Daniel 7. That's where we will hang out tonight. Let's pray. Father, what glorious things we just sung. What amazing truths. What comfort we have. And that it's not us, but it's through Christ in us. We thank You, Lord. What amazing things in this chapter before us, God, that we are dealing with and looking at. And Lord, these things are too wonderful for us. They're too excellent. And so we need help. So Holy Spirit, would you come in this room and illuminate the text and speak to every heart in this room. You know every need. Some may need encouragement, some may need conviction, some may need the lights to come on and see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ and be saved. And so we ask, Holy Spirit, sovereignly, Apply the Word to hearts. We pray that You would be honored, Jesus. We pray it in Your name, Amen. Well, up to this point, in our study of the book of Daniel, we've primarily seen the genre of narrative, right? With the exception of chapter 2 in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the genre has been historical narrative, right? It's been pretty straightforward. But now in chapter 7, there's going to be a switch in the style, in the genre of literature that we're dealing with. And so we're going from historical narrative to that of apocalyptic So, before we begin in Daniel 7, I want to say a few things about apocalyptic literature that I think will be a good primer for our study tonight and for the next few weeks. And so, I mean, guys, we all do this in our lives. I mean, think about it. We approach literature differently depending on what we're reading. So think about the Babylon Bee. Have any of you guys seen that or read that? You read the Babylon Bee much differently than you read a textbook for college. You're reading satire. You know what's being said probably isn't true. But you understand that something's being made fun of in order for a purpose to be made. But when you read your college textbook, you're reading that very differently. And you're interpreting the information differently. You read a Facebook post different than you read a billboard. You read a text message different than you read something on Twitter. And just the way we do that in everyday life, we do that when we come to the Bible. We don't read apocalyptic literature the same way that we read an epistle, or a psalm, or a proverb, or a narrative. And so, apocalyptic literature does not necessarily have to be about the end times. Right? When we think apocalyptic literature, we think, obviously, the book of Revelation. And the book of Revelation does deal with the end times. However, it doesn't always have to deal with what we see happening in the end times. Actually, the word revelation just means apocalypse. That's what we translate the word into, into revelation. Apocalyptic literature is revelatory. That's what it's after. It's revealing truth. It doesn't have to be about the end times, and it uses primarily symbolic language and symbolic concepts to convey present and future physical and spiritual truths. It's using symbolic language and concepts to articulate oftentimes spiritual realities. Apocalyptic literature often builds a forest, right? To use Kevin DeYoung's illustration, it builds a forest for us and oftentimes we get caught up in one little tree. So there's this forest before us, and we want to cut down a tree and focus on the tree. That's how we get to the place where we take a concept, like the mark of the beast, or the number 666, and we take those things out of the forest, and we begin to have bad readings of what those things mean, and what their purposes are, and we make movies about them, and we write books about these things, and that's what happens with improper hermeneutics. In apocalyptic literature, there's not always a perfect one-to-one ratio. So it's not always there's one horn, there's one king. There's ten horns, there's ten kings. It doesn't always communicate that way. And one event or one image in apocalyptic literature oftentimes shows us a long period of time in spatial history. Right, so you think about the image in Revelation of a slain lamb. That's one image, but we know at least that's showing us that Jesus was crucified and raised. We see a vision of a dragon chasing a woman with a baby, trying to kill her. That's one chapter, one image, but it's conveying a long, multiple thousand years of history. So not always is one thing in apocalyptic literature showing us one event, but oftentimes many events in spatial history. And apocalyptic literature really communicates the breaking in of God's kingdom into the present world. And it communicates to us the fallenness of this world and the coming kingdom. Stars falling from heaven. The Bible uses this image often. The stars falling from heaven. That typically always, in the Old Testament, is communicating a nation falling. A large and successful nation crumbling. And the overall purpose of apocalyptic literature is this. It's to remind the people of God and to encourage them to remain faithful under persecution and under oppression, and to remind them and encourage them that God will ultimately reign victoriously, and His kingdom will ultimately prevail. That's the purpose of apocalyptic literature. That's the purpose of the book of Daniel. And that's the purpose of the book of Revelation. So we could say a lot about those books, but if we draw back and we say what do these books want from us or want us to know, we need to know it's going to probably look bad for Christians. But remain faithful. Keep your hope in Christ because God will come and His kingdom will prevail. And so, having sort of laid a premise for the genre, what I want to do tonight is work through this text sort of at three levels. I want to preach on the nature of the four beasts that we see in this text. I want to preach on the identity of the Ancient of Days, and the One like a Son of Man. And then I want to put an argument before you for what I think is the historical fulfillment of these events that we see in Daniel 7. I'll try to stop moving and hopefully we can take care of that. But listen, here's the temptation for us in a text like tonight. The temptation is that we can become so enumerated with how's and why's and when's and what if's and who is this and who is that, that we can miss the point of the text. And what we need more than knowing and speculating about all the details, is we need to know what God is saying to His church in November 2020. That's what we need more than anything. And if we fail to see that, then we've missed the point. And so I don't want to miss it. Because look, this passage is filled with symbolism and incredible detail that scholars disagree on. and true Christians who love the Lord can come to a passage like this and disagree. But we can all, hopefully not getting lost in the weeds, we can all come to a passage like this and we can agree, no matter what eschatological view you hold, the point is the same, and it's this, that the nations and the kings of this world will oppose the Kingdom of God and the people of God, and they will even at times look to be victorious. But God will come and deliver His people, and He will triumph over all of His enemies. And we will reign with Him forever. So no matter where we fall, eschatologically, we can all agree that that's what's going to happen. And that's what God, I think, wants us to see. And church, we have to see that this week. I mean, I think about the kindness of God in putting us in the book of Daniel right now, sovereignly, in this season of our lives. And in Daniel 7, this week, in light of all the events that we've seen this week, we need to hear what God is saying to His people. This is what we need most. We need a deep conviction over these things. And so my prayer is that as we walk through this passage, that this conviction will deepen in our hearts. So point number one, the nature of the four beasts. Look at verses 2 and 3. It says, Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And the four beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. So the sea in the ancient Mediterranean world represents chaos, and rebellion, and evil, and darkness, and a lack of order. And we just read this text, but these beasts are ugly. They're terrifying. They're not cute little puppies. They're not butterflies. They're ferocious. They're lions and bears and leopards and they're devouring and they're conquering. So again, before we get into history and who these nations are and what they represent, the point is clear. Something is not right. Something is not right, and we know that because in Genesis 2, before the fall, Adam and Eve were supposed to be the ones exercising dominion over the beasts. They were to be reigning. They were to be multiplying. They were to be conquering the world for God. But here in Daniel 7, the beasts have the authority. Or in the first part of the chapter, the beasts have the authority. The beasts have the dominion, and they're exercising it. They're doing what Adam was supposed to be doing. And let us not forget that in Genesis 3, the serpent is called. A beast of the field. The craftiest of the beasts of the field. And we know from the interpretation in verse 17 that these beasts represent kings who probably represent kingdoms. So what I think is clear is this. Sin has corrupted the kingdoms and the kings of this world. This is what happens when sin corrupts, and instead of bearing the image of God and ruling the world for God, the kings and the kingdoms of this world are bearing the image of horrifying and ferocious beasts. And they devour, and they torture, and they destroy people. And they oppose the kingdom of God. And so, who do these beasts represent historically? Well, let me just start by saying something that most people don't want to hear. There is no way that anyone can be certain, 100% certain, who these beasts actually represent historically. And we need to be okay with that, because the text just does not give us that. So we need to be very humble in how we come about these things and establish convictions and not be overly dogmatic. However, I do want to very quickly put before you what I think is the best view. I think historically, the first nation is Babylon. We see that the lion comes down and then is given legs to stand on and he is given the mind of a man. I think that's clearly Nebuchadnezzar who is humbled and then raised up by God. and restored to His kingdom. I think the second beast is clearly the Medo-Persian empire. Again, Medo-Persia, there are two kingdoms, but they're always described as one in the book of Daniel. And if you notice, the bear is raised up on one side. And the Persian kingdom was stronger than the kingdom of the Medes. So I think that the second beast is the Medo-Persia empire. The third beast I think is clearly the Greece, the Greco Empire, and specifically Alexander the Great. If you remember anything about him from social studies in like fourth grade, he conquered the entire Mediterranean world extremely quickly. It took him ten years to conquer the whole world. the whole world at that point, and spread Greco language and hedonistic ideology all over the Mediterranean world in just 10 years. So it would be fitting for him to be described as a leopard with wings, like a bird. But, he's cut down very quickly, he dies very quickly, and four of his generals, the beast has four heads, take over his kingdom. And then lastly, I think the last beast is Rome. However, even if that's accurate, I think what this vision is doing is it's painting for us a broad stroke of the kingdoms and the kings throughout history. It's giving us a heavenly perspective of the kingdom of man throughout history. And it's giving us this 30,000 foot view of what they look like. And so while I do think the fourth beast historically represents Rome, it also is an embodiment of the kingdom of man that opposes the kingdom of God. And that continues, church, even to this day. And I think that's a responsible hermeneutic. I mean, we're not trying to avoid the text by saying that. We see throughout Scripture that there are real historical events that really happened that later biblical authors pick up on and then use those as themes to interpret what's happening in their time. So we see in Revelation, John uses the theme of the beast, and of Babylon, and of the little horn, and all these things here, and he uses those themes. The Bible does this a lot. The theme of exile. The theme of exodus. The theme of temple. We see that the Bible uses these reoccurring themes that do have historical significance, to be sort of catalysts to interpret itself throughout. And so I think we're right in line with the Bible's hermeneutic to say that these beasts represent a linear progression. Notice they get worse as they continue. A linear progression of the nations of the world who ultimately oppose God. So I certainly think that we're in line with interpreting the text this way. And it's interesting that even nations today, they use these same beasts for their national symbols, right? I mean, China, their national symbol is a dragon. And Russia's national symbol is a bear, and the United States of America's national symbol is an eagle, right? Nobody's national symbol is a chihuahua or a puppy. Right? They're ferocious beasts that show we're strong. We're mighty. Don't mess with us. Right? This embodies the kingdoms of the world. And I'm not saying that we read into all that and get on YouTube and make a YouTube channel and get into all these strange things, but again, apocalyptic literature is not so much concerned with a one-to-one ratio as it is revealing to us what is typical about the world and about heaven. And so what about the little horn? Well, most scholars do believe that the little horn is the Antichrist. What people would call today the Antichrist. And I think it's a portrait of different men throughout history who have raised themselves up to destroy people and to exalt themselves against God. I mean, you think about the Roman emperor Nero, who John probably had in mind when he's writing about the little horn, who put Peter and Paul and many other Christians to death. And then you think about Titus, who destroyed the temple in 70 AD. And in more recent times, you think about Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin, men who have been responsible for millions, millions of deaths, and who have exalted themselves against God. Look at verse 8. He says, "...I considered the horns, and behold, there came up from among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots, And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things." So this little horn comes out of the beasts, but he looks like a man. He mimics the kingdom of the Son of Man that we will see in a moment. He has a mouth that speaks great things. He has the ability to persuade. to deceive, probably to offer peace and to draw people away. He appeals. He shows himself to have sanity, to offer peace, to offer control. And we need to just land here for a moment, and I promise I'm not about to say anything weird and be one of the preachers who tries to say who I think the Antichrist is. I'm not even sure that the Bible teaches that there will be one end-time Antichrist. I think it's likely. I think it's very possible. But what we do know, church, is this. is that there have been men throughout history, there are men today, and there will be men in the future who will raise themselves up out of the beast, who will exalt themselves against God, and they'll speak great things, and they'll offer peace to the world, and they'll lead people astray, and they will deceive, and they'll speak almost as if they are a Christ, and they will lead people astray, And church, we must know this book. We need to be like Daniel in Babylon. who knew this book so well that when one king fell and another was raised up, he wasn't alarmed. When one nation fell, Babylon, and another one was raised up, Persia, Medo-Persia, he wasn't alarmed. Who was so able to articulate what God was doing in the earth because he knew the Scriptures. He knew what Jeremiah said. He knew what the prophets said. He knew God was judging Israel. That he wasn't alarmed. that when the king made a wicked edict, that no one could pray to any God except for Him for thirty days, who continued to pray, continued to sought the Lord for mercy. who refuse to bow down to the beast. We need to be like Daniel Church in Babylon. 1 John 4 says, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. And that's really all I want to say about the historicity of the beast. But guys, again, I don't want us to miss the point, because we get lost in the weeds. Here's what we need to see. Whether there will be an end times Antichrist, or whether it's a portrait of men throughout history that is more symbolic, what is clear is this, in large part, in large part in history, the kingdoms of this world and the kings of this world will oppose God and His Christ and His people. They will. And there will be times in history where powerful men will exalt themselves, and they will lead people astray, and they will deceive people into following them, and they will persecute the people of God. And they'll try to ultimately thwart out the seed of the woman. This started back with Cain and Abel, and it's still happening today. And I think this is hard for us. It's hard for us because most of us have lived in the United States of America in a time in God's providence, in history, where there has been an attempt by the government to create peace and an opportunity to pursue life and freedom and happiness. I'm not saying it's been perfect and that there's not been sin. I'm not saying that America's had a covenant with God or anything like that. But what I'm saying is that the nation's governmental structure in some ways has allowed the people of God to worship, to preach, to raise their families up the way they want, and we've gotten used to that. But church, listen to me. That is not normal in history. That is the exception to the rule, not the norm. Throughout history, and even in the world today, The people of God suffer. And they are persecuted. And they do not get to raise their children in the ways of God freely. They do not get to come into a worship service and sing and preach freely. They do not get to preach the gospel freely. And so you and I and our parents in God's providence, we've experienced something that most of God's people have not and will never experience. They are experiencing the norm. We are experiencing the exception. And so it shouldn't surprise us, church, to see the government becoming more hostile all across the board, in the world, becoming more hostile to Christians, because that's what we see. That's the testimony of Scripture in Daniel 7. And so, church, we all saw the events of this week. Don't put too much stock in the government. Don't put too much stock in the kingdom of man. Trust in Christ. Look up. Put your hope in God. We've talked about voting. We've talked about being a blessing in Babylon. And we should go and we should do all that well to the glory of God. We should do all of those things. But just know that more than likely, the government leaders of this world will oppose God, and they will oppose His people. Don't put your faith in men, but in God. And if your heart has been anxious, if you've been discouraged, if you've been angry this week, get alone with God like Daniel did. Get alone with God with this book and renew your mind in the Lordship of God, in the Lordship of Christ, until you can walk away with your heart refreshed, knowing that He's in control, knowing that He's working all things for good, knowing that Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God, right now reigning and will reign forever. And so you can be like David from Psalm 27 and say, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I be afraid? Who shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Number two, the nature of the ancient of days and the one like a son of man. Look at verse 9. As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before Him. A thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousands stood before Him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. Notice the difference between the ancient of days and the beasts. While the beasts are chaotic and ugly and undefined, you can't even define the fourth beast. It's so ferocious. The ancient of days is described as having wisdom and purity and righteous judgment. And he's worshipped. So the Ancient of Days is clearly God the Father, Yahweh, and He has authority to take away dominion from the beast and give it to one. In verse 11 it says, that I looked, and then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking, and as I looked, a beast was killed. And it's body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. That happens so quickly. The beast is described in all these terms in the first part of Daniel 7, and then in one verse, he's killed and he's thrown to be burned. And authority is given to another. There's never a hint in this passage that the kingdom of man will actually stand a chance against the kingdom of the ancient of days. The flow and the point of this passage is that the Ancient of Days holds the kingdoms of man in His hand, and He will take their dominion away, and He will judge all the wicked and all the unrighteousness on the earth. And so, who is the One like a Son of Man? Look at verses 13 and 14. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came One like a Son of Man. And He came to the ancient of days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. and His kingdom, one, that shall not be destroyed." So who is this One like a Son of Man? Guys, we must not too quickly come to this verse and say, oh, it's Jesus. That's easy. Because look, this is being written to Jews hundreds of years before Jesus was born. And there's nowhere else in the Old Testament where the term Son of Man is used to describe the Messiah or the Davidic King. So the Jews would have struggled with this. It would have been confusing for them. So this would have been puzzling. Because the Son of Man in the Old Testament usually is just a generic term. It just means a human, a person. And it's used that way a lot in the Old Testament. Yet here, the one like a Son of Man is associated with divinity. Because anytime in the Old Testament when the language of coming on the clouds is used, it is always, without exception, used to talk about God, Yahweh, the Father. It's never describing an angel. It's never describing a person. Anytime that language is used, it's talking about the Father. We see here a new Adam. There's a human. This kingdom will be a humane kingdom. It will be a structured kingdom. It will be an orderly kingdom. One that can be described. And so, where Adam forfeited what he was to do to take dominion and to occupy the earth and to rule it for God's sake, and he failed to do that, the Son of Man comes and He restores that. And He does what Adam and Eve failed to do. He takes dominion over the nations for God. And so this One like a Son of Man is described as being a human being, but He's also described as being divine. And by the way, the similarities between the Son of Man and this passage in Daniel 7, and the Son of Man in Revelation, the similarities are strikingly close. Go read about how the Son of Man is described in Revelation, and read this, and you'll go, that's the same person. So either one of two things is happening. Either John is a blasphemer, or he believes that Jesus is God. It's amazing. The Bible is amazing. And so notice the juxtaposition. The kingdom of this world is described as beasts who are operating outside of God's design, breaking God's decrees, corrupted by sin. There's temporary dominion. and it will ultimately come to an end. But the Son of Man's kingdom is a humane kingdom. An orderly kingdom. An everlasting kingdom. And so who is this One like a Son of Man? Well, Jesus uses this title, Son of Man, for Himself more than any other title in the Gospels. More than Son of God, more than Christ or Messiah, more than any name. This was the way Jesus preferred to describe Himself. And I think one of the reasons is that it was ambiguous. At one level, it just meant a human being. But on another level, everybody in Jesus' time had Daniel 7 in their minds. It was part of their convictions. And so the Son of Man also had a special significance. So Jesus is calling Himself the Son of Man, and they didn't really know what He was talking about. Are you describing yourself as a man? Or are you describing yourself as the Son of Man from Daniel 7? But here are a few passages where Jesus clearly sees Himself as the One like a Son of Man in Daniel 7. Matthew 24 and 30, Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And then Mark 14.62, and Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. So these passages are clearly allusions to Daniel 7.13, and it would be this allusion, church, that would ultimately get the Lord Jesus crucified. This is the verse that he would stand before Caiaphas, the high priest, and confess this about himself, and they would charge him with blasphemy and lead him out to be crucified. Because when He claims that He's the Son of Man from Daniel 7, in their minds, you're claiming to be God. And that was blasphemy for them. And so, yes, Jesus is the Son of Man who was given a kingdom and dominion, and His kingdom will never be destroyed. And here's what we have to understand. Look at verse 18. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever, and ever." So what's going on here? In verse 13, the Son of Man receives the kingdom. In verse 18, the saints of the Most High. receive the kingdom. And Pastor John Mark's going to get into this much more next week. But church, what we need to see is that just as Christ suffers, we will suffer. But just as Christ is victorious, we will be victorious. And just as Christ is given a kingdom, and His dominion will be everlasting, we will be given a kingdom. And we will reign with Him in this everlasting dominion forever. Rejoice in your union with Christ, church. Rejoice in your union with Him. No matter whether we're persecuted, no matter what trial you're going through, The kingdom of the One like a Son of Man is ten million times better than anything this earth can offer. Rejoice in that church. Persevere and remain faithful to the Lord. He's coming. And lastly, the last point, the historical fulfillment. What is the historical fulfillment of these events? When did these events in Daniel 7 happen? Have they happened? Has the Ancient of Days given the kingdom and this dominion to the Son? And I want to argue that yes. Yes, He has. And what we see in verse 13 is describing what happened at Christ's first coming in His life, and in His death, and in His resurrection, and in His ascension, and even with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. Because remember, apocalyptic literature can use one event to convey a long period of time spatially. So I think that what we're seeing here is describing what happened at Christ's first coming rather than at His second coming. And so I know that most of us, when we think about Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven, we think of Jesus coming again. And this phrase, as we will see, does become associated with Jesus' second coming. But here in Daniel 7, verse 13, what I think the vision is showing us is that in the first coming of Christ, There was the dominion that Satan has, because of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, is taken away from him and given to the One like a Son of Man. And it's right here in the text. It says, He came, not from, but to the Ancient of Days. and was presented before Him. So He's not coming to the earth, He's being taken to the Ancient of Days and being presented before Him. The vision is showing us from heaven's perspective the ascension of Christ after His death and resurrection when He was taken up and seated at the right hand of God. Acts 1.9 says, and when He had said these things, this is talking about the ascension, as they were looking on, He was lifted up and a cloud took Him out of their sight. Psalms 110.1 says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. And if we remember from chapter 2, a few weeks ago, Nebuchadnezzar has this dream. And most scholars, this is a side note, most scholars think that The vision in chapter 2 and the vision in chapter 7 are the same events. Nebuchadnezzar's dream is from man's perspective. Daniel's dream is from heaven's perspective. And in verse 44, it says, And in those days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms, and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever." And so keep that in mind, and listen to Psalms 2, 7-10, where Yahweh is speaking to the Son. And He says, I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to Me, You are My Son. Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." This kingdom that broke in, that was established, that's breaking the nations, was established at the first coming of Christ. And so I submit to you that when Jesus, as the new Adam, triumphed over Satan and the world in His life, death, and resurrection, that authority, that all the authority over the nations that Satan has, was taken from Him and was given to Jesus. And in the ascension, Jesus is presented to the Father, having been victorious, and He sits down at the right hand of God where He is reigning right now. Jesus is reigning right now. But, whereas the Old Testament prophets often saw these events in one vision, right? They saw a vision of one King and one Kingdom coming. We know now on this side of the cross that the King comes twice. The Kingdom comes in His first coming, and the King comes again in His second coming. We call this the already but not yet. The church age that was inaugurated at Pentecost with the pouring out of the Spirit. We live in what the New Testament writers call the last days. This period of time between the two comings of Christ. That's where we live right now. Between the first coming of Christ and the second. And I think, I think, that if what I'm saying is accurate, that this gives us the key to understanding the millennial reign, or the 1,000 year kingdom as described in Revelation 20. And so most of us have probably heard of that phrase, right? We've heard of the millennial reign or the 1,000 year reign of Christ in Revelation 20. This is where it comes from. And it says in verses 1 to 3, it says, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into a pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations, any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, He must be released for a little while. And we can't unpack this very much. We'll continue to return to this in the coming weeks. But I think what is going on is this, that again, there was such a cosmic triumph over the powers of evil, in the first coming of Christ, in His death and life and resurrection, that Satan's authority over the nations with regard to deceiving them from hearing the gospel and being saved, is taken from him. and is given to Christ. So Satan can no longer deceive the nations from hearing the gospel and believing and coming to know the Lord any longer. And I don't think this is talking about an inner deception, right? Because sin blinds and sin deceives and we need the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate and to give us a new heart to see Christ. But what I think this is saying is that God never intended His blessing to stop with Israel. He always intended Israel to be the catalyst through which the nations would be blessed. He says to Abraham, in your offspring, through your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And now that Christ, the offspring of Abraham, the promise, has come, that blessing is now being mediated to the nations, to the families of the earth, as the church, the true Israel, preaches the Gospel and goes and pursues the mission of God in the earth. Now, that does not mean that Satan no longer has influence. That does not mean that there will not be evil in the world. That's not what this is talking about. But it means that Christ, who is the promised seed of Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth will be blessed, has come and has accomplished all that God has sent Him to accomplish. And as a result, He's received all the dominion and all the authority, and He's victoriously sitting at the right hand of God right now. So Satan no longer has the power to keep the nations from hearing the Gospel. Because the Gospel is going forth into all the nations as the church goes on the Great Commission. God's presence is no longer confined to a temple in Jerusalem, but the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all believers everywhere. And as we go, more hear the Gospel, and they believe it, and then they go into other nations, and all the nations. We read it just a few minutes ago. Brent read this text. All nations and all peoples and all tribes hear the Gospel, and God's elect are saved from all of the earth. Throughout the Old Testament, Satan had some success at keeping the nations from hearing the Gospel. But now that Jesus has come and has fulfilled all that Israel was supposed to do, He's fulfilled all Israel's prophetic hope, now that deception, that keeping the nations away that Satan had, has been removed. And the Gospel is going forth. We see this in verse 14. And to Him was given dominion and glory in the kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. And so what I think the Bible teaches is that the 1,000 year reign is not a literal 1,000 years, but a symbolic period of time. that constitutes the church age that we are in right now. The age between the two comings of Christ, where Christ reigns from heaven with all the people of God in history who have died in Christ, while on earth the gospel is going forth and people are being saved in all the earth. And although the church is persecuted, the gospel goes forth, the Word of God is not chained, and it's producing fruit. And the elect are hearing it, and they're being saved, and when this period of time is over, Christ will return, and those who are in Christ will be raised up, and they will dwell and live with Him forever in a new heaven and a new earth, and those who are not in Christ will receive everlasting judgment. And with this in mind, we read Matthew 28, the Great Commission, 18-20 with a fresh perspective. Listen to what Jesus says to the disciples just before being taken into heaven. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." So I think what Jesus is saying is, now that I have come and died and been raised, all the authority that Satan had because of Adam and Eve's disobedience has been taken from him and given to me. And because this is true, therefore, go into all the nations and preach this gospel, and make disciples, and baptize them, and plant churches, and teach them all My ways. And suddenly, we come to certain texts that are difficult for us, and they begin to make sense, like John 12.31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now. This is before Christ's death. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And in Colossians 2.13-15, Paul says, And you who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him. So Christ is exalted in His death. He's exalted over Satan in His death. And because this has happened, church, Satan can no longer deceive the nations. And so this should fuel our mission efforts. And this is why we give sacrificially to send missionaries to the nations. This is why we cling loosely with our money and we have a large part of our budget to send missionaries out to the earth. This is why we preach the gospel. This is why we're serious about praying for God to send out laborers into all the earth, that all the elect from the four corners of the earth would be gathered in, because Satan can't deceive them any longer. There's no more barriers. Jesus has taken care of everything. He's fulfilled everything. He's accomplished all that Israel was to be. He is the true Israel. And because of this, the nations are hearing the gospel. and they're coming in. So church, in the midst of all the discouragement, in the midst of the nations raging and opposing themselves against Yahweh and against His anointed, the gospel is going forth into the nations and people are being saved. It's amazing. And so this should fuel our missional efforts. We should give, we should pray, we should go, we should preach the gospel in our neighborhoods. We should preach the gospel at work, knowing that God will have a people from all the earth. And all who are His will come to Him. And so let me just conclude by saying that I acknowledge that Christians will disagree on a passage like this. I understand that, okay? And people within this church will disagree regarding different eschatological and different end times views, right? And we recognize that. ask people to affirm an eschatological view to be a member of this church. Because throughout history, people who love God and who love the church have differed on their understandings of these things. So I think it's good to be persuaded and to be convinced, but I also think it can be foolish to be arrogant and to be overly confident about our conclusions. However, let me just conclude with this. This is what we all can agree on. Jesus Christ is coming again. Amen. I don't want anything I've said tonight to seem like I think that He's not coming or that He's already come spiritually. No, Jesus Christ is coming again visibly to the earth. at the end of history. And just as He came to the Ancient of Days on the clouds of heaven, He will come again to this earth to reign and to rule on the clouds of heaven. Listen to Acts 1.9-11. We read a little bit of this earlier, but listen to how it finishes. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven." So just as Jesus ascended to God on the clouds of heaven, He will return on the clouds of heaven. And lastly, church, and this is what I want to permeate your hearts. Meditate on this. Rejoice in this. Revelation 1.7 John says, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, Amen. Let's pray. We ask that you would guard our hearts from putting too much stock in the kingdom of man. And we ask that our allegiance would lie with the one like a son of man who has been given dominion over the entire universe forever. We thank You, Father, for all that Your Son has accomplished. And Jesus, we worship You. And I ask, Lord, that You would restore our hearts, refresh our hearts, fill our hearts with faith and hope in this everlasting kingdom. Your dominion will never be taken. And so renew our minds in that, Lord. And I pray that as we come to the table, that our hearts would rejoice in the work that You accomplished for us 2,000 years ago, and that we're taking the supper in obedience and remembering Your death until You return again. And we praise You, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.