The Lord’s Message:  Ancient of Days

The Lord’s Message:  Ancient of Days
Date:  August 4, 2024
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Daniel 7

            Have you ever had a dream that terrified you so much that you woke up and could not get back to sleep?   If you have had, then you know how Daniel feels.  Daniel did something that most of us do not do when we have dreams, Daniel wrote down the details of his dreams.  We are going to look at that dream today. 

            Let us pray.

            We have been studying the Book of Daniel for a while.  We will be studying it until October.  The first six chapters in the book of Daniel are about a group of young Hebrew boys approximately of 12 years old.  They were taken from their homes in Jerusalem and exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.  The king hand-picked them to serve him as counselors in his government.  He gave them the same food that he ate and the same wine that he drank.  He had his own counselors teach them the language, the culture, and the history of Babylon.  He even changed their names to Babylonian names.  His goal was to assimilate them into Babylonians. 

            Instead, Daniel, Hanniah, Mishael, and Azariah, accepted their new names of Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but did not eat the king’s food because it had been offered to idols.  Instead, they ate vegetables and drank water.  After ten days, they looked healthier than the other boys.  Because of their faith, God also gave them wisdom and Daniel was given the ability to interpret dreams.  When King Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, Daniel was able to interpret them.  When their faith was tested by either being thrown into a fiery furnace or being put in the lion’s den, they never wavered.  They kept their faith in God and continued to pray to God and give Him praise.  Their display of faith changed the heart of the wicked pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, to open his heart to God.  The last chapter, chapter 5, ends with the Babylonian dynasty coming to an end and Daniel serving under the new dynasty of the Medes and Persian.  In chapter 6, Daniel’s faith is tested when jealous leaders trick the king into having Daniel put into the lion’s den.  Daniel keeps the faith and God shuts the lions’ mouths. 

            The book of Daniel changes from chapters 7 through 12.  These chapters are about the dreams that God gives Daniel to reveal the future, and the explanation of those dreams. Now, there were Jews that thought that once they returned to Israel that God would once again set up the Davidic dynasty with uninterrupted tranquility.  Through this dream, God shows them that is not to be.     

            Now before we start the interpretation of the dream that Daniel had, I want to tell you that I am not a good interpreter of Biblical prophecies.  Biblical prophecy is applying dreams, visions, or events in the Bible to historical occurrences or current events or end times future.  I start off praying to God to help me understand what I am going to be reading.  God then reveals to me what He knows that I can understand.  There is a lot that I am still struggling to understand.  I also use Biblical commentaries to help me have a better understanding.  The problem with Biblical commentaries is that they are written by men and women who are flawed people, sinners like us.  I sometimes do not agree with their interpretation.  After saying all of that, as a flawed person, I am going to do my very best to give my interpretation with the help of Almighty God for the next six chapters in the Book of Daniel.

            In the first verse of chapter 7, we find out that Daniel had this dream between chapters 4 & 5.  This was the first year that Belshazzar was king of Babylon.   In verses 2 & 3, Daniel’s dream begins with the four winds of heaven churning up the sea and four great beasts coming out of the sea.  These represent the four kingdoms, which are most likely the same four kingdoms that Nebuchadnezzar’s giant statue revealed.

            The first kingdom is Babylon.  In verse 4, this kingdom is depicted as a lion with wings of an eagle.  Lions were the symbol of Babylon.  They were displayed all over Babylon.  The wings of an eagle represent the speed at which Nebuchadnezzar made conquests of the nations.  Its wings were plucked off and it became a man.  The kings that followed Nebuchadnezzar lost their thirst to expand the territories.    Instead, they became weak and thought that no one could defeat them, especially being locked into their fortified city.  The king, queen and all the nobles had a party and during the party they mocked God, by drinking from the gold and silver goblets that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem.  This brought about their downfall. 

            The second kingdom is the Medes and Persians.  In verse 5, it is depicted as a bear with three ribs in its teeth.  The ribs stuck in its mouth represent the three nations that it conquered but was not able to digest, Babylon, Egypt, and Lydia.  This led to its downfall. In the end, revolts started happening which weakened this kingdom.

            The third kingdom is the Grecian kingdom.  In verse 6, it is depicted as a leopard with four wings like a bird and four heads.  Its leader, Alexander the Great, in six years had conquered whole empire of Persia, a great part of Asia and master Syria, Egypt, India, and other nations.  Alexander the Great lamented the fact “that there were no nations to conquer.”   In one year’s time, he died from overeating and being drunk of wine.  He literally pickled himself to death.  After his death, the kingdom was divided up between his four captains. 

Most theologians think that the fourth kingdom is the Roman kingdom.  It is fiercer and more formidable than the other three.  In verse 7, Daniel is so terrified by what he sees that he cannot describe this beast.  He says that it is “terrifying and frightening and very powerful.”  The ten horns represent, the ten kingdoms of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, England, Sarmatia, Pannonia, Asia, Greece, and Egypt.  There is some debate as to what the little horn that uprooted the first three.  Some theologians think that this is the Turkish or Ottoman Empire which replace Asia, Greece, and Egypt. 

Others think that, instead of this being the Roman kingdom, this is the Syrian kingdom that had ten successful kings.  Then the little horn would be the last king, Antiochus Epiphanes who tried to force the Jews to abandon their faith in God. He was the one who set up the idol in the temple of God and even killed a pig upon the altar.  The Maccabees arose and rebelled against him. 

Now, after all these terrifying beasts or kingdoms rose up on the earth, in the end they all failed.  This part of the message should bring Daniel and the Israelite people comfort.  Even though for many years, the Jewish people were controlled by kingdom after kingdom, country after country, they still are surviving today.  Every time that others have tried to destroy them, they continue to survive. In 1948, they were given their own country to rule. Any nation that comes against Israel, ends up paying a price, because of God’s protection.   God reveals this protection to Daniel in verses 9 & 10 with God, the Ancient of Days, sitting in judgment in judgment of these kingdoms.

Biblical prophecy does not have just one fulfillment, but many fulfillments.  The Christians were persecuted by the Romans, the fourth beast. Does the Roman kingdom exist today?  No!  It converted to Christianity, because of God.  Today, more Christians are facing persecution than during the Roman Empire.  We got a glimpse of the persecution during the opening ceremony for the Olympics.  When those in charge of the opening ceremony decided to have drag queens represent the Last Supper.  Do you know what happened?  24 hours after mocking Jesus there was a large power outage.  The only lights on the city of light, Paris, were on at the church on top of a hill overlooking the venue where the opening ceremony was held.   God will not be mocked.   I can only guess how many people who knew very little about the Last Supper have downloaded it.  God will not be mocked.  The Ancient of Days will bring judgment. 

In verses 26-27, we can take comfort that when the end of times come, and it will come, Satan and his demons think that they will rule over this earth forever, God will defeat them.  Any time you see the phrase in the Bible, “the books were opened,” that means God’s judgement.  At that end time the Antichrist will appear and seem to have all the power, God in the end will be victorious and defeat them all.  This is confirmed in Revelation 20: 7-10.  The kingdom of God will be an everlasting kingdom and all of these kingdoms will be forgotten about.

            We learned in verse 28, that Daniel was disturbed by this dream.  If any one of us had this dream, we would be disturbed as well.  We can have a peaceful rest knowing that God is with us.  Even though we may suffer trial, hardship, or persecution for our faith, they are only temporary.  If we keep the faith, we will live forever with God.  Let us grow together in faith.  Amen.