Day 241: Daniel and the Den of Lions (2022)

[0] Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible In A Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture.

[1] The Bible in a year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.

[2] Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.

[3] It is day 241.

[4] We're reading today from Jeremiah, chapter 24 and 25, also Daniel 6 and 7, and Proverbs chapter 16 versus 5 through 8.

[5] As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard version.

[6] the second Catholic edition, I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.

[7] If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress .com slash Bible in the year.

[8] You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates and all the things you need for every day.

[9] Not all the things, but the things when it comes to the Bible in the year.

[10] It's day 241.

[11] As I said, we are reading from Jeremiah chapter 24 and 25, Daniel chapter 6 and chapter 7, Proverbs chapter 16, verses 5 through 8.

[12] the book of the prophet Jeremiah chapter 24 two baskets good and bad figs after nebuchadnezzar king of babylon had taken into exile from jerusalem chekinae the son of jehoiacim king of judah together with the princes of judah the craftsman and the smiths and had brought them to babylon the lord showed me this vision behold two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the lord one basket had very good figs like first ripe figs but the other basket had very bad figs so bad that the they could not be eaten.

[13] And the Lord said to me, what do you see, Jeremiah?

[14] I said, figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs, very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.

[15] Then the word of the Lord came to me. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

[16] I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land.

[17] I will build them up and not tear them down.

[18] I will plant them and not uproot them.

[19] I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

[20] But thus says the Lord, like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah, the king of Judah, his princes, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

[21] I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.

[22] And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers.

[23] Chapter 25.

[24] The Babylonian captivity foretold.

[25] The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jeholyakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which Jeremiah, the prophet, spoke all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[26] For 23 years, from the 13th year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.

[27] You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants, the prophets, saying, turn now every one of you from his evil way and wrongdoings, and dwell upon the land which the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.

[28] Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands.

[29] Then I will do you no harm.

[30] Yet, you have not listened to me, says the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

[31] Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words.

[32] Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the North, says the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations roundabout, I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting reproach.

[33] Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

[34] This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years.

[35] Then, after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity, says the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

[36] I will bring upon that land all the words which I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

[37] For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

[38] The cup of the Lord's wrath.

[39] Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it they shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword which I am sending among them so I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it Jerusalem and the cities of Judah its kings and princes to make them a desolation and a waste a hissing and a curse as at this day Pharaoh king of Egypt his servants his princes all his people and all the foreign folk among them.

[40] All the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the Philistines, Ashcalon, Gaza, Akron, and the remnant of Ashtod, Edom, Moab, and the sons of Amon.

[41] All the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands across the sea.

[42] Dadan, Timah, Boz, and all who cut the corners of their hair.

[43] All the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes that dwell in the desert.

[44] All the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Medea, all the kings of the north far and near one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth.

[45] And after them, the king of Babylon shall drink.

[46] Then you shall say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, drink, be drunk and vomit.

[47] Fall and rise no more because of the sword which I am sending among you.

[48] And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts, you must drink.

[49] For behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished?

[50] You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.

[51] You therefore shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, the Lord will roar from on high.

[52] And from his holy habitation utter his voice, he will roar mightily against his fold and shout like those who tread grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth.

[53] The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against the nations.

[54] He is entering into judgment with all flesh, and the wicked he will put to the sword, says the Lord.

[55] Thus says the Lord of hosts.

[56] Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

[57] And those slain by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other.

[58] They shall not be lamented or gathered or buried.

[59] they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

[60] Whale, you shepherds, and cry, and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock.

[61] For the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come, and you shall fall like choice rams.

[62] No refuge will remain for the shepherds, nor escape for the lords of the flocks of the flock.

[63] Listen, the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the lords of the flock.

[64] For the Lord is despoiling their pasture, and the peaceful folds are devastated because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

[65] like a lion he has left his den for their land has become a waste because of the sword of the oppressor and because of his fierce anger.

[66] The Book of Daniel chapter six, a plot against Daniel.

[67] It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom and over them three presidents of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account so that the king might suffer no loss.

[68] Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

[69] Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.

[70] Then these men said, we shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.

[71] Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, O king, King, Darius, live forever.

[72] All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counselors, and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever makes petition to any God or man for 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.

[73] Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.

[74] Therefore, King Darius signed the document and interdict.

[75] Daniel in the Den of Lions When Daniel knew that the document had been signed He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber Open toward Jerusalem And he got down on his knees three times a day And prayed and gave thanks before his God As he had done previously Then these men came by agreement And found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God Then they came near and said before the king concerning the interdict Oh king did you not sign an interdict That any man who makes petition to any God or man within 30 days except to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions?

[76] The king answered, The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.

[77] Then they answered before the king, that Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no heed to you, O King, or the interdict you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.

[78] Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel, and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.

[79] Then these men came by agreement.

[80] to the king and said to the king, know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance which the king establishes can be changed.

[81] Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions.

[82] The king said to Daniel, may your God whom you serve continually deliver you.

[83] And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.

[84] Then the king went to his palace.

[85] Then the king went to his palace.

[86] and spent the night fasting.

[87] No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

[88] God saves Daniel from the lions.

[89] Then at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.

[90] When he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions?

[91] Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever.

[92] My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths, and they have not hurt me because I was found blameless before him, and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.

[93] Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den.

[94] So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of hurt was found upon him because he had trusted in his God.

[95] And the king commanded, and those men who had accused Daniel, were brought and cast into the den of lions.

[96] they, their children and their wives, and before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.

[97] Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you.

[98] I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion men may tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever, his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.

[99] He delivers and rescues.

[100] works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

[101] So, Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus, the reign of Cyrus, the Persian.

[102] Chapter 7.

[103] Visions of the four beasts and the ancient of days.

[104] In the first year of Belchazar, King of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed.

[105] Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter.

[106] Daniel said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

[107] And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

[108] The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings.

[109] Then as I looked, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand upon two feet like a man. And the mind of a man was given to it, and behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear.

[110] It was raised up on one side.

[111] It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and it was told, arise, devour much flesh.

[112] After this I looked, and behold another like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

[113] After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong, and it had great iron teeth.

[114] It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the residue with its feet.

[115] It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

[116] I considered the horns, and behold, there came up 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.

[117] As I looked, thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days took his seat, his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.

[118] His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire.

[119] A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him.

[120] A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

[121] The court sat in judgment and the books were opened.

[122] I looked then because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking and as I looked the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.

[123] As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

[124] 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.

[125] And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

[126] His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and is kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

[127] Daniel's visions interpreted.

[128] As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this.

[129] So he told me, and made known to me the interpretation of the things, these four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth.

[130] But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.

[131] Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the residue with its feet, and concerning the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, the horn which had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and which seemed greater than its fellows.

[132] As I looked, this horn made war with the saints, and prevailed over them, until the ancient of days came and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints received the kingdom.

[133] Thus he said, as for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down and break it to pieces.

[134] As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom, ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them.

[135] He shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings.

[136] He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law, and they shall be given into his hand for a time, two times, and a half -time.

[137] But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end.

[138] And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.

[139] Their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.

[140] Here is the end of the matter.

[141] As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my mind.

[142] The book of Proverbs chapter 16, verses 5 through 8.

[143] Everyone who is arrogant is an abomination to the Lord.

[144] Be assured, he will not go unpunished.

[145] By loyalty and faithfulness, iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil.

[146] When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

[147] Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.

[148] Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.

[149] We thank you so much for reminding us of your truth and reminding us of the pieces of wisdom that we need to never, ever forget.

[150] Help us to always remember not only the wisdom we need to make it through this life, but also help us always to remember what you've done in our lives, what you've done in the lives of your people and what you've done in this world.

[151] Lord God, help us to belong to you more than we belong.

[152] to anything else.

[153] Help us to be yours more than we are anything else.

[154] We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[155] Amen.

[156] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

[157] So I've neglected to mention this a couple days ago.

[158] When we transferred, when we jumped from chapter 20 of Jeremiah to chapter 21, we kind of jumped ahead roughly 20 years.

[159] At one point in the space between chapter 20 and chapter 21, there's so little tip insight into Jeremiah.

[160] He's not necessarily writing chronologically, that Jeremiah is writing prophetically, right?

[161] So even how Jeremiah, the book, is assembled, kind of a little bit goes back and forth, kind of jumps ahead.

[162] We've jumped ahead.

[163] And as you can tell in chapter 24 here, it talks about Jechaniah, the son of Jeholyakim, and also talks about Zedekiah.

[164] Remember that the three waves of deportation to Babylon happened.

[165] The last wave happened under King Zedekiah.

[166] And here is Jeremiah, and he goes from talking about Josiah, which was the first king that he served under as a prophet all the way to Zedekiah, which is the last king that he served with as a prophet.

[167] And so this is a long stretch of time here.

[168] And in chapter 24, we're all of a sudden, not kind of all of a sudden, but we kind of are all of a sudden in the age of the last wave of deportation.

[169] So we're in this time period right before Zedekiah.

[170] In fact, here is Jeremiah, and he's prophesying about Zedekiah.

[171] He says in verse 8 of chapter 24, thus says the Lord, like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten, I will treat Zedekiah, the king of Judah, his princes and the remnant of Jerusalem.

[172] So here is the space between the second deportation and the final deportation.

[173] But it's happening kind of in real time right here in Jeremiah's life.

[174] Now, that's context.

[175] But listen to this.

[176] We have these two baskets, the good figs and bad figs.

[177] And Jeremiah sees these, and we don't know where he sees them.

[178] We don't know if this is a vision, if he saw this, you know, actually literally.

[179] really, but the word of the Lord comes to him and says, okay, you need to understand the difference between the good figs and bad figs.

[180] Now, we would probably point out or look at this and say, well, the good figs are those who got to stay in Jerusalem.

[181] And the bad figs are those that were deported.

[182] Those bad figs are the ones that were exiled.

[183] But God says the exact opposite.

[184] God says the good figs are the ones that were exiled.

[185] The good figs are the ones that were brought to Babylon.

[186] And the bad figs are the ones that stayed in the promised land.

[187] The bad ones are the ones that stayed in Jerusalem.

[188] And this is so, so incredible.

[189] Not only stayed in Jerusalem, but also had to go to Egypt.

[190] Now, this is horrible because he says, the bad figs are the ones that didn't get deported, but stayed in Jerusalem or went to Egypt.

[191] The horrible part about this is Jeremiah was among those who had to go to Egypt.

[192] He wanted to stay with God's people.

[193] And so he elected to essentially be amongst those who were counted.

[194] No, he wasn't a bad fig. He elected to be among those who were counted.

[195] bad figs, the scent to Egypt.

[196] Now, why would it be the case that God would describe those who went to Babylon as the good figs and those who had to remain as a remnant in Israel and over to Egypt as bad figs?

[197] Well, this is an incredible thing.

[198] I don't want to give away too much of what's going to happen.

[199] But what's going to happen is God is going to do surgery on his people.

[200] And the surgery is basically he's going to remove them from Israel and they're going to go to Babylon and in Babylon their hearts are going to become right that God is going to use King Nebuchadnezzar.

[201] In fact, we see this in chapter 25 that the Lord God says, here's my servant Nebuchadnezzar.

[202] And we can look at this and say wait a second, how is Nebuchadnezzar the servant of the Lord?

[203] Nebuchadnezzar is not a good king.

[204] He's a bad guy.

[205] He's conquered the entire world.

[206] He's enslaved a lot of people.

[207] He's killed a lot of people.

[208] He's not a friend of the Jews.

[209] How can God, the God of the Jews, How can the God of the universe say that Nebuchadnezzar is my servant?

[210] Well, because God is able to use even bad people to accomplish his ends.

[211] We've already seen this.

[212] We've already seen this in all the stories that we've been reading leading up to this moment, that God can use even bad people, broken people.

[213] God can use people like you and like me to accomplish his ends.

[214] And in this case, here is Jeremiah pointing out that, yep, Nebuchadnezzar is going to be a servant, in some ways, a tool of the Lord God.

[215] Now, we can say this in the similar way.

[216] I heard someone describe this in terms of like Judas.

[217] We know that Judas truly was a betrayer.

[218] He wasn't like Judas is actually the hero of the story, but God was able to use this broken man, Judas, to accomplish the salvation of the world by his betrayal of Jesus.

[219] Now, again, it's not something that God wanted, not something that God wanted, you know, Nebuchadnezzar to be evil, or Judas to be the betrayer, but he's able to use that.

[220] He's able to use the evil man Nebuchadnezzar.

[221] He's able to use this evil action of Jesus.

[222] Judas for a greater good.

[223] And part of that is that, this is amazing, that when the people of Israel come back to the land of Israel, remember up to this point, they're constantly turning to false gods.

[224] They're constantly, right?

[225] They're constantly building their Ashran.

[226] They're constantly turning to Baal.

[227] They're constantly turning to any God, other than the true and living God.

[228] But after this exile, something you're going to see is a lack of idolatry, that what's going to happen to the hearts of the people of Israel, when they go back to, no, they're not going to be perfect when they go back.

[229] I mean, they're still going to struggle.

[230] They're still going to be basically human beings, right, of course.

[231] But all of the idolatry we heard of in Saw up through in judges and in first and second Samuel and in kings and in chronicles, all of that idolatry, it's not going to be as present.

[232] It's as if God healed something in their hearts by sending them away to Babylon by sending them to exile.

[233] And part of that is what we see here in Daniel chapter six and at least Daniel chapter six.

[234] What do we see in Daniel chapter six is what we've seen in Daniel chapter one through five, which is this decision, right?

[235] This decision to, I refuse to be conformed to the people around me. I refuse to be conformed to this present age like St. Paul says.

[236] He says, do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

[237] Basically, don't be like the people around you, but be like the Lord God, be like the saints, right?

[238] And this is the key thing for all of us to realize that Daniel and his compatrius, right?

[239] Your Han and I, Azari, Michael, Daniel is being faithful in the face of unfaithfulness.

[240] And it doesn't matter what people around him are doing.

[241] Daniel has said, I know what God has asked me to do.

[242] And so I'm going to do that.

[243] And so we even have the story of Daniel in the lion's den.

[244] But hopefully for us, we can see that here is what can happen to us.

[245] We can be incredibly faithful when it comes to the Lord, we can be incredibly faithful when it comes to our own work and do it excellently and still have people conspire against us and still be in some ways powerless.

[246] And yet, in the midst of being powerless, we can always be faithful.

[247] We can always learn how to live in exile.

[248] And that's what Daniel and Hennon and Azariah and Mishal are giving us an example of is how to live in exile, because that's where we are.

[249] I mean, as Christians, we know that this is the reality is that, yeah, God made this world, he made it good, and he put us here, but this is not ultimately our home, that we are in exile whenever we're far from the Lord.

[250] We're in exile whenever we're far from his ultimate plan for us.

[251] Again, you are where you ought to be, most likely, as we listen to the Lord's voice and try to follow his will.

[252] But this is not our ultimate home.

[253] So lastly, in Daniel chapter 7, there's this description.

[254] And now we've moved from Daniel chapter 6, 1 through 6, which was narrative, right?

[255] There's all these incredible things happening to Daniel and Hennon, I, Azraa, Mishal.

[256] But now we have, the second half.

[257] There are a couple more stories at the end, but the second half here are revelations, essentially, of Daniel.

[258] And he sees these four beasts.

[259] And just like the story of the statue, the dream of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, these four beasts represent different kingdoms.

[260] And so the first of the beast was like a lion with eagle's wings.

[261] Now, the lion and the eagle were in image of Babylon.

[262] And so, okay, clearly, and it's majestic, powerful, beautiful, glorious.

[263] And then, but it's going to get its wings plucked off, and a human heart was given to it.

[264] So there comes a second, a second nation or a second beast, like a bear.

[265] And this bear, second beast, wasn't majestic like, you know, a lion or an eagle.

[266] It's slower, stronger, and also more devastating than a lion.

[267] And so the bear represents the Medo -Persian Empire, right, which came after Babylon.

[268] And it did a lot of destruction.

[269] The next one is like a leopard.

[270] And the leopard is an image of the Greek Empire.

[271] So Alexander the Great, quickly conquered civilized world by the time before he was 30 years old, incredible.

[272] And that's that leopard being a symbol of the Greek Empire.

[273] And then the fourth most terrible, dreadful, terrifying beast being the Roman Empire.

[274] And so once again, we have this image like the Statue of Nebuchadnezzar of the head of gold, the chest and silver, the bronze, the iron, and then the feet of clay and iron mixed together.

[275] But we have this.

[276] And we have this image that it's important for us to recognize that.

[277] the last beast, the one that was terrifying, wasn't the final thing that Daniel saw.

[278] What he saw was the ancient of days.

[279] When he saw after this was he saw one like a son of man descending from the clouds.

[280] And this is incredible because what it reveals to us is yes, in this world we have, we have kingdoms, we have nations, we have kings and princes and presidents and all these things.

[281] But they come and they go, they rise and they fall.

[282] And then there comes the one like a son of man. and this kingdom does not fall.

[283] It only rises.

[284] And so we give God praise because that is his kingdom on earth.

[285] That is the church.

[286] And we just give God praise because he has brought us.

[287] He's invited us to be part of this.

[288] He's invited us to be part of the church that even though we are in uncertain times because every time is uncertain and even though we live in unstable times because this life is unstable, we know that there is the ancient of days who conquers all.

[289] And he's invited you and invited me to be.

[290] be part of his kingdom.

[291] And so we just say today and every day, yes, I will be done.

[292] I am praying for you.

[293] Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

[294] I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

[295] God bless.