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Friday, June 27, 2014

From The CREATOR JEHOVAH'S Perspective, The Human World Is Like "Beasts"





Daniel 7:1-28 NIV






Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts




1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.

2Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.




4“The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it.




5“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’




6“After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.




7“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.




8“While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.


9“As I looked,


“Thrones were set in place,
and The Ancient of Days Took His Seat.
His Clothing Was as white as snow;
The Hair of His Head Was white like wool.
His Throne Was flaming with fire,
and its Wheels were all ablaze.
10A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before Him.
Thousands upon thousands attended Him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.


11“Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12(The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)

13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me Was ONE like a SON of Man, Coming with the clouds of Heaven. HE Approached The Ancient of Days and Was Led into His Presence. 14HE Was Given Authority, Glory and Sovereign Power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His Dominion Is An Everlasting Dominion That Will Not Pass Away, and His Kingdom Is One That Will Never Be Destroyed.




The Interpretation of the Dream





15“I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this.

“So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: 


17 ‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. 18 But the holy people of The MOST HIGH will receive The Kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’

19 Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. 20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 

21As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22until The Ancient of Days Came and Pronounced Judgment in favor of the holy people of The MOST HIGH, and the time came when they possessed The Kingdom.



23 “He gave me this explanation:


‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against The MOST HIGH and oppress His holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.b

26“ ‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of The MOST HIGH. His Kingdom will be an Everlasting Kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him.’

28“This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”













This chapter contains Daniel's vision of the four beasts, The time, place, manner, writing, and declaration of the vision, Daniel 7:1, the rise of the beasts, and the description of them, Daniel 7:2, The Judgment of GOD Upon them, especially the last, and the delivery of universal monarchy to His SON, Daniel 7:9, the interpretation of the vision at the request of Daniel, being greatly affected with it, Daniel 7:15, a particular inquiry of his about the fourth beast, concerning which a full account is given, Daniel 7:19, all which caused in him many thoughts of heart, and reflections of mind, Daniel 7:28.


Chapter
Parallel sequence of prophetic elements as understood by Historicists

Past
Present
Future
Head
Gold
(Babylon)
Chest & 2 arms
Silver
(Persia)
Belly and thighs
Bronze
(Greece)
2 Legs
Iron
(Rome)
2 Feet with toes
Clay & Iron
Rock
GOD's Unending Kingdom
left to no other people
Daniel 7
Winged Lion
Lopsided Bear
4 Headed/4 Winged
Leopard
Iron toothed Beast
w/Little Horn
Judgment scene
Beast w/Horn
slain
SON of Man comes in clouds
Given Everlasting Dominion
HE Gives it to the saints.


  
  “God’s Perspective”




 I am sure that you have noticed the similarities between this prophecy and the king’s dream that Daniel interpreted in chapter two.  We see the same four kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, depicted one after another.  However, there is one large difference.  Chapter two shows us what will happen in human history, from a human perspective, with its glittering metals portraying the world’s kingdoms.  The statue is impressive, great, humane, and majestic, but it is still plagued with weakness.  We see our empires like the statue, we see them and we are impressed, but GOD Sees things differently.  This second look at human history is from GOD’s point of view.  GOD Doesn’t See these human kingdoms as something grand, or something to be proud of.  Instead, HE Sees them as beasts, or monsters.  HE Sees them as terrible creatures that do terrible things.  HE Sees them as immoral, self-serving, and cruelly destructive.  We see them from one perspective and GOD Sees things from a different perspective.

 
There are a lot of things that we see from a different perspective.  From our perspective we see a kingdom that is grand, powerful, and something to behold, but from GOD’s perspective, it is a beast which is holding back his kingdom.  From our perspective we see suffering and say that it isn’t fair, but from GOD’s Perspective HE Sees spiritual muscles being built, and us getting more faithful.


From our perspective we see things in this world that need to be fixed, things that need to be made better, but from GOD’s Perspective, HE Sees something that needs to keep going because it is making us stronger.  From our perspective we look at the Earth as a playground, or a place to have fun, but from GOD’s Perspective, it is a war zone, a place that is in a state of rebellion, and heaven is the playground that we should be striving for.  


From our perspective we look at a door closing as a setback, but from GOD’s Perspective, it is a way to get us to go down a different path.  From our perspective we see an attempt to reach someone who doesn’t respond to the Gospel as a failure, but from GOD’s Perspective, we have just planted a beautiful seed that might sprout sometime in the future.  From our perspective something we do might look like a harmless little sin, but from GOD’s Perspective, it looks horrible.  We have to remember that GOD always Sees things from a different perspective.  What looks to us like a magnificent kingdom, might just look like a monster to GOD.


One of the reasons that GOD Sees things from a different perspective is because HE Has Seen this movie before.  GOD Sits outside of time and Has already Watched the ending.  HE Knows what is waiting around the corner.  Since HE Has Seen this movie it means that HE Can Direct the characters of the movie in ways that will lead them to where they need to be.  Remember the introduction of this message?  If you knew that someone had predicted, over and over again, what would happen in the future, you would start listening to that person wouldn’t you?  Well, that is what we have with GOD.  GOD Proves this in chapter 7 and HE Will Keep Proving it throughout the rest of this book.  


From GOD’s Perspective HE Can See everything.  HE Knows everything that is going to happen, and the amazing thing is we have access to GOD, but sometimes we have to wait for HIM To Show us which way to go, To Show us the part that our character is supposed to play, To Show us the gifts and talents that our character possesses, and To Show us the best ways for our character to serve.  Sometimes we come to points in our journey where we need to rely on The ONE Who Knows the future.  These are the times where we need to wait for HIM To Show us the right path.  The only question is, when HE Shows us the right path, are we paying attention, or are we too consumed by this world to see where HE Is Leading us?


Here is a link to the sermon that accompanies this Bible study:  “God’s Perspective”



Read more : http://www.confidentfaith.net/gods-perspective-daniel-7#comment-1231







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