‘THE COURT SHALL BE SEATED’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 30, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from June 30, 2024 from Daniel 7:8-11

Theme: History flows according to God’s sovereign plan; and will lead to the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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During our last time together, we looked at the amazing prophecy that God gave to Daniel as it’s described to us in Daniel 7. It was in the form of a dream in which he was shown the prophetic history of the Gentile kingdoms from his time to the time of the return and reign of Jesus Christ.

We were told how he saw four great kingdoms—all in the form of four great ‘beasts’—that rose out of the midst of the Great Sea (that is, the Mediterranean Sea). They were the four main world empires that had their location in the regions around that sea—all presented in succession of one another. The first was the Babylonian Empire in the form of a lion. The second was the Median-Persian Empire in the form of a bear. The third was the Grecian Empire in the form of a four-headed leopard. And the fourth was a strange and terrifying beast—unlike any of the others. It was exceedingly strong, and it had terrible teeth, and it trampled everything around it. This fourth beast was the Roman Empire.

Almost all of the things that Daniel saw were, from his standpoint, prophetic promises of the future. From our standpoint, almost all of those things have already been fulfilled in past history and can be read about in history books … except for something about that fourth beast. There was something about the vision that God gave Daniel of the Roman Empire that has not yet been historically fulfilled. He saw on that fourth beast “ten horns”; which were symbolic of ten political powers united in confederation together. Such a confederation was never the case for the Roman Empire of the past. And this suggests that Daniel was being shown a form of the Roman Empire that is yet to arise on the scene in the sovereign plan of God.

Now; all that we were able to do last week was simply touch on these things in a basic way. But I suggested then that it would be good for us to go back and look at a few things in greater detail—particularly this aspect of the Roman empire that is yet to occur. And so, this morning, I ask that we do just that. Let’s look more carefully at the promise that God gave to Daniel about the future manifestation of this fourth kingdom. In Daniel 7:8-11, Daniel wrote;

I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.

“I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
And the books were opened.

“I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame” (Daniel 7:8-11).

Now; we know from other passages in the Bible that this is telling us about the promised arrival of the most wicked ruler that human history will ever know—a tyrannical world leader who will embody evil to an unprecedented degree, and who will, in fact, be empowered by Satan himself. He is known in Scripture by many names. Elsewhere in Daniel, he’s called by such names as “the prince that shall come”, and “the king” and the one who brings the “abomination of desolation”. The apostle Paul referred to him as “the man of sin”, “the son of perdition” and “the lawless one”. The apostle John gave him the name “the Antichrist”; and in the Book of Revelation, he’s known as “the Beast”.

But my hope this morning, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is that we won’t dig into the details about this wicked man out of mere prophetic curiosity or with superficial fascination. The thing that God was revealing to Daniel in this passage about the promised activities of the Antichrist was meant to underscore to us what God Himself will be doing while the Antichrist is active on earth. In the passage I just read to you, we’re told that—even while the Antichrist is boasting and blaspheming—the Ancient of Days is taking His seat in the heavens, and the judgment of His throne is issuing forth like fire, and the court is being seated and the books are being opened.

And all of this is meant to communicate something very important to you and me. It will have application to God’s people during that horrible time of tyranny; and it has application presently to you and me under the fallible governments of men. It’s that even during the most wicked and tumultuous period of human history, our God still reigns and His judgment is still certain. Wickedness in this world will ultimately be brought to judgment; and we, as God’s people, can be patient and confident about it.

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As I was thinking of this, I remembered something that happened here at the church several years ago. A very demented man named Todd showed up early one Sunday morning. I came to church and found that he had parked his car in the parking lot and had slept there all night. He was, of course, welcomed to come to church; but his behavior soon became extremely odd. And then—after church and all day long—he wouldn’t leave. He began to be abusive and threatening; and even later in the day on Sunday, I had to call some of the leaders of the church to help me deal with him.

He left; but he then came back repeatedly the next couple of days—knocking on the parsonage door and calling the church office at all hours. At a certain point, he came at night and caught me in the church parking lot, and began to accost me. I was where my wife could see me—watching from the parsonage window. She called the police just as he began grabbing hold of me. He even spat on me. I was frightened and angry at the same time. But I knew that the police were on their way; so I just waited patiently and tried to speak calmly with him. He eventually hopped back into the vehicle he came in; but at the last minute, he stopped at the bottom of the hill so he could get out and—in an act of defiance—angrily brush the dust off his feet. And that was right when the police arrived. They took him into custody, and I found out later that he had been doing this same kind of thing in other places.

I tell that story to show that, by God’s grace, I was able to keep calm, not overreact, and to endure for one simple reason: I knew that law enforcement was on its way and they would take care of the situation. And I think that that’s a similar kind of impact that this passage is meant to have on us as God’s people. It shows us that our sovereign God rules over the activities of ungodly nations and ungodly rulers; and allows them to go their own ways according to His plan. But even at that point in history when human wickedness, blasphemous arrogance, and violence against God’s people will reach its highest level, God Himself takes His seat in holiness and purity, opens the record books, establishes His judgment, and He sends His Son Jesus Christ to rule on earth for a thousand years.

And if we remember that, we can keep calm, trust Him, hold on to a victorious outlook, and anticipate the promised reign of Jesus Christ even in the midst of world turmoil.

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Now; let’s look at the details of what this passage tells us about ‘the little horn’ of Daniel’s vision. In Daniel 7:8, we’re told a few important things about this ‘little horn’. First, we’re told that he arises from among these ‘ten horns’—that is, from among these ten confederated kingdoms that constitute the revived Roman empire—but not as one of them. But notice that—somehow—three of those ten kingdoms are plucked up to make way for him. Second, we see that he comes on the scene as someone comparatively small and insignificant—a ‘little’ horn. But as we read on, we find that he will grow to become greater in appearance than them all. Perhaps the way that the other three horns will be plucked out of the way for him is what will cause him to become greater than the rest. Third, we see that this ‘little horn’ has ‘the eyes of a man’. This would suggest that—from a human standpoint—he will appear to be a remarkably intelligent and insightful leader and problem solver And fourth, we see that this remarkable ‘little horn’ has a mouth; and with it, he speaks ‘pompous’ words. It’s a bragging and boasting horn.

And we’re not left to wonder what all of this means. We’re told that, in his dream, Daniel went to “one of those who stood by”—perhaps an angelic being—and asked about it. In Daniel 7:19-27, we’re told;

“Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

“I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

“Thus he said:

‘The fourth beast shall be
A fourth kingdom on earth,
Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces.
The ten horns are ten kings
Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the first ones,
And shall subdue three kings.
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time.

‘But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him’” (Daniel 7:19-27).

So; in a short space, we’re told the basic details about this ‘little horn’—the Antichrist. We’re also told that he will arise to speak blasphemous and pompous words against God, and that God’s people will be given into his hand for “a time and times and half a time”—that is, for three and a half years. But we’re told that even while he is boasting and warring against the saints, the court of heaven will be seated. He will be destroyed, and his dominion taken away. It will be given to the saints; and the promised Messiah—the glorious Son of Man who is described in verses 13-14—will reign on earth from then on.

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Now, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; this passage in Daniel is the first mention we have in God’s word about the Antichrist. The details given to us here are a bit sketchy. But as we look further in Scripture, we find that more details are given. We find that the prophetic promises in God’s word are a little bit like the unrolling of a scroll. God gives us a little detail in one passage—and later in history, we unroll His word to reveal more details—and then later, it unrolls to reveal still more.

So; with that in mind, let’s unroll the ‘scroll’ of God’s prophetic word and look at some of the further details that it reveals to us about this ‘little horn’ … and about God’s plan for him.

The first thing that it would be important for us to discover—a little out of order in the chronological unrolling of the scroll—has to do with the time of his arrival on the world scene. Many historians and scholars, particularly those who are skeptical about the whole idea of biblical prophecy, have sought to make this ‘little horn’ out to be someone who has already appeared in history. Many have suggested, for example, that he was the tyrannical Grecian king Antiochus IV in the 4th Century B.C.

But we know that this can’t be true because of what the apostle John later wrote—almost 550 years after the time of Daniel—in 1 John 2:18. He wrote;

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour (1 John 2:18).

John wrote those words around 80 to 90 A.D. John admits that there was an ‘antichrist’ spirit or attitude prevalent in the world even at his time. But even in the tumultuous times in which he lived, the apostle John made it clear that the Antichrist had not yet come, but was yet “coming” in the future. He said a slightly similar thing in 4:3;

and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (4:3).

So; as we unroll the ‘scroll’ of biblical prophecy, we learn that the coming of this ‘little horn’—the Antichrist—is yet a future event. He has not yet appeared on the world scene, but he will come sometime in the future.

Now; we unrolled the scroll way ahead in order to get that information. But as we unroll the scroll only slightly ahead from Daniel 7, we find some details about this future world leader—specifically about the nature of his rule. Daniel himself is told more in Daniel 9. In another dream, Daniel is shown that—in God’s prophetic plan—He has established ‘seventy weeks’ for His chosen people Israel in relation to the Gentile nations. That speaks of 70 ‘sevens’ of years of prophetic events that must occur before the Lord Jesus’ reign on earth begins. 69 of those 70 weeks have already occurred; and were brought to a completion when our Lord was crucified and raised. So, one ‘week’—that is, seven years—remains to be fulfilled. In Daniel 9:26-27, Daniel is told that after the 69 weeks were completed,

“… Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate” (Daniel 9:26-27).

At the time when this ‘prince who is to come’ arrives, the whole world will be hostile toward the people of Israel. We may be seeing the stage set for that situation even today! But this coming prince—this coming world leader—will make a seven-year covenant of peace with Israel. The place of their worship will be restored to them. Their temple will even be rebuilt, and they will begin making offerings again as they did in the days of old. But in the middle of that week—at the three-and-a-half-year mark—this ‘prince’ will abruptly break that covenant, bring an end to offerings and sacrifices, and commit an abominable act.

What is that abominable act? It’s revealed to us in yet another prophecy that was given to Daniel in Daniel 11:36-39;

“Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain” (Daniel 11:36-39).

This future prince will actually blaspheme against God and declare that he himself is God in the place of God—seeking to make the people of this world, by force, to worship a strange god. This is the ‘abomination of desolation’ that our Lord spoke of in Matthew 24:15. This means that the nature of this ‘little horn’s’ rule on earth will be one of open unfaithfulness, treachery, and profound and blasphemous defiance.

This leads us to open the scroll even further to discover yet another detail about this future world ruler, and that is his deception. For this, we turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. This is a passage in which the apostle Paul gives us his most extensive teaching about the Antichrist.

Paul wrote to his brothers and sisters in the Thessalonian church because of some false teachers who had been misleading them. Some were telling them that the Lord Jesus had already come and that they’d been left behind to suffer the wrath of God. And so, Paul wrote and said;

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? (2 Thessalonians 2:1-5).

Paul had only been with the Thessalonian believers personally for three weeks. But it seems pretty obvious that—during that short time—he taught them a great deal from the Book of Daniel. He went on to say;

And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way (vv. 6-7).

Paul reminded them that, in his instruction, he told them about something—or someone—who was ‘restraining’ the appearance of the Antichrist until God’s appointed time. There are lots of opinions about who or what this ‘restrainer’ is. But for the moment, just note that the appearance of the Antichrist is restrained in his appearance until God’s appointed time in history.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (vv. 8-12).

So; here, we’re told more about the deceptive nature of the ‘little horn’s’ rule. He appears to be an admirably great human leader. But he really comes according to the working of Satan. His coming is accompanied by false miracles and wonders; so that the whole world is deceived into following him. And that deception is—ultimately—a judgment from God for the way that the world had fallen away in apostasy from the gospel of Jesus Christ, and has loved the lie of sin more than the truth of God’s word.

And now; let’s open the scroll even further—this time to the Book of Revelation, where we learn more about this ruler with respect to his wickedness. In Revelation 13, the apostle John tells us about a vision that God had given him. The vision is of the fourth beast that Daniel saw. It even encompassed the nature of the other beasts that he saw in his vision. But this time, the beast is—itself—represented as a single man. That man is ‘the little horn’—the Antichrist—empowered by the dragon who is Satan himself. John wrote;

Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:1-4).

Apparently, a part of the deception that the devil will use to fool the world about this ruler is that he will allow him to appear to suffer some kind of fatal blow to the head—but will then appear to raise him from the dead. The world will, in deception, follow after this false leader in unbounded awe and wonder. No longer will they give any honor to the God of the Bible. From then on, this man will be worshiped as their god. And then, the nature of his wickedness will be revealed:

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints (vv. 5-10).

The boastful blasphemy of this ruler—and his aggression against the saints on earth—will seem to have no limit. His wickedness will be diabolical—in the truest sense of that word. And it will become a great test of God’s people. Will they be patient? Will they keep faithful? Will they wait confidently for the promised coming of the Lord Jesus? Will they remember that the ultimate Judge of this earth is on His way?

John goes on to tell us more about the wickedness of the rule of the Antichrist—this time, as that wickedness will be advanced through the agency of a demonically empowered false prophet:

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666 (vv. 11-18).

This leaves us with many questions; and much of what we see here will need to be examined at some other time. But let me unroll one more portion of God’s prophetic word to one more thing we need to know about this future ruler, and that is his destiny. Revelation 19 tells us the story of the glorious return of the Lord Jesus in power and victory. He comes on a white horse, followed by the armies of heaven. And Revelation 19:19-20 tells us;

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:19-20).

Do you see something startling about this future ruler, dear brothers and sisters in Christ? At the coming of our Lord, he will be captured and destroyed; and then—in judgment—he and his false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire 1,000 years before anyone else! Even before Satan himself! What a judgment against this boastful ‘little horn’!

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Now; in this vision, Daniel tells us that he watched because of the sound of the pompous words of this ‘little horn’; “till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame” (Daniel 7:11). Our gracious God has given us this stunning history of what will happen to the Antichrist—even as he is boasting and blaspheming—in order to teach you and me that, during the most wicked and tumultuous period of human history, our God still reigns and His judgment is still certain.

And what’s the practical lesson for you and me in all of this, dear brothers and sisters in Christ? Whether we’re living in the days in which all of these things will be fulfilled, or whether the time is yet to come, our response to it all is to be the same. It’s told to us in James 5:7-8:

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand (James 5:7-8).

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