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The Bible Breakdown
Daniel 07: The Ancient of Days
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, daniel, chapter 7, and today's title is the Ancient of Days the Ancient of Days. We're going to be transitioning from the stories of Daniel into the prophecies of Daniel, and it's going to be awesome, it's going to be great and there's some great learning moments in these I can't wait to share with you. So, if you have your Bibles, I want wanna open up with me to Daniel, chapter seven. While you're doing that, as always, you wanna take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it doesn't cost you anything, but it helps us get the word out. And then also make sure you're going on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find, and they're doing just an absolutely wonderful job over there. But, once again, if you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to Daniel, chapter 7. Don't forget, the overall idea here is that God is in control, and Daniel is writing this to a group of people that are scattered all over the known world at the time, and if there's anything they're probably struggling with is is God in control. Is God going to bring us back to his land in 70 years and how is that going to look Like? What is that going to look like? How is he going to do this? There's all these 99 questions, and Daniel is writing to these exiled people and he's saying no, no, god's still in control. Let me tell you some stories about what God has been up to over the past several years, and he's just showing them how God has not lost a single step and he's going to bring us back. He's going to honor his word and then, as we transition over to Daniel 7, he's going to say not only is God in control of now, but God's in control of the future as well. And so we're going to read this and when you read it, we're switching to a different kind of literature. So the first six chapters will be called historical narrative it is history being told and this next one is called apocalyptic literature. In other words, remember in Ezekiel when he's using and Jeremiah and Isaiah and all these others, where they'll use metaphors and different things to try to wrap around hard to describe things. You know, it's like a parable. A parable is a principle wrapped in a story to help us understand it better. Well, the metaphor, when it comes to apocalyptic literature, is a hard to understand concept that will be wrapped around symbols and stuff like that to help us get our minds around it right. So that's what apocalyptic literature is, and so it's going to switch over to that.
Speaker 1:It's very interesting and if you ever read the book of Revelation, you're going to see a lot of what you hear in the book of Revelation first mentioned here. So, if you're ready, daniel, chapter 7, verse 1, says this Earlier which pause, remember the stuff we just got through reading was in the latter part of Daniel's life. But as Daniel's writing this, he's saying earlier than that. So years earlier, in the first year of King Belshazzar's reign in Babylon, that was the guy who had the freaky fingers right. So it was that guy. So way back then. So we're shifting back and forth in time here. Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar's reign in Babylon, daniel had a dream and he saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream and this is what he saw In my vision that night I, daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea.
Speaker 1:A strong wind was blowing from every direction. Then four huge beasts jumped up out of the water, each different from the others. The first beast was like a lion with eagle's wings. I watched its wings. Its wings were pulled off and it was left standing with two hind feet on the ground like a human being. It was given a human mind. I saw the second beast. It was like a bear. It was rearing up on one side and it had three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth, and I heard a voice saying to it Get up, devour the flesh of many people. When the third of these strange beasts appeared, it looked like a leopard and it had four bird's wings on its back and it had four heads. Great authority was given to this beast.
Speaker 1:Then, in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast terrifying, dreadful and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts and it had ten horns. As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. The little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.
Speaker 1:I watched these thrones. I watched as thrones were put in place and the ancient one sat down to judge. I love that. The ancient one sat down to judge. His clothing was white as snow. His hair was purest wool. Remember Revelation, chapter one? He sat on a fiery throne with wheels blazing of fire. A river of fire was pouring out and flowing from his presence. That's also in Ezekiel 48. Millions of angels ministered to him and many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session and the books were opened. It's also in the book of Revelation. I'm going to stop saying that.
Speaker 1:I continued to watch because I could hear a little horn boastful in its speech. I kept watching until the fourth beast was killed and his body was destroyed by fire. The other three beasts had their authority taken from them, but they were allowed to live a while longer. My vision continued that night and I saw someone like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven and he approached the ancient one and he was led into his presence. He was given authority and honor and sovereignty over all the nations of the world so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal, it will never end and his kingdom will never be destroyed.
Speaker 1:I, daniel, was troubled by all I had seen, and my visions terrified me, so I approached one of these standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant, and he explained it to me like this the four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth, but in the end the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom and they will rule forever and ever. Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one who is different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath his feet. I also asked about the ten horns and the fourth beast's head and the little horn that came up after the three of the other ones. The horn had seemed greater than the others and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. As I watched, this horn was waging war against God's holy people and was defeating them. This horn was waging war against God's holy people and was defeating them Until the Holy One, the Most High, came to judge in favor of his holy people.
Speaker 1:Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom. Then he said to me the fourth beast and the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path that's a big one and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws and they'll be placed under his control for times, time and half a time. That's a big one. We'll come back to that in a minute. But the court will pass judgment and all his people will be taken away and completely destroyed. Then the sovereign power and the greatness of all kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all that was the end of the vision. And I, daniel, was terrified by thoughts and my face was pale with fear, but I kept these things to myself. Wow, that's a lot of stuff. Now, listen, only Daniel could have a dream like that, and I pay attention. If it was anybody else, I'd say dude, you've got to lay off that pizza in the middle of the night. But Daniel knows what he's doing. In the middle of the night, but Daniel knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1:There's so much here that we could use to dive deeper into what people consider end time prophecy. There's a couple of things I want to draw your attention to, and then I want to remind you about the most important thing. First of all, I love the phrase where God calls him the ancient one. God calls himself the ancient one, the one who is before all others. I know if you're a Marvel comic fan there's someone who calls themselves the ancient one, but before that Joker, god called himself that first. I also love how he talks about how the son of man we'll get into that in later chapters that was the definition that God used for himself.
Speaker 1:But also, if you've ever read any end time prophecy, you can see in verse 25, it says times, times and half a time. They're kind of saying that that would mean a year, so a year, a year and half a year, which is where people who are, you know, your pre trippers and all these kinds of stuff, that they get that idea of three and a half years and then three and a half years equals seven. It's just all that kind of stuff, and so that's actually one of the interesting things. And I love to kind of pick on some of my friends who are very heavy into Bible prophecy, because you know there's actually a part in here later where Daniel is told to seal up these words. But they're going to, but they like they've got them all figured out right and that's where I'm sitting here going dude, you have to try a little harder on that one, because I have this opinion about prophecy and that is this the Bible said that when Daniel or it's not Daniel, excuse me when the wise men came to Bethlehem to find Jesus, or came to Herod's palace, they asked the wise men where Jesus would be born and they said well, the king will be born in Bethlehem. He'd be born like this, where they knew all the prophecies. They just didn't know how it would fit until it had happened. Then they look back and they go oh well, that makes perfect sense. I'll go ahead and just give you a spoiler warning, because we're diving into deep prophecy here and that's exactly what I think about prophecy.
Speaker 1:I think that prophecy is given in riddles for a reason, and so we can know some of it to a point, but I think that most prophecy confirms what happens. So many times it's not till. After we look back at it and we go, oh okay, well, that's why God did it that way. So just to go and give you a warning, as we get further into this and as we get into the book of Revelation, I'm not going to give you a lot of predictions. I am going to tell you a lot of God's faithfulness and a lot of what God is doing.
Speaker 1:And what I love about this chapter is Daniel has a terrifying dream, and the dream is terrifying not just because there's animals eating each other and there's horns with eyeballs, all this kind of stuff, but it represents wars, devastation. It represents that there will be seasons Did you notice that it said seasons when it will seem like some of these enemies of God are winning, but I love how it says. But then the Ancient of Days comes in and sets everything right, and so it's almost like he's watching the news. He's watching what could happen. He's watching the news and he's seeing okay, at some point this is going to happen, that's going to happen, it's going to get bad, it's going to get worse, but then, in the end, god's going to win. And so to me, the bottom line is this is to lift our eyes above the bad news and remember that God wins. It doesn't mean that bad things aren't going to happen.
Speaker 1:Daniel is watching chaos unfold, but, at the same time, god is telling him I'm going to win, it's going to be okay, I'm going to win, and so can I tell you that, as we watch the news and I don't know when you're going to listen to this I love the fact, with technology, that I am making this in 2025, but you may be listening to this in 2030. Like, I have no idea what's going to be going on in the world, but, you know, I can guarantee you is. If we're all still here, everybody's still alive. Can I tell you there's going to be problems, it's going to be difficulties, there's going to be challenges that we're going to have to face. The challenges that I'm dealing with right now in 2025, you're going to be looking at in 2030, and you're going to laugh at them Like, ah, no, that was fine, the ones we got. Now, those are the big ones, right? Well, the ones I got now feel like big ones, you know, and the thing is, though, is God's not going to change, and I can guarantee you person, and I can guarantee you person who's listening to me in the future which is kind of creepy when I think about it you're going to have mountains, you're going to have valleys, but the Ancient of Days is still in charge.
Speaker 1:So, no matter what era you live in, no matter what's going on, no matter what happens in the world, the king is still on his throne. And so that brings us hope back down to where we are today. Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, whatever you're facing, whatever war you're worried about, whether it's one happening across the ocean or one happening in your own house, can I tell you God is in control. He's not nervous, he's not worried. He's the Ancient of Days and he's going to take care of everything. He's going to take care of you, he's going to take care of me, and so we trust him in that. It doesn't mean we don't prepare it. He's going to take care of me, and so we trust him in that. It doesn't mean we don't prepare. It doesn't mean we don't plan. It's just we don't lose an ounce of sleep because the king is on his throne.
Speaker 1:Let's pray right now. God, thank you so much that you are on your throne, that you exist from everlasting to everlasting, and I am so thankful to be part of your kingdom. I pray today, god, no matter what maybe somebody is going through that you will remind us that you're on your throne and that you are holy and you are strong and we can celebrate you in all things. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. And what God's word says in Daniel, chapter three, when the three Hebrew teenagers are looking at the most powerful man in the world, they say God is able to save us. Even if he doesn't, we will never serve your gods. My prayer is that you and I will have that kind of confidence and courage in our God. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Daniel, chapter eight.
