Daniel – Part II
Lesson 2
Understanding Of The Time Of The End
The Beast and the Dragon
Well, Beloved we have had you in Daniel and Revelation and Kay wants to know if your head is spinning. Are you dreaming about beasts? Are you seeing horns coming out of people? Are you wondering who the leopards and bears and all these things are? And do you think ‘I will never get it’? Kay wants you to know you will. Kay tells us what will happen if we study prophecy: when you study prophecy you must keep working with the text and working with the text and getting to know the text and understanding the text. God will begin to put it together and one day, Kay promises us, we will get the ‘Ah ha’ moment when our eyes light up and we begin to make the connections. Kay has studied prophecy for years. Prophecy is not just for old timers, it’s not just for those that are seasoned in the Word of God.
When Paul wrote his first epistle to the church at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians) and every single chapter ends with a reference to the coming of the Lord. He tells them they know these things because he’s taught it to them. And yet in Thessalonians he also says ‘let me explain this to you’. So he adds to what he has taught. And this is what we are doing; we are building precept upon precept. We are getting a truth, we’re adding another truth, and we’re adding another truth. We are taking scripture and are comparing scripture with scripture so we can see how it all fits together.
We need to understand that the Bible is a progressive revelation. It is a progressive unveiling of truth. God has not chosen to give it to us all at once. So he starts at Genesis and starts to unveil the truth so that when we read Revelation if you know Genesis you say ‘Oh, that’s what He was talking about’. For instance, in a book Kay has written titled Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days she goes through Jude. It’s an interactive book where you learn to basic skills of observation, interpretation and application.
Kay is going to take us back to Daniel Chapter 7 to the end of the chapter. As we look at the end of the chapter there are things that Kay wants us to see about the little horn that becomes in essence a big horn. Kay wants us to see these things and then Kay will take us to Revelation chapters 11-13 and put it together for us. Prophecy is something we need to hear over and over again. And as we do it settles in our mind, heart, and we think about it and we can use it as a plumb line for everything we see and hear.
Four great beasts came out of the sea and He gives us an overview of these four beasts. He gives us details of the four beasts. He (God) gives him (Daniel) a vision of the Ancient of Days and one like a son of man being presented to the ancient of days.
Daniel 7:3 3And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.
Daniel 7:15-16 15“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. 16 I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
Kay has written in her Bible the interpretation. She has the vision next to verse 2 and the interpretation next to verse 16. And then He begins to give us the interpretation – the interpretation that He wants Daniel to have at that time.
Daniel 7:17-18 17“'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'
He says forever and then He’s going to explain that it is for all ages to come. So He’s telling us the end of the story. He’s telling us that the saints of the Highest One (saints means holy ones, set apart ones) will receive the kingdom and possess the Kingdom for all ages. When He says this, Kay wants us to understand something, if we’ve been studying through the Bible with precepts starting with Genesis one of the things we know is the church is not mentioned in the Old Testament. If we’ve studied Ephesians we learned there is a mystery of the church that is not revealed until the apostil Paul. The mystery is Jews and Gentiles in one body. So the New Testament gives us the gospels, the book of Acts, the birth of the Church and then the epistles that are written to the church which is comprised of Jews and Gentiles in one body.
The problem is that many times when we read the Bible instead of letting the Bible say what is says we take what we have been taught and we read the Bible through the glasses of our theology, of our teaching, or of what we have heard. So that we look at it and we get a distortion. We know if we put on someone else’s glasses we get a distortion but the owner of the glasses does not get a distortion. God wants us to look at the Word of God not through anyone else’s glasses but us going straight to the Word of God and letting God teach us by explaining to us, by telling us what He says, what He means by what He says and how we are to live in the light of it. That is the inductive study and Kay applauds us for studying the Word of God that way. It takes more time, effort and energy because we have to think about it. But oh, the rewards. Kay tells us the reward is great.
So He says the saints of the Highest One. Now, when He is talking about the saints of the Highest One, the Jews know exactly who He is talking about. He’s talking about the holy ones, those that among all in Israel really believe God. They are not thinking church because the church is not in the Old Testament. He is talking about the saints, the holy ones of the Highest one.
Daniel 7:19-20 19“Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates.
He says “I want to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast and I’m really curious about the other horn; the other horn that comes up among the ten, the one that has the mouth and utters great boasts and has eyes and is larger in appearance than the associates.” In other words “I want to know about the beast with the 10 horns but I’m particularly interested in the little horn”. What Kay did and she suggests we do is to mark our Bible in addition to the observation worksheets. We do not carry the observation worksheets around with us but we do carry our Bibles. If we have these texts marked then we always have it in front of us wherever we are and no matter who is speaking or preaching we can find out what is said. Kay colored all references to the little horn in a specific color. Daniel 7:20 tells us that he has eyes and a mouth and is larger than the other horns. Daniel 7:8 tells us that a little horn comes up among the ten. We know the little horn becomes a larger horn than the others.
Daniel 7:21 21“I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them
Kay made a list of the little horn and the second part of this verse is included. We know these saints are going to eventually reach the Kingdom. The little horn wages war with the saints and overpowers them. What do we know about these saints already? We know from the interpretation that these saints are eventually going to receive the Kingdom. We know that the saints that will receive the Kingdom are the same saints that are overpowered by the horn who wages war against them.
Daniel 7:22 22until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
What would we want to mark here in our Bibles? Kay would want to mark every reference to the saints. What has He already told us? He’s told us two times that the saints are going to take possession of the Kingdom. He does not want us to miss this. He also wants us to know that the little horn is going to wage war against the saints and he is going to overpower them until.
Daniel 7:22-23 22until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. 23 Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.
Kay wants us to see He says this fourth kingdom is different from the others. There’s something that makes this fourth kingdom distinctive. The fourth kingdom will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it, the whole earth. Some people say that this “kol” (whole) and “ara” (earth) could refer to and has been used to refer just to the Middle East. Kay’s question: is this the whole earth or just the Middle East.
As we are studying and reading a commentary and it tells us something like that we should listen but not necessarily say that is the final decision. Scripture is going to interpret scripture.
Daniel 7:24 24As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.
What have we seen about this horn? We have seen (1)he has eyes and mouth, larger in appearance that others, (2)he wages war against the saints and overpowers them, until the Ancient of Days comes and the saints take possession of the Kingdom, (3) he arises after the ten (this is very important). The ten are there first and then he arises and when he arises he is different from the others and he subdues three of the ten. We’ve seen this earlier in Daniel 7 so watch what God is doing. He wants us to understand and He cannot tell us everything at once so He gives us a truth again and again. It is good teaching. Repetition and review is the way we learn. He’s told us much of this in the vision now He’s giving us the interpretation.
Daniel 7:25 25'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law ; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
The fourth thing we want to see about him is that he speaks out against the Most High. The fifth thing is that he will wear down the saints of the Highest One. “They” are the saints of the Highest One.
Sixth, he intends to make alterations in times and in law. This is his intention “I’m ruling”. He’s treading down the whole earth, he can make alterations or he intends to make alterations in times. He may say this is no longer A.D. this is such and such; we’re starting the calendar again. Or he may make alterations in times other ways. He seeks, he intends to make alterations in times and in law.
The seventh point is that the saints are given into his hands for time, times and half a time. Which, studying scripture and looking at the way that is used, it is 42 months, it is 1260 days, it is 3½ years. A ‘time’ = 1 year, ‘times’ = 2 years and then a half. So He’s told us here that they (the saints) will be given into his hands for time, times, and half a time. You take that truth and go back to the fact that he is going to wage war over the saints and he’s going to overpower them. He’s just told you how long. How long is he going to do it for, 3½ years. But what do we know, although he’s done this to the saints, the saints are going to take the Kingdom. God is letting them (the saints) know there will be a ruler that will overpower them who intends to make changes in times and in laws. But Kay wants us to know it is only 3½ years. We must endure because we are going to get possession of the Kingdom. He’s ruling the whole earth but it’s not going to last. There is a Kingdom coming.
Many have been praying from some people arrested in Uzbekistan. A few of them (one named Surgay) have been to Kay’s home. Surgay said it’s easier for him now because he knows that Kay and others in Precept are praying for him and he knows the power of prayer. They were delivered from the hands of the enemy; imprisonment and possible death because of the prayers of the saints. So now he’s going to stay there and continue to do the job that God has called him to do. He’s able to do that because he knows that God has it under control. It may be hard now and there may be persecution and your car may be destroyed and smashed by the police and you may be threatened but, there is an end and we can persevere.
This is what God is telling them (in Daniel); this is what is going to happen. So, when it comes to pass we don’t think that God’s left His throne. We don’t have to ask God what is happening because God has shown us that He does nothing but what He’s revealed to His prophets first.
Amos 3:7 7Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.
He doesn’t want us in the dark. We are children of light not of night but of day.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-5 2For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child , and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief ; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;