Daniel Bible Study | Introduction

We're going to talk about Daniel, but to get into Daniel, this is our second introduction.

After last week, I felt it important to talk about the sovereignty of God because that is so central to the book of Daniel.

So we're going to, today, we're going to talk about sovereignty. We will look at just the first two verses because that basically brings this idea of God's sovereignty over the nations into the book and then we'll do an outline.

We were, Jeff and I were talking to an individual earlier today who had various medical issues and I believe this individual is a believer and the sovereignty of God sometimes can just amaze you, what

God does. This individual was going to be going through a significantly serious spinal surgery and was stressed out over it and as he was driving,

I think it was a couple of days before the surgery was to take place, up in the sky, he saw within the clouds what appeared to be the presentation of a spine in perfect, perfect shape.

In fact, this individual showed us a photo he took with his smartphone and said, yep, there it is.

He even got a photo of it? Yeah. Now, in reality, what it was from a physical, pragmatic standpoint, you know what a contrail is?

From a plane. From a plane, yeah. As an airplane goes through a moisture -laden atmosphere, it creates a cloud behind it, if you would, and we call it a contrail.

God had, in his sovereignty, had a plane go overhead enough in advance that the contrail had started to dissipate and through the wind had created the curvature of a spine and when you looked at it, there was a spine in perfect condition.

Now, this turned out to be a sign of encouragement. Absolutely. Yeah, it's a sign of the spine.

By putting that up to say that it's amazing how often God does something and it's like, how did he do that?

Well, he's sovereign. What can't he do? Why not? What can't he do? That is almost a better question, what can't he do?

He can't lie. He can't lie. It's against his nature. There you are.

Something God can't do. Can he build a brick too big that he can pick it up?

That's a ridiculous question. That's a ridiculous question. We have to go into the nature of God. He can hold the earth.

He can hold the earth. He can hold a brick. He can hold a stone. We have a God who is absolutely sovereign.

We talked last week, we started to talk about the concept of the sovereignty of God but then got into a discussion of how did

Judah end up where they ended up? It's the journey to exile and you have to start all the way back from the beginning of creation and work your way to there to where they actually ended up in exile.

And the question of what is the sovereignty of God came up in Carol. I think you actually read it off the app.

You read a definition of the sovereignty of God. We need to spend a little bit of time scripturally seeing the sovereignty of God.

If you are reading in your various versions of the

Bible, if you're reading out of the ESV, the word sovereignty will show up.

If you read in other versions, the word sovereignty is not there. Things like ruler or potentate are there but the reality of what is the sovereignty of God.

According to E .H. Newster, you all know him. Richard, you know him?

E .H. Newster? Okay, I didn't know him either. But he is one of the contributors of articles of definition in something called the

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology and his definition of the sovereignty of God is king, supreme ruler and lawgiver of the entire universe.

That's a pretty good definition. It's pretty close to what you actually read. Pretty close to what you actually read.

We're going to spend a little bit of time going through the sovereignty of God because as we get into Daniel, it's like how did he do that?

Well, he is sovereign. And why was Daniel and his friends so confident in God?

Well, he is sovereign. And how can we take the last six chapters of Daniel seriously?

Well, he is sovereign. It's the same answer in all cases.

So, we're going to get into that today. And Jeff, would you open us? Sure. Father, it is a delight for us to consider your sovereignty.

And Lord, we recognize here we are on earth. So, we cannot fully grasp who you are and all that you have done and all that you control.

Your ways are higher than our ways. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts. But we are so blessed and so privileged that we can open your word and consider these things and be taught in your way.

Lord, we ask that you would give us eyes to see, that you would give us hearts that trust, and that we would leave this place with a higher view of your sovereignty than each of us came in with.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Rich, I'm going to ask you to get Jeremiah 32. It's on my page.

Jeremiah 32, 17. And John? Jeremiah 32, 17. Yeah. It's there.

And Colossians 1, 17. Ex nihilo. From nothing. Out of nothing.

How does that inspire a thought of the sovereignty of God? I've been thinking about that all week.

Go for it. What did you conclude? Have you been up to 2 o 'clock in the morning like this thinking about things?

Any visions on the tent? Mine, no. What did you conclude? Well, obviously, it's a very difficult concept to consider because if you consider it a concept, then it is nothing.

Wow. Ex nihilo, out of nothing,

God created, totally denies what the world wants you to believe.

That somehow, you have to erase

God to accept things like evolution, big bang theory. You just have to erase

God. Well, you have to erase God if you're discussing genuinely complete ex nihilo because God is a thing.

What is fascinating? What is fascinating? What a rabbit trailing already and I haven't even gotten started.

What's fascinating is God and His sovereignty allows us not to really understand

Him, but to understand what He's like. And so we use that as a vision point to say,

I can understand God because I think I get the idea of holy.

I can understand God because I think I can get the idea of love or creator.

All these attributes of God, what they do is they, from a human standpoint, we start to paint pictures of what

God must be so that we can worship Him. Ex nihilo, in the beginning,

God. It's there, it's in John 1, 1, in the beginning,

God and He created, which is to say that in the beginning of what we know of as time.

There was an eternity prior to that, but at His own predestined time, in that beginning,

He created. Jeremiah 32, 17? Jeremiah 32, 17.

Okay. Lord God, it is

You who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.

Nothing is too hard for You. This is our known realm. Our known realm are the heavens and the earth.

That's our known realm. We can't even get into the outer reaches of the heavens.

Here's one to blow your mind. I am a New Earth believer in the theology of New Earth, the creation 6 ,000 years old, give or take.

I believe you are too. Young Earth, yeah. How are we seeing stars that are supposedly 5 billion light years away?

Go ahead. If God can create all things from nothing, it's not beyond the human understanding to understand that He created a star with a history of life.

Let me put it, a tree with age. There you go. This is our sovereign

God. I answer that question by saying He established the light that would be coming, that would show up on Earth at the predestined time of 2023, and scientists in their wisdom would say, oh man, that light, that's 6 billion light years away.

Well, this is my sovereign God. He creates all with the image of age.

He created Adam and Eve with the image of age. This is our sovereign God. Not only did

He do all of this, but Colossians 117. And He is before all things.

And in Him, all things hold together. We are nothing without God holding it all together.

And what is even amazing when you consider this aspect of the sovereignty of God is that from before the foundation of the

Earth, He knew that man was going to rebel against Him.

And He still holds us all together. Creation today is groaning because of the impact of sin, but God has pulled,

He sustains all things. If it wasn't for God, poof, yeah. What's awesome about that verse is when you think, just think of a simple hydrogen or helium atom, two protons, positive charge, should repel.

What holds them together? That's a great question. What creates a magnetic force?

I mean, I'm an engineer. I could go into that, but it's like, how can you think that all this was an accident of a

Big Bang theory? I just recently got done doing a series when

I would get the pulpit preaching out of the book of Joshua. And this is one of my favorite stories. Joshua prayed because the battle was going good.

Lord, stop the sun so that we can keep the battle going. And He did. He didn't stop the sun.

What He did was He stopped the rotation of the earth. Now, my sovereign God is not going to have a problem with the fact that the circumference of the earth at the equator is something like 24 ,000 miles.

Roughly 24 ,000 miles. The math would be much easier than the little pieces. Because here's the thing.

It rotates in 24 hours. That means that at the equator, at the equator, everything's moving 1 ,000 miles an hour.

Okay? That's a little bit slower as you go further north. That does two things.

One is the oceans are moving at 1 ,000 miles an hour. And they stopped.

And there was no slushing and tidal waves and everything else. He just made it okay. He just made it okay.

Joshua, who was traveling at perhaps where he was around 800 miles an hour, boom, stopped.

He didn't like it. Everything stopped. Because the earth is rotating, we have something called centripetal force.

Gravitational force is pushing you down. Centripetal force is moving you up. And the difference to the two is what we know.

I weigh 200 pounds. If there was no centripetal force, I would be squashed like a pancake.

That didn't happen. And by the way, He started it all back up. This is our God. He sustains all things.

He is so supreme. He is the king over all. Romans 13, 1.

I'm going to ask you to get that. And Psalm 22. Bob, I'll ask you to get that.

And then Daniel 4, 17. Just so we can get into Daniel, I'll ask you to have that. There is nothing on earth that is outside of God's sovereign rule.

That includes the kingdoms and the kings. That includes the President of the United States.

That includes AOC. That includes Pastor Jeff, who is the shepherd of our flock.

There is nothing that is outside of God's rule. 1 Timothy 6.

If you're reading in the ESV, it's going to say, He is the blessed and only sovereign king of kings and Lord of lords.

But if you're reading in other versions, that word sovereign will say potentate or ruler. I'm just saying that if you look up the word sovereign or sovereignty in Strong's Exhaustive Coordinates, that's the only place you're going to find it.

It's right there. The sovereignty of God is one of these concepts that we just understand because of the expansiveness of His sovereignty.

Romans 13. There is no authority, there is no institute, except that God puts it in place.

Just because a nation goes wicked, just because a nation becomes atheist or idol worshippers, doesn't mean that they're outside of God's authority.

The tribal leaders in Africa in the 15th century, 16th century, who would conquer a neighboring tribe and take the men, women, and children and sell them to slave traders who would be put in the holds of a ship like chattel and bought.

Those tribal leaders, they were under the authority of God. Those captains of that ship, under the authority of God.

The people in the United States where we were colonies then that would buy human beings, it's all under the authority of God.

There is nothing outside of Him. Psalm 22, please. You don't want the whole thing?

Verse 28. For dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nation.

That is Him. And this gets so germane when we get into the book of Daniel because you've got the

Babylonians and then you've got the Perdomesians and you've got the Jews who are in exile over there.

He is sovereign. He is sovereign over all of this. But their there does not put them outside of God's sovereign control.

The fact that they are, I love the story of the

Northern Kingdom that took the Ark and put it in the Temple of Dagon. What happened to Dagon?

He broke his nose. I love that story. Sometimes the humor of God is good.

But it's a sovereign team. Daniel 4, do you have that? This decision is by the decree of the

Watchers and is sentenced by the word of the Holy Ones. In order that the living may know that the

Most High rules in the kingdom of men gives it to whomever he will and sets over it the lowest of men.

This almost sounds like it's Daniel giving a decree to Nebuchadnezzar to don't diss

God. This is Nebuchadnezzar. After everything that has happened to him.

This is Nebuchadnezzar realizing that the God of Daniel is the

Lord of all. King of kings. So God, he gave insight to Nebuchadnezzar.

I don't know if we're going to see Nebuchadnezzar in glory or not. But he gave insight to him that even this king and he was a pretty bad king from a wicked standpoint eventually he says that God of Daniel he is the

God of all gods the Lord of lords he is the king of all kings. So this is the

God who has nothing over him and what is what is it about God that is so amazing we can give a list of that there is nothing that's going to happen that's outside of his predestined will.

Amen. Amen. I even included Proverbs 16 .33 for you because I know that you appreciate that.

Acts 2 .23 Barb if you would get that and Ephesians 1 .11

Carol if you would get that I'll talk to the other. We know from scripture

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not die but have life everlasting.

We know from scripture God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We know these verses learned them in Sunday school and everything.

But we know that God created all each day he said it is good it is good it is good six day created man it is very good we know the story of Lucifer up in heaven we know the fall of man none of this was a surprise to our

God and recognizing what would be he ordained he ordained those who would record his very words our faith is that these are the actual inspired words of God in the original language which is to say that as it gets translated there might be some nuances of words here and there language has its limits but God spoke through the hearts of men who wrote his actual words and what is in this story from the very beginning all the way through who is in every chapter of the

Bible every book of the Bible who is in it? Jesus. He is. He is.

6 ,000 years. For 4 ,000 years before the cross he was in that Bible and everything he predestined he even predestined that man would be such a problem they would try to build the tower and he would befuddle them he would scatter them he even predestined that man then would get so wicked that there would only be one family left and so there was going to be a flood and then he predestined coming out of the flood that he would create a rainbow by the way

God owns that rainbow LBGTQ does not own that rainbow they did let's claim it back but he also predestined that in his time his son would take on the form of flesh and walk on the world

Acts 2 .23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross

By his foreknowledge and his sovereignty man did not kill

Jesus Jesus went to that cross man was the instrument that was used to execute that death and they are going to be judged for it but man didn't do something that God said

I really didn't want you to do that no this is God's predestination we know that from Job you can touch him but don't go any farther than that he sets limits and the beauty of it is for us

Ephesians 1 Furthermore, because of Christ we have received an inheritance from God for he chose us from the beginning and all things happened just as he decided long ago isn't that just as he decided just as he decided

I could not respond to God but he gave me the grace and that wasn't going to happen but he designed it and he predestined it by the way we're talking now about the salvific issues but scripture is very clear if you go into Acts 24 whatever your hand desires happens the world can't stop whatever your heart desires is going to happen and then spitting him back up on the ground well how could

Jonah survive for three days in the belly of a fish well he's got it he's got it and then what does what does

Proverbs 16 .33 say the casting of the lot is in the lap but it's every decision is from the

Lord and what does that mean that he's sovereign over the smallest details in the seemingly random he is sovereign and he has predestined and what he has predestined is going to happen what we have to realize about God is that he knows all

Daniel 2 .21 is going to say he knows times he knows kings and he is the one who gives wisdom and knowledge to man he is the one who gives wisdom and knowledge to man go ahead and spend time being as clever as you can studying as many books as you want and looking for the nuances of even this book but if you're not looking for God to help you understand it you're not going to understand what was it you said earlier about the things of secret things of God no the secret things of God belong to God and then he says that man cannot understand only by the

Holy Spirit he's the one that gives wisdom go on to the beginning of Proverbs that's where I'm at right now in my quiet times his true word gives us knowledge his wisdom gives us thank you as we get into the book of Daniel we will start to see well even preceding

Daniel we see in Chronicles the Assyrians attempting to take over Jerusalem the

Shekinah glory is still in the temple what happens one night you know this story what happens one night while the

Assyrians are laying siege of Jerusalem one angel 184 ,000 soldiers 185 it was 185 do

I hear 6 who wins because of God because of God the powers of the world in 1

Chronicles 29 it says thine is the greatness and the power and the authority everything, everything you have dominion and power over it as we get into the book of Daniel we see

Nebuchadnezzar believing that he can control he's going to say let's take the cleverest and the smartest of the young and bring them up in the way of the

Chaldeans, the Babylonians this isn't going to work out because God is still all power story after story after story

Matthew 19, 26, John I'm going to ask you to pull that one out if you are in a stressful situation at work if you're wondering coming out of Monday night's meeting how are we going to do this by the way we were talking about this he presented four options there's actually a fifth one is knock it off just stop another is just go all speed forward another was to put a tent another was to put brick and mortar the fifth is to continue our course just slow it down until the money matches the desire each one of these has got an obstacle in its way and you might be wondering what do you got there?

Jesus looked at them and said with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible there you go

I've been sleeping well it's just that one night Bob says wouldn't it be nice if you would come down and tell us which of the five we're praying exactly that prayer where do we go?

where do we go? we don't see it we don't get it where do we go? by the way isn't this what Habakkuk does

I don't see it God don't you understand well in his case he said yeah I'm going to send the Babylonians let's not ask for the

Babylonians but let's ask for him to give us the directions because with man nothing with God all things are possible he is all powerful

God has a purpose and a design we were talking about what kind of questions might you get asked if you're going through an ordination council one of them might be how many wills does

God have? and they can attack you whatever answer you give that but I'm going to say this when it's

God's will it's going to come to be he is absolutely sovereign Daniel 4 .35

is going to basically say that he does according to his will and nothing is going to stop him he is the sovereign one

Proverbs 19 .21 Sandy I'm going to ask you to get that and read that for us in Psalm 135 it's going to say

God does whatever he wants whether it's on the heavens or whether it's in the earth or whether it's on sea

God is going to do whatever he wants because it's his game he created it all he sustains it all he's all powerful everything else he is sovereign

Proverbs 19 .21 Sandy stop right there this is now the test of where are you are you making plans are you seeking to make plans are you so concerned option

A is nasty because we're going to blow out the seams option B is tough because we don't have the money to go option

C is tough because now it might take five years we can be looking at man's plans we can be looking at the

Babylonians so they're going to say let's assimilate the people into our way of life and he's going to take those four we're going to teach you we're going to give you the food man has plans and those plans are limited because they're not sovereign but if we get caught as people trying to decide one wants this plan one wants that plan and this one's wrong and that one's wrong and we keep going and going and going we'll never do anything we have to depend on God for his sovereignty if we don't pray to him to give us words and gives us thoughts and answers to our prayers and show us

I don't know this rock fell from here and that means so and so whatever he does to show us we have to depend on him so what you're basically encouraging us is to pray yes absolutely that's so well said we'll share our plan go ahead so we decided that we were going to take a day of prayer and fasting for 24 hours and end it with a meal together so it will be

Sunday May 7th it will begin at 6pm and then everybody go that next day and then on Monday May 8th the whole church come together and have dad's deli or something like that and just have that whole 24 hour period of fasting and prayer for wisdom because James says if anyone lacks wisdom ask him, we don't have to figure it out the

Lord will give us his wisdom in some way so yeah, that's the plan you like that one?

yes it wasn't my idea it was Natan Abinger who texted me with that idea yesterday and then we discussed it today and thought yep that's it we should be all in on that yes but they got that from God that idea yeah and from you you just said it as well

Sandy next start the verse again and I won't stop you until you're done you did alright

Proverbs 19 .21 yes amen to that we make plans and God just lives yeah yeah

Daniel 1 verses 1 and 2 Jeff if you would read those for us

Daniel 1? yeah verses 1 and 2 gotcha here alright one page away alright

Daniel 1, 1 and 2 in the third year of the reign of Jehoiachin king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it and the

Lord gave Jehoiachin king of Judah into his hand and some of the vessels of the house of God and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his

God and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God get this word the

Lord gave Jehoiachin into his hands along with some of the vessels nobody could get into those vessels as long as the

Shekinah glory was in there to take them out so what we've got right now is we have had the wickedness we've had the

Shekinah glory as we read in Ezekiel and now the Lord gave gave

Nebuchadnezzar and some of the vessels that got taken away and where does he take them to the house of his

God small g so this is this is still the sovereignty of God what has happened here

Judah was taken into captivity along with the vessels from the temple according to the sovereign will of God we have to hold true to that what has happened here there are a few things that have happened here first of all we talked about these last week the fulfillment of the prophecy

Deuteronomy 28 if you don't obey my commands then these curses that happened and we get into Leviticus 26 if you do not give the land its

Sabbath every seven years then I will give the land a

Sabbath rest and that there will be 70 years of Sabbath rest a year for every week that you didn't give it the wickedness of the king is being judged by God that's in Ezekiel 11 and the

Shekinah glory leaves and leaves Jerusalem vulnerable now to the next kingdom that's coming by the way this is after Assyria attempted and one angel killed off the army 185 ,000 thank you

Sennacherib goes back and now the Babylonians take over we know that is going to happen and his sons kill him the exile happens because the

Shekinah glory this is all fulfillment of God's sovereign will and he had projected it in advance and it's recorded in the book of Habakkuk I will raise up a mighty and horrible nation you can call the

Chaldeans the Babylonians it's basically the same Candy if you would get

I'm sorry Rich you're next to read get Isaiah chapter 46 Isaiah chapter 46 verses 8 and 9 this whole book makes sense when it's put under the umbrella of the sovereignty of God this whole book doesn't make sense if you try to explain it from a worldly human standpoint and then the prophecies become ironclad because you know of the sovereignty of God Isaiah was written in the time of the wickedness of the nation it was so bad

God said that even if you pray I'm not going to listen to you because your heart's not into it but at the same time of the judgment there are promises of the

Messiah to come that beautiful chapter Isaiah 53 and in the midst of this this proclamation

Isaiah 46 verses 8 and 9 remember this and stand firm recall it to mind you transgressors remember the former things of old for I am

God and there is no other I am God and there is none like me

I am God remember this remember this I am God there is none like me we're going to do a very quick rapid overview of 12 chapters of Daniel and next week you're going to start us in as we go into it

Daniel chapter 1 it's actually the first two verses God gives the people he gives them the land verse 2 the

Lord gave Judah the Lord gave Judah into his hand and it's actually verses 3 to 21 is the first test and the first test is are you satisfied with God or can you be enticed by all kinds of sweet things my mind goes to a scene in the lion the witch in the wardrobe and the white witch is that what she what did she call it

I forget Turkish delight right she offers him

Turkish delight are you are you going to be satisfied with Turkish delight or are you going to accept the fact that God will give you what you need first test they pass that one then in Daniel 2 is the first time there's a dream and he is he is distressed by that dream and he even calls his his seers and he says

I'm not going to tell you the dream you're going to tell me what the dream is and then you're going to tell me what it means and they all said we can't do it you're all dead you're all dead but then they get the chance of Daniel and he says don't put him to death my

God will not only tell me your dream but he'll tell you what it means and then

Nebuchadnezzar professes well your God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords second test bow down worship me worship my my idol you must and then they get dimed out because they would pray to Yahweh and not pray to him they were dropping it out

I'm sorry? they were dropping it out not dimed out dropping it out

I got it okay thank you I wonder if they had that phrase back then probably anyway the three friends are put into a fiery furnace put hotter than ever before and when they looked in there were four in there one like the

Son of Man we know that that is the image of the Son of God and they're delivered to the second dream and again he's distressed and Daniel gives him the interpretation of the dream and he says you're going to be like a beast eating grass until you know the most high rules and Nebuchadnezzar professes professes

God chapter 5 we shift in now to King Belshazzar mini mini

Tekel Parson and we have a scene from the Adams family where a hand comes out and writes on the wall what he is doing there is he's having a feast and he's had all of the princes and all the greats around come into this great hall and he says take the vessels that are in storage where do those vessels come from?

Temple God's temple God's temple and he totally displeases

God mini mini Tekel Parson your days are numbered and your kingdom will be divided that night

Medo -Persian attacks and Belshazzar is killed third test you're going to be again warned and given an idol that you must worship and this time

Daniel is thrown into the lion's den and Darius is troubled all night long and he wakes up the next morning

Daniel, Daniel are you there? are you okay? and Daniel says yes my king my

God has preserved he has shut the mouth of the lion did you know that Darius then says may the

God you serve deliver you and the book of Daniel records a profession from both

Nebuchadnezzar and from Cyrus to the God is the God the one that can deliver but Belshazzar never does

Belshazzar is killed the death of Nebuchadnezzar and the death of Cyrus isn't recorded here or Darius is not recorded here an abrupt change because we go back into into the time of Belshazzar we start to see

Daniel get visions and why do we trust that these visions are true?

because the first six chapters are an evidence of the sovereignty of God you can't explain these first six chapters away without accepting the sovereignty of God so we get a vision of four beasts and Daniel is given the interpretation of one who will speak against the most high for time times and half the time we have early proclamations of those who oppose the

Antichrist who is going to oppose God then there's a vision of a ram and a goat this is the empires of Medo -Persia and Greece and the interpretation of a ram and a goat and a great horn

Alexander yeah Alexander and he gives us what's going to happen to these kingdoms he is sovereign over kingdoms he raises them he brings them down he sets up kings he is the one that is sovereign over it and Daniel 9 is one of the more amazing chapters of Daniel it's the 70 weeks prophecy from completion of payment of transgression to the end of times we're going to have starting out with us we've seen 70 years

Daniel is reading the scroll and he recognizes oh my goodness as I read into the scroll

God said it would be 70 years it's almost up yeah it's time to pray and so he prays that 70 weeks were decreed and we start to see

God's sovereign deliverance for the nation the tribe of Judah Benjamin half tribe of Manasseh are going to go back and they are going to rebuild the temple but the 70 weeks are decreed from the time that the decree is given to go rebuild the temple 70 weeks are decreed and we get to 69 weeks when the

Messiah is cut off it's like you gotta be kidding me it's there but then there's this gap because you see this prophecy is about the nation of Israel and after the

Messiah is cut off Israel is no longer the focus the church is the focus we get into Acts the church is now the focus and so we get this we get this shadow the parentheses we call it the church age which will be resolved in the 70th week which are the 7 weeks 7 years of the tribulation it is not the church's tribulation this is the tribulation that God gives for the cleansing and the preservation and the preparation of His people

Israel returns it's all there in Daniel 9 in 10 this is again one of these beautiful things it's a vision of a man and Daniel is praying and then all of a sudden you have

Gabriel come and he says dude I've been trying to get to you but I couldn't make it well why couldn't you make it well the devils were stopping me well then what happened

Michael came and he fought for me think about what's going on in the angelic realm this can open your mind by the way

Daniel 7 just led me to Peretti's books piercing the darkness this great darkness the battle that's going on in and around us the prophecy of the kings of the north and the south in Daniel 11 these are prophecies that are born out in the history after that and then in Daniel 12 the prophecy of the end time this is all laid out for us and we know it's true because of the sovereignty of God we're going to spend probably the next between now and June doing the first six chapters

Pastor Jeff will be on sabbatical starting in the middle of June and I'm sorry we're having eight weeks and what are you planning on doing

I'm going hiking I'm going back I'm going to be nature boy Jeff Klee I'll be out in the mountains and hiking and climbing and living in tents and killing wolves or I might go for a hike or two did you ask

God yes I'm going to spend time with God in the wilderness like John the Baptist oh yes the question is whether to bring the kids or not no we'll go hiking and take trips like that it's going to be awesome where are you going

I was thinking Pennsylvania Grand Canyon places like that Mount Everest Mount Everest yeah quick little

John I am going to climb Mount Washington I was going to say Mount Washington oh we're going to do it that's a great feeling you've got to build up to it though quick little

John yeah what I'm bringing that up to say is as Jeff has gone I'll be here

I'll be in the pulpit for a while and then we're going to give Gary Camlin a shot we're going to give

Tim Robinson a shot and there's one other shot we're deciding what we're going to do with that shot so you're going to get a lot of teaching while he's being fed in the wilderness eating locust and honey and whatever else you're going to do which is to say that we will resume

Daniel in September that's a long way about to say we are going to take a break this summer hear these things,

Lord, to consider your sovereignty, to rest and trust in you, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Lord over all, our sovereign.

Lord, you have dominion over all things and we trust you. And we pray that as we study through the book of Daniel, that this great truth, just like a banner over all of the book, would get planted deep in our hearts and help us to love you and to trust you, to walk with you.

We thank you for all of the teaching that Pastor John brought us today and the word of God, which is so rich and alive to our hearts and souls.

So thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, folks. It's really soft.