Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Daniel 7: 11-14

Sept. 8, 2024

Message: “The Son of Man!”  

by Pastor George Gnade

Intro.: 1. As most of you know, we have been studying the Book of Daniel. God gave him the ability to interpret the dreams of others.

a. In Chapter two, he interpreted a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar who saw a huge statue whose head was made of gold, shoulders of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron and clay. 

b. The head of gold represented Babylon; the silver shoulders represented the Medes and Persians; the belly and thighs of bronze represented the Greeks, and the legs represented the Romans.

2. That is when the king saw a stone cut out without human hands that struck the statue and demolished it. Then the Rock grew larger and larger till it conquered the whole earth. This Rock represented the coming of Jesus whose kingdom would grow till it filled the whole earth.

a. This dream accurately predicted what would happen from Daniel’s day till the coming of Christ and beyond. It also gives us insights into all the other dreams that Daniel interpreted.

b. That is especially true in Daniel 7.

3. In this chapter Daniel sees four beasts rise up out of the earth. These four beasts represent the same four king-doms. 

a. The first beast was a lion and represented Babylon. In Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar was told he was the greatest king represented by the head of gold. So the lion as the king of the beasts is another picture of him and the glory of his kingdom.

b. The second beast was a bear that was raised up on one side. This represented the Medes and Persians, but the Persians would be the most powerful of the two.

c. The third beast was a leopard that represented the Greeks. It reminds us of Alexander the great who swiftly conquered the world. But this beast also had four wings and four heads because, after his death, the kingdom would be divided four ways.

d. Finally, the fourth beast was terrifying and had teeth of iron. As in Chapter 2, it represented Rome with all of its power. 

4. In Chapter two, the statue had ten toes. In this vision, the fourth beast had ten horns representing 10 kings. 

a. In both cases, they represented the rest of history. Ten often is used in the Bible to represent completeness. In this cases it stands for the all the kings and kingdoms of the future.

b. But toward the end of history, a “little horn” would rise up, a king who “will wage war on the saints and defeat them” (Dan. 7:21). In vs. 25, it says: “He will speak against the Most High and oppose the saints and try to change the times and the laws. 

A. Most scholars believe this is the anti-Christ that will come toward the end of history.

1. He will seek to create one new world order that will become known as Babylon the great. That is what I believe is happening in our world right now. 

2. He will persecute Christian everywhere. That is also happening right now.

3. He will try to change the times and the laws of God. That is exactly what we see all around us. What the Bible says is wrong the culture says is right and vice- versa.

4. This will be a time of extreme lawlessnesss. II Thes. 2:3 says the Lord will not return until “the man of lawlessness is revealed.”  In plain words, the world will be filled with rebellion and strife. That is growing already all over the world including America and will only get worse.

5. But in II Thes. 2: 8, we are told that when all this happens: “The Lord Jesus will overthrow him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendor of His coming.”

B. Assuming the little horn represents the anti-Christ that is coming into the world, then we would also expect Daniel’s dream to tell us about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

1. Again the vision Daniel had in chapter two is explained in further detail in chapter seven.

a. In Dan.2, we learned about the first coming of Christ. If you remember, He was the Rock that came out of nowhere and crushed all the other kingdoms while His own kingdom grew and grew till it filled the earth.

b. But it also told us about the second coming of Christ because we were told He would come to reign over His kingdom forever and ever. Now we are given more details in Dan.7:11-14 to explain how He would do that. 

2. This passage begins with a vision of heaven with God, “the Ancient of Days,” sitting on His throne in complete control of all that is happening on the earth.

a. Then in vs. 13 it says: “In my vision I looked and there before me was one like the Son of Man, coming through the clouds of heaven. He appeared before the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence.

b. Please observe this happened in heaven. Jesus, the Son of Man, ascended through the clouds and appeared before the throne of God in heaven. This is a picture of the ascension of Christ after His victory on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. 

3. Now consider what happened next. In vs. 14, it says: “He was given authority and sovereign power so all peoples and nations and men of every language would worshipped Him.”  

a. This is a prophecy about the great commission. In Matt. 28:18-19, Jesus said: “All authority and power has been given unto me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…”

b. In Eph. 1: 20, it says that when God raised Christ from the dead , “He was seated at His own right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority, domin-ion and power and every title that could be given, not only in this age but in the age that is to come. And God placed all things under His feet.”

4. That is exactly what happened when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. In Acts 1: 9, it says: “He was taken up … and a cloud hid Him from their sight… Suddenly two (angels) stood beside (the disciples) and said: ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into heaven, this same Jesus will …come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

a. In the meantime, Jesus told them in vs. 8: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

b. That is what the church has now done for 2,000 yrs. and the gospel has reached people all over the world. 

In Conclusion: 1. The end is now is sight. The anti-Christ is doing what is expected of him, and the Lord Jesus has accomplished His goal of reaching the whole world with the gospel. I believe He will return, destroy His enemies, and establish His eternal kingdom sometime soon. That is what this vision in Dan. 7 means to me. May God help all of us to make sure we are ready when He comes.  Amen!

Summary of historical events predicted by Daniel in chapter 2 and chapter 7.

King’s dream in Dan. 2    

Gold – Babylon

Silver – Medes and Persians

Bronze - Greeks                

Iron – Rome

Rock – Jesus

Daniel’s dream in Dan. 7

Lion – Babylon

Bear – Medes and Persians 

Leopard - Greeks

Teeth of iron – Rome

Son of Man – Jesus

What would Jesus do?

1. In Dan. 2: As God’s Rock, He would defeat all God’s enemies and cause His church to grow till it filled the earth.

2. In Dan. 7: As the Son of Man, He would die and rise and ascend into heaven to appear before the Ancient of Days. 

a. God would give all authority and power to Him.

b. He would send the Holy Spirit to empower His church. Then He would send them into all the earth to preach the gospel till His kingdom filled the earth.

What will happen in the last days?

1. The anti-Christ will come and cause rebellion and strife, change God’s laws, and persecute God’s people.

2. Jesus will come for the sake of the elect to defeat Satan and establish His kingdom.

Conclusion: It has all happened just as Daniel predicted. 

So we better be ready when Jesus comes.