HopeLives365

Guest (Male): Now you remember that Daniel's name is unique. If you see a name in the Bible with the last two letters being E-L, that has to do with God. So the name Daniel means God is my judge, God is my vindicator, God is the one who will set all things right.

This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, a series in the book of Daniel, one, part four. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: So Daniel begins to talk about the dream, verse 31. And I can imagine King Nebuchadnezzar just leaning forward in his chair. King Nebuchadnezzar, his heart's beating faster, beads of sweat stand out on his forehead. He senses that Daniel has been given by God, the God of heaven, the answer to the perplexing question of what did he dream and what does it mean.

So Daniel says, verse 31, "You, O king, were watching and behold, a great image. This great image whose splendor was excellent stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them into pieces. Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were crushed together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so no trace was found for them. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain that filled the whole earth."

So Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, "Nebuchadnezzar, you saw an image, a great image. The image had a head of gold." "That's it, Daniel, that's exactly what I saw!" "Breast and arms of silver." "You got it, Daniel!" "Thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. And then you saw a rock, cut out without human hands, that smote the image, crushed it to pieces.

The wind blew it away, all the pieces, and the rock became a mountain that filled the whole earth." Now, if you were Nebuchadnezzar, sitting on the end of your seat, and Daniel told you that dream and you remembered it exactly in every detail like he told it, what would your next question be? What would your next question be? "Daniel, what does it mean? Daniel, just what does it mean?"

How do we know what prophecy means? Is prophecy all guesswork? I could have every one of you write something on a piece of paper or maybe I have all you email: this is what I think it means now. The God of heaven who gives prophecy reveals clearly what that prophecy means. We're going to go to the Bible and let the Bible explain itself.

This is an amazing prophecy. History's been following this like a blueprint. And as you and I look right now at the war and conflict in different places in the world, including conflict in Russia and Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, you will be surprised to see that this prophecy speaks to our day.

And the interesting thing about it is it takes us down through the stream of time. Every sequence of the prophecy, every nation mentioned in the prophecy, this prophecy has been fulfilled for over 2,500 years. And if it's been fulfilled over 2,500 years, don't you think it'd be fulfilled today exactly like the Bible says? Sure.

So let's look at it: head of gold. What's that mean, the head of gold? Here Daniel begins to explain it, Daniel 2:36, "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king." Who's the we? God and Daniel. "You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory."

So God allowed the wicked King Nebuchadnezzar to sit on his throne to accomplish certain divine purposes. "Wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He's given them into your hand." So Babylon was the dominant world-ruling power, 605 BC to 539 BC. "You are this head of gold. You are this head of gold."

Is there any question who represented the head of gold? Not at all. It was Nebuchadnezzar or Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, Babylon. You know, gold was a fitting symbol of Babylon because Bel-Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, was a golden god who sat on a golden throne beside a golden altar, by a golden table, and in a golden-domed temple.

Babylon lavishly used gold, tons of gold in fact in that temple. Babylon was a mighty power. Its walls were some 100 feet high. It was larger than Rome or Athens at the time. Babylon had a 20-year food supply within the city, historians tell us, so they could stand any siege. The River Euphrates ran through the city of Babylon, giving it a constant water supply.

You would think that Babylon would rule forever. In fact, in a clay tablet discovered by the archaeologists, Robert Koldewey excavated Babylon in the 19th century, and this archaeologist uncovered the brick way into Babylon. It's called the Procession Way that would go in through the Ishtar Gate. And do you know what he found?

Every brick had Nebuchadnezzar's name stamped on it. Nebuchadnezzar was filled with ego, filled with pride, and wanted his empire to last forever. But notice what it says: "But after you shall arise another kingdom." No, can't be, can't be, would Nebuchadnezzar think. Can't be. "But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth, and a fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron."

What kingdom ever could have the possibility of defeating Babylon? Babylon ruled 605 to 539. Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian attacked Babylon. Do you know that 150 years before his birth, Cyrus was named by God? Look at Isaiah chapter 44. And the exact way that he would attack was named. Isaiah chapter 44, and we're going to look here, verse 27, verse 28, chapter 45, verse one.

"And who says to the deep, 'Be dry, and I'll dry up your rivers,' who says of Cyrus, 'He's my shepherd.'" So God speaking to Cyrus; Cyrus not born yet. This is the days of Isaiah, written some 680 years plus before Christ. Medo-Persia attacks 539 BC. So it's about 150 years. And He names Cyrus. "He's my shepherd. He shall perform all my pleasure, for saying to Jerusalem, 'You'll be built,' to the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid.'"

Cyrus would be one of those who passed a decree to allow Israel to go back to rebuild Jerusalem because you remember Israel was in captivity to Babylon. Naming Cyrus 150 years before his birth is amazing. Chapter 45, "Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, to loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors so the gates will not be shut."

What is that talking about? Well, the Medo-Persians surround Babylon. The Babylonians know they're coming, but they're not worried about it because they've got a constant water supply and constant food supply. River Euphrates runs through Babylon. One of Cyrus's royal horses dies in the river. He gets so mad, Euphrates, upstream outside the walls. He gets an idea.

He diverts the River Euphrates. His men dig irrigation channels and they divert it. The water level below the gates falls. It dries up. Remember it said in the prophecy it would dry up? Nebuchadnezzar takes his armies, marches them under the outer gates. But there was a protection because inside the city, when the river flowed through it, you still had the walls on the inner gates.

But remember what Isaiah 44 said: the gates would not be shut. There was a drunken feast in 539 BC with Belshazzar. And that's when God wrote on the wall, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Your kingdom is weighed in the balances and found wanting. It's given to the Medes and the Persians." The gates weren't shut.

This prophecy, 150 years before, spoken of by Daniel, interpreted by Daniel, given to Nebuchadnezzar, reveals the history of these nations. Babylon rose and fell; Medo-Persia rose and fell. You know, there's some evidence that Daniel came to Cyrus and told him about this prophecy, that he was named 150 years in advance.

There are some Jewish traditions that may indicate that. We can't be sure, of course. But Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was named. He told Cyrus that he was named, told Cyrus that he would attack the city and overcome Babylon. Man, I wonder if that actually happened, and it well might have. I would have expected it to happen.

I would have loved to have sat there as Daniel gave a Bible study to King Cyrus and explained to him his name. So Medo-Persia rules from 539 to 331. But the Bible says that after you, a third kingdom of bronze. What kingdom overthrew Babylon? Medo-Persia. What kingdom overthrew Medo-Persia? Greece.

Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence His life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: What kingdom overthrew Medo-Persia? Greece. And it's interesting, Alexander the Great, 32 years old, conquers the world. 33 years old, he is extending his kingdom, and he goes down and he's overthrown Medo-Persia now and Artaxerxes. He goes down into the ruins of Babylon, he has 10,000 men, and he tries to rebuild Babylon. But the Bible predicted Babylon would never be rebuilt.

He evidently contracts malaria, Alexander does, and he's drinking, with a body in a weakened condition, and he dies. Babylon is never rebuilt, exactly like prophecy predicted. But I'd like you to think of these two men, both dying at 33. Alexander at 33 laments because there are no more worlds to conquer. He dies wealthy with the kingdoms of this world in his hand, but he dies with no hope of the future.

But there's another man, not arrogant, but very humble. There's another man. He dies and the Bible says, "Foxes have holes, birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He says, "My kingdom is not of this world." There's another man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He dies not in fame; He dies not with wealth in His hand.

He dies on a cross of Calvary, with nails through His hands, not a scepter, with a crown of thorns, not a diadem of glory. He dies not with thousands of soldiers around Him, but He dies for the sins of humanity. He dies saying, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. It is finished." The plan of salvation has been consummated. He dies assuring eternal life for you, eternal life for me.

Alexander dies with the things of this world in his grasp. Jesus dies with the things of eternity in His grasp. Now, it's interesting, the Bible predicted in Daniel chapter 8 that Greece would follow Medo-Persia, and actually the Bible names Greece. You'll find it in Daniel chapter 8 and it talks about another imagery, a ram and a he-goat.

And it says Daniel 8, verse 8, "The male goat grew great, but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in the place of it a notable horn came up." And so you have this male goat, the notable horn comes up. Who's that? Verse 21 of Daniel 8, "The male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn between his eyes is the first king." Who's the first king? Alexander the Great.

Verse 22, Daniel 8, "And for the broken horn, four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of it, but not with his power." So here Daniel names Greece. And when does he do that? Daniel names Greece. The Greeks didn't rule till 331 BC. Daniel's writing this back a couple hundred years in advance. It's amazing.

And Daniel names Greece when it's just city-states at that time that were weak. He names it. You can see it here in your Bible. And then Daniel says there'd be one prominent horn. Who is that? Alexander. Then he would die quickly and what would happen? Four horns would come up. Who are those? Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, Seleucus. Four generals, they divided up his empire.

I mean, prophecy is just amazing. After Greece, we go back to Daniel chapter 2. It would be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece. History is following prophecy like a blueprint. And it says in Daniel second chapter, it says in the fourth kingdom, verse 40, Daniel 2, verse 40, you following? You got it?

"In the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things; and the iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all others. Where you saw feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be mixed in it, just as you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay."

We're going to go there. Fourth kingdom. What nation overthrew Greece? You know, the Roman Empire. And so Rome grows, legs of iron. It expands its kingdom. The Roman Empire goes from England, what we now would know as England, that Anglo-Saxon area, later when the Anglo-Saxons overthrow it, but it goes from that territory all across what we would call modern Europe.

It goes over through what we would now today call Turkey and Jordan. It goes down through some of the Middle East, goes down of course through Israel, and goes down to northern Africa. It goes through Egypt. All of that was part of this marvelous Roman Empire. The Bible says that Rome would fall.

You know, it was the Roman Empire that existed in the days of Jesus. Jesus was tried by a Roman ruler. Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers. Roman soldiers guarded His tomb. Roman soldiers put a seal on that tomb. They fell over like dead men when Christ rose from the dead. All through the early Roman world, you find the nations of that time dominated by Rome.

But the Bible says that the Rome would not last forever. Rome ruled from about 168 BC to 351 AD, ruled for 500 years. But it says, verse 41, "Where you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay."

"And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they'll mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron is not mixed with clay."

So when you look at this image, you see descending value. Gold is more precious than silver. Then you see silver more precious than bronze, more precious than iron. Then you see the toes of the image, iron and clay. So you see descending mortal values. You see a society on the verge of collapse.

And then when you think of the toes, they're not very stable. Iron and clay, clay is so brittle. So you see an image, you see a society about ready to fall apart. And it says that this iron and clay does not mix, but they'd mingle themselves with the seed of men. The European nations that comprise the Roman Empire, Rome would fall apart.

You'd have the Anglo-Saxons come down from the north. You'd have the Alemanni, the Huns, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, and all of the Lombards, all of these barbarian tribes would come down. Rome would be weakened. How was the Roman Empire weakened? They overextended their military too far. They lost their work ethic.

The Roman Empire was filled with the desire for pleasure. They became a pleasure-mad, sports-crazy society. Immorality, sexual immorality filled Rome. Rome was known for its extensive feasts and parties. In fact, they had vomit rooms. They had feasts that lasted for months. And they'd have a little feather and a little what they called emesis basin to throw up in.

You'd take that feather after you gorged yourself and stick it down your throat, and go to another room and vomit. You see, Rome was falling apart. It lost its moral ethic, if it ever had it. It was an immoral society filled with violence. You take the Coliseums and the gladiator fights and you put your thumbs up if you want the gladiator to slit the throat of his enemy.

It was a brutal, violent society. I wonder when I look at America today, sports-crazy, pleasure-mad, governments at times corrupt, a society filled with sexual immorality, a society filled with violence. It's hard to turn anything on television today without seeing violence and immorality. I wonder if in the United States of America we are teetering like that great image on the toes of clay and iron.

But as these barbarian tribes are coming down, the Roman rulers want to unite. So what do they do? How do they try to unite? "They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men." How are they going to do that? Intermarriage, intermarriage. Napoleon, for example, divorces Josephine, marries Louise of Austria so the Napoleonic line and the Habsburg line can be united.

You go up in Denmark in Fredensborg Castle, and you'll see the family tree of Europe showing the union of all those well-to-do aristocrats, the royalty who were intermarrying to try to unite. "They'll mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave." So through intermarriage, also through conflict, strife, and war.

When I read this Bible passage, it says, "Where you saw feet and toes part of potter's clay," verse 41, "and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, the kingdom shall be divided." You go down to verse 43: "They'll mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they won't cleave to one another or adhere to one another."

The conflicts that we are seeing today in Europe and in the Middle East will not bring permanent peace there. We pray for peace, we long for peace. But these conflicts have been going on for centuries. And until Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace comes, Europe and the Middle East will be divided.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other peoples. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. The rock cut out without hands is the kingdom of Christ.

Christ's kingdom will come. Peace will come to earth. Jesus says in John 14, verse 1 to 3, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you," Jesus said, "I will come again."

The solution to world peace is not more human beings writing peace treaties. The Bible says, "When they say peace and safety," First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 4 and onward, "when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them." So we are not looking for world peace, certainly as believers, certainly as Christians.

We pray for our leaders as the Bible tells us to. Certainly we long for peace. We are not people of conflict or war. But we recognize deep within our souls, we recognize in the fabric of our beings, that the only ultimate solution to the world's problems is the coming of Jesus Christ.