Daniel: Chapters 2-4 — Stanley Wells

I can only give you what I've gleaned myself and what I've enjoyed over the years and bringing it right up to date. And the whole purpose of this simple effort is this, we want everyone to be knowledgeable, older and younger, and all of us in between, what God has for this old world and what he has for his people of this age and for the nation of Israel that lies before.

Now, somebody wants to know who made the chart. Well, I didn't make it, I can assure you. It's Dr. Harry Ironside's chart that he gave and put together in 1911. So that's almost 100 years ago. And I was just looking there at Mr. Newbery's dates.

And I noticed that if Mr. Newbery's dates are right, Daniel talked and lived and give us these things approximately 2500 years ago, a little more than that, give or take. So our God is a God that knows the past and the present and the future.

Daniel’s Prophetic Chart: History, the Present Age, and the Future Kingdom

And that's where we start here tonight. So please notice, I'll just step down here so that everybody can see. The chart is divided in three sections. Number one, we'll start here. Now, of course, I've already told you, it's the outline of the prophet.

Now, where I'm pointing to now, this particular part of the chart, all the way to here, above that line, that's history. That's past. Now, it's pre-written history for Daniel. It hadn't happened in his day, but we're looking back.

So what we're going to talk about has already taken place. Then in this part of the chart, where I'm pointing to now, all the way across, that's the future. And that's the prophetic side. And it's based on the historic side, as we'll see tonight.

Now, then in between is the present. There's the word there. There's where we live right now, the age of grace. As we've indicated already, God is saving from every nation, and soon the last soul will be saved, and everything will be over for this age.

And the mystical body of Christ, I don't know anything about that. He was in a different age. See? But somebody asks, what's this yellow strip? See that there? Let me read it to you. Gentile dominion abolished.

Now, you see, that's the ultimate of this statement here, the times of the Gentiles. We have already indicated when Nebuchadnezzar came to the land of Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, and he took away the people of God on three occasions, the times of the Gentiles commenced, and it's running right through, and will run right through to where I'm pointing to now, the end of the tribulation.

But you see, whenever all that's over, and the great millennium reign is ushered in, now we're talking Christ's kingdom established, righteousness triumphant. You think that in the world that we're in tonight, that righteousness won't reign, but it will.

And you see, Christ's kingdom established, that answers to that stone there that we're going to talk about tonight, cut out of the mountain without hands, tells us of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, there's so much information that before we know where we are, we're in overload. So my purpose is to give you the overview and we're going to divide this up in sections. So tonight we're going to start and talk here about Daniel chapter two, this image, and then we're going to talk of chapter three here, the fiery furnace and the big image of gold and all the rest of it.

And then we're going to talk about the tree cut down. There's the stump there that it would grow again. And all of this here surrounds these three rectangles here. We're going to talk about that tonight.

And I'm going to read a section from each chapter and we'll start in chapter two. We'll read a bit there and give you observations. We'll make an application and before we know where we are, it'll be nine o 'clock, right?

Here's the next thing. People are asking now, what are two legs and two feet and 10 toes? Why did you not put them right onto here? And you see a good question. This represents the future. This is the past and you and I are in between.

And these things that we're talking about now as we'll read tonight are in the times of the Kings. That's a future day. And all the way across here, the time of the end, right across that tells us Daniel's 70th week of prophecy.

And that's up here. And we'll spend the night on that in the will of the Lord. Now, if you don't understand what I'm talking about, please talk to me after the meeting. We'll be happy to sit down and chat whatever.

So, we're going to read about the image. Now, I hope that you know the history of these chapters. So, I'm going to give the bottom lines in each one. So, you got your Bible handy? The book of Daniel, chapter two, please, is where we're going to start tonight.

And I'll be as brief as possible. I have worked at this today from early morning. And I just try to put myself where you're sitting tonight and find out how can I put this across that people can understand what I'm talking about.

All right. We have to read the Bible because this is where all of this is from. So, if you have your Bible open, please, at Daniel, chapter two, and for sake of time, we are going to read at verse number 36.

Let me say this before I read. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He didn't remember conveniently what it was. And he asked the wise men and the astrologers and astronomers of his realm to tell him what the dream was and what it meant.

They hadn't a clue. Didn't know. He said, right, the whole lot of you are going to be slain and Daniel and your friends and everybody, down you go. And so, Daniel asks for time in front of the king to wait to find out what the dream was and what it meant.

Where I'm going to read tonight is the bottom line. He's now standing, Daniel standing before Nebuchadnezzar and this is what he says in verse number 36. This is the dream. We will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

Thou, O king, art a king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and he hath made thee ruler over them all.

Thou art the head of gold. I will talk about that in a minute. Notice verse 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior. Now we're going down to thee and a third kingdom of brass. We're still going down, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

Verse 40. The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all, these shall it break in pieces and bruise. And all kinds of about the feet and all the rest of it.

Okay? Now let me give you 44. Verse 44. Now notice, dear brethren, and in the days of these kings. Now we're into a future day. Notice the tense of the verbs. In the days of these kings shall. Now that's future.

The God of heaven set up a kingdom. That's the yellow part of the chart, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

Now comes again. Verse 45. For as much as thou sawest that stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter.

The dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure. Reaction to the king. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon a space and worshiped Daniel, commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him.

What's the bottom line? Well, notice verse 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. He's number one. And the chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

There he is. Notice Daniel didn't forget his friends. Then Daniel requested of the king that he sent Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

Daniel’s Faithfulness and the Four Gentile Empires

Now that's the first part. Now let me just tell you this overview. See this chart behind me here? God is giving Nebuchadnezzar on those that will follow him his mind through dreams. There are two major dreams from chapter one to chapter six of the foreign monarchs, his mind.

And he did it through Daniel. So we'll see. Now, whatever we turn to the prophetic side from chapter seven on tomorrow night in the will of God, there are now visions and Daniel gets two principle visions that are divided into different sections.

And he's going to get the future for the Hebrew nation, the nation of Israel. And let me say this before I forget. Somebody asks, why is it that Daniel, his name is known through all of these kingdoms and realms, four of them.

And his name is the one that God gave him and his parents give him. God is judge or God, my judge. Now in the overruling sovereignty of God, he's called and known as Daniel. Belteshazzar was what they called him, but that's not emphasized.

Yet as three friends, they never get their Hebrew name, Shidrach, Mishrach, and Abednego. In fact, we sing the song with them. And somebody wants to know how come that they didn't stick with their Jewish names?

Well, their responsibilities went to the extent of Daniel. Daniel was number one, they were behind him. And it would seem that God wanted to make absolutely sure across the nations of earth and the kingdoms of earth, past, present, and future, Daniel's the man.

I've quoted the verse, I'll quote it again. Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose, dare to make it known. All right, we're going to talk now at this point in the meeting on this great image.

Now let me just look at it here with you. There's a head of gold. Now Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, you're the head of gold of this big image that he saw. Don't go into the details of the dream. He said, there's another portion here, and here's the breasts and the arms, that's silver, that's Medo-Persian.

Coming down, here's the belly and the thighs of brass, that's grease. And here are the legs, iron, Rome. And of course, the 10 toes of the image and all the rest of it. Now I'm going to ask you a question.

How do you know that these four parts of the image represent these four empires? Now that's a good question. I would suggest you have to dig in the book of Daniel to get it. And we didn't make it up. Neither did the man that made the chart.

See this man, Daniel? He's faithful. He has an excellent spirit. He's skillful. He knows how to handle people. He knows how to handle monarchs that would take his head off and God is with him. And he says, now listen, the times of the Gentiles, right here, Nebuchadnezzar, you have started it.

World dominion is at your feet. The new one world and there were thousands of miles and different languages and cultures and all the rest of it as we'll see. And he's in charge. He's number one. Now God gave it to him.

But he got so proud and so arrogant and he turned everybody into the ground for he thought he knew better than anybody else. But Daniel brings, God brings Daniel across this pathway to tell him his responsibilities and what is going to happen.

Now be patient as we'll go through it step by step. He says, now listen, Nebuchadnezzar, one day, somebody is going to be fighting with you and you will leave the empire and give it to somebody else. That's the Medo-Persian empire right there.

Now I'll give you a very apt illustration of how it works. I don't know if you folk know anything about kangaroos. Now I was in Australia last year and I was fascinated by these kangaroos. I never saw them before.

So I wanted to find out about, they go in packs. Now there's always a male and he's in charge and that's his territory. And if any other male would come into his territory, he'll fight them to death. But the day comes when that male that has been in charge for X number of years, he weakens and somebody stronger than him comes in and takes over.

That's exactly what we're talking about here in the times of the Gentiles. Whenever the Babylonian men were done, I read it last night and preached on it, Daniel 5, that night he was slain. Darius the Mede took over and then they had their day.

And then we moved down into the Grecian empire and Alexander the Great, one of the great warriors of history, they had some fierce battles with these people. And finally he's in charge. We say every dog has his day.

We rise and fall. Now the times of the Gentiles then comes down to this next one. Greece loses their impetus and Rome comes to power and then they're in charge. And down through the centuries, in the times of the Gentiles of past days, these companies, these kingdoms, these armies, these monarchs were totally in charge and they thought nobody would get them and defeat them.

I bring that to 2010. Over 50 years ago, Russia was in charge, they thought. Remember the day when your president John F. Kennedy, there was what we call the Cuba crisis and everybody said the end of the world has come.

The Russians are going to pull the trigger and the U .S. and Canada are down. 50 years have come and gone. The Russian empire has crumbled to a large extent. And now the U .S. has been in charge for a number of decades and it would seem that they're losing their power that they once had.

See, Britain had the same. They ruled the waves but not now. Here's another empire coming up, the mainland of China. They believe the yellow race will take over the world. The Bible doesn't teach that.

But you see what I'm trying to show you? These mighty powers rise to the top. God allows them to do it and then they crumble and somebody else takes over. That's the way it has been and that's the way it'll be until this time here.

Gentile dominion abolished, great kingdom established. I'll quote you a verse, Ezekiel 21 and verse 27. Here's what God says, I will overturn it, it, world dominion, overturn it, overturn it until he comes who's right it is, Psalm 2, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'll give it to him and he will reign from the river to the ends of the earth and he'll have the dominion from sea to sea. That's the millennium reign of Christ. Fantastic. Now, I could go down chapter 2 here, give you all the divisions and all the rest of it.

I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to picture myself as Daniel. And I can see Daniel, likely his three friends are pretty close to him. The courtiers are all there, courtiers, the wise men of Babylon, the astrologers, the magicians, people that thought they knew everything.

And it would have been wiped out only for one man, Daniel. Somebody says, how did Daniel get to know? All these other people are saying, man, how did you get to know that? Well, I didn't read it, but in chapter 2, they got out of circulation and they got down before God.

Four young men, likely in their early twenties, laying hold upon God. The crisis has come. It's an outstanding day in the history of Daniel. If God doesn't draw near and give him the meaning of the interpretation of the dream and the dream, they're all finished.

Now, what would you do? What would I do? Are you in an impossible situation? When all else fails, get to God. Now, it doesn't say what they said, but I can tell you these men weren't saying prayers. They had a burden on their heart.

And the passage shows that in the darkness of the night, God drew near to Daniel and he gave him the dream, what it was and what it meant. And he goes right in front of the king and he tells them the interpretation and I've given it to you.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace

Now, somebody says, will this happen again? Now, let me go for a minute. All history. See if the Lord Jesus Christ comes tonight, we're into this part of the chart. And it says here that the Roman empire will be revived.

And it could be. And all our former teachers used to tell us that Roman Catholicism and the Protestant dissenters is the whore that sits on many waters in Revelation chapter 17. Well, I'm going to suggest to you tonight that it's likely wider than that.

And just a suggestion. The focus turns from Rome. Now, Rome's included to Babylon and Babylon has not been destroyed yet. You were across the Tigris river tonight in the land of Iraq. Babylon's right there.

And Babylon is going to come to the fore. And somebody says, why do you not narrow it to Roman or dissenters? Well, I read to you in the chapter, it's in the times of the Kings. You see, Roman Catholicism, that's the iron and the clay and the ferocious beast as we'll see tomorrow night.

And there's no doubt that likely they will come to fruition and power, but there's a greater one tonight. I've already indicated it's the Islamic world, 2 .2 billion people. And I can tell you they're making their presence felt in the international arena.

But you see things happen in history first. And then there's the prophetic subject. Now, Daniel tells this man for the first time. Now he says, listen, Nebuchadnezzar, you see all of these kingdoms, the four of them, they'll rise and fall.

And there will be a stone caught out without hands from the mountain and it will fill the whole earth. And this kingdom will never be destroyed. And that's the kingdom of our God and of his Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he's of course, the stone, this and all indeed, and disallowed of men chosen of God and precious. He will have the last say. I don't want to get into that any further, but I want to then just teach one or two simple things about us.

Somebody says now, why ever did these Gentiles get the authority and the power of administration across the world? Because the nation of Israel forfeited by their behavior, disobeyed the God of heaven and were in full of unbelief as Moses told them in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and chapter 32 and all the rest of it.

So you see through disobedience, God had his people, the apple of his eye to fulfill divine purpose, but they turned away. You know what? We, the saints of this age are reliving their history. I want you to think about that.

We're gathered to his precious name in assembly testimony. We have sought by the grace of God and the big picture to fulfill divine purpose, but there are many side issues tonight and some have turned aside and we're losing our impetus in the world of men.

Our focus is to tell men and woman of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of disobedience and turning away from the principles of holy scripture, God allows a secondary vessel to fulfill divine purpose.

That's a very solemn lesson for all of us to learn. I want to notice this to our encouragement. What God told Daniel to tell Nebuchadnezzar and all the ones that followed them, God says, I've told you and I'll do it.

Romans 11, his gifts and his callings are without repentance. Thank God. God's promises have never been forfeited. We rely on that one. He has told us the Lord Jesus Christ is coming from heaven to receive from the world his own and we rely on those promises and so on.

Now there are other things we could say, but I have to watch the clock and go to the next chapter. See this chapter here? This is the one of the big image and that's in the valley of Dura. Let's read a little, please, in chapter 3 of Daniel.

It has to be brief. Verse 1 gives the setting. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold. You see, the one he saw was the head of gold, but he makes the whole thing gold. Whose height was three score cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits.

And he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Now right across that verse, six six is established and stamped. See that's man's number as Revelation chapter 13 tells us. Now let's go down to the end here.

He wanted everybody to bow to this image. Verse number 20. He commanded the most mighty men that were in his army. These are the three men that wouldn't bow to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

Down a little further, the end of verse 26. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth out of the midst of the fire. Verse 28. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him and so on.

Now that'll have to do for reading. You know the history here. See this man back to Nebuchadnezzar. He was so proud and so haughty and so arrogant and so overbearing. He says, I'm the head here and I'm going to make a big image.

Not a deterioration of these metals, but the whole thing's gold. 90 feet high. And everybody in my realms, wherever they come or live or whatever their language is, they will all bow at the sound of the music and all the different things.

I didn't read it, but it's right there. There were likely hundreds of thousands there that day. There was three young men and they wouldn't bow. I tell you, it must have been something. As far as you could see, north, south, east, and west, everybody bowed when the music came.

But these three men wouldn't bow. They're Daniel's friends. Everybody asked where Daniel was. Well, the Bible doesn't say. Maybe in some other part of the world at that time. Now what happened? Well, because they wouldn't bow, the bottom line was this.

You see, this king says, these three young men, you're going to the fiery furnace. And I'm going to make it seven times hotter than it was. And you're going into it. Of course, you wouldn't bow to me.

And you see, bowing to that image, he wanted everybody to bow to him and worship a man. It's not on. They're in the fire and the chapter shows, he says, here's the king and he's watching and he can't believe his eyes.

These three men are up walking around the fire. And I want to tell you, this is real. This is not mock. And he says, here's a foreign king saying there's a fourth man in there and it's the son of God.

And it's likely now, maybe you might agree with us. It's likely that it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I know the passage says the second time he says it's an angel of the Lord. I wouldn't be dogmatic, but I'm inclined to think it's the Lord Jesus.

And he's just exactly the same as we heard there on the Lord's day about the man Darius. And he went with that lamentable cry to Daniel, are you there? And Nebuchadnezzar couldn't believe his ears and his eyes.

And he said, look, come out. And they came out. There wasn't even the smell of smoke on them and their hair wasn't singed or anything. Absolutely a miracle. He bowed and he recognized this is God. See, the supernatural convinced his heart.

Prophetic Idolatry and God’s Preservation Through Trials

All right. They have to break off now and come to this point, the end time. You see that big image. What happens is, and we'll see the abomination of desolation is set up. That's in Daniel chapter nine, and it's also in Matthew chapter 24.

And there's a reference in second Thessalonians two on revelation 13. And this image will be set up in the temple in Jerusalem and in tribulation days. And everybody will bow to that image of the beast.

And they will take the mark of the beast and all the rest of it. So what happened in history will be reproduced prophetically. And that day is not too far away. And everyone that won't bow will be slain.

But God's in control here. Those three young men, God preserved them. It's a picture of the remnant of the nation of Israel through tribulation and trial that has never been known before. And there will be remarkably preserved to go into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I can tell you that man, Nebuchadnezzar had set him back a bit. Now how about us? Well, I want to teach to you tonight that every believer, now listen to me, between conversion and the last step is taken or the Lord comes, we're all in the school of God and we'll never graduate from it.

And the only way that we can learn is through trials. And every family of God's people across the world tonight, some way or another have problems that others know nothing about. They're brought into unique circumstances where they can only prove God.

And if we didn't have trials and if we didn't have opposition, it wouldn't make us the people that we really are. I can tell you these three men, thank God for being preserved in the fire. And if you're a young person here tonight, we're delighted to see you.

And maybe you've had no trials. I'm saying to you, keep living for they're sure to come. I could tell you all kinds of ones that we have been through after nearly 50 years of marriage. And none of us know what's down the road.

I'm here to encourage you tonight. Take it from the Lord and take it to him in prayer and he'll support you and help you in every department of life. He's the one according to first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 that brings the trial, allows us to be in it, supports us in it, and brings us out in his good time and way.

God help us along that lane. Right. Chapter four. See this big tree here. I want to read about that. Chapter four now, please, of the book of Daniel chapter four. And we'll read very, very briefly here as the time is limited.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride, Judgment, and Restoration

All right. Chapter four, verse number 23. Now the tree is Nebuchadnezzar. Here's the background. I'll read maybe at verse number 28 for sake of time. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

Listen to him. The king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? Notice verse 33, the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.

He was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagles feathers. And his nails like birds claws. Here's the sequel. Verse 39.

After the seven years are over now, I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and honor the king of heaven. All whose works are true and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride, he is able to a base. Those that walk in pride, he is able to a base.

Now this man Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. He dreamt about this big tree and it was so large that the animals were under it taking shelter and the birds were in the branches and all the rest of it.

Fantastic. There was a holy observer watching. And then the dream, the tree is cut down, but the stump is left. There it is. He didn't know what it meant. He sends for Daniel. Daniel's in the presence of all of this mighty king and he's absolutely astonished and overcome and he's totally silent.

Whenever he recognizes he has to tell this man that he is the tree and that he is going to leave. And so Daniel rises to the occasion. He says, Oh king, you're the tree with all your pride and popularity and material wealth and skills and kingdoms.

Did you listen to what he said? This great Babylon that I have built by my might and power and skill and all the rest of it. You know what? You see the fields outside Babylon. You know what? You're going there for seven years and you're going to be living like an animal and reason will leave us thrown and you'll go on all fours and your hair will be like Eagle's feathers and your nails like bird's claws and your body will be wet with the Jew of heaven till you understand and know that it's God that rules in the kingdoms of men and he's in charge, not you Belshazzar.

Daniel got grace from God to give it to him nicely but he was faithful. The day arrived, if you read the history book, when those in charge of his realm took the man. He was insane and out he went to be around the fields of Babylon like a beast.

Lately thousands watched him till one day he recognized God is in charge. I'm nobody and the confession I didn't read at all that came from his very lips. I take it he recognized that God was everything and he was nothing and he was just a poor filthy sinner on the way to eternity that needed God and needed a spiritual relationship with a God of heaven.

God was kind and if I read the passage correctly in New Testament language he bowed to the God, the creator God and he had a spiritual relationship with him that he never had before and I hope to meet him in heaven when life on earth has passed.

Future Rulers, Divine Judgment, and the Hope of Christ’s Reign

Now what's going to happen in the future? We're down to here look. I'll summarize it. As there were people like Nebuchadnezzar in his day that defied God for many years and they were brought down so there will be outstanding supermen I call them of the tribulation day, the beast, the first beast of Revelation 13 and we're going to look at him tomorrow night, the little horn of Daniel 7.

He's the political man and he will be the man in charge of affairs in Europe, the western confederacy west of the land of Israel. The false prophet, he's the religious man, he's a Jew, he's the second beast of Revelation 13 and all the rest of it and these folk at one point will be friends but as life goes on and things intensify there will be another one and he is the head of the people, these Islamic billions.

He's the king of the fierce continents, the little horn of Daniel chapter 8. These men think they're going to change times and laws and they're going to be totally in charge and God is out of it. Well, they will be in demise as well because Matthew 25 shows on Revelation 19 that the man of sin, political man, the false prophet, the religious man and Isaiah chapter 63, the king with the fierce continents, the last Assyrian, the king of the north will be banished into eternity, the everlasting fire.

He always wins who sides with God. Those will be tremendous days, friends, and God will be totally in charge but he will allow the nation of Israel to go through unparalleled suffering. You know why? They crucified the Lord Jesus and yet they're fulfilling scripture.

I can't understand that but I bow to it. Now, what can we learn before we leave? As God was listening to what Nebuchadnezzar said, he's listening to us, the saints of this age. I'll summarize it with what we sing with the children.

Oh, be careful little ears what you hear. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. Oh, be careful little tongue what you say. There's a savior up above watching over you in love. So be very, very, very careful what you say.

God help us to appreciate that. We can learn that simple lesson. You see, here's another thing. He's able to subdue the strongest person, personality-wise or any other-wise, in the world that we live in.

I read about a man called Deutrophes in the assembly there in 3 John. He loved to have the preeminence. If the Lord should have had it. But I want to tell you God dealt with him. These are very solemn matters, dear brethren.

Lord, help us to learn that the God that we serve is a God of love, but he's a consuming fire. Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord. And so I'll tell you one other thing. We learn from these three chapters that I've read from tonight that God tells men things that are going to happen before they happen.

You bring that to assembly life today. And we have certain brethren that sought to say would sell us out on the basic principles of gathering to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But God has already told them and told us what will happen.

What do you mean? First Corinthians chapter 3, the one that defiles God's house, God will defile and destroy them. God help us to learn these simple things. So I've told you a bit about history. I've told you a bit about prophecy.

And there's no point filling our heads. We want to challenge our hearts and have a basic understanding what it's all about. Tomorrow night in the one of the Lord, we're going to move a little further.

We're going to go in here to this chapter 7 and chapter 8. You got a minute, read it. And we'll give a summary on that in the word of the Lord. Thank you for listening. Nine o 'clock. Thank you for coming.

Closing Prayer for Understanding and Faithfulness

Let us pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for the holy scriptures of truth. They're like God himself. They're divine. They're warm with the breath of God, inspired. We thank Thee for a man like Daniel. He likely wrote his own prophecy, guided by the Spirit of God.

And things are in it that we need to appreciate. Help us to learn the lessons tonight. We thank Thee for these upon whom the ages of the world have come. And they're in samples for us, for our wisdom, for our admonition, and our learning.