Life

Well If you don't know already Brad and I moved to Fort Wayne,Indiana. He was offered a job at Edy's Icecream..Better known to you west coast folk as Dreyers. He really likes his job. He gets alot of days off and has lots of vacation. After moving here I also found a job. I am a bank teller. Working as a teller is motivating me to go back to school. Either for the Ministry, Theology, or Photography. Still trying to decide. I think the best bet would be to do what I love. Which I really enjoy teaching others about the bible so who know I just have to figure things out.

Bridgetown

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

A week ago the FIRE discipleship class had the privilege to serve the Lord in a mighty way with Bridgetown Ministries in Portland, Oregon. The group that was honored enough to help the ministry was Sarah, Clayton, Tammy, Charley, Miranda, Brad, Tabitha, Tyler, and I. If you are able I would suggest you ask anyone of them to share their experience and how it has affected their lives. Some of the areas we were all able to work in were walk abouts, foot washing, table conversationalists, and listening with those who need an ear to hear.

One experience I had while serving at Bridgetown was when I was on the walk about. As my group was walking around the streets of downtown Portland we stopped to talk to a man who was eating at a shelter. After a couple minutes of speaking with him, he excused himself to go and give the rest of his food to another homeless person whom he did not know. When I saw him give the homeless person all he had left, it made me think about Christians, wondering whether or not we are as selfless with all we have. As a Christian when you see a fellow believer in need Do you help or just walk on by. Looking at the homeless people on the streets sharing with one another it has helped me to realize that we need to help those in need and share the love of Christ. We need to be thankful for what we have and bless those who have nothing. One other thing I learned was to not look at people as just homeless but as Children of Christ whom God loves just as much as anyone else.

Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "

The second great experience I had was when we went under the Burnside Bridge and was able to speak with some of the people there. One man I remember quit vividly was a man named Richard. Sarah and I decided to go speak with him so we could get to know him. As we sat there making small talk Richard said,” If you guys can will you pray with me?” Right away I knew this was a divine encounter from God. As we prayed for Richard about his alcohol issue, we could feel the holy spirits presence, and we know that Richard could too.

After the many great experience we all received, I cannot wait to go and help at Bridgetown Ministries again. It is always a great experience to humble oneself before men and learn to see people with the Eyes of God and not the eyes of men.

Give Me Your Eyes

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach?
Give me Your heart for the one's forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

Forgiveness

What is forgiveness? Does one have to ask for forgiveness to be forgiven? Well according to Webster Dictionary Forgiveness- is an act of forgiving. So actually one should not have to ask for forgiveness, it is the one who has been hurt that needs to get past the situation and move on. God states that forgiveness is the willingness to put your pride away and forgive your brother/sister 70 times 7. Matthew 18:21-22 21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. What He actually is saying is to forgive to no end. There was a time in my life where I had been offended and hurt by someone and the prideful side of me thought it would be best to not even speak to the person again and to just brush the person off. God had another plan in mind. When I was at church one day a few weeks after the incident the Pastor was speaking about Matthew 5:21-26 21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. After I heard of these verses I felt very convicted like God was speaking directly to me. I then went straight to the person I was hurt by and asked for forgiveness. I felt like a weight was lifted from me. I felt at peace. I suggest that if you hold un-forgiveness towards someone to reconnect with that person and ask for forgiveness even if they do not except it is no longer on your shoulders. Your part will be done.

Found this online. I thought it was an interesting read.

Does Jesus fulfill the messianic prophecies?
1) why, where, and when



"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

- John 14:11

"Nothing but falsehood ever attested itself by signs and wonders."

- Robert G. Ingersoll



4.1 Why believe Jesus is the one?

Of the billions of people born since the Old Testament prophecies were given, relatively few have claimed to be the Messiah. But among those who profess to be the rightful holder of this office, why should we believe Jesus to be the Christ, the promised Messiah? Why not someone else? Why not Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, or Sun Myung Moon? These latter characters may not seem like the most likely of candidates, but knowing how to identify the true Messiah remains a very critical concern.

The Old Testament looks forward to the Messiah's coming and the kingdom he was to establish. Because of the pre-eminent importance of the Messiah and of his mission, God revealed numerous unique qualifications through his prophets that allow for the Messiah's positive identification. The messianic prophecies qualify what the Messiah's gender will be, his lineage, place of arrival, year of appearance, how he would be received, the characteristics of his life and death, his resurrection, his kinship to God, his destruction of the wicked, and his reign into eternity.

The first characteristic we can glean from prophecy is that the Messiah will be a male. Obviously this narrows down the possible candidates from everyone to about half the population. We can further narrow down the possible candidates as we take each prophecy into account concerning the Messiah's birth, death, and return.

Now, there are also prophecies which tell what his demeanor will be, and how and what he will teach. Those particular prophecies may arguably be within the power of a person to self-fulfill. Because of this, we will set some of those aside and mainly focus on the prophetic fulfillments which the Messiah would have had little or no possibility of fraudulently manufacturing.


4.2 Where will the Messiah arrive?

PROPHECY (all quotation emphases mine):

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. Micah 5:2 NIV

FULFILLMENT:

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David... While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born... Luke 2:4,6 NIV


4.3 What will be the Messiah's lineage?

PROPHECY:

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you... and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." Genesis 17:19 NIV

The scepter will not depart from Judah, ...until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. Genesis 49:10 NIV

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. Numbers 24:17a NIV

FULFILLMENT:

Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat,... the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse,... the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,... Luke 3:23, 31-34 NIV


4.4 When will the Messiah arrive?

PROPHECY:

Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens', and sixty-two 'sevens'. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens', the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Daniel 9:24-26a NIV

FULFILLMENT:

The first question one might ask about this prophecy is, "What is a seven?" This can be traced back as early as the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus (25:2-5), the Lord decrees that land is to be farmed for six years and then "the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord". Every seventh year closed a sabbatical cycle in which the land was to be left unfarmed. This is illustrative of the seven being used here by Daniel (years are also the contextual units of time he opens the chapter with).

The first paragraph of this prophecy states that within the seventy sevens (70 x 7 = 490 years) God would accomplish six different tasks. But the second paragraph explicitly states that in seven plus sixty-two sevens ((7 + 62) x 7 = 483 years) after a decree is issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, the Anointed One would come and afterwards be cut off, or killed. At the time Daniel recorded this, the Israelites were still in captivity to Babylon.

So when was the decree finally given and what happened 483 years later?


-- INTERPRETATION #1

The decree was most likely issued by Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes issued two decrees which could place the death of the Anointed One in either AD 30 or 33. Dr. D. James Kennedy explains the older of several different schools of thought on this:

...We find that the 69 weeks [sevens] end in AD 26 with the Messiah being 'cut off' in AD 30. The traditional view which places the appearing of the Messiah at AD 26 would seem to be the most rational and clear understanding of this Old Testament passage.

It is very noteworthy, therefore, that it places the appearing of the promised Savior and King of the Jews at the same time as the baptism of Jesus. How do I know this? Luke makes it very clear that Jesus was baptized by John and publicly proclaimed to be the promised Messiah on the 'fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar' (Luke 3:1). Tiberius Caesar began his rule in AD 11 and therefore the fifteenth year of his reign would be AD 26.

This, therefore, clearly dates the baptism of Christ and His anointing by the Holy Spirit at the same time as the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy. It also places Christ's death on the cross in AD 30, the very time when Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would be 'cut off, but not for himself'. 1 [emphasis mine]

Thus the six tasks that Daniel prophesied God would accomplish find their fulfillment in Jesus:

* finish transgression: the redemption and forgiveness which we needed because of our sin was finally accomplished by Jesus' death on the cross,
* put an end to sin: thanks to Jesus and his redemption of us, sin no longer has to have dominion over us (though sin will continue to exist for us to contend with until Christ's return),
* atone for wickedness: Jesus' sacrifice on the cross paid for our sins and reconciled us to God,
* bring in everlasting righteousness: Jesus' perfect and everlasting righteousness is now made available to us - without which no one can see the kingdom of God,
* seal up the vision and the prophecy: because Christ fulfilled all of the above prophecies, they are now sealed, and...
* anoint the most holy: God poured out his Holy Spirit upon his son Jesus the Christ.


-- INTERPRETATION #2

The other schools of thought concerning these seventy seven's or weeks of Daniel are probably indistinguishable to non-Christians or those unfamiliar with this issue. One includes the belief that the last seven of the 490 years is not contiguous to the first 483 years and is specially set aside for the time immediately preceding Christ's return (the prophetic fulfillments of God's six tasks then being more fully realized).

The other idea is that it was the pagan king Cyrus who issued the decree from which Daniel's timetable is to be calculated. Though Cyrus' decree slightly precedes Artaxerxes' (but proponents would argue for the same date as Artaxerxes), a rather compelling argument might be made from Isaiah chapters 44:26 through 45:4.

Regardless of your preferred interpretation of Daniel, any of these leave us with the fact that Jesus' appearance coincided with the prophesied time of the Messiah's arrival. Anyone hoping to claim messiahship had to arrive at that time. No one showing up years before or years after can claim to be the Messiah; certainly no one today can, nor can anyone in the future.

Daniel lastly prophesied that after the Messiah's death, the city and the sanctuary (temple) would be destroyed. This is exactly what the Roman army carried out on Jerusalem in AD 70 - a total annihilation of the city's people, temple, and structures.

2) how and what



"It is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth -- whenever its true meaning is understood. But I believe nobody will deny that it is often very abstruse, and may say things which are quite different from what its bare words signify."

- Galileo Galilei

"Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."

- Matthew 13:13 NASB


4.5 How will the Messiah's coming be announced?

PROPHECY:

See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:1 NIV

See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers... Malachi 4:5,6 NIV


FULFILLMENT:

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John... And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous - to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:13b, 17 NIV

This is the one [John] about whom it is written: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you." ...And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come." Matthew 11:10, 14 NIV

Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. Matthew 17:11-13 NIV


4.6 What qualities will the Messiah possess?

PROPHECY:

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses] from among your own brothers. You must listen to him." Deuteronomy 18:15 NIV

FULFILLMENT:

For Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people... Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. Acts 3:22-24 NIV


PROPHECY:

'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is right in the land... This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.' Jeremiah 23:5-6 NIV

FULFILLMENT:

Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world...' 'You are a king, then!' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth...' John 18:36-37a NIV

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV


PROPHECY:

You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand; Psalm 110:4b-5a NIV

FULFILLMENT:

...Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek... Hebrews 6:20b NIV


4.7 What characterizes his life?

PROPHECY:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:3-4 NIV

FULFILLMENT:

Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet... John 12:37-38 NIV

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first... He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law..." John 15:18,23-25a NIV


4.8 What characterizes his death?

PROPHECY:

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:5-9 NIV

All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." ...I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. Psalm 22:7-8, 14-18 NIV

FULFILLMENT:

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of." But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed... Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get... They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, 'He was counted with the lawless ones'. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads... Mark 15:3-5, 19-24, 27-29a NIV

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. John 19:32-35a NIV

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own tomb... Matthew 27:57-60 NIV


4.9 What characterizes his resurrection?

PROPHECY:

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:10-12 NIV

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. Psalm 16:9,10 NIV

FULFILLMENT:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Matthew 16:21 NIV

He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." ...This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,.. You are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:44, 46, 48 NIV

Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Acts 2:31-32 NIV

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep [died]. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also... 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NIV

The Basic prophetic timeline

Understanding how Daniel and Revelation work together is a crucial part of understanding Bible prophecy and who is the antichrist, and in the following studies you will see how Daniel helps unlock the book of Revelation. It would be advisable to read Daniel 2 before beginning as this gives the basic prophetic timeline from Babylon to the second coming of Christ. In the book of Daniel, the principle of repetition and enlargement is used. Daniel 2 gives the whole basic prophetic timeline of history in brief and then each chapter enlarges with more detail and information etc. Unlocking Daniel’s symbols makes the prophecies of Revelation come clear.

In Daniel 2, we find a king who dreamed of world events that spanned over 2,500 years. Those events have come to pass with such precision that only the hand of God could have been involved. It is a prophecy that’s almost been totally fulfilled. Daniel 2:1 says: “In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.”

This was the king who ruled the great Babylonian Empire 600 years before Christ and who built the Hanging Gardens which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which seemed of great significance, but when he awoke, he could not remember what he had dreamt. So he called his wise men who claimed to see into the future and asked them to tell what he had dreamt. When they admitted that they could not, Nebuchadnezzar condemned them to death.

Young Daniel, though a prisoner in Babylon, was counted among the “wise men” for his gifted intelligence and understanding. When the king’s captain came to execute Daniel, he asked for time to pray for God to reveal the dream which of course God did. Then Daniel, taking no credit to himself, went before Nebuchadnezzar and told the king that no mortal man could reveal the dream. “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has revealed ... what will be in the latter days.” Daniel 2:28. The dream starts with Nebuchadnezzar and marches through history to God’s final kingdom.

The visionSo Daniel told the king what he had dreamed: “You, O king, were watching: and behold, a great image! This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:31-35.

Head of Gold - BabylonThe King was excited. “That’s exactly what I saw! But Daniel, what does it mean?” Daniel continued: “You, O King ... are this head of GOLD.” Daniel 2:37-38. The Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar (which made more lavish use of gold than any kingdom since) was secure as the dominant world power from 605 B.C. to 538 B.C., but he was to be overthrown by a kingdom represented in Daniel 2:32 as “the breast and arms Chest of Silver - Medo-Persiaof SILVER.” In Daniel 5:28, the next world ruling power is named, the joint empire of the Medes and the Persians. Again a fitting symbol, the two arms joined at the chest to show two kingdoms being the Medes and Persians. They ruled the world for two centuries, from 538 B.C. to 331 B.C., but they also were overthrown by a third kingdom.

Belly of Brass - GreeceThis third kingdom, depicted in verse 32 as the “belly and thighs of BRONZE,” was the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great which was taken over by his four Generals after he died. And what did Alexander’s men wear into battle? Bronze - Bronze breastplates, bronze helmets, bronze shields, bronze swords. Once again, God chose a fitting symbol to describe the kingdom that would rule the world from 331 B.C. to 168 B.C.

Legs of Iron - RomeBut history doesn’t end with this third kingdom. Greece did not rule the world forever, for there was a fourth metal after the gold of Babylon, and the silver of the Medes and Persians, and the bronze of Greece. The next kingdom is represented by IRON. Daniel 2:40 says, “The fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron.” The iron monarchy of Rome was the last world kingdom, which in 168 B.C. overthrew Feet of Iron and Clay - Divided Europethe Greeks. Just as legs form the longest part of the body, Rome had the longest reign of any other of the world powers. For more than 500 years, half a millennium, Rome was invincible. But what did the Bible predict would happen next? Daniel 2:41-43 says, “Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom.”

History confirms that this seemingly unconquerable Roman Empire crumbled from within and without. From within wealth poured into Rome through taxes collected from all over the world and the simple Roman life was replaced with luxury and pomp. The political world brewed with corruption, crime infiltrated the streets, the work ethic was lost, sexual immorality was rampant. And as the mighty Roman Empire weakened from within, Rome was attacked from without and divided into ten smaller kingdoms.

Second coming and the Final KingdomToday we are living right down in the toenails of history! Every part of this prophecy has come to pass except one. Daniel told the king in verses 34 and 44, “You watched while a STONE was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ... The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. ... It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” That Rock cut out without hands symbolizes Jesus Christ who will come to establish His everlasting kingdom.

God through the prophet Daniel foretold the break-up of the Roman Empire into ten toes of the Image, representing the ten kingdoms into which Rome was divided when barbarian tribes carved up the empire.
The Ten Barbarian tribes and their modern day names
Anglo-Saxons: England Lombards: Italy Heruli: Destroyed
Alamanni: Germany Suevi: Portugal Vandals: Destroyed
Burgundians: Switzerland Visigoths: Spain Ostrogoths: Destroyed
Franks: France

These last three have no modern names for they originally took over parts of the Roman Empire but were eventually destroyed, “plucked up by the roots” as Daniel 7:8, 20, and 24 foretold. Daniel 2:41-43 says, ten toes, ten kingdoms, and just as IRON and CLAY won’t mix together, so the ten kingdoms will not be joined. No matter how many battles are fought, no matter how many Hitler’s or Napoleons or Charlemagne’s seek to conquer, the Bible says the world will never be united under one ruler again.

Only one kingdom is left to be established. Soon Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages, who paid a remarkable visit to this planet 2000 years ago, is going to pay us another visit. Jesus is going to make quite an entrance the second time. The heavens will rumble with a great shout as the trumpet blasts and angels sing. Then Jesus and the angelic host will swoop down in a cloud of glory to gather all His faithful ones!

Daniel 7 enlarges on Daniel 2
How do we know this? Remember that Daniel 2 gives us the whole basic time line from Babylon to beyond the second coming of Christ. Keeping that in mind, Daniel 2 informs us the fourth kingdom is the legs and feet of IRON with ten toes (divided Europe) and Daniel 7 says the fourth beast has IRON teeth and ten horns (divided Europe). In both chapters we have a consistent theme and we are most significantly told that these represent the “fourth kingdom” on earth and that they both “break in pieces.” The Bible is not inconsistent and therefore this fourth kingdom is one and the same. Starting with the iron legs:

Daniel 2:40 “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”
Daniel 7:7 “…and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
Daniel 7:23 “…The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.”

So inescapably did Daniel’s prophetic portrayal correspond to its historical fulfilment that the great English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), though not a Christian or Bible believer himself, wittingly or unwittingly used Scriptural language in his monumental History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire when he wrote: “The images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the IRON monarchy of Rome.” Historians mark 168 B.C. as the starting point of the “IRON Monarchy of Rome.” On June 22 at the battle of Pydna, the Greeks fell to the Romans who ruled the then known world to about 476 A.D. Let’s give one more example using the first kingdom.

Lion on the Ishtar gate of BabylonSince Daniel 7:23 tells us “The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth” and Daniel 7:17 says “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings…”, then the first beast is of course the first kingdom which Daniel 7:4 says, “The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings…” In Daniel 2:37-38, speaking of the metal man, Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, “You, O King … are this head of GOLD.” This lion on the Ishtar gate from the ancient ruins of Babylon is one of many and is not coincidence. The evidence is overwhelming from both the Bible and history that Daniel 7 is indeed enlarging on Daniel 2 and so on.

So what does this all tell us?
Again using the principle of repetition and enlargement, we now know from Daniel 2:37-38 that Babylon is the first kingdom. “You, O King … are this head of GOLD.” From Daniel 5:28; 8:1-7, 8:20, we know that Medo-Persia conquered Babylon. Daniel 5:28 “Your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Daniel 8:20 “The ram which you sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.”

From Daniel 8:1-7, 21 we know Greece conquered Medo-Persia. Daniel 8:21 “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” God did not name the fourth kingdom directly as He knew the Bible would be in the hands of a very powerful Church for a very long period of time and would be prone to editing if they knew that they were described in these prophetic books of the Bible. However, there is no mistaking that history reveals Rome conquered Greece and is the fourth kingdom and is described as having IRON legs (Daniel 2:33), IRON teeth (Daniel 7:7) and that Rome is known as the IRON monarchy that fell and was divided into ten kingdoms. (Daniel 7:23-24)

APOLOGY: If you belong to the Church we are about to discuss, please allow me to apologize up front for what may hurt or offend you. We very much love people from all denominations and have no vendetta against any Church as this would be contrary to Christian teaching, but this truth has to be preached. If it were not in God's Word we would be silent about it, but it is Bible truth and the truth of who is the antichrist must be revealed or many will perish in the end times.

STAND UP!

The following is a true story that happened just a few years ago at USC.

STAND UP!!!

There was a professor of philosophy who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him because of his reputation. At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!" In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can’t do it." And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students would do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students thought that God couldn’t exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.

Well, a few years ago there was a freshman who happened to enroll. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor. He was required to take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said, or what the class thought. Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith...he hoped.

Finally, the day came. The professor said, " If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, "You FOOL!!! If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken. The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of His power through Jesus.