Good morning, everybody. Good to be with you. Let's get into the book of Daniel. But first, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You again for Your Word. Please speak to us through it. It is truth and it is life for hungry souls. And I pray, God, that we are hungry today, ready to receive your truth and grow thereby to love you more, to love one another, be better equipped to serve you. What an example Daniel sets for us, and I pray that we could learn so much from this text, from this book, which speaks so much to the heart of your redemptive plan to bring in a new creation. So for that, we are thankful. In Jesus' name. All right, well let's open our Bibles to the book of Daniel if we're not there already. We will continue our study in what is one of the most pivotal chapters in all of Scripture, and that is Daniel chapter 7. And one of the ways we understand that is by our interpretation, that we don't look at Daniel 7 and see so much of the future there. But we see it as something that is describing the transition from old heaven and earth, old creation, to new heaven and earth, new creation, in pretty spectacular, vivid fashion. And so one of the great encouragements of this text is that we live in light of the newness that has already been inaugurated in Christ. Remember, one of the central things about this in terms of framing our thinking is to link Christ's victory over the cosmos to his death and resurrection rather than so much his second coming. At His second coming, He will consummate all things, where there will be a totality, a completeness, a finality to His redemptive work and creation. But that very work began in His death and resurrection, in which He proclaimed victory over all principality and power and rule and authority. So we live in light of that victory even now. And so no matter how bleak things may seem, No matter how much inflation there is. No matter how many Democrats keep getting elected into office. I know you guys shake your head because I mean really are they... They're all on the same side anyway. No matter what we may see. on television or in the news, we know that God is in control. We know, even more specifically, that Christ is on the throne and is reigning at the right hand of the Father. So the last thing we want to do, especially in a study of Daniel 7, is push this victory of God in Christ so much in the future that we only really have a vague, blurry understanding of Christ's current reign and rule. One of the texts that anchors us firmly to this idea of Christ's rule and reign is not only coming up in Daniel 7, but a verse we have echoed quite frequently throughout this. This study is found in the book of Revelation, which has strong ties to our understanding of the book of Daniel. In Revelation 1, verse 5, we read where this revelation comes from. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to whom who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood, and on and on. And he says he has made us to be a kingdom priest, and to his God and Father to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. passage is going to be key to our understanding of who's in view in our study of Daniel chapter 7 today. We'll only get through a few verses and then we'll start unpacking it more in the next couple of weeks. But note this, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, that is very key because typically when we think of Jesus as being ruler of the kings of the earth, Often we look at that as a future expectation rather than a current or present reality. In fact, it has been a present reality, depending on how you date the book of Revelation, it's been a present reality for the last 2,000 years. When it introduces Christ as the ruler of the kings of the earth, it means then. If you were living in the 80s, 60s, or the 80s, 90s, depending on how you date the book of Revelation, that is being presented as a present reality then. Christ is king, Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth, in a very specific, definitive way, not in a vague way. So when we say that, yeah, God is in charge, we should refresh our own memories and say, well, how is God in charge? God is ruling the cosmos through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ruler of the kings of the earth. That means even in our own day, presidents, emperors, usurpers, senators, congressmen, please heed the call. You understand that Christ is king and he rules over all. He is ruling everything, and you are accountable to Him. And that has been the case for a long time, and nothing's changed. And we say that because we need to have confidence in the work that we do in the here and now, that the gospel will prevail, that the gospel of the kingdom regarding God and His Christ is going to be the message that ultimately prevails. Even yesterday, whilst talking to a transgender individual, it was a biological male dressed up as a woman, We started talking about many things regarding the gospel and the reliability of the Bible, and one thing that he said to me before turning around and departing, and Cameron was with me, he can attest to this, is that they were very confident that basically we were on the wrong side of history, and that eventually they would win, and we were going to find ourselves on the losing side. And my parting remark was simply that, no, we will win. And he didn't like me saying that. But the fact that we will win in history is good news to the Christian. It's good news to the church that we know that even in the here and now, what we are proclaiming and what we are fighting for is a sure path to victory. because Christ is ruler of the kings of the earth. And as the gospel is proclaimed, the gospel itself, the power of God into salvation for all who believes, will put down and subdue all earthly kings. Christ will only suffer competition for so long, but as King of kings and Lord of lords, He eventually will be the one who stands alone. Eventually there will be no competition, and that will be literal, it will not be metaphorical. The God that we serve and proclaim stands above them all and will crush all opposition. And that is something the saints can rejoice over. But there is no divided loyalty when it comes to Christ. So if you're in Daniel 7, let's read through verse 14. Because what we have here is something that is common to the book of Daniel, where the vision is given and then the vision is interpreted. So as we kind of move along, the interpretation, the exposition will get more and more specific. But we want to take our time so we understand this very clearly. And I also underscored to you last Lord's Day that moving through this not so quickly gives me time to change my mind in case a very compelling interpretation comes my way. And let me tell you something, last week was difficult. just wrangling over this text and figuring out what was what and who was whom. Very, very difficult. I mean, it looks easy at base value, and typically it's because, oh, we can read this through the lens of the New Testament, and that gives us some clarity. But there were so many interpretations, so many suggestions about who's the Ancient of Days, right? Who's the Little Horn? We all love to speculate over who the Little Horn is. Who is this Son of Man? And all these questions not only have answers, but it's extremely important that we have the answer because they point to God's plan regarding the growth of His kingdom, which is given, the text will say, to His people, to His saints. And that involves us. So let's start reading. Daniel 7, chapter 1. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed. 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, 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. 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. A human mind was also given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear, And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. 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. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong, 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 ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them. 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. 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. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire, a river of fire was flowing and coming out before Him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. 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, I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed and 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. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. So that marks the end of the actual vision, which we will explain today. And then next Lord's Day, I think we might be able to make it through all of it, or at least part of it, 15 through 28. where the interpretation is given. So it's a lot of interpretive work, as I've said before, and we've already introduced the main application points. So if you've written those down, just please keep them in mind so that this just isn't merely random thoughts with Pastor Jonathan regarding the text. We don't want to give so much a running commentary. We want to understand this in terms of the big picture, the fullness of it, and how it relates to life in the kingdom which has been established in Christ. We are not to expect another kingdom. So the saints can rejoice that we live under a just and good king who cares for his people, who guards his flock, who keeps us from falling away, and in himself guarantees sure victory. And of course, we live in light of that victory, and that victory grows as the nations come to bow the knee, to trust in Christ, and receive Him as Lord, Savior, and King. So I think we're all straight on that now. And so one thing, just by way of review, that we've been doing is I've mentioned that in spite of a more covenantal or post-millennial interpretation of this book, we have to understand also the literal nature of this. And sometimes literal can be a vague word. I haven't explained it. What I mean by, in this case, when I use the word literal, is I see more of a one-to-one historical correspondence between what the text predicts and what actually happens. So, for instance, when it talks about the ten horns on the beast, I do believe that means a literal, a one-to-one historical correspondence and fulfillment to the first ten kings of the Roman Empire, of which the little horn is the Emperor Nero. I haven't changed my mind on that yet, though some other compelling arguments exist. So this is why we study on our own and try to iron these details out and come to our own convictions. As long as we are able to view it in light of the big picture, And I think the most important picture is wrapped up in verse 9 on to verse 14. Because what we are introduced to is God's point of view. Remember, we start off with more of a horizontal point of view. We're seeing the rise of earthly kingdoms, right? We see the lion with the wings of the eagle, that's Babylon. Most teach that. The other beast, the second beast resembling a bear, Medo-Persia, that's verse 5. And then he says, I kept looking and behold, another one like a leopard with four wings of a bird and four heads. We review that as sort of the expanse of Alexander's empire. He is the leopard, the wings designate swiftness. And, of course, the four heads point to the partitioning of his empire amongst his four generals after Alexander's death. And then, of course, the unusual beast, which he says is different from the others, and I think the main reason for that is because this beast is not part of what we understand as a normal member of the animal kingdom. He's not a lion, a leopard, or a bear. He's just a beast. And if you read in the book of Revelation, the beast has parts of a leopard, parts of a lion, parts of a bear. There seems to be characteristic of all of these animals in the Beast of Revelation. But that said, there was a beast. And there are 10 horns. We view that as the first 10 kings, so more one-to-one historical correspondence. And remember that these correlate directly to King Nebuchadnezzar's vision in chapter 2. So we got all that as laying the groundwork for what we're going to study today, just so we understand. So we ended at verse 8. And he's contemplating the horns, the ten horns, the ten kings. And he says, another horn, a little one, which I would say is not an eleventh horn, but just one of the ten that comes up amongst them. And the first three horns were pulled out by the roots before it. So the first three before the emperor Nero, those three Roman emperors were assassinated to clear the way for Nero, who would afflict the saints. So they 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." So once again, very prominent amongst the Roman line of emperors, and he uttered great boasts. That is, boast in your Bible, if it's there, should be in italics, which means boast is not in the original language. Basically, the word for great. He is uttering So we don't know if he's being arrogant or boastful. We just know that whatever he's talking about, it's big things. It's great things. Then we get to verse 9. Now we get to the vertical, or heavenly, point of view. And as we've already maintained, this is most important because now we're seeing God's point of view. We're seeing the tumult of the Gentile nations, the rise and the fall, really the swallowing up or the subsuming of preceding empires. And now we have a view from the throne room of God, and he can see what is going on with these four empires and ultimately the beast of Rome. and we see what he is going to do. So remember, the most important thing is God's point of view and how he sees things. And I think it's great in terms of how we understand the Christian life. You notice there is a pattern here of how Daniel is describing. He says in verse 2, I was looking in my vision So there's looking, and then in verse six he says, or verse four he says, and I kept looking. And then verse six, after this I kept looking. And verse seven, after this I kept looking in the night visions. He keeps looking, he keeps looking, he keeps looking, and so it should be with us. As God reveals himself to us, we always keep looking, right? It's a great application from this. Do we have the mind of Daniel where We keep looking. What is God telling us? What is God revealing to us? And sometimes we are so content with just a little, just a little glimpse of what God is doing when He is giving here to Daniel a sweeping view of His redemptive plan. Should we have eyes to see like Daniel did? We want to see more. We keep looking. Are our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith? Are we fixed on Him and what He is doing and how He is exercising His rule and reign and salvation to all the nations? I think that's a good message for us. While you are contemplating, keep looking, keep wondering, keep being curious, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, and as we are assured by the Lord Jesus, we will keep finding. Imagine if Daniel had stopped looking. All he would have is a horizontal, earthly point of view. Ah, but he keeps looking. Verse 9, until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His vesture was white like snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. The courts sat, and the books were opened." Now, this is quite a departure from these... You imagine this puny little horn who's uttering great things. And then our view is shifted. And right now, the Lord has not said anything. The ancient of days has said nothing. And yet the view we have of him is far more awesome, is far more impressive and moving than anything that a man can say. Enter God into this picture. And what do we realize? We see His majesty and His power, His authority, His wisdom, His judgment. There's fire everywhere. List of songs, but they're not worship songs. Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis. Burning Love by Elvis Presley. Thunderstruck by ACDC. All these songs were coming to mind as I was reading this phrase. Yeah, yeah, Brian's gonna do that, but don't worry, I talked him out of that, because listening to rock and roll is sin. Fire and Rain by James Taylor, right? The Wheel in the Sky by Journey. All these vivid images, right? But this is quite a scene to take in, and Daniel sees it because he keeps looking. There is more to be seen regarding God's revelation. and he's not gonna miss it. So he keeps looking until thrones were set up, and this being, the Ancient of Days, took his seat. Now I was amazed at the case that was made, because when I've been under just teaching in Daniel, the only view I had ever really heard and thus entertained was that the Ancient of Days refers to God the Father. He is Ancient of Days, speaking not so much of his eternality, but of his endurance, his everlastingness. If you read James Jordan's book on Daniel, which has been a primary source for my material, he makes a pretty compelling case that this is actually the Lord Jesus, that Jesus is the Ancient of Days. But if we read this passage of parallel to what we read in our scripture reading this morning, Revelation 5 and then in conjunction with that Revelation 4, I think that the most likely case for this, candidate for Ancient of Days, is simply God the Father. And we'll get into that as we continue in our text this morning. But again, good cases are made on both sides, and it's worth your investigation. I think you'll be blessed by an in-depth study of the characters and actions involved in this scene. So Daniel keeps looking up. He sees the Ancient of Days. Thrones were set up. The Ancient of Days comes and takes his seat. We see God, who is at rest. He is in perfect control. says this, it describes His vesture was like white snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. Some have read into this the very purity of God, His head being like pure wool, that is His wisdom, His power and might, saying that His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire, and it says a river was flowing and coming out from before him. So there's lots of fire going on here. And I believe where we're first supposed to draw our attention here is actually to the book of Ezekiel. If you turn to the book of Ezekiel in chapter 1, Ezekiel gets a glimpse of the glory of God. Now we have to remember going into this text, if you're reading it as perhaps a Jew living in exile or even Daniel himself, you do not have access to something called the New Testament. You have to read this in light of your own historical context and experience. And if you heard about a wheel in the sky keeps on turning and burning, your mind is going to go to, oh yeah, there was a prophet named Ezekiel and he saw a lot of these glorious things. And so in chapter one, we read this starting in verse 15. Now, as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings for each of the four of them. There are these four for living creatures that Ezekiel is speaking of. And verse 16, the appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling barrel. And all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. As for their rims, they were lofty and awesome. And the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. Now stop there at verse 20. There's also in verse 10 of Daniel chapter 7, a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before them. So we see the movement and the presence of God, even the spirit of God is connected with this idea of fire. So this is not a static scene. It's a very active scene, probably a very frightening scene. So wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. That's how we know. Whenever those went, these went. And whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. And so this is describing the throne of God. God is also described elsewhere in Isaiah 6 as sitting, He's sitting on His throne, and what do we have in the throne room of God? We have the angels, right? We have the seraphim, right? Now, how does that connect with this text? Well, seraphim simply is the Hebrew plural for the burning ones, right? So this idea of these beings, a light with fire, right? That basically provide a support for the throne of God. So where God's throne is, there is fire. We relate that to His presence even among the Israelites as they are going through the desert at night. A pillar of fire followed Him. So, when it comes to fire in the throne room of God, it demonstrates His power, it demonstrates His glory, His presence. It even demonstrates His judgment in the sense of, come this close and come no closer. There is a similar description in Genesis chapter three. Once Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden of Eden, what does it say is set up to keep them from re-entering the garden? A sword of fire, right? The sword of Eden is there going back and forth to prevent Adam and Eve from having access to the tree of life. Where if they do, guess what? They will live forever in a cursed state. So in that sense, it is a blessing to experience physical death because there is the promise of a physical resurrection. There's promise of glorification. And so this fire going back and forth reveals to us this idea that we can only get so close to God. And this fire comes out before Him. I think also kind of gives us an image of, you think of Jacob's ladder also in the book of Genesis. These angels going up and down this stairway to heaven, right, as it is often described. This constant activity before the throne of God. We also see the fire as connected with the Holy Spirit's activity. We see the fire by the throne of God. Well, what happens in the book of Acts chapter 2? The fire descends from heaven. Should we think it's strange that it descends from the very presence of God to empower His apostles to preach the gospel? So we see in God's fire, this fire mentioned here, is God active in His creation. His authority, His power, His holiness, His glory, all of those things are found in this idea of fire. And what a beautiful and frightening scene as the Ancient of Days takes His seat. And it says this, moving on, thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. So we are given another introduction here, another description of the throne room of heaven. Now, we match this up with what is going on in the book of Revelation. So let's turn there, kind of get a comparison, because I think they are describing very similar, if not the same things. In Revelation chapter 4, we are introduced to this scene in heaven. We leave the area of the letters to the seven churches by the Lord Jesus Himself. And once again, we're taken from the horizontal to the vertical. We're taken to heaven, where John is there in the Spirit. Daniel chapter seven describes thrones. And so in verse four, it says around the thrones, this is Revelation 4.4, around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their head. Now, one interpretation of this is that this is, that what is being set up here from Revelation chapter four to chapter five is this great transition, is the Lord Jesus is going to accept This scroll, He is going to open it, and this scroll is thought to be the title deed of the cosmos. But the Lord Jesus is going to take His place next to the throne of the Father, as the Lamb slain as the Lion of Judah, and is going to rule. And in that rule, He is going to judge the nations, including these kings that are mentioned in Daniel chapter 7. So there's a very important parallel there. You have out of the throne flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder, seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. So you have the throne, you have the crystal, kind of like the barrel, Again, as mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, so think Ezekiel, Daniel, and then, of course, the book of Revelation, as all paralleling one another. We even have the four living creatures in Revelation 5, verse 6. So it has been put forth by one scholar. I think this is actually James Jordan. He views these 24 elders as actually the old rulers of the old creation. He views, if I've read him right, that those who sat on these 24 thrones were the administrators, the angelic administrators of the old creation, and they will vacate those thrones. And then when you get into Revelation chapter 20, Someone else is sitting on the throne. The saints now are ruling, and that is because they have received this kingdom, which we will learn about in Daniel chapter 7. So that's how that all connects. It's describing this transition from the old creation to the new creation. And that makes sense, of course, if we see this passage from the old to new as gradual and not completely instantaneous. And so we see these thousands upon thousands, verse 10, who were attending Him, myriads upon myriads. So basically an innumerable number of beings, of created beings. Now if you look at Revelation 5, verse 11, John is doing what Daniel's doing, right? I kept looking, I kept looking. Then he says, Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders. And the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice. Okay, here we're given insight into this scene, right? All these thousands and thousands of angels, right? But what is being said? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I love how he mentions all of these things individually. Power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. All these things go to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the Lamb who was worthy to open the scroll and to break the seals of the book. So we learn that in Revelation 5, verse 9. where they sing a new song, right? And that is fitting. Why are they singing a new song? Because of the anticipation of the new creation under a new king whose kingdom will never pass away. All right. I've got to find my place in Daniel again. All right. So now the Lord has taken His throne, and beside Him, Beside him is the Lamb. And so you see, basically, God the Father on His throne, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world, now seated to rule next to Him and to claim His authority over heaven and earth. So hopefully that all makes sense. So back to Daniel chapter 7. The court sat and the books are open. We learned about books and scrolls open in the book of Revelation. And this seems to be also books of judgment, that there are records being kept. And now we go back to the horizontal view, verse 11. And I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking. And I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. So in the book of Revelation, the beast is slain. And here we have the little horn who is speaking. So we've interpreted the little horn as the Emperor Nero, one of the horns with eyes on the beast. So he's still speaking. And it's amazing how little he must look. And Daniel says, I kept looking until the beast was slain. So if the beast is slain, it would also follow that the little horn is also destroyed with it, right? in some fashion, judgment is going to come on the Roman Empire. And of course, the Roman Empire is the last administrator of the old creation, right? We talked about how These empires that God in His providence rose up one after another are not merely just to rebel against Him or to oppress His people. They are meant to keep some kind of order so that He may preserve His people until Christ comes and accomplishes all that the Father sets out for Him to do, so that the new creation can be inaugurated, along with the new humanity in Christ, composed of Jew and Gentile. So that's how that all fits together. So this beast is slain, so the Roman Empire will eventually be put down, and of course the Emperor Nero commits suicide. And so we see fire as metaphorical of judgment. How do we know that? Well, if we view this passage as the corollary to Daniel chapter 2, what happens in Daniel chapter 2? What happens to that statue? It's crushed by the stone, cut out without hands. So we ask ourselves, well, how does this judgment happen? Is it crushed? Is it burnt by the fire of God's judgment? The answer is yes, both. The main thing that we have to understand is that God's judgment is executed upon this final empire. The Roman Empire is eventually put down, and Nero kills himself, realizing that he's about to be assassinated. And so his boastful words are no more, and we will unpack that more later. So the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for, here we go, as for the rest of the beasts, and I would interpret this to be the beast preceding the beast, So the three previous empires, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. So once again, here we have a variety of interpretations, but I will tell you which one that I think is best. So the rest of the beast basically speaks of the Gentile world that will gradually fall under Christ's Lordship. How do we know that? Well, it's prophesied in Scripture that the Gentile nations will come streaming to the mountain of God. We're living in that reality. Most of us here, except for a few, are Gentiles. And how do we know we are here? How do we know we are streaming to the mountain of God, because the book of Hebrews and the book of Revelation and Daniel 7 here describe what the mountain of God looks like. When we are gathered together as God's church, we are gathered at the mountain of God, the true Mount Zion, where we are worshiping in the company of angels. That's what's being described here. That's what happens when we worship together. That's why I keep trying to challenge you guys. We should sing boisterously because we are singing with the angels. We are singing at true Mount Zion. So our worship shouldn't be dead. It shouldn't be lame. It shouldn't be lifeless. And we should sing good songs, too, that express our joy and satisfaction in Christ. Because we are really at the mountain of God. We are living that reality. And so we should sing like it. So this speaks of the Gentile world that gradually will come under Christ's lordship. And until then, most of the Gentile nations will remain in rebellion against God until that rebellion is finally and totally squashed. We also live in light of that reality. But it is inevitable that nations will, one by one, I'm talking whole nations, not just citizens of nations, but whole nations will be baptized, and they will come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will bow the knee in awe, reverence, and trust An awesome promise from Scripture. And we know that, of course, because of the parallel passage of Daniel chapter 2. What does it say about the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God will start small, right? It's not instantaneous. It'll start small as a stone, and it will become a mountain that will fill the whole earth. Gradual, not instantaneous. And the kingdom of Christ, it says, will begin in the days of those kings. That's why we confine this passage to mostly the first century. So as for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away. So their authority, the domain of their rule was taken away. But it says an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. So gradually it will fade out. Another way of looking at it is that there is a more definitive timeline here that terminates in A.D. 70 with the Roman emperors. So let's go to verse 13. Here's where it gets real good. I kept looking in the night visions. Oh, so there's more to see. And behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him." Okay, here is one of the most pivotal texts in the entirety of the Bible. A kingdom is being handed off. This person, this son of man, whoever he may be, is being presented before the Ancient of Days, who we've established or tried to is God the Father. seated on his throne, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him." So I think the coming of the Son of Man describes quite, I mean, it doesn't just describe one thing. Typically we look at him like, that's the Lord Jesus, that's totally Jesus right there. Most of us have been taught that. Right now, I favor that view, that the Son of Man is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. But we can't look in Scripture and justify a division between the King and His kingdom. The Lord Jesus, He is Lord, He is King, and so what this represents, too, is a new kingdom, which is clearly described in this passage. So we have emperors, but we understand that with the emperor comes an empire. With a king comes a kingdom. And there are layers of that in this text. Sometimes it's talking about the empire itself, sometimes it's talking about the ruler, depending on which text you're in. And it goes back and forth. So we don't want to divorce the Son of Man as king from the Son of Man and His kingdom. And so He comes up, and He comes up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And I would say this too, it is so appropriate, we should breathe a collective sigh of relief, that this fifth kingdom, this fifth and final kingdom, is signified by a man! What does that tell us? This is great stuff! that the kingdom is no longer going to be reckoned as some kind of wild animal. See, the chaos of the old creation is now being subdued. Now, creation itself, this kingdom, is being administrated by a man, as God always intended, right? From the very beginning of creation, what was man called to do? Subdue creation. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. And of course, Adam failed. And now you have this, the son of man, Abed-Adam, a son of man, a new Adam, who is approaching the throne of the Ancient of Days. And so what this tells us is this kingdom is not going to be beastly. It's going to be ruled by a true man. That's the first thing that stands out to us. See, inasmuch as the Lord used these kingdoms to preserve His people, they were still beastly. And so now we have a man. And this fifth and final kingdom demonstrates that under the reign of the Son of Man, creation is finally pivoting toward its original purpose. What was the original purpose of creation? What was the intention? that man and God would dwell together in perfect, unending fellowship, that heaven and earth would be one. Now, up to the first destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, you had a very local place where heaven and earth were one. That was the temple. The temple was destroyed. In the new creation, this is the temple. The temple is wherever God's people are. That is the meeting place between God and man. When we worship God together, heaven and earth are one. And this represents a very important pivot, is that we see God bringing the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, the true Son of Man, and handing a kingdom off to Him. And as that kingdom grows, heaven and earth in its totality would be one again. That's why we preach the gospel. We don't see it in its fullness yet, but we see history, we see redemption heading inexorably toward that end. And in the reign of the Son of Man, we see man acting as he should, as a man is not a beast, fulfilling his purpose, ruling and exercising dominion over creation in a perfect and unbroken fashion according to the will of God. Who better to do this than Jesus Christ, the God-man, the true Son of Man? So back to interpreting this passage. One like a son of man was coming. So if you're reading Daniel, living in the time of Daniel, or even a little bit after that, you're not gonna read this passage and think, oh, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, right? You're not gonna read that, because you don't have a New Testament yet. Even though Jesus refers to himself as the son of man, I think over 80 times in the gospels. What are you going to think? Who also refers to himself or is referred to as the son of man? The prophet Ezekiel. So we have to go back to Ezekiel to understand what is going on here, because I would put forth that Jesus represents the greater Ezekiel, the true Ezekiel. And there's several similarities between Christ and Ezekiel. For one, Ezekiel, it is thought, goes into the ministry at age 30. Jesus is baptized, it is thought, in the ministry at age 30. Both were given a message of judgment to their generation. Remember, Ezekiel warned Israel to repent, kept warning them to repent. What did Jesus say? Not one stone will be left upon another. The judgment of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. So there's this message of destruction, but there's also a message of judgment on the nations. When Christ becomes king, the nations move under the judgment of Jesus Christ. And it is still under that judgment. Ezekiel is also given a vision of a new world, a new creation. Read Ezekiel 40-48. And then what does Jesus do? As greater Ezekiel, as the greater Ezekiel, as the true man, as the true son of man, he does not merely show us a new creation, he is the one who brings it in. He is the one who creates the new creation. He is the one who in the book of Revelations says, see, I make all things new. So there are connections to Ezekiel from the Lord Jesus that we cannot deny. But you would think Ezekiel. And Ezekiel is addressed as the son of man. I think the final count was 91 times. that God identifies him as son of man and by doing so links him closely with the people of Israel. He acts as their mediator, he acts as a prophet and speaks God's word towards them and he shares in the experiences and the affliction and sufferings of his fellow Israelites. What do we know of Jesus Christ? A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? The suffering servant of Yahweh who suffers among and with and for his people? bringing an atonement for sin. He identifies with them and brings God's saving message of salvation to them. I mean, what was the Lord doing, amongst other things, when he was getting baptized by John the Baptist? He was identifying himself with sinners, though not being one himself. He was demonstrating how he would take the sins of Israel, of his people, upon himself and die for them. Similar to Ezekiel, Jesus is a prophet, and Ezekiel acted as a priest, so is Jesus a priest. And finally, He is our King. He is our prophet, priest, and Savior. And that's why Hebrews 7.26 says it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. And so we see this link between Ezekiel and the Son of Man. And of course, the Lord Jesus being the greater Ezekiel, the true Son of Man. So I do believe we can look at this through the lens of the New Testament and have a greater understanding of what is getting at here because Jesus identified himself as the Son of Man. So I do believe that Jesus is fulfilling this. Some would say the Son of Man is actually a collective singular referring to the saints that received the kingdom later on in Daniel chapter 7, but there is no kingdom. without a king. And Jesus is true man and true king. So we understand in this use of son of man pointing to Jesus as a man, right? Emphasizing his humanity in addition to his deity. So he comes up to the ancient of days and is presented before him. But notice, what does he come upon or with? The clouds of heaven, okay? Where else do we read about the clouds of heaven that gives us insight into this passage? Well, when Jesus announces His cosmic vindication and His enthronement, He talks about Himself as the Son of Man coming with or upon the clouds of heaven. I'm not sure how much prepositions matter here, but I would view this as the ascension of Christ. And on the basis of His ascension, there is another ascension that happens, we see that in Revelation chapter 20, where then the saints ascend. Remember, we are co-inheritors with Christ. We inherit the kingdom that is given to Him. That is why it says we rule and reign with Him. So not only should we not view Christ apart from His kingdom, we should not view Him apart from His subjects, from His saints. It all goes together. Now, some of the passages which reference this, we can begin with Matthew chapter 24. So this is from the Olivet Discourse, and I believe that this is describing essentially the same thing. And then, this is verse 30, and then the sign of the whom? The Son of Man. The Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Right? You go to the book of Revelation, you have glory and honor and power. the ascension and the enthronement of the Son of Man. And in the book of Daniel, you have similar, you have very similar language, which helps us tie it all together. In verse 14, to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom. Are we really supposed to look at this? And I was talking about different things. I think we are seeing, in some sense, the fulfillment of what is being anticipated from Daniel's point of view in the words of Christ. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. That is all the tribes of the land. I see this as the tribes of Israel. Perhaps Gentiles are included, but this is because when the Son of Man appears in the sky, Jerusalem is being judged. We also see this in Matthew 26. If you're in the Gospel of Matthew, turn ahead a couple pages to chapter 26, and this is going to be verse 64, where Jesus is before Caiaphas, the high priest, the high priest of the old order. Verse 63, But Jesus kept silent, and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Once again, I refer you to 7.13 of Daniel. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming. I think it's very clear about who is in view here ultimately. Christ, the Son of Man, the greater Ezekiel. And then we see, I think, the culmination of that. We are reminded that going forth, Christ has all this authority. In Matthew 20, 18, the Great Commission, when Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And what is he about to do? He is about to ascend and to be seated at the right hand of the throne of God in power and glory, where he will receive a kingdom and all dominion on the clouds. And this truth is echoed in Revelation 1-7. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. So this has to be talking about this pierced him. This has to be referring to the crucifixion of Christ. Therefore, this man who is coming with the clouds, this son of man, must be none other than Jesus Christ. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. The very thing that Jesus is describing in Matthew 24. So it is to be. Amen. Okay. I actually thought someone was raising their hand over there. Like, question? There'll be questions later. I might not know the answer to them. So here we go. Behold, with the clouds of heaven. So clearly that is Christ being presented before the Father, the Ancient of Days, and receiving all the favor and power and glory and authority from the Father. And so it says in verse 14, And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom. So there's a key word here, given. Given is used extensively in the book of Daniel. And this, from what I can tell, is the last time this word comes up in the book of Daniel. And why not? Because this kingdom is never going to be given to another person. Power and authority and dominion is never going to be transferred to another empire or to another ruler, right? Maybe some have tried. Genghis Khan got pretty close. You know, he conquered most of Asia. You know, we read of some other historical figures that conquered quite a bit of geography. And yet they always died. Their dominion went only so far. But the dominion that is given to the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, is meant to grow and to expand, and to never be taken away, to never be lost, to never be forfeit, to never be defeated. Think of any kind of language you could use to somehow demonstrate another anticipated transfer of power. It simply won't happen. And so all the transfers of power we see down here are merely running under the ultimate cosmic administration of Christ, in His own sovereign, providential working, His dominion, His kingdom will grow. But clearly it says here, it is to be everlasting. To Him was given dominion and the glory, right? Glory was something that Nebuchadnezzar had, a kingdom was something that these kings had, but to Him it was given and will never be re-given away. And it is for a distinctive purpose that all peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. This is promised again and again in the Old Testament, especially the prophets, about salvation going to the ends of the earth, the coastal places, bringing salvation to the Gentiles. We see that fulfilled in the Apostle Paul, that he might be an apostle to the Gentiles, right? A minister of the new covenant to the Gentiles. But this was the purpose, that everyone may worship Him. His dominion is everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And this has been used in Daniel 2.21, 4.31, chapter 6, verse 8 and 12 about this notion of this language of passing away. The law of the Medes and the Persians cannot be overridden. The same quality of the kingdom of Christ It would never pass away that all may serve Him, that the world over would recognize one King and one King only. So this represents not only Christ as the King and the Son of Man, but also His kingdom. And all will serve Him. And so other passages that describe this, I know we're going a little long here, but that's okay. We're going to get through this. Psalm 2. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession." So who else could he be talking about here when we search the whole counsel of God? He's talking about a kingdom being given to Christ. Never to be given to anyone again. You shall break them with a rod of iron. Look at that. Similar language used to describe Rome. I think that's appropriate because it's telling us the authenticity of Christ's rule. Rome was just a counterfeit. It may have tried to rule with a rod of iron to break nations. And it would, in a real sense, it would represent a counterfeit kingdom. It would try to compete with The Lord Jesus Christ, right? No king but Christ was the saying of the Christians in the first century. We best get to saying that again. What was that in the face of? No king but Caesar, right? And so Rome at its best would try to be a counterfeit messiah. That's all wrapped up in the Pax Romana, the deification of Roman emperors. The Roman Empire and Roman kings all tried to be a messiah and a savior in their own way. But here we have the Messiah, the true King, breaking the nations with a rod of iron, shattering them like earthenware. The beast only tried, but Christ is really doing it. Here's the next one. Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, inheriting the kingdom, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, that is the heavenly Zion, saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. What is Christ doing right now? He's ruling in the midst of His enemies. You have kings and presidents who reject Him, who rebel against Him, but that does not undermine His rule in any way, despite how they may try. Christ is ruling in the midst of His enemies. And He continues to do this, because His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, it will never be handed off, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. What will be destroyed are all competitors who try to rebel against Him, who try to claim for themselves the honor and majesty and dominion and riches that are due only to Christ Himself. All of them will be defeated. And so, when we see the Son of Man presented, we understand in certain terms that Christ, the true man, the true Ezekiel, will come to rule, and He will inherit a kingdom, and in His reign all men will worship Him, and He will subdue all who rebel against Him. It's clear in Ezekiel, clear in Daniel, clear in the book of Revelation. And we have the great privilege even this morning of joining in that new song given to a king who brings in the new creation, a new creation which will never be destroyed. And all the people of God can say, Amen. All right. Well, let's stop there for today. We'll polish this up in the next couple of Sundays. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you again for your word for this This promise given to Daniel that has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled continually in our own time, that we live under the just rule of the true Son of Man, our Lord Jesus, who is always good, is always righteous, is always true to His own decree and His own word and His own law. We thank you, God, that we serve Him not merely as slaves, but as a kingdom of priests, as has been described in the book of Revelation, a kingdom of priests to rule and reign with Him forever and ever. And what a comfort that is to us, even in days that from a human point of view can seem so uncertain, as we do still live in the time of beasts where men Do not rule, do not administrate as you would see fit, who rebel against you, who are unjust, and who do not love you, who do not bow the knee to Christ. And we see God, as pointed out in Scripture, that those beasts will continue to be put down. Any who rise up against you will fall. And in the midst of that, God, we know that your saints will be afflicted, they will be persecuted, there will always be other beasts, always other Nero's that arise, but God, you will stay true to your word and preserve your people through those times. And as we've seen so clearly throughout redemptive history and under your reign, that the only thing your saints will do is grow in number, grow in zeal, grow in our faith and love and adoration toward you. And it is that very hope of resurrection that allows us to persevere. And so may we count that as a blessing, God, and not strive against each other, but strive with each other for the advancement of the gospel and the advancement of your kingdom. And we can sing together that you are worthy. Worthy is the Lamb to receive all of these things. All of our adoration, all of our worship, all of the honors do Him. And that would be a reflection, a true reflection of the affections of our heart, Lord, that it would be more than simply words coming from our lips, but from a heart that has been transformed by your gospel. On all these things, we pray, God. In Jesus' name, Amen.