The History Of The World Part 1 Series

55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

· Now just what exactly is it that Paul is talking about here? Paul is talking about the rapture of the church and it is a glorious thought! In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we’re gonna be gone from this sin sick world! What a beautiful thought!

· Thanks be to God, Paul says, because there is victory in Jesus! That is a beautiful thought and one for which we should long constantly. Who wants to live in this hell-hole when we could be in heaven? And it is a hell-hole! Hell has come to earth. satan is alive and active and he is bringing about hell on this earth. But there is victory in the Lord.

· The Rapture is a beautiful doctrine. I long for that day when God calls me to meet Him in the air. I pray that it is soon and that I get to participate in it! What a glorious doctrine and hope that we have.

· After the rapture happens and we’re gone from this earth, what will happen to the world? The world will then go through The Great Tribulation. This is a literal 7 year period of hell on earth, such as has never been seen before. We won’t go in-depth in this topic right now, as Daniel goes in-depth with this later on when we talk about the 70 weeks.

· After the Great Tribulation comes the Second Coming of Christ and then Christ will set up the Millennial Reign on earth, which will be a literal 1,000 year reign of peace with Christ as King sitting on David’s throne. Christ will literally fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament regarding his second coming and the future kingdom He is bringing.

· Now, back in Daniel 2:41 we see that the Roman Empire will have toes mixed with iron and clay. Let’s read verses 44 and 45 to understand this more.

44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure."

· Verse 44 says “in the days of those kings” and so we must ask ourselves, which kings? We see that in the days of those kings, God will set up His everlasting kingdom on earth. And this means that in the days of those kings, God will send the 7 year Tribulation and will come again and set up His Kingdom that will not end.

· “Those kings” in verse 44 refers back to the kings of the Roman Empire in verses 41-43. But this poses a problem for many people. We know that the Roman Empire has ended, so how can Christ set up all of this DURING the Roman Empire?

· I believe that, while the Roman Empire has ended, it’s principles have not. We would probably be better off if we understood this 4th Kingdom not as the Roman Empire, but just simply as The West. All Western nations have roots in the Roman Empire – even the USA. We came from England, which itself came out of the Holy Roman Empire.