The Book of Daniel (Daniel 7:7)

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So this is Kootenai Community Church Sunday School, Adult Sunday School. We'll be looking at Daniel chapter seven again.

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And once I was corrected this morning that I didn't teach last week, I was here, but apparently

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I didn't teach. When you get old, the memory goes. I don't remember what the second thing is, it goes, but.

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Let's open Daniel to chapter seven. We're gonna read verses one through 12. One through, let me look here.

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Yeah, one through 12. Daniel chapter seven, the vision of the beasts. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed.

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Then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. Daniel said, I was looking in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

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And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle.

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I kept looking until its wings were plucked and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man.

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A human mind was also given to it. And behold, another beast, the second one resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth.

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And thus they said to it, arise, devour much meat. After this, I kept looking and behold, another one like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird.

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The beast also had four heads and dominion was given to it. After this,

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I kept looking in the night visions and behold, the fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong.

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And it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts that were before it.

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And it had 10 horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one came up among them.

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And three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it. And behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.

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I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His vesture was like white snow and the hair of his head like pure wool.

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His throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him.

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Thousands upon thousands were attending him and myriads upon myriads were standing before him.

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The court sat and the books were opened. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking.

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I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.

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So the last time we were together, we looked at the concepts that by which

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Christians in all ages through down to the millennia have interpreted

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Daniel, have interpreted in times, eschatology, the eschaton. And I tried to faithfully portray them to you from their own books so that I wouldn't be putting, interjecting my own opinion in the presenting of their methodology.

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We looked at that and then I believe we were, that's where we finished up.

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Prior to that, we had looked at the first two beasts, the lion, or excuse me, let me get my book here.

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It's called the Bible. The lion with the wings of an eagle, which seemed to correspond in chapter two to Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, or did seem to do that.

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And then the second, which was a bear, which was the

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Medo -Persian kingdom. So today, we will be looking at a third beast.

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Actually, we looked at the third beast, didn't we? Does this guy even know what he's doing? Yeah, the leopard with all the heads and the wings.

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And that was the Greek empire, Alexander, the quick -moving, fast -moving conquering of nations.

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Okay, you wanna put me back on 106? Because no matter how good you are, I have this.

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So he looked at, Daniel looked at the leopard, which had four wings of a bird, four heads, and dominion was given to it.

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Alexander conquered 11 ,000 miles of territory in quick, for that time, very quick succession.

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His was the fastest -moving army of historical, in history. And that is where we ended up as far as the beasts were concerned.

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Then we looked at the four methods of interpreting, premillennialism, two types, postmillennialism, and amillennialism.

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Today, we will look at the fourth beast. Chapter seven, verse seven. After this, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong.

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And it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns.

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So for purposes of understanding the different millennial views of this portion of Scripture, it should be noted that most, now

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I'm gonna always say most, because if you've been with us for very long, you know that in each of the four views, there's all kinds of shades of interpretation of prophecy.

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But generally speaking, generally speaking, postmillennials acknowledge the succession of Babylon, Medo -Persia,

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Greece, and Rome as the four beasts. They understand generally the messianic kingdom as the one coming in the kingdom of the one like the

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Son of Man. And they can see that the little horn, they believe the horn was the pope or papal system, and the saints are the church of the present age.

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They generally believe that the 10 kings symbolized by the 10 horns are all historical kings that are long dead.

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They generally believe that the victory of the kingdom of the Messiah is accomplished slow but sure through the ages, and is consummated with the second coming of Christ.

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Most amillennialists follow the same succession of kingdoms, but the beast with its 10 horns and the final little horn, they believe represents the three stages of the

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Roman kingdom. The first stage indicated by the beast itself lasts until the destruction of the Roman empire about the middle of the fifth century.

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The 10 horns represent merely that a number of kingdoms, a number of kingdoms will succeed to the

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Roman kingdom and rule. The little horn represents a final Gentile king who will be destroyed by the

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Lord at his second coming. The saints of the vision are generally looked at as the church of the

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New Testament who will suffer special persecution near the close of the age. Premillennialists hold that the four beasts are the same four kingdoms postulated by postmillennialists and amillennialists.

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The horns represent Roman kings contemporaneous within the Roman period. They are not yet known but correspond to the 10 horns on the first beast of Revelation 13 .1.

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This is a clear progressive revelation of divine truth. As Culver says in his commentary, he says, we hold the identity to be practically demonstrated by the obvious similarity of the visions and the principle of progressive revelation of divine truth.

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It is hardly likely that two such similar figures would symbolize different things. Of these 10,

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John specifically says in Revelation 17 .2, the 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

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He further comments this, Culver says, this I think settles the fact of their contemporaneousness.

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Furthermore, the connection of Revelation 17, even apart from the futuristic interpretation of Revelation in general, the connection

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I say with obviously eschatological events settles the futurity of these 10 kings and places them in an eschatological context.

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These kings are in the future according to premillennialists. The little horn we hold in common with most commentators to be the

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Antichrist. The Antichrist I hold to be a person who will arise in the end of this age who will gain mastery over the whole world for a brief period and will be destroyed by the

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Lord at his second coming as in 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, one through nine and Revelation 13, one through 10.

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The saints, Culver's still talking, I hold to be no different from the people of the saints in the passage before us.

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They are the Israelites of the end time who will at last inherit the kingdom of David with Christ himself reigning as their king.

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As you know, premillennialists we've talked about hold to a literal interpretation. Premillennialists believe in general that the facts of prophecy demand that the kingdom of the

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Gentiles is to be followed by the kingdom of Messiah. In fact, premillennialists believe that it must happen in this order.

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They are not contemporaneous kingdoms. Christ's kingdom is established after the final beast of the series was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning fire,

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Daniel 7 -11, what I just read. Remember that the stone kingdom, Messiah's kingdom, comes with force and destroys the image violently.

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After its destruction, and even the dust has been blown away, the stone becomes a higher great mountain and filled the whole earth.

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These are not contemporaneous kingdoms, but a succession. Culver further says this. He says, this is the basic fact that all millennialists and postmillennialists must face.

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This fact alone discredits both systems of interpretation. It is simply not possible to have an earthly kingdom of Messiah present during the

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Roman period of Gentile history and harmonize it with the facts of these two prophecies. And that ends

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Culver's commentary for this section. So also it should be noted that the beast stamped out the preceding kingdoms with its feet.

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This portrayal describes the ancient Roman empire to a T. Wolver describes this final beast in his commentary as completely ruthless.

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And the Romans were completely ruthless. They were incredible.

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I mean, look at the way they killed people. I think they crucified, I think it was 30 ,000 people at one time.

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And it was to send a message. That's just, I mean, to my mind, that's unbelievable.

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But actually, I don't know, maybe not. The internet's pretty bad, isn't it? So Wolver's commentary.

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The description of the fourth beast to this point more obviously corresponds to the Roman empire than to the empire of Alexander the

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Great. Alexander conquered by rapid troop movements and seldom crushed the people whom he conquered.

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By contrast, the Romans were ruthless in their destruction of civilizations and peoples, killing captive by the thousands and selling them into slavery by the hundreds of thousands.

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As Leopold states, referring to the iron teeth, that must surely signify a singularly voracious, cruel, and even vindictive world power.

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Rome could never get enough of conquest. Rivals like Carthage just had to be broken.

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Carthago delenda est. Carthage must be destroyed. Why? Because we're going to do it.

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Rome had no interest in raising the conquered nations to any high level of development. All her designs were imperial.

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Let the nations be crushed and stamped underfoot. The description of Daniel 7 -7 clearly is more appropriate for the empire of Rome than for the

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Mesopotamian kingdom or any of its derived divisions. And that's the end of Wallward's commentary.

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Further, Daniel points out that this beast was completely different from all the beasts preceding it.

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The Roman Republic was indeed different from all the preceding kingdoms. It had some elements of, if you will, governmental stability that the others didn't.

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But it was destined for destruction because it gave too much power to too few people.

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And when that happens, what does power do? And what does absolute power do?

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Oh, you guys are just students of history. I love it. This prophecy of Daniel, when taken properly, literally seems to indicate that the kingdom of Messiah will follow the

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Gentiles. Indeed, it waits for the destruction of the Gentile kingdoms. There is no place in history where the two kingdoms are contemporaneous.

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This prophecy will be seen to be completely in step with the prophecy in chapter two. The stone made without hands destroys the image.

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The dust blows everything away. All of the great empires are gone and the stone becomes a great mountain that fills the entire earth.

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It is simply not possible to have an earthly kingdom of Christ, our Messiah, present during the Roman period of Gentile history.

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One more thing is to be said about the Roman kingdom. The New Testament follows this precise interpretive pattern, a literal historical interpretation.

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Jesus spoke of the abomination of desolation as being future from his time. Whether it occurred with the destruction of the temple in 70

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AD or is, as most premillennialists believe, yet future, it is

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Rome that is in mind here, likely. Further, Jesus took Daniel's statements literally. We will look more at the 10 kingdoms for that is what the 10 horns symbolize in the next few verses.

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Now, there are some modern innovations on this interpretive track that we see that involve

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Muslims. And I have been studying them, so give me some time. There's a lot of reading on this puppy,

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I'm telling you. But very, very interesting and instructive that the

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Roman system might actually be what is in place, but another group of people may be the oppressors, the oppressor people in the end.

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So I'll be looking into this more, and there are some of you in here that are far ahead of me. Thank you for your patience.

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Are there any questions about verse seven that I can answer? Ask me questions about bologna and gluten and stuff like that.

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Any questions or comments? Okay, verse eight, while I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, were pulled out by the roots before it, and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and on a mouth uttering great boasts.

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Pride. If there is one thing the Lord hates perfectly, it is pride.

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The pride of man is always a presage to destruction. So the little horn comes up among them, it says, among them, which clearly implies contemporaneous existence.

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This seems the same tenfold chapter two. In chapter two, verses 41 and 42,

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Daniel speaks of the feet and toes. The connection of the toes with kingdoms is made even more clear in verse 44, where Daniel says, in the days of those kings, the toes represent kings to be destroyed by the coming of Christ.

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None of the events in verse eight here have taken place yet. Antichrist is first spoken of here.

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He is the little horn. The little horn is described as having eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.

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This is the first unfolding of the doctrine of the Antichrist and it's in Daniel chapter seven. He will destroy some of the other kingdoms in that future time, take them over, and begin his conquest of the world.

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Postmillennialists, amillennialists, and premillennialists all agree that the man of sin that Paul describes, the

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Antichrist, and the first beast of John are the same. As this little horn in Daniel seven. Now I said that pretty prescriptively.

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I'm pretty sure they all agree on that. But I didn't pull them. Let's read the description of the man of sin that Paul exposes in 2

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Thessalonians chapter two. So we're gonna be looking at 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verses one through 12.

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Paul says this. He says, now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us.

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For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first. And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so -called

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God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being

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God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed.

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For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

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Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.

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That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.

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Don't miss that. Yes, Rick. The Holy Spirit. And with all that deception of wickedness, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, for this reason,

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God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.

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I just interject here, for those who don't believe in Christ and you're witnessing to it and you're praying, have compassion.

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They cannot see it. You could not see it before Christ opened your mind.

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You were destined for destruction. You were one of the elect, but as far as you know or those who are witnessing to you, you may have been destined for destruction.

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They cannot see it. If there are elect among them, it is our mission, if you will, to mercifully tell them the truth, whether it's about homosexuality, abortion, or scripture, which is all addressed by that.

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There is no compromise with truth if we are going to see the gospel preached, no compromise ever.

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And brothers and sisters, you will take heat for this. And it's talked about in the scriptures in many places.

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I think I just lost my place. This is a yet future event, 2 Thessalonians 2.

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I believe it's a yet future event and precludes any post -millennial idea that the current Pope or papal system is the

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Antichrist, although I frankly understand why people think he or she, he might be it. Holy mackerel, he is the strangest creature to wear all those weird clothes that I've seen in my entire life.

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I know that's disrespectful, but I mean, I can see why people would believe it.

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Further, the kingdom of Messiah, believed by all millennialists to have been established at the beginning of this present age is specifically predicted to appear after the appearance and destruction of the

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Antichrist. This has not happened. Any questions or comments about verse eight?

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Okay, and if you have things you wanna ask me or the other elders later, write them down and email

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Kathy or us if you have our email. I did send out my notes that I worked through on the four different methods of interpreting the end times, and so hopefully those who want them will be getting them soon.

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Verse nine, so Daniel, this has got to have been just a tremendously startling and horrifying dream that shook him up, because he knew these were things of import that God was telling him for the future.

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I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

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His vesture was like white snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames.

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Its wheels were a burning fire. So the thrones were set up, thrones were set up translates the same words that in the

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King James are rendered, the thrones were cast down. The correct translation is that the thrones were placed and ready for the monarch to sit on them.

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And what they would do in those days is in a quick situation where they didn't have a formal throne, they would throw stuff on the floor, special seats and stuff for the monarch to sit on.

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That's how the thrones were cast down. They were thrown down for the monarch to sit on. So it's not necessarily a possible incorrect interpretation of the words, it's just an incorrect understanding if you don't look at history, how they took care of,

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I mean, can you imagine having to build a golden throne? Now Nebuchadnezzar would have made you. He wouldn't have sat on pillows, but the others would have apparently done that.

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So the thrones were cast down or set up. The ancient of days is God the Father. The white clothing symbolizes purity and holiness of God.

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The white hair symbolizes maturity and wisdom. The fire is a symbol of knowledge, purity and judgment.

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It's that John has described our Lord Jesus Christ in these same similar terms in the book of Revelation.

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And that should not surprise us because the second person of the Trinity has the same glory as the

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Father, although their personhood is different. Same glory, same power, same omniscience, same omnipotence.

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He has all, he is God. And so it shouldn't be surprising that John would describe him in the same way.

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Revelation 1, 13 through 15. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the

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Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot and girded about the chest with a golden girdle. I put

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King James in here. It's my past coming back. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined brass as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

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So he's describing the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the same, it's a very similar description of God the

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Father. Any comments, questions about verse eight? Verse nine, or excuse me, verse eight.

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A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered unto him, and 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 stood before him.

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The judgment was set, and the books were opened. This magnificent setting is of millions, perhaps billions of angels ministering to the

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Father, and the books were opened for judgment. So for those who, if you wanna write these, these are some of the corresponding scriptures.

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Revelation 20, 12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened.

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And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.

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And then in Matthew 25, 31 through 46. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.

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And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, and as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

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Then shall the king say unto them, I got King James here again, but I like it. On his right hand, come, you blessed of my

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Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry, and you gave me meat.

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I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.

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I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the righteous answer and say, Lord, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you, or thirsty, and gave you drink?

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When did we see you a stranger, and took you in, or naked, and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?

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And the king shall answer and say to them, I say to you, inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it to me.

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Then shall he say also to them on his left hand, depart from me, you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry, and you gave me no meat.

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I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in. Naked, and you did not clothe me.

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Sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then shall they also answer to him, say, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?

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And he will answer them, saying, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me, and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous to life eternal.

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So, so that it is that as we treat people will be our judgment in many respects.

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Now, I'm not saying you'll be judged and sent to hell. I'm saying that the crowns that you may have or forfeit are based on how we react and how we treat people in this world as emissaries of the king of kings.

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Here in Daniel chapter seven and in Revelation chapter 20, we see the great white throne judgment, which is the final judgment of all history.

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Judgment is one of the prerogatives of our sovereign God, and there are some that have already taken place, some that are happening now, and some that will happen in the future.

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When we run into folks who complain about God doing thus and such, he is sovereign, and it is his prerogative to do.

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It's kind of hard to explain to someone who cannot see the light of the truth in scripture, but the fact is, is he said,

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I will do as I will do. We should glory in that, because he will always do what is righteous.

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Judgments that have already occurred, the judgment of Adam and Eve, Genesis 3, 14 through 24. God banished the first couple from the

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Garden of Eden for violating his clear command not to eat the fruit of freedom knowledge of good and evil. This judgment affected all of creation.

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I ran into someone this week. I ran into someone this week who was offended that I believe that we are sinners from birth, that we are sinners from conception, actually, it says in Psalm 51, and he was offended at that.

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So I'm still working on, along with the scripture I'm going to present, the Psalms and some of the other areas of scripture that detail the depravity of humanity.

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It's an offensive thing. The gospel is an offensive thing, and it should be, because it's man's pride that prevents him from seeing it.

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The judgment of the Antelopean world in Genesis 7. God sent a worldwide flood in judgment of mankind's sin in Noah's time.

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The flood destroyed all of mankind and the animal world except for Noah and his family, whose faith led them to obey

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God's commands to build the ark. I believe in a young earth. I believe in creation.

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No, it didn't take millions of years. It took, I don't know, six or, we've been here six or 7 ,000 years would be my guess.

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Now, I'm not a date setter, but that's my guess, and I believe it's far more founded on the truth than people who use index fossils to date particular minerals, and then they use those minerals to date the index fossils, and they see no problem with that.

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It's called, it's circular reasoning. The judgment of Egypt. So we have the judgment of Adam and Eve, the judgment of the tower, or excuse me, the judgment of the

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Antelopean world. Judgment at the Tower of Babel, Genesis chapter 11, verses five through nine. Noah's post -flood descendants remained in one location in defiance of God's command to fill the earth and populate it, so God confused their language, causing them to disperse over the earth.

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That's the third judgment. Excuse me. The judgment of Egypt and their gods,

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Exodus chapters seven through 12. The 10 plagues against Egypt at the time were exodus, of the exodus, were mighty acts of judgment against a stubborn, cruel king and an idolatrous people and their gods.

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The judgment of the believer's sins, Isaiah 53. Jesus took the judgment upon himself by his crucifixion and death.

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He suffered death so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone who is one of his.

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He suffered death so that by the grace of God, he might suffer death for everyone, Hebrews 2 .9.

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Because our sin was judged at the cross, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8 .1.

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It was also at the cross that God pronounced judgment on the unbelieving world and on the enemy of our soul,

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Satan. As Jesus said shortly before his arrest, now is the time for judgment on this world.

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Now the prince of this world will be driven out, John 12. 31, now the judgments occurring now in the church age, self -evaluation, 1

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Corinthians 11. Believers practice self -examination prayerfully and honestly assessing their own spiritual condition.

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The church helps in this endeavor to purify the body of Christ. Self -judgment requires each believer to be spiritually discerning with a goal of being more like Christ.

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Believers become, I know it sounds arrogant, it sounds proud, and I do not mean it that way.

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But if, as a believer, you are not more and more horrified by your sin and becoming, desiring to become more and more like the

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Son of God, and if people are not seeing progression in that direction, you should really evaluate yourself if those things are not happening.

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Because believers become more horrified by their sin. They strive more to become like Christ.

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And indeed, if they are true believers, they will be becoming more like Christ. And they will be humble about it.

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They will recognize that it is not them doing it. Divine discipline,

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Hebrews 12. As a father lovingly corrects his children, so the Lord disciplines his own.

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That is, he brings his followers to a place of repentance and restoration when they sin. In so doing, he makes a distinction between us and the world.

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When we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world, 1

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Corinthians 11. Whom Christ loves, he chastens, Revelation 3. Judgments to occur in the future.

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The judgments of the tribulation period, Revelation 6 through 16. These terrible judgments are pictured as seven seals opened, seven trumpets blown, and seven bowls poured out.

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God's judgment against the wicked will leave no doubt as to his wrath against sin. Besides punishing sin, these judgments will have the effect of bringing the nation of Israel to repentance.

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The interesting thing for me, as I've studied through the judgments, there will be a time coming when the world will be being judged, and they will call the mountains down on them rather than repent.

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The only reason I didn't do that is because of his divine grace. Otherwise, that would have been me.

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The judgment seat of Christ. Another one to occur in the future, 2 Corinthians 5 .10. Resurrection, resurrected believers in heaven will be judged for their works.

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Sin is not in view at this judgment, as that was paid for by Christ, but only faithfulness in Christian service.

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Selfish works or those done with the wrong motives will be burned up, the wood hands stubble. Works of everlasting value to the

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Lord will survive, the gold, silver, and precious stones. Rewards, which the Bible calls crowns, gold, silver, crowns in Revelation 3 will be given by the one who is not unjust.

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He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him, Hebrews chapter six. The judgment of the nations.

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Matthew chapter 25, 31 through 46. After the tribulation, the Lord Jesus will sit in judgment over the

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Gentile nations. They will be judged according to their treatment of Israel during the tribulation. This judgment is also called the judgment of the sheep and the goats because of the imagery

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Jesus uses in the Olivet Discourse. Those who showed faith in God by treating Israel favorably, giving them aid and comfort during the tribulation are the sheep who will enter into the millennial kingdom.

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Those who followed the Antichrist's lead and persecuted Israel are the goats who will be consigned to hell.

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The judgment of angels. First Corinthians six, two, and three. Paul says that Christians will judge angels.

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I'm frankly quite terrified by that. Scripture says that.

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First Corinthians six, two, and three. We aren't exactly sure what this means, but the angels facing judgment would have to be the fallen angels.

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It seems that Satan's hordes of demons will be judged by the redeemed ones of the land. Some of these demons are already imprisoned in darkness and awaiting judgment, according to Jude 1, 6, due to their leaving their proper dwelling place.

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Peter. I hadn't heard that, no.

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But the word judgment, I guess I need to look up that word if it was creno or which one it was.

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I'll make a note of that. Actually, if I don't actually make a note of that, I won't make a note of that. Thank you,

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Peter. And then finally, the great white throne judgment of Revelation chapter 20.

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The final judgment. This final judgment of unbelievers for their sin occurs at the end of the millennium, before the creation of the new heaven and new earth.

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At this judgment, unbelievers from all ages are judged for their sins and consigned to the lake of fire. And that is the final judgment of history.

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Any questions about those? Okay. Now of course, there are numerous different opinions about the end times and these judgments.

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Premillennial dispensationalists acknowledge in the end times at least three main judgments. The first is the Bema Seat judgment detailed in 2

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Corinthians 5. The second is the judgment of the nations in Matthew chapter 25. And the final is the great white throne judgment of Revelation chapter 20.

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So the end times chronology will be something like this.

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I think I can get through most of this. What we don't, we'll look at next time. Number one, the rapture of the church.

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Christ comes in the clouds, snatching away all of those who trust in him, 1 Corinthians 15, 52.

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At this same time, the dead in Christ will be resurrected and taken to heaven. From our perspective today, this is the next event in the eschatological timeline.

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The rapture is imminent. No other biblical prophecy needs to be fulfilled before the rapture happens. So Christ's return is imminent.

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And that's wonderful and terrifying at the same time. There are so many people I want to trust him that I want the rapture to delay.

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But on the other hand, come quickly, Lord Jesus. This place is a disaster. I'm sure both of those are at play in most of us, if not all of us in here.

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Number two, the rise of the Antichrist. After the church is taken out of the way in 2 Thessalonians 7, a satanically empowered man will gain worldwide control with promises of peace.

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He will be aided by another man called the false prophet who heads up a religious system that requires worship of the

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Antichrist. Number three, the tribulation. A period of seven years in which

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God's judgment is poured out on sinful humanity in Revelation 6 through 16. The Antichrist's rise to power is associated with this time period.

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During the tribulation on earth, the church will be in heaven. It is the pre -millennialists believe the church will be in heaven.

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It is thought that at this time, the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper of the lamb will occur in heaven in 2

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Corinthians 5 .10 and Revelation 19, 6 through 10. Number four, the battle of Gog and Magog.

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In the first part of the tribulation, a great army from the north in alliance with several other countries from the Middle East and Africa attack

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Israel and is defeated by God's supernatural intervention. It's in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Some commentators place this battle just before the start of the tribulation.

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I don't wanna sound like I have this all lined up. These are some of the things that I believe.

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Number five, the abomination of desolation. At midway point of the seven -year tribulation, the

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Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel and shows his true colors. The Jews are scattered and many of them turn to the

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Lord, realizing that Jesus is their Savior. A great persecution breaks out against all those who believe in Christ. Daniel 12, 11,

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Mark 13, and Revelation 12. Number six, the battle of Armageddon.

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At the end of the tribulation, Jesus returns with the armies of heaven in Mark 14. He saves

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Jerusalem from annihilation and defeats the armies of the nations fighting under the banner of the

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Antichrist, Revelation 19. The Antichrist and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire,

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Revelation 19, 20. The judgment of the nations. Christ will judge the survivors of the tribulation, separating the righteous from the wicked as sheep and goats in Matthew chapter 25.

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It is thought that at this time, the Old Testament saints will be raised from the dead. The righteous will enter the millennial kingdom and the wicked will be cast into hell.

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Number eight, the binding of Satan. Satan will be bound and held in a bottomless pit for the next thousand years,

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Revelation 20, one through three. Number nine, the millennial kingdom. Jesus himself will rule the world and Jerusalem will be the capital.

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This will be a thousand year period of peace and prosperity on earth, Revelation 20, Isaiah 60 through 62.

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Memorial sacrifices will be offered in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, Ezekiel 40 through 48. Number 10, the last battle.

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At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison for a short time. He will deceive the nations once again and there will be a rebellion against the

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Lord that will be quickly defeated, Revelation 20. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, never to reappear.

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Then the great white throne judgment. All those in hell will be brought forth and all the wicked from all areas of history will be resurrected to stand before God in a final judgment,

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Revelation 20, 11 through 15. The verdicts are read and all of sinful humanity is cast into the lake of fire.

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Teotihuacan, the end of the world as we know it. Isn't there a psalm? Why would

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I remember that? What a worthless piece of trivia to remember. So here's a chart to give some clarity on the remaining three main views of the end times.

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To repeat some of the information we discussed earlier and we'll end with, I believe we will end with this.

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Pre -millennialism is the belief that the second coming of Christ occurs before the millennium, which is a literal thousand years.

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Pre -millennialists believe that believers will be caught up into heaven at the end of the church age before a time of great tribulation.

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There are some who believe it will be in the middle of the great tribulation. They will then return with Christ to rule the earth with him, to rule with him for a thousand years after which unbelievers are judged and the eternal kingdom is set up.

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Divided on whether the church will go through a great time of tribulation or whether the church will be raptured from the earth before the tribulation.

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Dispensationalists have also differed on the timing of the rapture, believing it to occur before, in the middle, or at the end of the tribulation.

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It's an amazing thing when you start studying this to find out how many different views there are of the views, which have views within the views that you're viewing about the view.

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And I'm not talking about the TV show. Post -millennialism is the belief that the second coming of Christ occurs after the millennium.

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Some that take this position believe the millennium is a thousand years, while others believe that it is a figurative concept referring to the entire

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New Testament age. Post -millennialism teaches, generally, that the forces of Satan will gradually be defeated by the expansion of the kingdom of God throughout history, up until the second coming of Christ.

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The view that the tribulation has already taken place is the preterist position. The view that the entire church age is in tribulation is the historicist, historist view.

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And finally, amillennialism is the belief that there is not a literal thousand year reign of Christ on the earth, but that his second coming, of course, will be at the end of history.

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The millennium is purely spiritual in nature, and at the end of the age, church age, Christ will return in final judgment and establish a permanent, physical reign.

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The preterist view believes the tribulation has already taken place, while the classical position views the tribulation and Antichrist as symbolic in the book of Revelation.

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So those are just reminders of what kind of a skeleton people hang this meat on, if you will.

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Any comments or questions before we close? I'm doing my best not to confuse all of us.

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And I can send out, if you would like, some of these little charts and things, I can send those out to Kathy, and she can send them out to you,

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I'll do that. Josh? Right, this is in my text, though.

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There's the charts. Oh, whoops. Oh yeah, there's the charts, he did it again. Those charts, you can grab them online from the

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Sunday school lesson, but the informational one, you know, the 12 different judgments and et cetera,

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I mean, the chronology and the different judgments, I can send that out, I'll be glad to send that out. So if there's no questions or comments, let's close in prayer.

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Father, much of what is going to happen is clear, some is confusing, some is hard to understand, but there is so much in the scripture that we cannot misunderstand.

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And we trust you, Lord, we trust you that you will bring all to pass that will glorify you.

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Help us to understand and help that understanding, cause that understanding to be a propellant for us to honor you in everything we do, to be delighted and awesomely excited about the glorification of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, which is to come. For it is that we look forward to when our bodies will be redeemed and we will see him as he really is and we will be like him for we will see him as he is.