The Best (And Worst) Is Yet To Come Series

[This sermon is contributed by Hal Seed of New Song Church in Oceanside, California and of www.PastorMentor.com. Hal is the author of numerous books including The God Questions and The Bible Questions. If you are interested in The Bible Questions Church-wide Campaign, please visit and watch Hal’s video at www.PastorMentor.com.]

Editor’s note: words found in capitals were made into PowerPoint slides. This is the 7th message in the Future History series from the book of Daniel. The book is available at www.futurehistorybook.com.

FIND A BIBLE AND TURN TO DANIEL 7, p. 881.

Good morning!

A few days before the end of the year, a respected financial newsletter released its annual Top 10 Predictions for the Year Ahead.

Their top 3 predictions were:

TOP 10 PREDICTIONS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD:

1. U.S. ECONOMY: FIRST ½ OF THE YEAR = 2% GROWTH, SECOND ½ = 3% GROWTH.

2. ENERGY: RELIFE ON OLD PRICES, BY YEAR’S END 460 PER BARREL.

3. HOUSING: CONTINUED SLIGHT DECLINE UNTIL MIDYEAR, MODERATING BY YEAR END.

With 1/12th of the year almost completed, how do you think they’re going to do on those predictions?

I think they might be right. Time will tell.

In addition to those and other economic forecasts they also predicted:

HILARY VS. MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT

And, in projecting demographic trends, their crystal ball says that

IN 2030…

- POPULATION = 360 million

- 57% WHITE (down from 69%)

- ETHNIC BLURS as a result of increasing interracial marriages

- POPULATION INCREASES:

52% SOUTH

35% WEST

7% MIDWEST

5% NORTHWEST

They also predicted that certain Midwestern states will loose population. Kansas, for instance, will have less people in 2030 than it does now. (Sorry Toto.)

How do you think they’ll do on these predictions?

They might be right, time will tell.

They also predicted that by 2050, China will overtake us as the largest economy in the world.

How do you think they will do on that one?

They might be right. Time will tell.

Since time immemorial, human beings have been making predictions. Some of them ridiculous, like JFK announcing in 1960 that “we will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade,” some of them innocuous, like little Billy marching home from school and announcing, “Mommy, when I grow up, I’m going to marry Susie.” And some the pretentious, like Joe Namath guaranteeing that the New York Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 3.

One thing is true about all predictions: time either proves them right, or time proves them wrong.

And in the section of the book of Daniel we are going to look at today, a section written 2562 years ago, we are going to see that the God of time gets it right every time He makes a prediction.

The section we are going to read took place in 556 B.C., which is 17 years before Daniel 6, and 16 years before Daniel 5.

Why does Daniel put this story after those stories, even though it came before them?

Because Daniel is composing his book according to the style of every Middle Eastern storyteller. He’s telling it in chiastic style, where stories echo and mirror each other in symmetrical fashion.

Last week we saw that the book of Daniel looks like this:

DAN. 1 = INTRODUCTION

.…DAN. 2 = FUTURE HISTORY (4 kingdoms)

……….DAN. 3 = PRESERVATION OF FAITHFUL SERVANTS

……………DAN. 4 = HUMBLING OF THE KING (Nebuchadnezzar)

……………DAN. 5 = HUMBLING OF THE KING (Belshazzar)

……….DAN. 6 = PRESERVATION OF FAITHFUL SERVANT

…. Dan. 7 = FUTURE HISTORY (4 kingdoms)

Let’s read about the 4 kingdoms:

Read Dan. 7

v. 3 – In most Jewish literature, the Great Sea, which would be the Mediterranean Sea to Israel’s west, rather than the Dead Sea, to here east, the Great Sea represents the world of the Gentiles. So these are 4 Gentile beasts.

v. 10 – This is the passage from which some people get their image of God as a white haired old man.

v. 14 – Is this all confusing enough for you? Let’s keep reading and I’ll explain it all in just a minute.

v. 15 – So, the one Daniel approached would be an angel.

Lots of predictions here, let’s unpack them.

In Dan. 7, there are

7 KEY FIGURES:

1. THE LION = THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (v. 4)

The Lion was the symbol of ancient Babylon. The entrance gate to the city was decorated with a procession of yellow lions on blue-glazed brick. The Lion has wings, which are plucked off, so that instead of flying, it stands on the ground. And it was given a human heart. The Lion’s wings were plucked when Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by God and the human heart was given when he regained his sanity.