede and Persian Empire. Militarily, they were already greater than Babylon. Otherwise they could never have defeated them. But instead of having an absolute dictator of one, they had two kings who came together. They were Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian. And naturally, before they made any kind of a move military, economically or politically, they had to agree with each other. It is a lot harder to get two to agree than one. Now let's read on:

Daniel 2:39

"...and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth."

The next kingdom that came on through secular history was the kingdom of Alexander the Great of Greece. But just as soon as Alexander completed his conquest at the age of 33, he died. And what happened to his kingdom? It was divided between his four generals. The political flow is already picking up. Instead of having absolute power of one, then a consensus of two, a consensus of four is now required. The next great empire that comes on the scene is the Roman Empire. Even though we think of Rome as being governed by the Caesars, in reality what kind of government was the Roman Empire? A republic. They depended on their senate and representatives. And here you have the seed of democracy in its infancy. But do you see politically what is happening? You are coming from an absolute, to a consensus of two, to a consensus of four, to a consensus of many. Now coming on down the legs of the Roman Empire are the East and the West. The East of course was capitalized in Constantinople, and the West stayed at Rome. We read it in verse 41:

Daniel 2:41,42

"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided (East and West); but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken,"

In verse 43, with that kind of mixture there was no real strength. Now we know that the Roman Empire passed off the scene between 300 and 400 A.D. It just disappeared. The rise and fall of the Roman Empire. But in our own day we are seeing the rise of that same geographical and political area, Western Europe, called the European Community. It started out with ten nations and it's been fluctuating, and it will end up again with ten nations. We call it the Revived Roman Empire. And these are the ten toes, or ten nations. But again as you see Western Europe today, it's an enlarged democracy, and democracies are weak. If the people don't like the government all they have to do is fill the streets and demonstrate, and what happens? And consequently it is inferior.

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LESSON ONE * PART III

NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND DREAM (DANIEL 3)

Let's get right back to Daniel Chapter 2, where we left off in our last lesson. Politically, these great empires that Nebuchadnezzar saw in symbolic language, you might say of the head of gold and so forth, we pointed out how that politically everyone of these empires will become weakened by an increasing number of people involved in decision making. We love democracy, and it is the greatest form of government ever brought on the scene. But when it comes to getting something done, it's probably the worst that was ever conceived. Now when Christ sets up His earthly Kingdom again, that's why it will be so glorious, it will be a Kingdom of One. He will have absolute power. There will be no confab, or consensus. It will be a glorious Kingdom.

Had Nebuchadnezzar been a benevolent type individual, and had the love and graciousness of God, he could have probably had that kind of empire. But no human has those kinds of attributes. So Nebuchadnezzar, like any other great dictator, was a totalitarian, he had no concerns about his subjects. Nevertheless, his decision-making was within himself. And as we have seen all through human history, all these empires were inferior to the one before, politically. Militarily, each one became greater, until we get down to what we call the revived Roman Empire, or our present European Community. Yet NATO, and other Military organizations have tremendous power of nuclear weapons, and technology that we have witnessed over the past few years. So keep this in mind, that as these Gentile empires came on the scene, in everyone of these empires, Israel was connected.

The iron and clay (the ten toes of the European Community), as yet do not have that kind of relationship with the Nation of Israel. It is mostly America that is keeping the little nation going. But never lose sight of the fact that the Anti-christ is going to come out of the geographical area of the old Roman Empire. Now we will see that in a few lessons later when we get to Daniel Chapter 9. I personally think he will come from Western Europe. Others think he may come from the Middle East, or the Mediterranean. But be that as it may, he's going to come from some place out of that old Roman Empire. And he will come in peaceably according to Daniel. And with flattery. Look at Europe tonight with all their turmoil, their ethnic problems and their immigrant, political, economical problems. If suddenly a man would come on the scene, especially in Europe, more so than any other place in the world; if he had the charisma of a John F. Kennedy, with the diplomacy of a Henry Kissinger; and maybe with some of the economic smarts of a Milton Freedman and so forth. If this guy could come on the scene with all these attributes rolled up into one, and seemingly have all the answers to their problems, do you know what they would do? They would fall on their knees and kiss his feet. In fact, maybe some of you heard it (I think it was on one of the news commentaries the past couple of weeks), where they were interviewing the German youth who were in some demonstrations. They were asked what they really wanted, and they said, "If a man could come on the scene that would be a leader we would follow him in a minute." Well the world is getting ready for that.

And so as we see these empires, they have come and gone through history, but we are now down to the iron and clay toes of the Western Europe consortium of nations. I think it is so perfectly illustrated with iron and clay. Being an old farmer, I can remember way back before farmers mixed their concrete with washed sand, they would use any kind of gravel they could get their hands on. If you mix the best of cement with just simply gravel, how long will that cement last? Not long at all, and it will just start to crumble. It doesn't have the ability to cleave.

That is the way Europe is tonight. You have all these nations, that over hundreds and hundreds of years have hated each other with a passion. That is why that region has been a battle ground for centuries. The Germans hate the French and so on. And those hatreds run deep. Even though they have now agreed to come together in a political and economic United States of Europe, the whole thing is so fragile because of those latent hatreds. And that is what I think is depicted here in the iron and clay. Its got strength but its got weakness. They will have a United States of Europe someday, and out of that consortium of ten nations (and they will end up with ten because the The Book says so) will come the man Anti-christ. And he will make a treaty with Israel, as we will be seeing in a few weeks, that will trigger God's time clock of prophecy once again, and those final seven years will click off. Let's wind up this vision with Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel Chapter 2.

Daniel 2:43

"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men (just exactly as Europe is doing tonight): but they shall not cleave one to another,..."

In other words there will be no political unity. The whole thing will be fragile. That is why it will be so easy for one man to come on the scene. And we are getting so close. I'm not a date setter, you know that, but I do feel that we are so close to the appearance of the Anti-christ. Remember though, before he makes his appearance, we have to go. The Lord will be taking us (believers) out. We won't see, or be able to put a thumb on, who he is. But when the Anti-christ comes, the world will be falling at his feet. He will rule and reign satanically for that seven years. It will be the most awful seven years in all of the earth's history. I like to put it this way. The holocaust of Nazi Germany will be a Sunday School picnic compared to those seven years. And it will be world wide.

The Sovereign God is in control of the whole thing. That is why I like to start in Genesis. The plan of God for the whole Age of History. It is all architecturally drawn up from eternity past. Nothing takes Him by surprise. It is just so hard to comprehend how a Sovereign God prepared everything that has happened. And yet he left man with a free will. Now that is hard to reconcile isn't it? That a Sovereign God lays it out, gives man and nations their free will, and they all meet at the end. I can't explain it, but I believe it. And you can see it happening constantly. I have told my classes to go back and read the history of World War II, and how some of our great battles in the Pacific, as well as in Europe, hinged on the change of the weather. That wasn't just by accident, that was a Sovereign God. Man is operating on his own free will, and doesn't have any idea that God has any thing to do with it. But He has everything to do with it. Now look at verse 44.

Daniel 2:44

"And in those days of these kings (when these ten nations of Western Europe, headed up by the Anti-christ, have run their course of 7 years) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,..."

What Kingdom? The same Kingdom we have been talking about from day one. The Kingdom He is going to have on the earth. A Kingdom that will never be destroyed. The Book of Revelation puts a time element on the Kingdom. How long? A thousand years! That is how we get the term millennium and even the world likes to use it. Have you noticed that lately? When they talk about the next thousand years they will use the word millennium. Well, they're talking in secular terms of the next thousand years from the year 2000 to 3000. But the thousand years that Scriptures refer to, and we refer to, is that thousand years of reign and rule. But we know it's going to end by the providential act of a Sovereign God. This is, when Satan is loosed for a little season and everything is going to have to go through a great turmoil. But when the new earth and new heaven come on the scene (eternity), it's going to be the same set of circumstances as was in that thousand year reign and rule.

It took me a while to come to that conclusion, but I'm so convinced of it, I speak it now without apology. That the thousand year reign of Christ is limited in time. Absolutely it is. The Scripture says "A thousand years," but in essence that same Kingdom economy is going to go right on into all eternity. That is why the language always speaks as it does here. That this Kingdom shall never be destroyed. It will never end. Oh, it will be interrupted again, but it will come right back on the scene for eternity. I have always gotten a kick out of seeing people light up when I explain to them when we go into eternal abode, in our eternal state, we won't be floating around up on some ethereal cloud, in an invisible spirit form, and strum an invisible harp. That won't be heaven. Heaven is going to be a place of intense activity. We are going to be so busy. I don't think God will have anything to do with idleness. I think that activity will be glorious beyond our comprehension. Never lose sight of that.

I tell men who love to fish, I don't know whether you will fish in that new heaven and new earth, but there is going to be something even better than that. So this Kingdom is ushered in at the return of Christ on a glorious earth, wherein the curse has been lifted. There will be a tremendous population explosion (we will explain that some day when we get to it during this study on prophecy). And it will go on throughout eternity. Now let's continue verse 44:

Daniel 2:44

"...and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,..."

All these great Gentile kingdoms that were precipitated and were based on nothing but greed. I was so thrilled several months ago when we came out of our class here in Tulsa, and in the parking lot, one of the fellows said, "I can see it for the first time in my life. Everything is based on greed." And you think about it. The whole ball of wax in which we are living today is based on greed. Everyone of these empires was based on greed. Take for example Alexander the Great, who grew up in Greece in the poorest part of Greece up in Macedonia. They didn't have a thing, and that started to gnaw away at him and he decided he wanted more than this. So he began to prepare himself and he became the conqueror of the whole known world. Why? Greed. Along come the Romans, and they look at all the good things that those Greeks have got. All their beautiful architecture, all those smart philosophers, and so what do they say? "Hey I want that." Boom! They go after it. Now this is what scares me when they talk about disassembling our military. Don't you know that the whole world sits out there, and with that greedy look says, "I wish we could have what those American have." And you know what? If we would let them have it they would take it in a moment.

Let's move to Chapter 7. I'll skip Chapter 3 and 4 for the time being at least. As for Chapter 5, most of you know the context and have heard many sermons on it. Now in Chapter 7, Daniel has his own vision. And Daniel is going to see, basically, these same Gentile Empires. Only he is going to see them come down in order. Rather than metals of gold, silver, and so forth, Daniel sees them as various wild beasts. But it is the same unfolding of history:

Daniel 7:1,2

"In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: 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 heaven (East, West, North and South) strove upon the great sea.'"

For those of you who have not marked it in the margin of your Bible you may want to do so now. The sea here again is a symbolic term for humanity. Most of you know that. So the four winds are just striving upon the masses of humanity. Even though at the time of Daniel there were not that many. But nevertheless it was still humanity. Now verse 3:

Daniel 7:3

"And four great beasts..."

Here again, I always remind my classes, don't let that word beast stir up a vision of some seven-headed lion. The beast term in Scripture is simply a government. Now the reason God has chosen the word "beast," is because all these great empires, as we will see from Daniel's point of view, are bestial in their behavior and again in their greed. And in the way they treat their subjects. I hope you all realize that all the way up through human history, unless you were fortunate enough to live among the very elite in the ruling class, what was life for the rest of the people? It was just existence. Most of them under abject poverty, slavery, oppression, and it was not until the Magna Charter, that came out of England in about the 13th century, that delineated some human rights. Before that, there was no such thing as human rights.

Since the Magna Charter, at least in our Western Civilization, there is a semblance of human rights. But even among our Western Civilizations, how many people are still living in a down trodden state. We are not in any Utopia. We are certainly blessed as a nation. But we still have many people that are in poverty, and have none of this world's goods. So Daniel sees these empires come out of the mass of humanity, bestial in their make-up, and he sees them in the same unfolding as Nebuchadnezzar did. Now verse 4.

Daniel 7:4

"The first was like a lion, (that was Babylon. But instead of a head of gold Daniel sees it as a lion.) and had eagle's wing: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked (it was defeated and fell), and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." And now verse 5. As a result of that fall what happened? Another empire.

Daniel 7:5

"And behold another beast (we know it was the Medes and Persians), a second, like to a bear, and raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said, thus unto it. `Arise, devour much flesh.'" So the Medes and Persians took over the known world. Verse 6. Now this is history:

Daniel 7:6

"After this I beheld, and lo another (another empire), like a leopard (the leopard is one of the swiftest animals in the world. It depicts Alexander the Great who was swift in his conquests. Alexander the Great could move his armies over territory that no one else would ever dream possible, and in less time. He was known for it, so consequently he was pictured as a leopard.), which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl (when Alexander the Great died, his four generals took his place. Now what does Daniel see? Four wings. The same picture. Instead of having one great dictator such as Nebuchadnezzar, this third empire is divided into four.); the beast had also four heads: and dominion was given to it." Now in verse 7, after the Grecian Empire falls, up comes the Roman Empire:

Daniel 7:7

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly (and we know the Romans were. The Romans had control of the then known world, over the general population, like no other empire before it.); and it had great iron teeth (it was strong politically): it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse (or different) from all the beasts that were before it (why? It was the start of democratic form of government, the world had never experienced that before. And then you have a semicolon and what is the last part of the verse?); and it had ten horns."

As we look back on history, that semicolon jumped about 1700 years of time, because we are coming all the way from the Roman Empire, which ended between 300 and 400 A.D. up to the present time, and the appearance of the European Community as the revived Roman Empire. Ten horns. The horns again in Scripture merely refer to kings. Now we need to go back to Revelation again. We are now dealing with the kingdoms that will be on the earth at the time of the Tribulation, and we pick this up in Revelation for this book is the road map of the Tribulation for the most part. Revelation Chapter 13. We were here last lesson when we looked at the religious leader, but now we want to look at these 10 horns that will be the base of operation for this world ruler we call the Anti-christ.

Revelation 13:1

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea (what are we talking about again? The sea of humanity.), and saw a beast (government) rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns (see how that fits with Daniel? Now this is not any seven headed creature it's a consortium of nations.), and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy,"

Revelation 13:2

"And the beast (this Government will be headed up in one man, this Anti-christ) which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion (what does that tell you? What we just read in Daniel 7. The same thing. Daniel saw Greece as a leopard, he saw the Medes as a bear, and he saw the Babylonians as a lion. Now John sees them in the same context): and the dragon gave him (the Anti-christ) his power, and his seat (or throne), and great authority."

Revelation 13:3

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed:"

Now here again I wish I had more time to explain. A lot of people think that the man Anti-christ will be shot, and brought back to life. I prefer to think that we are dealing with the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the one that suffered a deadly wound. It died and collapsed, and faded off the scene 1700 years ago; and here we see it coming up again.

If you think I am stretching the point, about Western Europe being a revived Roman Empire about two years ago in "Insight Magazine" was an article on the European Community. It was written by a lady, and she was describing all the ins and outs of Western Europe. Exactly like I shared with you in the last lesson; their hates, and problems, and so forth. And yet they have the biggest potential for gross national product of any place on earth. But she ended her article with this statement, "It may seem odd to think that these nations who hate each other can come together and make a United States of Europe. Everyone of these have been in an empire together once before: the Roman Empire." And that is the way she ended her article.

An so even a secular writer can see that what we are having come out of Europe now, is the very outline of that same old Roman Empire. So here in Revelation we have the same language as you have in Daniel. You have the ten horns and the aspect of his government will be bestial. He is going to have the power and totalitarian exercise of it like Nebuchadnezzar. He is going to rumble over people like the old bear (the Medes and Persians). He will have the swiftness of the leopard (empire of Alexander the Great). He is going to have all the residue of the ancient Roman Empire, with a seeming democracy behind him, but he himself will be absolute. This whole thing is coming together perfectly and the closer we come to it the more we will see how accurate this Book really is. The head that was wounded is the old Roman Empire, and all of a sudden it is alive and well and on the scene today. So I say, watch Western Europe.

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LESSON ONE * PART IV

NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND DREAM (DANIEL 3)

Let's continue where we left off last lesson in Daniel Chapter 7. Daniel sees the same unfolding of human history and all the Gentile empires in animal forms, as Nebuchadnezzar sees in metals, the gold, the silver, the brass and so forth. Daniel saw it as lion, bear, leopard, and then a beast that couldn't be explained, which was the Roman Empire. And then we left off in verse 7. We said there was a semicolon after, "... it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it;" and then the verse ended "; and it had ten horns." Now that last semicolon is two thousand years of time as we reckon it. But always remember that in God's way of reckoning, it has been no longer than a semicolon.

Everything in prophesy that's been laid out in the Old Testament never gives a hint of that intervening Church Age. Once I can get people to understand that, then prophesy, as well as the Age of Grace, falls into its right perspective. But the Old Testament know nothing but the prophetic program moving straight through to the end. Remember, as far as God is concerned, from start to finish in the context, it goes without interruption. But we know historically that it was interrupted. It's still interrupted, but it's going to end one day. Now back to Chapter 7, verse 7 of Daniel. "...it had ten horns." You'll remember that we went back to Revelation and saw that John speaks with the same language. That these empires are going to be bestial as Daniel saw them. And it's going to end up with ten horns, ten nations and out of that ten nations is going to come the Anti-christ. And of course you pick that up in Revelation. But now I want to go on:

Daniel 7:8

"I considered the horns (these leaders. These kings), and, behold, there came up among them another little horn,..."

Now here is the mention of the Anti-christ. These nations of Western Europe are seemingly coming together. And believe it or not, there is already a Western European Parliament. They already meet. They don't have absolute power yet, but the organization is already there. I read the other day that they already have their own currency. It's already registered on the world's currency market. You can go and exchange dollars for what they call the European Community Unit, ECU. If you want to exchange dollars into ECU's, you can do it already today. They're not pushing yet, because they're not quite ready for it. But everything is set. The whole Constitution of Western Europe is ready to be implemented. What I think is going to happen (and this is strictly projection. I can't prove it, but it seems that when you study the Scripture, that when these ten nations seemingly feel like they've got their act together, like we're seeing in Europe today); there's going to be so much turmoil that this is going to make the time right for the appearance of a strong man. And that of course is going to be the Anti-christ. And he's the little horn here. Out of these ten nations that make that revived Roman Empire, the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's vision, out of those ten toes or nation, will come this little horn:

Daniel 7:8

"... before whom there where three of the first horns plucked up by the roots:..."

Now I think all that means is that of the ten nations that originate the European Community and their Parliament and their government, three of the smaller ones will lose their identity. They will just be gobbled up by the other seven. And then out of the remaining seven will come this man, Anti-christ. Let's go back to Revelation for just a second. I didn't intend to do this, but I think that it will help you to see how these two great prophetic books work hand in glove. Go back to Revelation Chapter 13 verse 2:

Revelation 13:2

"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear,..."

In other words, you have all the attributes of these previous empires coming to a head in this revived Roman Empire. So all the best parts of the Babylonian kingdom are still with us. All the best parts of the Medes and Persian Empires are still with us. All the best parts of the Grecian are still with us. Their architecture, their philosophies, etc. All the best parts of the Roman Empire are still with us. Their courts of law and their so-called justice and jurisprudence and what have you, are still with us. So all of the attributes of these previous kingdoms are going to be headed up in this final empire. So you have the feet of the bear and the mouth of the loin, but Satan gives it its power. Then you come down to verse 4:

Revelation 13:4

"And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast (in other words, Satan is going to begin to show his authority through this man Anti-christ.): and they worshipped the beast (the Anti-christ), saying, `Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?'" And then in verse 6, we see his true character.

Revelation 13:6

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."

In other words he's literally going to war against the very spiritual powers of God and of heaven itself. Now over to Chapter 17, and come down to verse 9, because I want you see these numbers; how they all fit with Daniel.

Revelation 17:9

"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains (in other words, seven nations with seven prime ministers or kings), on which the woman sitteth." The woman is the religious system which we see taught earlier in the Chapter.

Revelation 17:10

"And there are seven kings (in other words, three have already lost their identity. We started with ten. Three were usurped by seven):... one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space."

In other words, there will probably be another world leader or European leader, or whatever. He's probably going to come in that interval. But now verse 11:

Revelation 17:11

"And the beast that was, and is not (I prefer to think that this is the old Roman Empire that was seemingly dead, it was seemingly gone. And now here it is, back on the scene with all its attributes in place. And this man, Anti-christ is going to head it up.), even he is the eighth,..."

I brought it out that numbers all have a value in Scripture. For example, the number three refers to the Godhead Deity. Number five is the number of grace. Number six is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day. Seven always refers to Deity. Eight always refers to that which follows the completion of number seven. You take how many souls went into Noah's Ark? Eight. And so they were the new beginning after the flood. And you get back to the book of Revelation and you move into eternity. Christ has had seven names of Deity all through Scripture, and we've pointed them out. There are seven I AM's in the Old Testament. There are seven I AM's in the book of John. In the book of Revelation where He is the I AM, or the Bright and Morning Star, that's the eighth I AM, and that is the new beginning of the eternal day. And so the number eight will follow the perfect number seven, signifying another beginning or a new beginning. This is what the Anti-christ is. He comes on the scene and everything that has seemingly been completed, he brings it to the finish. And he even is the eighth. He's out of the seven, but what's his end? He goes into perdition.

We will see that later on when we study the book of Revelation in detail. This is not intended to be a study of the book of Revelation and I think you all know that. Now back to Daniel Chapter 7. The man Anti-christ comes on the scene out of Western Europe, and reigns and rules for his 7 years, and then verse 9:

Daniel 7:9

"I beheld (Daniel says in a vision) till the thrones were cast down, (remember, Nebuchadnezzar crushed under the stone until they became powder and the wind blew them away. Now Daniel sees them as cast down, destroyed) and the Ancient (now Ancient is capitalized so it is referring to God. So) the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool (now this is merely the symbolic picture again of the purity and the majesty of the Godhead): his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire."

Now that takes you back to the Book of Ezekiel Chapter 1. I saw the wheels, the Scripture says. And if you will read Ezekiel 1 you will see what I'm talking about.

Daniel 7:10

"A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him (millions), and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him:"

There is a colon and we will stop there, for the rest of the verse leaps the millennium again and ends up at the Great White Throne, and we are not ready for that yet. Let's go to verse 13:

Daniel 7:13

"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."

I like to put the two persons of the Godhead here. God the Father sitting on the throne. God the Son comes before Him here.

Daniel 7:14

"And there was given him dominion and glory, and a (there's that word again, what?) kingdom (now this is God the Son coming before God the Father as He is about to return to earth and smite these Gentile Empires that have been in human history now for 2600 years. He is going to come and destroy them. They will disappear from view, and He sets up His Kingdom, which shall not pass away. It is eternal as I said in my last lesson, and will be interrupted again when Satan will be released for a short time. But then comes the new heaven and new earth and the Kingdom just continues on into eternity. Now finishing the verse), ...and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

There He's got His rule and reign. Now let's go back to Revelation Chapter 5. Now I think this gets very interesting. I can't help but love these things, because it is just so beautifully put together. And then when they say that this is just a bunch of myths and stories, that gets to me. This is so intricately fitted together.

Revelation 5:1

"And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne (now Daniel saw Him as the Ancient of days with pure hair like wool, and it's the same setting.) a book (a better interpretation would be scroll, they only used scrolls back at that time when John wrote.) written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals."

There is that number of completion again. This scroll was written within and on the backside, so here you need to know your Old Testament and Jewish history. This is what a mortgage was. So God is holding a mortgage. And in this mortgage or scroll is written details within and without. If you go back into the Old Testament, a Jew could mortgage his land just like we can mortgage property today. And just like we do today, whatever is for public scrutiny has to be recorded in the court house for the protection of others who may want to buy your property. Not knowing it was mortgaged, they would end up behind the eight ball. In Israel it was the same way, If they mortgaged their land, the details that were pertinent to the public were written on the outside. Details that were not public were written on the inside. So what we have here is a mortgage. Even though God is holding it, who's mortgage is it? It's Satan's mortgage. Now let's go on:

Revelation 5:2

"And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" Now we would normally think the other way around. Who is worthy to take off the seals and open the scroll.

Revelation 5:3

"And no man in heaven, (no one, not even the angels) nor in earth, neither under the earth,..." No where in God's creation was there any one that had the authority or capability to open this mortgage. Now in verse 4 poor old John says.

Revelation 5:4,5

"And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, `Weep not:' behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda,"

The word Lion is capitalized, and who came out of Judah? Christ did. So here we have Jesus the Christ Who is already in heaven, and He comes before the throne of the Father, and He is the only one that has the authority to open this mortgage and to say, "I'll pay it off." Again you have to go back into Jewish history and customs. You can pick this up especially in the Book of Ruth.

If a Jew had mortgaged his land, and had become incapable of paying it off, but just before they would foreclose on the land and take it away from him - as we see happening every day now - they, like we, could have a rich uncle, but it had to be a next of kin. They couldn't go to a stranger, but they could go to a next of kin and say, "Uncle, I've got this mortgage that I can't pay and they are about to foreclose on me, will you help me out?" Now that rich uncle had three prerequisites for bailing the young man out. 1. Naturally, he had to have the funds. So he had to be able. 2. He had to be the next of kin. 3. He had to be willing. Remember no one has to do anything they don't want to. So if that rich uncle didn't like the nephew, he could say, "Buzz off. I won't help you." But if he had the funds and if he wanted to, and he was a next of kin, he would say, "Why of course I'll pay off your mortgage." That's the picture here. Jesus comes before God the Father and the question is who can pay this mortgage? Look what it says:

Revelation 5:6

"And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, (angelic beings), and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb (capitalized) as it had been slain (referring to His death, burial, and resurrection), having seven horns and seven eyes (now that depicts his political power and the seven Spirits. We don't have time to look at it now, but if you will go back to Isaiah Chapter 11:2 you will find the seven attributes of the Holy Spirit and these are referred to here.), which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth."

Revelation 5:7

"And he (The Lamb, Jesus the Christ) came and took the book (or scroll) out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne."

I know the question is going to come up. "Where do you get the idea that this is a mortgage? Why is something having to be paid off? Let's go all the way back. In fact, let's do it Scripturally. Go back with me to Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28. Adam has just been created, he's on the scene, and God has given him his instructions.

Genesis 1:28

"And God blessed them, and said unto them (that is Adam and Eve, although Even hasn't been created, she is still in Adam. So He is addressing them both.), `Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have (what?) dominion...'"

In other words Adam was to have rule over the whole creation under God. He had total dominion. He was going to be literally God's second in command. When Adam sinned, what happened to that role as having dominion? He lost it. He dropped the ball. Who picked it up? Satan did. From that time on Scripture makes it so abundantly clear, who is the god of this world tonight? Satan is. Another Scripture says, "The world lieth in the lap of the wicked one." Satan is the god of this world. Everything that mankind accomplishes, whether it's good, beautiful, ugly, or bad, who has prompted it? Satan has. God is not in the business of a material world. And so the world is truly in the lap of that wicked one. Satan has total dominion. Let me show you another good example. Go to Matthew Chapter 4 if you doubt me. Here we have the temptation. And Satan is trying every ploy, trying to get Jesus to bow down to him. But the only one I want to look at is verse 8:

Matthew 4:8

"Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;..."

Do you see that? All the beautiful parthenons, aqueducts, and all the productions; and everything that mankind had accomplished. Satan said, "Do you see all of that?" Now look at the next verse:

Matthew 4:9

"And saith unto him (Christ), All these things will I give thee,..."

Was it his to give? Yes! Absolutely they are his dominion tonight. But he didn't trick Jesus, because Jesus knew that one day He would have them anyway. And He didn't have to fall down and worship Satan to get them. Now back to Revelation Chapter 5. So as the Son of God comes before the Ancient of days and He takes that mortgage from God the Father. He says in so many words, "I'll pay it off." Now what is he going to pay off? He is going to pay off the curse. The world has been under the curse ever since Genesis Chapter 3. And now it is time to end it. Look at the misery going on the world tonight and wonder how much longer is it going to last. It is just about over. He will pay off Satan's mortgage. And He alone can do it. Because of his death, burial, and resurrection. He is worthy. Now verse 8:

Revelation 5:8a,9,10

"And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb... And they sung a new song, saying `Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; (why is He worthy?); for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests (here is that promise); and we shall reign on the earth."

Now how is this going to all happen? Well, this is the whole reason for the seven years of Tribulation. Satan is going to have his final time. And it's going to be such a crescendo of the wrath of God upon Satan and mankind which have been following him. And all the cataclysmic events of those seven years will culminate with the curse being totally lifted from the earth. Satan defeated and removed from the scene, and after all that holocaust, out will come that Garden of Eden like earth for the Kingdom.

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LESSON TWO * PART I

PRAYER: PROPHECY: OLD TESTAMENT

Now get your Bibles and turn to Daniel Chapter 6, I'm going to digress from the prophetic aspect for just one lesson, and we are going to talk about prayer. I think if there has ever been a time when the Christian community needs to come back to the basic tenet of prayer, it's the day in which we live. And we will take it from the setting in Daniel. Because we like to do everything as much as we can according to the Scriptures. In Daniel Chapter 6, we find that the decree has now gone out, by virtue of the king, because of those who hated Daniel, and knew his prayer habits. Unknown to the king, they get him to sign a decree that everyone has to pray and bow their knee only to the King of the Medes and Persians. That puts Daniel on the outside doesn't it? So let's pick it up in verse 10:

Daniel 6:10

"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed (the decree) he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God,..."

Here is the secret I think of prayer. And he did what? He gave thanks. A lot of times we think of prayer as only asking. But what God demands first is a heart of thanksgiving. And if we can pray with thanksgiving, then we can rest assured that we are on Scriptural grounds. Now I would like for you to come on over then to Chapter 9 where again we pick up this man Daniel using the power of prayer. Now get the setting. Here's this young Jew in captivity, out of his homeland and clear out in a pagan land, strange and far from home. And yet he can give thanks. But now look at his prayer on behalf of his people Israel. As he prays in verse 4 and then goes on to say in verse 5:

Daniel 9:5

"We have sinned, and have committed iniquity (he is speaking about himself and his people, the Nation of Israel, and of course that is why they are in captivity because of their rebellion.), and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: "

I won't read his whole prayer; I trust that you will do that in your spare time. But now let's come down to verse 18 as his prayer is winding down. And he is praying his heart out on behalf of his own nation. I decided to take this half hour in prayer, again, because I think that all of us are alarmed at what is going on in our country. We are alarmed about the spiritual rebelliousness, there is no interest, and really there is only one answer to it. And that is that God's people are going to have to get back on their knees.

If every born again child of God in America, would spend 10 to 20 or 30 minutes a day on their knees (couples together, or as individuals if they could do that), I know that things would start happening in our favor instead of going against us. We realize that you know what is going on. The enemy is getting to the place where they can almost push us out the side door. And they are just simply trying to make us inoperative as believers in The Book. Unless I'm convinced that the believing community gets back on their knees. And it's not all that hard. It's a habit like anything else. We will be looking at that as we go on through the lesson. So now verse 18:

Daniel 9:18

"O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations (Daniel is praying on behalf of his own people Israel and the City of Jerusalem.), and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses (not because they deserve it, but why?), but for thy great mercies."

Now it is the same way for us today. We can never go before God and ask for anything because we deserve it. Everything that we get, every breath that we breathe, every heartbeat is because of the Grace of God. And so Daniel, even back here under Law, when they have no knowledge of what we call the Grace of God, yet he is calling upon the very Grace of God. Now verse 19.

Daniel 9:19

"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God:..."

Can't you hear the heart cry of this young man? He is not just uttering words. He is not just spinning a prayer wheel. He's not just counting beads. This man is pouring out his heart. And remember it's the same God you and I pray to today. We are under a whole different economy, granted, and we will go to the New Testament now and see what a difference that does make. Let's go to the Book of Philippians and come to Chapter 4. Again there is such a difference in some of these commands to pray. But here in Paul's letter to the Church, we have something that is so practical. I think I have helped people over tough spots more often by taking them to these two verses than anything else, during the time of trial and sorrow. Because here are verses that every believer can tie into. Now remember that all of this is the privilege of the believer. That is who Paul is writing to. Paul doesn't write to the unbeliever. Never! As he writes to the believer, he speaks to the unbeliever. But he writes to us the believer. And he says in verse 6:

Philippians 4:6

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

Let's break that tremendous verse down. "Be careful for nothing; (now the word "careful" is translated out of a Greek word that really means to be anxious, or I like to put it in even plainer language: worry about nothing. Now we can have concerns. I think there is a big difference between worrying and having concerns. Each of us have our concerns. And that is not necessarily worry. So be able to differentiate the difference. To actually sit and be a worry wart, God forbids it. You've heard the old saying, "Why worry when you can pray." Well that is so true. God doesn't want us to worry); but (instead of worrying)in every thing (what does everything mean? It means everything.

There is nothing that God has canceled out, and said,"Don't bother Me with it." I've had people tell me, "Les I can't go to God with my little problems, He doesn't want to be bothered." Yes, He does. He wants to be bothered, if that's the word you want to use) by prayer and supplication (the same word Daniel used. But what's the next two words?) with thanksgiving (I don't think it does any good to go before God and ask and ask and ask. I don't think He will pay any attention. But if we asked with thanksgiving, with that attitude of realizing that He doesn't have to do what you are asking Him for. He's going to answer you prayer according to His Grace, and Mercy. It took a long time for me to learn that. That as you pray you thank him first. Thank him for what He is going to do with your particular request. And that is exactly what Paul is referring to. And we will also see in Thessalonians that He says basically the same thing. That as we pray we do it with that heartfelt attitude of thanksgiving) let you requests be made known unto God.

You mean God doesn't know? Why sure He does. But what does He want? He wants you and I to communicate. He wants us to let Him know from our hearts what we desire and what we need.

Someone once asked me and it made me think for about a week before I could come up with an answer: "God is Sovereign, and God knows about everything, and His will is going to be accomplished anyway, why pray?" Have you ever thought of that? Why pray? I don't know if I answered correctly or not, but the answer I gave the young man was this. I said, "Look in the foreknowledge of God. He knows everything that is going to be prayed for." Have you ever thought of it like that before? Everything is based on His foreknowledge. And so He can answer prayers and it will still fit in His Sovereign will, because He knows ahead of time that you were going to ask for it. Consequently, it becomes part and parcel of His will, but He couldn't have done it had you not asked. Because His foreknowledge would have said "They are not going to ask for it anyway" That might confuse you for now, but mull that over in the days to come. That as we pray, we don't change God's mind. You can't change a Sovereign God's mind. But He's already planned everything according to the fact that you were going to pray for it.

There is another great truth that I need to bring out in this verse. In this verse we have all three of God's answers evident. You may say that you don't see any answers in here. I'm not talking about some audible voice. But when you pray, just ask yourself what kind of an answer do I expect?. Bring it into your everyday life. If a child asks a parent for something, what kind of an answer do they normally expect? Yes, no, or maybe. I can remember when I was a young lad, and I wasn't big enough to hold up one or two wheels yet. But when I asked for that new bike what do you suppose that answer was? When you get a little older. Later. Put that into this verse when we come before God with anything and everything.

Naturally we shouldn't be silly in our requests. Don't waste yours or God's time on things that you know are unnecessary. But when you come into the presence of God asking and petitioning with thanksgiving, for legitimate things, you can expect a "yes," "no," or "maybe later." Just think about that. Maybe you have a loved one that is desperately ill. You have every right in the world to come before the throne of Grace on behalf of that loved one. God may answer "yes." We have had it happen to our class at people's request, and it is just thrilling, when all of a sudden their requests are answered. It happened again the other day. A lady asked us to pray for her mother in Indiana who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Of course we prayed, that was about four weeks ago. The other night she informed me that they had done exploratory surgery on her mother and found no cancer whatsoever. That wasn't just my prayer, but that's the concerted prayers of everyone she had probably shared it with. That was an immediate "yes" answer. God may have chosen to leave her with her cancer and the answer would have been "no." She may have just gone on and become terminally ill. On the other hand, God may have said, "Now just be patient, down the road we will make her better." And that's a possibility also. It is the same way in any other request you can make. But the next verse puts the cap on this whole concept of coming before the throne of Grace with anything and everything. Even though God may say "no." And it may leave us in limbo. Look what the next verse says:

Philippians 4:7

"And the peace (not with God, but the peace of God. You made peace with God the day you took His offer of salvation. That is reconciliation. Reconciliation is when you the sinner who was separated from God, was reconciled to God through the work of the Cross. Then you made peace with God. There is no longer that enmity. You're no longer an outcast. You're now His child. As you walk the Christian life, you can have an outpouring of the peace of God. It never leaves us, but I think we can have more at sometimes than others. It is the same with the filling of the Spirit. Here we are promised that as we pray, leaving everything in the Throne Room of Heaven, we can live every day knowing that the peace) of God, which passeth all understanding (it is beyond human concept to have this peace of God. And only the believer understands what that is. When you have that peace of God that passeth all understanding it ), shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Even though we may go through adverse circumstances our mental health can be kept in a balance, with the fact that God has given us the assurance of His peace. So whether God says "yes," "no," or "maybe later," we come away with a complete tranquility knowing it's in His care and that He is going to provide anything and everything that we need. Just take that with you. Whenever a crisis comes into your life, you run to these two verses and you literally claim them. And say, "Now God this is what you promised, that I can come to you with anything and everything and I'm going to thank you for what you are going to do. But whether you answer yes or no or maybe I know that I have that peace of God that passeth all understanding." What more could we ask for? As I said before, we're living in a day when I think our nation needs our prayers as never before. So I would like to take you over to I Thessalonians Chapter 5. The Apostle Paul again is writing to believers up in Greece. And they have been under intense persecution. The persecution had been so great, that they honestly thought they were in the Tribulation. Drop down to verse 16. Now imagine if you were under persecution and pressure, and then someone writes to you with what we find in this verse:

I Thessalonians 5:16,17

"Rejoice evermore," That doesn't sound right does it? Yet Paul right on target. These Thessalonian believers had this assurance, that again their God was with them. That no one could touch them without His knowing it. So Paul could rightfully write, "Rejoice evermore, Pray without ceasing."

When you are under persecution, that would be pretty easy to do. But see the problem here in our beloved America, is that we have all got it so good most of the time, we don't really have a need, we think, to get on our knees and spend that 10-30 minutes a day that I think God expects of every believer. He expects and wants us to communicate with Him. That takes habit. Some of you are already doing it. I've had several of you tell me this. Just imagine if every believer in America would do that. Young and old. Families.

I remember when I was a kid (and most of you do too), we used to have what we called the "Old Family Altar." Dad would read a few verses out of the Bible and they would have a circle of prayer. That was usually before we got on that very early school bus. But you don't hear that anymore. But listen, God hasn't changed. His promises are the same. And when He says, "Pray without ceasing," that's what He means. And when He says, "In everything bring Me your supplications. Bring Me the desires of your heart and bring Me your praise and thanksgiving." He still means it. He hasn't changed. II Thessalonians Chapter 2 gives another reason why we as believers should be praying extra hard. Because if you know anything about prophesy (and we'll be going back to that in our next program), we know that, or at least we are quite sure that, we are in the final hours and days of this age. We know that the whole world's system is getting ready for the man of sin; the man Anti-christ. But God has left the responsibility, the timing aspect on track so that he doesn't come on the scene before it's time to. I think He leaves it with you and I as born again believers. II Thessalonians 2:3, and I've just told you that the Thessalonians were going through such terrible persecution that they thought that they were in the Tribulation. Paul says in verse 3:

II Thessalonians 2:3

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (in other words, the beginning of the Tribulation and the coming in of the Anti-christ.) shall not come unless there come a falling away first (an apostasy or also a departure of the saints. In other words, the Anti-christ is not going to appear before the Church is gone.), and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition:

II Thessalonians 2:4

"Who opposeth (this is Paul's description from the Old Testament's description of the man, Anti-christ) and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God (we are going to see in the next few weeks how he is going to do that), shewing himself that he is God."

II Thessalonians 2:5

"(Paul says) Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?"

This is my reason for teaching as much prophesy as I do. If Paul thought prophesy was important in his day to those new believers fresh out of paganism, then how much more important it is for us to teach it, and to know it as we are approaching the hour.

II Thessalonians 2:6

"And now ye know what withholdeth (or restraineth like a dam in the river) that he (the Anti-christ) might be revealed in his time (in other words, not ahead of time. There is a restraining power on the earth tonight, that is making sure that the man, Anti-christ, does not come on the scene until it is God's time.)."

II Thessalonians 2:7

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work (it's been on the scene from day one): only he who now letteth will let, until he (that is, the hindrance) is taken out of the way."

Now, who is the "He?" It's the Holy Spirit. And where's the Holy Spirit? Indwelling the believer. So it's the believer that is the restraining power through the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Whereby we hold back this flood of iniquities that is coming on the world, in order to introduce the man of sin, the man Anti-christ. So it is up to us to stand in the gap, to hold it back. And I think the first place we have to start is on our knees in the prayer closet beseeching God.

LESSON TWO * PART II

PRAYER: PROPHECY: OLD TESTAMENT

Go back with me to Daniel Chapter 9, and we're going to pick up our study on prophecy. Now you'll remember I have been stressing that true prophecy is directed to the nation of Israel and usually, but not always, but usually, within a time frame. And here is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Daniel Chapter 9 verse 24 where God speaks to the prophet Daniel. And He said:

Daniel 9:24

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Now let's explain that verse:

Daniel 9:24

"Seventy weeks (that is seventy weeks of years. And some of your newer translations have already put it into 490. So 490 years) are determined upon (who?) thy people (now who were Daniel's people? Israel, the Jew. Now it's interesting if you come on up through Scripture that from the very onset of the Nation of Israel coming out of Egypt, how many times the pronoun will switch with God's dealing with Israel, from My people to thy people. Remember that? Sometimes He would tell Moses, "My people," and other times He would say, "Thy people." Now here again He tells Daniel, "Thy people." What's the difference? Well you see, when they're in the place of obedience, when they're in the land and in the place of blessing, then God calls them, "My people." When they're in a place of rebellion, such as they are here in Babylon as a result of their going into idolatry; their rejecting Jehovah, what does God say? "Thy people." "Lô' `Ammî" is the Hebrew for "They're not my people." And yet that doesn't mean that He has left off His Covenant promises. But they are out of a place of relationship, so now the pronoun goes back again in Daniel to, "Thy people." So here we have a prophecy directed to the Nation of Israel that is in a time frame of 490 years.) and upon thy holy city (the city of Jerusalem.), to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,..."

Now that was all accomplished in the work of the Cross. That was where Satan was utterly defeated. I know that he is alive and well, but for the believer, his power has been broken as a result of the work of the Cross. When Christ died, that was when reconciliation was made possible. As Paul brings out in II Corinthians 5:20 "...be ye reconciled to God." We now have the ministry of reconciliation. We can tell a lost world, "You've already been reconciled. It's all been accomplished." Believe it (the Gospel as found in I Corinthians 15:1-4 for your salvation.) and God will count you as reconciled. Now continuing with verse 24:

Daniel 9:24

"...to make reconciliation for iniquity (that comma represents nearly a 2000 year time span), and to bring in everlasting righteousness,..."

That hasn't happened yet. That is the Kingdom. And the Kingdom of course, has by no way or stretch of the imagination, come on the scene. But what I'm going to be emphasizing is that we are going to show that all of these Old Testament prophecies are in a continuous flow from the time of Abraham, until the coming of the King and the Kingdom. Let me put it on the board. There's a reason I don't draw these things ahead of time. I know that a lot of people ask why I don't you just use charts? Well, it would be so much easier. But I always have to remember my old physics professor back in college days could have used charts, but he always wrote as he taught so I could follow him. If he had the whole board already full of stuff, and just used a pointer, I couldn't have followed his teaching as well. And so I think the same way with you folks. I'm going to take the time to put it on the board because it slows me down a little bit, and it helps you follow a little easier than if I had the whole thing up here.

So if we could just come back to our timeline. Adam is way back here at 4,004 B.C. Then we'll put the Cross up here in the middle. And half way between Adam and the Cross, remember, we had the call of Abraham or Abram as he's first known, at 2,000 B.C. And beginning with this call of Abraham, God pulls out a separate race of people. I always put it on the board as, "Jew only," and for those of you who have been with me, I always put what? "With Exceptions." Jew only, with exceptions. And the main river of Gentile humanity continues on its way. But beginning with that call of Abraham, God is going to bring out a separated nation of people. And it's to these people that prophecy is to be directed within a time frame. In other words, the first thing that He told Abraham is that, "430 years he would sojourn, and then the nation would be brought back to Himself." And it was exactly 430 years to the day just as God had said.

Now always get the time frame. Jeremiah had prophesied that the nation of Israel would go into captivity for 70 years. And do you remember a week or two ago why I pointed out why it was 70 years? Because every seventh year, while they were in the land of promise, they were to have left it fallow. They were supposed to let it rest. But what did they do? They kept right on farming it. And after 490 years of neglecting that sabbatical year, God says, "I'm going to get my seventy years of sabbaticals." So they were sent into that captivity in Babylon for seventy years and the land laid rest. Now of course it wasn't just because of their neglecting the sabbatical, it was also they had gone into idolatry and had rejected Jehovah and so forth. But primarily the seventy years was to make up for the one out of every seven, out of 490 years of time.

With Daniel we have a prophesy concerning 490 years from a particular time, which of course, will be after the Babylonian captivity, which took place. Nebuchadnezzar came over to Israel in 606 B.C. and took Daniel and all the Jews, captive back to Babylon. And then as that 70 years elapsed that they were to be in captivity; that brings us to 536 B.C., when Ezra goes back, you remember, by the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar's force had utterly destroyed. About 90 years later, Nehemiah writes in Chapter 2 of that Book, about a decree by another king: that now the Jews can go back to Jerusalem, not to rebuild the temple, because that had already been done by Ezra.

But now they were to go back and rebuild the city wall and the gates, because in antiquities, that was their main line of defense for safety. And from that decree until the crucifixion was a period within this 490 year time frame, but it was 483 years instead of 490. So from that decree of Daniel Chapter 9 then, until Christ was cut off was 483 years. That left seven to make the 490. What most of you have heard in regard to most prophetic teaching is Daniel's 70th week. It is that seven-year period of time that we now know is still future. We think that we're getting close to it. And that is the final seven years of the Tribulation. But the point I want to make, and that's why I wanted to put it on the board, is that all the Old Testament prophecies merely speak of this timeline concerning Israel as going right on through to the completion of the 490 years, when Christ could have (this is hypothetical because it didn't happen) set up His Kingdom and He would have been the King. The nation of Israel could have been the priests that they were promised that they could be. And this goes all the way back to Exodus 19. That's why I like to take people from Genesis right through the Scriptures. Because as God brought Israel right out of Egypt, they became His Covenant people. And He told them that if they would be obedient, if they would be what He wanted them to be, they would be a nation of priests. What's a priest? He's a go-between man and God.

So every Jew was intended at some future day to become a priest of God, to bring all these pagan Gentiles to a knowledge of their God. But what I want to show at this time is that all of these prophecies run continuously. Read back again, so that you will know what I'm talking about here in this verse in Daniel Chapter 9:

Daniel 9:24

"Seventy weeks (490 years) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity (in other words, that was all satisfied at the first advent. Christ's crucifixion, His burial and resurrection.), and to bring in everlasting righteousness,..."

See, that's the Kingdom. That was all to flow right in that 490 years period of time. Go back with me if you will, to Psalms Chapter 2. Here we have again a graphic illustration that this is exactly how the Old Testament writers saw it. They didn't see, at least they certainly didn't understand, that there would be a 1,900 year gap between the 483 years and the fulfilling of the last seven. All of the Old Testament writers speak of it as a continuous flow of events until Christ would return and set up His Kingdom. Israel then could have been the vehicle to evangelize the nations.

Now always remember that when you study these things, that when Paul comes on the scene with the Gospel of Grace, the first thing that the Holy Spirit has him reveal is that all these things that Paul teaches were kept secret, hid, in the mind of God. All these Grace Age truths that we now are so aware of, they were kept secret in the mind of God. So when these Old Testament writers wrote, concerning this Old Testament history, they did not see the Church Age. Otherwise it would not have been a secret kept in the mind of God. Look in Psalms Chapter 2; this is another perfect example:

Psalms 2:1,2

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people (Israel) imagine a vain thing (that they could get along without God)? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers (that is of Israel and they take) council together (this was fulfilled when the High Priest and Pilate consorted together to put Christ to death.), against the LORD, and against his anointed (The Christ), saying," And they say in plain English that they will not let this man rule over them.

Psalms 2:3

"Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." And then verse 4, the reaction of a Holy God the Father, I think we can put it that way, when they reject His Son. He laughs a laugh of derision.

Psalms 2:5

"Then..."

Notice there is no indication of a break in here. It just goes from His rejection and His crucifixion. Then what did God the Father say to God the Son in Psalms 110:1? "...Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." That was the invitation for the ascension and He did ascend. But you see according to the Old Testament He would not have stayed there long, and He would come right back and set up His Kingdom, "if." There is the big "if," and that is why it becomes hypothetical, because it was all based upon the obedience of the Nation of Israel and the belief of Israel that Jesus was the Christ. When you get into the Book of Acts, this is the whole concept of Peter and the eleven preaching to the Nation of Israel. The One you Crucified was the Christ. He is our King. He is alive. He can yet come be our King.

In the next program or two we will show how all these things were prophesied to fall right in place till the coming of the King and the Kingdom. And then Israel could evangelize the Gentiles. But in reality Israel rejected it in unbelief. And God instead turned to the Gentiles with the Age of Grace. See the difference? We have to take it through the Old Testament and not put the cart before the horse. So as the Israelites and the Gentiles, the Romans in this case, rejected and crucified the Messiah, God sits in heaven and laughs and invites the Son back to His right hand and then verse 5:

Psalms 2:5,6

"Then shall he speak unto them in his (what is the next word?) wrath, (that is not love, nor mercy, or Grace) and vex them in his sore displeasure (what is that? That is the Tribulation. It could have followed right on the heels of the ascension so that Christ could have returned and set up His Kingdom. Because now look what the next verse says. And remember this is immediately after He vexed them in the Tribulation in verse 5)."Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill o Zion." Go to verse 8:

Psalms 2:8

"Ask of me (God says), and I shall give thee (He is speaking to the Messiah) the heathen (or Gentiles) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."

What is that? That is the Kingdom. That's not talking about the Church, or the Age of Grace, but the Kingdom. That could have immediately followed all these things. Let me go to another one. The one we looked at a couple of lessons ago. You know I'm a stickler for a lot of review. And it is not because I'm getting old and senile and forget what I've taught before, I do it purposely. Repetition is the only way you learn. Daniel Chapter 2. Here we go to that image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. This huge likeness of a human being, but made of the various metals, you remember. Now verse 34. This dream depicted all the great Gentile empires that would come on the scene, beginning with Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greeks, and Romans. And he said:

Daniel 2:34

"Thou sawest until (time. You saw all these empires come and go until) that a stone was cut out without hands (that's the coming of Christ at His second Advent), which smote the image upon his feet (the empire that was on the scene at that time. We showed it to be the revived Roman Empire, as we see it coming on the scene in Western Europe even today.) that were of iron and clay and brake them to pieces." Now verse 35; watch the flow in this one verse:

Daniel 2:35

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together (all the residue of those great Gentile Empires) and become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors (they are ground to powder); and the wind carried them away (that is all going to happen in the Tribulation.), that no place was found for them (look how it ends): and the stone (the returning Christ) that smote the image became a great mountain (or Kingdom), and filled the whole earth."

It doesn't say heaven. It is not talking about a Kingdom in heaven, it is the Kingdom on earth. But did you see the flow? Everything is moving from start to finish with no hint of a 1900 plus years of the Church Age. It is all prophesied straight down the line. Turn over a few pages to the little Book of Joel. And again a prophecy concerning the whole flow of events. Joel Chapter 2, drop down to verse 28. You need to know what went ahead of all of this in this Chapter. In the first part of the verse it speaks of afterward. After what? Well, after His coming, and being rejected, crucified, risen from the dead, ascended back to glory. And those are all parts of this Old Testament program.

Joel 2:28,29

"And it shall come to pass afterward (we know from our point in time, this is when it happened. That's speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit.), I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh (Pentecost); and your sons and your daughters (Israel's) shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." There is no break in your Bible there. There is just a continuation right into the next verse and it says:

Joel 2:30,31

"And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come."

Now stop and ask yourself, did all that happen right after Pentecost? Has it happened yet? NO! Why not? Because it has been interrupted. But the Old Testament prophet couldn't see the interruption. He saw it all coming as one event right after another. That is why I tell you that God is using the Nation of Israel in a "Jew only" situation, with exceptions, and I'll give you a couple of those exceptions in the near future. They would reject, and crucify Christ; he would ascend; then the Tribulation (hypothetically now) could have come right on in and Christ could have returned and set up His Kingdom. Israel could have then evangelized the Gentiles. Let's look at another verse before we run out of time on this lesson. Let's go to Zechariah Chapter 8, and we will look at a verse we read quite often, especially in the teaching of prophecy. In the passage we are leaping some of the program, but we are teaching how it was to have happened with the onset of the King and the Kingdom, so far as Israel is concerned. And remember this is God speaking. A God who knows the beginning to the end.

Zechariah 8:20,21

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will go also. "

Zechariah 8:22

"Yea, many people and strong (what?) nations (plural. We are not talking about Israel now we are talking about Gentiles.) shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD,"

Zechariah 8:23

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days (when Jehovah God is ruling in Jerusalem; He is the King of Israel; King over all the earth, as Daniel has just said about His knowledge shall cover the earth as the water covereth the sea. When that has come to pass, as Psalms says, when the Tribulation has passed and the King is sitting on the Holy hill of Zion, now here was Israel's prospective role.) it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, `We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.'"

That was their prospect, they could have been priests, a Holy Nation to have had the opportunity of bringing all the Gentile nations to a knowledge of their God. Go back to Isaiah and we may have to continue this whole thought when we go into the next lesson. Start back at Isaiah Chapter 2 verse 2:

Isaiah 2:2

"And it shall come to pass (again, this is God speaking through the prophet) in the last days, that the mountain (or the kingdom) of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills (what does that last part say?); and all nations shall flow unto it."

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LESSON TWO * PART III

PRAYER: PROPHECY: OLD TESTAMENT

Now we will drop back in where we left off in our last lesson, concerning that God was going to use the Nation of Israel, after the King and the Kingdom were established to bring salvation and knowledge of their Jehovah to the Gentiles. Now I always emphasize that this was the prophetic program. Which of course, we know that Israel rejected. But I want all my students to understand that everything is moving along through time, according to the prophetic program. So now in Isaiah Chapter 42, we're going to continue with this theme that Israel, once her Messiah was in place and was her King, would have had the opportunity to bring the Gentile to a knowledge of her God. Always remember that God is dealing with the Jew only at this point and time.

Isaiah 42:1

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: (these are pronouns, so who are we talking about? We're talking about Christ, the Messiah.) he shall bring forth judgment (the word judgment here does not mean like we think of a judge handing down a sentence or punishment, but it's rather, rule. To whom?) to the Gentiles."

He would bring forth rule or government to the Gentiles. Now back up in Isaiah to Chapter 9. Every time you hear Handel's Messiah, especially the Hallelujah Chorus, I want you to be reminded that this is where it comes from.

Isaiah 9:6

"For unto us (who's the us? The nation of Israel. Unto the nation of Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given:..."

Do you know what I love about this Book? You never exhaust it. Now I always have to be so careful so that I'm not misunderstood. I've tried to explain to people over the years, that the text, John 3:16 makes no mention of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We put it in there because we now know that this is part and parcel of it. But when Jesus said it, He hadn't yet gone to the Cross. He hadn't yet died and then raised from the dead. So I've sort of struggled in trying to explain to people what was meant by, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," and then the other night when I was reading this verse here in Isaiah, the light came on and I said to myself, "Why didn't I see this before?" Now you'll see it. I know you will.

Isaiah 9:6a

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is (what's the next word?) given:..."

Isn't that plain? What did God do? He gave them the Son. He gave them the Messiah. They didn't work for it. They didn't deserve it. It was all part of their Covenant promises that He would come and be their Messiah. "For unto us a son is given." Tie that into John 3:16 and you're in perfect accord with Scripture. Alright, read on:

Isaiah 9:6b

"...and the government shall be upon his shoulder (and when that comes to pass, He is on His throne in Jerusalem and the Kingdom is set up, what will be His titles? Now can't you hear Handel's Messiah? Oh, it just rings in my ears.): and his name shall be called Wonderful, (the) Counsellor, The (what?) mighty God (and then some of these liberal theologians tell us that Christ was never God. Never claimed to be God. The Scriptures scream that He's God. The mighty God.), The (what?) everlasting father,..."

Now do you remember what He told Philip in John 14?

John 14:8,9a

"Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." (what was Jesus' answer?) Jesus saith unto him, `Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the (Who?) Father;..."

Now here it is in the Old Testament. The Son that was given to the Nation of Israel is the same One Who's name shall be called (when He sets up His Kingdom, even though we know from our aspect that these names are already valid); He is the:

Isaiah 9:6b

"...Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:7

"Of the increase of his (what?) government (what's government for? To rule. To maintain law and order is the way we look at it) and peace there shall be no end (and not from heaven, but from where?), upon the throne of David (be logical. Be sensible. Where was David's throne? On earth or in heaven? On earth, of course it was. And that's the same throne that Jesus is going to assume in Jerusalem.), and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment (or rule) and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

In other words, because He's the Sovereign God. Let's go to Chapter 49. These things are so thrilling if we just let the Bible say what it means and mean what it says, and not twist it out of shape.

Isaiah 49:5

"And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob (that is, the nation of Israel) again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength."

Isaiah 49:6

" And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel (to restore them to the place that they're going to have the kingdom): I will also (that's an important word. Israel is going to be there. But along with Israel I will:) give thee for a light to (whom?) the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."

So when I say that all the way from Abraham into the New Testament that God was looking at the Jew only, with those exceptions, yes He was. But had He lost sight of this Gentile river of humanity? No! He had the whole program laid out that Israel could have just evangelized those nations of Gentiles and brought them to a knowledge of Jehovah. They could have been a nation and a kingdom of priests. I say, "Could have" every time, because they didn't. But they could have. Hypothetically, this is the way it could have all happened, as I have the timeline on the board. Let's go over to another one. Isaiah Chapter 59. I try to keep this in order just to facilitate your finding these scriptures.

Isaiah 59:20

"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion (where's Zion? Jerusalem), and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord."

In other words, what would have to be the spiritual climate in Israel? Every one of them had to be a believer. Now we'll see that when we get to Acts 3:26, where Peter said, "Every one of you", not 90%. It had to be 100%. Now let's read on:

Isaiah 59:21

"As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord (where does that Covenant go back to? Abraham. Now there were other Covenants that came under the Abrahamic Covenant. God made the Covenant of law with Moses. He made the Covenant of a royal family with David. But they're all wrapped up in that Abrahamic Covenant.); My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. Now go right on into Chapter 60:

Isaiah 60:1a

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come,..."

What did Jesus tell the nation of Israel in His earthly ministry? "I am the light of the world." See, in fulfillment of this, your light is come "...and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

Isaiah 60:2

"For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth (what kind of a darkness? Spiritual! Oh, you want to remember, as I've said over and over, the whole world in the time of Christ was steeped in idolatry and paganism and mythology, with the exception of the Jews which should have had a knowledge of the One, true God. But they were in a spiritual darkness.), and gross darkness the people (even Israel was in a spiritual darkness); but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee."

See, this is why Matthew 15:24, and also Paul in Romans 15:8 tell us the same thing. He came to the children of Israel in the Gospels, not to the Church as some claim to reveal Himself of who He was, and what He was and why He had come. They should have had their eyes opened. They should have known. I've told my class a thousand times, if I told them once, Israel should have known Who He was. The Old Testament was full of it. Israel could have known Who He was if they had just studied the Book. But Israel did not know. We are getting to the same place in America. There is not a man, woman, boy or girl in America that could not know the plan of salvation. They should know that we are in the last days, but they don't. Why not? Because they don't want to. They will not listen, they will not learn because they don't want to know better. That was Israel's plight as well. Then verse 3:

Isaiah 60:3

"And the (who?) Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Do you remember the verse that we read in Isaiah on the last program, Isaiah 2:2? "And the Gentiles shall flow unto it." Well, it's the same picture here. If only Israel could have believed it. Now let's go all the way into your New Testament. Let's just follow this same premise. As we come into the New Testament, I'm going to stop with Matthew 1:1 for just a second, because it's not going to be too long until we'll be coming into the New Testament during our weekly study. But just to whet your appetite for just a little bit; stop at verse 1 of Chapter 1 where it says:

Matthew 1:1

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

Why stop at Abraham? When you get to the next genealogy in Luke Chapter 3, where does it go? All the way back to Adam. But Matthew is presenting Christ as the King. And since He's being presented as the King, the Scripture only goes back to that part of Scripture that promises a King. And what part is it? The Abrahamic Covenant. So the first verse stops then, "...the son of David, the son of Abraham." Period. It's out of that Covenant with that man Abraham that the King is coming on the scene.

Let's go on into Luke's gospel for just a moment. Chapter 1. Following this same format now, the prophetic program given to Israel within a time frame of 490 years. They could have had their King and their Kingdom and they could have evangelized the world. Now Luke Chapter 1. I always like to explain the setting a little bit. You have the birth of John the Baptist just around the corner. And what we are dealing with is the parents. You need to remember that Zacharias and Elizabeth were well along in years, much like Abraham and Sarah were.

And so John the Baptist's birth was actually miraculous in itself. And you'll remember that during her whole pregnancy, Zacharias was stricken dumb. He was a priest but he couldn't speak. And so as the child was about to be born, others asked Elisabeth what she was going to name him. And she said, "John," of course, inspired. And they said, "Nobody in your family had been named that before, we better go check with the father." So they go to the Temple and look up old Zacharias and they ask him, "What's the child's name?" And he asked for a writing tablet because he couldn't speak. And so what did he write on the tablet? Well let's back up there in verse 63:

Luke 1:63

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