Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 2 * PART 2 * BOOK 80
DANIEL – PART II – 2
Daniel 2:1- 4:25
Okay, it’s good to see everybody back again. We’re going to move right on into our next half hour, which will be from Daniel chapter 2. We’re going to drop in at verse 44. Again, for those of you joining us on television, we want to thank you for your letters, for your financial help, but most of all for your prayers. My, we just got back from a week in Florida, and everybody that goes by says—we pray for you every day. Well, what more could I ask for? So continue to do that, because without the prayers of the saints, we’d probably be in trouble in no time.
All right, we’re going to pick right up in our study of Daniel, back to chapter 2 verse 44. For those of you here in the studio and for those of you joining us out there in television, we appreciate again that you let us know that you take notes and that you’re learning how to study on your own.
All right, after the description of the Roman Empire, as we ended in our last half hour—and we put it up here on the board. We left it up here—how the Babylonians were the head of gold. The chest of silver was the Medes and the Persians. Greece was the brass part of that great image, remember. Then the last part, the legs of iron, was an empire that they couldn’t even describe.
And, of course, we know from history that the Roman Empire was awesome. The Roman Legions were feared from one end of the then-known world to the other. But they, too, went down into the dustbin of history and disappeared from view until, you might say, after World War II. Now, we have a re-appearance of what we call the Revived Roman Empire. Which entailed much of the same geographical area as the original Roman Empire and that, of course, will be the ten toes of clay and iron. We’re going to pick it up now in verse 44.
Daniel 2:44a
“And in the days of these kings…” In other words, when these revived Roman Empire nations have come together. I still feel—I’ve taught it for thirty-some years—that it will be the original ten nations of Western Europe who formed the Club of Rome and later on became the European Community. Even though they’ve now added and added, yet the original ten are pretty much in control.
All right, so they’re going to be the empire of the anti-Christ in the closing seven years. That’s where we pick them up now. This Revived Roman Empire out of which the anti-Christ has come. The seven years will run their course, and then the next event is the thousand year Kingdom on earth. And again, I’m realizing more and more that precious few church people, let alone the unchurched world—yeah, I’ve got heads nodding all over—they don’t know what you’re talking about. A Kingdom on earth? See, they think we’re the kingdom.
I’ll never forget a couple in one of my classes here in Oklahoma years ago. They went to a Bible conference here in Oklahoma, and they came back and said “Les, all they talked about for the whole several days of the Bible conference was, we’ve got to build the Kingdom. We’ve got to fill the Kingdom.” Well, we’re not in the Kingdom. Heavens, no, we’re not in the Kingdom. The Kingdom is that which is still future when Christ will return and be the King of Kings on planet Earth from His headquarters in Jerusalem. We are in the Body of Christ. We’re not building the Kingdom, per se; we’re building and filling the Body of Christ.
All right, now verse 44, here we have the introduction from Daniel of this earthly Kingdom over which God the Son will yet one day rule. Verse 44:
Daniel 2:44a
“And in the days of these kings (In other words, these final ten kings that comprise the Revived Roman Empire out of which the anti-Christ has come.) in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven…” Now, you see, this is the term of the biblical God in the Book of Daniel—the God of heaven. And even Nebuchadnezzar is going to come to this point in a future chapter—where he recognizes the God of heaven or the Most High God is another term. All right, and this God of Heaven:
Daniel 2:44b
“…set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,…” As all these previous ones have. You see, when the Medes and the Persians overran the Babylonians, they kept most of what the Babylonians had established. And all the way down through the Gentile empires, they would keep what had been before. But here we have the opposite. Nobody is going to be able to take over anything of this Kingdom.
Daniel 2:44c
“…shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,…” In other words, all the empire-builders of the present day age, the global system as we now see it coming on the scene, will be utterly destroyed. And Christ will return and set up His Kingdom. Now verse 44, the last four words:
Daniel 2:44d
“…it shall stand forever.” Now that’s the terminology. Even though Revelation says 1,000 years, yet this Kingdom is going to go right on into eternity as an earthly kingdom.
Now just to tantalize your thinking, I’m not going to stop and teach on this, but come all the way back to Revelation chapter 21. After the thousand years have run their course on this planet—renovated, of course miraculously—so it will be from east to west and pole-to-pole like the Garden of Eden. It’s going to be glorious! But nevertheless, Satan is going to come back for a short time, and he will defile the whole. And once again God will utterly destroy it. I think He’s going to take out the whole universe. Now that will stretch your mind, won’t it?
You know, I’ve shared this before, and I’m going to share it again. Quite a few years ago now, probably back in the middle ‘60s; I was taking a scientific journal. There was an article in there by a scientist, a physicist, on the origin of the universe. And of course, a lot of it was above my head in the mathematics and everything. But anyhow, his whole concept was that everything originated in one original source of light. And out of that source of light came everything of the universe and planet Earth—everything. But anyway, the exciting part was when he came to the end of his article and he said—I can foresee that in the eons of time, out into the future, someday that whole thing will go back into that original source of light.
Well, I think Iris you probably remember. I said, “Honey, this guy is closer to the truth than he has any idea.” Because who is Light? God is. So if out of that source of Light, which was God Himself, we have the whole universe appear and planet Earth, and everything that’s in it has all come from this original Creator, then I can see that someday the whole thing will be pulled back into that original source of Light because–. Now, I guess I didn’t intend to do this. I’m just flying free here. Before you go to Revelation 21, maybe we should stop at II Peter, I think it is. Let’s see how II Peter describes what I think is going to be the demise of this whole universe. It has to happen, because Satan has defiled everything.
II Peter chapter 3, dropping down to verse 10, and if this isn’t perfect language for pulling everything back. And with God nothing is impossible. If He created it at the spoken word, He can pull it in. And here it is.
II Peter 3:10-11a
“But the day of the Lord (Now you want to remember, the Day of the Lord is that whole timeline from the beginning of the Tribulation on into the Second Coming and through the Kingdom and right on into Eternity.) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens (Now I feel that’s what we call space.) shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements (In other words, all the material that makes up our universe.) and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also (It’s not going to escape.) and the works that are therein (Even though it’s been a beautiful Kingdom now for 1,000 years, yet it’s all going to go.) and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,…”
Now for those of you who are scientists, you’ll realize that that’s textbook language in chemistry and physics. Right? See, I’ve got a good doctor over here. I can always look to him, and he nods. It’s right? Yeah, the elements. The elements are what make up the atomic table. Isn’t that the term for it? It’s been a long time since I’ve had it. But anyway, all these elements will melt with fervent heat, and they’re going to be dissolved. My, if you’ve ever worked at a chemistry bench, isn’t that the name of the game? You see things literally dissolve right before your eyes. It’s going to happen. The Book says so. All right, so these things are going to be dissolved. So consequently, Peter says:
II Peter 3:11b-13
“…what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, (In other words, I feel it’s the beginning of Eternity, not the Kingdom.) wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (Hey, that’s plain scientific language, as plain as you can get it.) 13. Nevertheless (Peter says, don’t let that shake you up because–) we, according to his (God’s) promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Now that’s not gobbledy-gook, that’s plain English.
Now compare that with Revelation 21, where I trust you already are. Now this is John writing, but the same God. Revelation 21, and after the events that take place between the Kingdom and the Great White Throne. The Great White Throne has been finished. The lost are sent to their doom. Now what’s next on God’s agenda? Verse 1:
Revelation 21:1
“And I saw a new heaven (just exactly as Peter put it) I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Now that’s the advent of Eternity.
All right, now then, what kicked me off on that was—come way back again to Daniel. After the 1,000 year reign and the Great White Throne Judgment has been accomplished, then I feel this whole universe will be pulled back into the Creator, and He will re-create new heavens and a whole new earth. Why? Because Satan has defiled everything. And nothing of Satan’s defilement is going to go into our eternity. Now that’s the way I have to look at it. So everything will be brand new. Okay, now come back to Daniel chapter 2 verse 44, reading that again.
Daniel 2:44b-45a
“…but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, (that have come out of the 6,000 years of human history) and it (this coming kingdom) shall stand for ever. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,…” In your dream—in your vision of this huge image with a head of gold, the chest of silver, the belly of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet and toes of iron and clay—standing there as a huge individual out there maybe on the plains of the Middle East. And Daniel’s interpretation of the vision says that all of a sudden here came a stone cut out without hands.
Now whenever you have something accomplished without human hands, who’s doing it? The Invisible God! This is the power of God that will crush. It’ll be in the person, of course, of God the Son who will crush all the residue of those kingdoms. That is toward the end of the Tribulation, getting it ready for the Kingdom. He will crush the residue of those Gentile empires.
Daniel 2:45b
“…and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; (The whole image, which is the picture of empires, remember, is going to be crushed and ground to powder.) the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”
Now just stop and think a minute. Here this pagan, Oriental king got a picture in symbolism of the whole time of human history from 606 B.C. to the advent of eternity. No wonder he was all shook up. He knew that this was something special. And that’s why he was ready to kill all of the wise men of Babylon to get down to the root of the thing. It was the very picture of human history as we now look back on it.
All right, now verse 46, after the interpretation was given to the king. He probably didn’t get a gist of all of it, but enough to make him pretty somber.
Daniel 2:46a
“Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel,…” Now you see, that always happens when the pagans have some kind of a supernatural manifestation. They worship the guy that’s in front of them. You know, they did Peter. They did Paul. And this is no different.
Daniel 2:46b-47
“…fell on his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. (Just as if he were another one of their gods.) 47. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God (See, now he’s getting a little bit of a revelation.) that your God is a God of gods, (He’s supreme over all of ours.) and a Lord of kings, (Here we come again, as we looked in the last half hour.) and a revealer of (What?) secrets, (Because He knows the end from the beginning, but He doesn’t tell it all. He keeps it secret until He’s ready to reveal it.) seeing that thou couldest reveal this secret.”
Daniel 2:48
“Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, (And don’t forget what we learned up there in chapter 2. How old is Daniel? He’s just a lad. Even now he’s only in his teens. But because God’s hand was with him, he was perfectly capable to handle the role.) and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.” Now verse 49:
Daniel 2:49
“Then Daniel requested of the king, (on behalf of his three Jewish friends) and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.”
Now, if you know your Old Testament Bible, to sit in the gate meant what? Well, you were the top dog. That’s what the term really meant. To sit in the gate meant that you were at the top of the heap. All right, so that was Daniel’s role after telling the interpretation of the dream.
Now let’s move on into chapter 3. We’re going to get a glimpse, now, of how awful the morality and the immorality of these pagan ancients at the time of even the Roman Empire really was. And if you remember at the end of our last program, I was talking about—why did the Jews call the Romans dogs? Well, I’m going to show you right here. This is why. Because the Romans hadn’t improved a bit; if anything, they’d gotten worse.
Daniel 3:1
“Nebuchadnezzar the king (Now remember, I’m going to show you why the Jews called the Romans dogs.) Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, (Now, threescore is sixty, and a cubit is about a foot-and-a-half. So that’s about a ninety-foot high column.) and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.”
Daniel 3:2
“Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers,…(in other words, all of his governmental people)…to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.”
Now, I do not dare tell a T.V. audience what this image really was. I’ll let you do that yourself by the searching of Scripture. But it is so obscene, it is so immoral. That’s why God called it over and over an abomination. And I’ll let you do that on your own. I’m not going to do it on a public program. But anyway, here’s this great image, now. And they bring all the governmental big-whigs to celebrate the erection of it. Come down now to verse 4.
Daniel 3:4
“Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages.” See, it’s a universal decree for that then-known period of time. Now remember as I said in the last half hour, the then-known world was primarily what we call the Euphrates Area, the Middle East, the area around the Nation of Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea. They knew nothing of the Western Hemisphere. They knew nothing of South America or anything like that. Even Europe was pretty much still out in the barbarian areas of history.
All right, nevertheless, he calls all the representatives of his empire together at the dedication of this horrifically immoral image.
Daniel 3:5a
“That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music,…” Ring a bell? What do you do today when you’ve got a big event? Why, you surround it with music. These guys weren’t as ancient as you thought they were. They were civilized, but they were so pagan and immoral in their worship.
Daniel 3:5
“That at what time ye hear the sound of the…kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image (Now no doubt it was made of wood and covered with gold.) that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:” Now, I’m just going to give you a couple of Scripture verses to help us get an inkling. Come back with me to Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 17. Then, for those of you taking notes, we’re going to go back and look at Numbers 33:52. Let’s look at this one first. Ezekiel 16 verse 17, and while you are looking it up, let me remind you.
Where did all this kind of gross immoral idolatry begin? Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel—you go back and you study some of that. There’s a tremendous book. It is hard reading, and I don’t like to recommend it, but it’s called The Two Babylons by a guy by the name of Hislop (H-i-s-l-o-p). I’ve read it at least twice. But, oh, it’s laborious because it’s such small print.
But see, he goes back and he constructs all this paganism of the gods and the goddesses and how they would just—unbelievable—and yet these people bought into it. And they weren’t stupid. They were intelligent people. Yet they were so satanically consumed by this stuff that it became the very basis of their whole civilization. And archeology is proving it. Archeology is constantly digging up the worship of this horrible pagan society. All right, Ezekiel 16 verse 17—now I’m going to take you all the way back to Moses, so just bear with me. Verse 17:
Ezekiel 16:17
“Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, (Now God is speaking to the Jews, to Israel. You have taken the things–) and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them.” With what? The images. They’d fall down and worship that vile filthy image as part of their everyday worship. No wonder God had to take stringent matters.
All right, the next one is Numbers 33:52. And this is all along the same line. It’s all dealing with the same kind of idolatry. Numbers 33:52 and those of you who are Bible students, you can carry on from here. And you wonder how God put up with it as much as He did. All right, now here’s one of those chapters where you really should read more of it than just one verse in order to pick up the flow of the whole chapter. But here we’re dealing with Israel preparing to go into the Promised Land. The Canaanites have been there now for 400 years. And what was the prophecy? Now I’ve got to keep testing you people, so you don’t forget what I’ve taught you.
When God told Abraham he would have to wait 430 years before his children’s children’s children could go in and take the land, why was he going to have to wait so long? Because the iniquity of the Canaanites had not reached the full mark. Now here again, God knows the end from the beginning. God knew that these Canaanites were going to keep going deeper and deeper and deeper into gross immorality. And when they hit the full mark, then He’s going to send Israel in with the command to do what? Kill every one of them. They were so vile. At what level were they? Dogs! And that’s exactly why Israel called the Gentiles dogs. They had a dog’s morality. All right, Numbers 33:52. My goodness that half hour is gone already. Let’s start at verse 51:
Numbers 33:51-52
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 52. Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down (or take down) all their high places:” Which were, again, images much like what Nebuchadnezzar was speaking of in Daniel.
Now as I was preparing this over the last several weeks, we know that the world is coming full circle. Now, we’re not to the place where we’ve got images in our backyard. But what is now in the living room of almost every home of any consequence around the world? The internet. And what is the plague of all plagues on the internet? I haven’t seen it, fortunately. But, oh, I’ve had so many of the people understand it. They catch it accidentally, and it’s awful. Pornography.
Pornography. It’s taking the world by storm. I get enough calls just in my little ministry from both men and women—my husband is all hooked on pornography. Once in a while a husband will call—my wife is hooked on pornography. Hey, it’s the very thing God was dealing with way back here in Israel’s history. So this is all a part—that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing, so that you’ll realize that this isn’t anything new. We’re facing it again.
Come back with me to Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 1. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 1, let’s do this quickly. I’m going to run out of time.
Deuteronomy 7:1a
“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee,…” And why is He casting them out? Because of their gross, vile immorality. Now a lot of people think God’s unkind. He had to, or it would totally destroy His other people. So always remember, there’s nothing new. It’s just back on the scene.