God Is On The Throne Series

God is on the Throne

Daniel Speaks to Us Today Series

By Greg Johnson

November 29, 2006

http://www.LovingGodFellowship.org

Daniel 7

In the midst of overwhelming social injustice in this world, God is still on the throne. It may seem as if Satan is troubling people everywhere, but please know that God is on the throne. You may be under horrendous attack right now from forces of evil; know that God is on the throne.

The injustice of racism has become front page news once again as on November 17, 2006, Michael Richards, who played Kramer on ’Seinfeld’ angrily screamed racial slurs to two African American men that interrupted his act by coming in late. After his racial slurs and as some that were disgusted at his words left, he said "that is what happens when you interrupt a white man." On July 28, 2006, Mel Gibson was arrested for DUI. In the course of the arrest Gibson launched into a profanity-laced tirade, hurling anti-Semitic and sexist statements at authorities. God’s Word tells us (Matthew 12:34 NIV) "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."

Both of these men have since publicly apologized. Rather or not we think their apologies are sincere and although their racial actions were despicable, they must be forgiven. These two recent incidences have brought reality to those who thought the injustice of racism had been eradicated in this country.

Wide scale racial injustice has been going on for some time in the Sudan as genocide is taking place. More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since fighting began in Darfur in early 2003. All of this has happened while the media outlets and governments of the world have been nearly silent.

The social injustice of poverty continues to be a world wide problem. In American there are 35 million people living in poverty while our government cuts social programs to finance tax cuts given to the wealthy. There are 1 billion people in our world that live on less than one dollar a day. There is another 2 billion people in our world that live on less than two dollars a day. That means that half of the world’s population is living on less than two dollars a day. 35,000 children under the age of five die each day from preventable disease caused by mostly unsafe water supplies. All of this is going on while world powers jockey for political and military dominance.

In the midst of all of this injustice, God is still on the throne. His Kingdom is coming and when it fully arrives, there will be no injustice. The prophet Daniel was given a vivid picture of this in a dream that is recorded in Daniel chapter seven of God’s Word. The first 14 verses describe the dream and the last 14 verse gives the interpretation. We need be careful not to get caught up in all of the symbolism and lose site of the message that has been meant for all generations. The message from God’s Word speaks to us today.

DANIEL’S DREAM CAN BE APPLIED THROUGHOUT HISTORY.

(Daniel 7:1-8 NIV) "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. {2} Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. {3} Four 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 man, and the heart of a man 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 man and a mouth that spoke boastfully."