Episode Transcript
So that's Daniel chapter seven and verse ten.
We'll be expounding this verse this morning and we've reached now the latter part of Daniel's vision.
And why my has it been such an insightful ver uh a chapter uh in uh the book of daniel.
Uh one of the most amazing chapters I believe in the Word of God.
We left off in verse 9 last week, where after seeing kings, these horns, which are kings, and they're rising up or growing out of this beastly empire Which is to come in the future.
Daniel said in verse 9, look with me there on verse 9, I beheld till the thrones were cast down And the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, in the hair of his head like the pure wool His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Now that was a lot to learn last week.
Jesus, we learn, is the ancient of days.
And when he comes back, he's going to sit on his rightful throne as ruler of all the earth.
And he is going to act as the one righteous, holy judge which the world has never experienced, and we finally will.
And now he is not the ancient of days exclusively.
But inclusively, because Jesus is one with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, who also are collectively as the one true God, the ancient of days.
But Jesus is the Son of God.
He is God the Son, and as such he will sit as the ancient of days on his throne, which Daniel said in verse 9 was like the fiery flame And we learned last week that his throne is like the fiery flame, because it will devour his adversaries, like the stubble on the ground when he sits in judgment.
And because his judgment is coming Daniel said he had wheels as burning fire.
So we got a lot of fire here, a lot of judgment when Jesus sits on his throne.
And with that imagery in mind, just keep all that in mind now.
And we're going to sharpen that imagery up for you this morning, adding some clarity and detail.
We're now going to move forward to our verse this morning in verse 10.
If you're just now coming in, we are in Daniel chapter 7, verse 10, which says, a fiery stream Issued.
Issued.
Now can you visualize this in your mind?
God is sitting on his throne, and the throne is like a fiery flame.
And God also has fiery wheels, which I believe I told you last week symbolizes his fiery throne being like a chariot. going forth to war.
And now we learn that a fiery stream issued as well.
Now understand the word stream here.
The word stream is not speaking when you when you think of this in your mind about a fiery stream issuing forth.
Don't think of it like a stream from a flamethrower.
If you get that, you're gonna get the wrong inventory.
And y'all have that pop up in your mind, a flame like a flamethrower?
It did in my mind until I studied this out a little bit better.
But and my what a study it was.
I'm looking forward to teaching y'all this verse.
But it's not that kind of stream like a flamethrower.
The the Chaldean word here that's translated stream here It is speaking about a river, that kind of stream.
In every other place in the Bible, this word is translated as a river.
And even then we call rivers streams sometimes, don't we?
And like Field and Stream magazine, right?
So follow along with me now.
There was a river of fire that issued.
So picture a fiery throne.
Picture fiery wheels, and we're going to get a lot more detail on that this morning.
And now picture a river of fire.
Issuing.
Issuing.
Now when you think of that word issue here, think of what we learn in the New Testament.
There was a woman that had an issue of blood, and she touched the hem of Jesus' garment, and it dried up.
That word issue means to flow, to flow.
And so there was a fiery river.
Flowing from a fiery throne that had fiery wheels Now, a river of fire.
Now, let me ask you a question this morning, those y'all who understand a little bit of basic geography Do you know where rivers flow?
Let me ask you a better question.
We have lakes around here.
What flows into lakes?
Streams, rivers flow into lakes, don't they?
And so rivers flow into lakes, and when Jesus returned, Daniel saw a river. of fire.
And what kind of lake do you think this river of fire flows into?
Huh?
How about a lake of fire?
How about that?
That making sense to you?
All this starting to add up now And so keep all of that in your mind.
I believe this is flowing to what we know as the lake of fire.
Lakes don't flow.
Lakes receive, right?
So lakes are receiving.
Now if it overflows, it can flow out somewhere else.
But generally speaking, we think of rivers Supplying bodies of water.
Rivers are on the move.
Streams Issue Lakes Collect.
We on the same page now?
So we're looking here at judgment issuing forth.
Now remember Jesus is coming back with fiery wheels, like a chariot going to war against his unrighteous enemies, and those thrones we learned in the previous verse On that beast will fall.
But listen to how the Apostle John describes this in the book of the Revelation, chapter 19, verses 19 through 20.
John says, I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies.
Now what do armies travel in in in the in this Old Testament type of imagery and the imagery that ev existed in that time, even the New Testament They go for to war in these chariots, right?
When we look at we again have to keep looking back Because remember the Old Testament book of Exodus is a foreshadowing of these end times.
And it was Pharaoh and his chariots that went and chased down the people of Israel when they were trying to leave Egypt.
And he says, I saw the beasts and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army.
Now we're talking about Jesus here.
We're talking about the kings of the earth coming together to make war against the Lord Jesus Christ and against the army of Christ.
And verse 20 says, and the beast was taken And with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast.
And them that worshipped his image, watch now, these both were cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone.
So when God sits on his fiery throne, it's going to be to exercise his righteous judgment. his righteous, kingly judgment, and a river of fire will issue, will flow forth from his throne in that day.
And listen to the definition of the Aramaic word translated issue here.
This is coming straight from that dictionary.
It means to flow, quote, through the idea of clearing the way. to flow through the idea of clearing the way.
Now suppose we were all standing At the foot of an active volcano right now.
All of us.
Young, old, some strong, some weak.
Some brave, some cowardly.
But we're all standing at the foot of this volcano, and we have a big, big crowd of people, and we just join arm in arm And we decide that we're going to protect our city, which sits at the bottom of the hill of this active volcano.
Hasn't erupted in a long time.
We're not even sure it's ever erupted.
We've heard old stories that it would erupt one day, but nobody believed it.
We never even heard it rumble.
But one day we hear it rumbling.
And we all decide that we're going to protect our city down below.
So the whole town comes out, links arm in arm, and stands there to protect that city, and suddenly, boom, she blows up.
And all that lava comes flowing down like a river of fire.
And you know what that lava is going to do when it comes toward us?
Brother, it's going to be like a bunch of bowling ball pins, right?
Just man, I'm going to scatter.
I'm not going to stand there.
That river of fire is going to flow in the sense of clearing the way.
It's going to make a path.
One way or another.
We're either going to split and get out of its way.
Or it's going to burn whatever stands in its way on its way down to that town below, and it'll destroy it when it hits it.
That's the imagery that we have here.
Nothing is going to stand in the way of Almighty God and His judgment.
It's going to burn anything that comes in its path One day the fiery river of God's judgment is going to flow, and there won't be anything this world or the devil can do about it.
And boy am I looking forward to that.
Daniel said it flowed.
Look back in your text now.
And came forth From before him, meaning the river of fire mightily flowed from before the ancient of days, being the place of the river's origin.
Just picture that fiery throne.
Picture the uh a chariot with wheels and picture fire, uh uh uh a river of fire just Mightily flowing from his throne.
That's the imagery we have here.
So this mighty river of fire gushed forth from the throne of God to clear all the unrighteous God haters out.
Out of the way, so God's righteous kingdom could come to the earth.
Now, for now, remember that the stream came forth, if you take your pen underscore in your Bible It came forth, underscore the words, from before him.
From before him.
Now, God willing, we're going to return to that here in just a moment, but it's important that You understand that right now.
And now with this dramatic scene in your mind's eye, there are a few more things that Daniel is going to add to this for now.
Daniel said, look in your text, thousand thousands ministered unto him.
Thousand thousands ministered unto him.
So when the ancient of days sat on his throne, this fiery throne, with this river of fire gushing forth mightily from it.
Thousand thousands ministered to the ancient of days.
And I believe, who are these thousand thousand?
I believe they are the angels of God The angels of God.
Speaking of angels.
Hebrews chapter 1, verse 14 says Are they not all, say that word with me, ministering spirits?
Now, a thousand thousand ministered unto him So speaking of the angels, says, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister For them who shall be heirs of salvation.
So God's angels are ministering spirits.
In that context, in Hebrews They minister to us.
In this context, in Daniel, they are ministering to the ancient of days.
Now the picture is getting clearer for us Do you remember when I said that I believed the fiery wheels in this vision were a reference to God's chariot coming forth to wage war against the godless people of this world?
We have more than just those wheels.
We have a lot of chariots because this is God's fiery army.
Now, listen to how this corresponds perfectly to the angels of God who are going to execute God's judgment at the end of the world.
Write down in your notes or in your margin Psalm sixty-eight verse seventeen.
Psalm sixty-eight verse seventeen, which says the chariots of God are twenty thousand even three.
Thousands of angels.
Now you seeing the link here?
Watch this link The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands.
Chariots of God.
Are angels.
You see that?
Isn't that neat?
Chariots of God are angels.
The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place.
So here we are We have the chariots of God.
We have thousand thousands ministering unto him.
And so the ministers are these ministering spirits, the angels.
Who also are chariots of God.
Why are they chariots of God?
Because they go forth to battle on the kingdom of God's behalf when the end of this world comes.
I believe these thousand thousands that we're reading about, who are ministers, Ministering unto the ancient days are the angels of God who are God's fiery chariots that are waging war on God's behalf.
Through God's power upon the wicked at the end of time.
Matthew chapter thirteen, verses forty through forty-two.
Matthew chapter thirteen verses forty through forty-two Jesus said, as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire.
Now what Jesus is talking about is the end of time This was a parable Jesus gave.
Brother Shepherd was teaching on sowing seed and different things this morning in reference to seed.
And in Jesus uh using an agricultural uh uh parable and in prophecy also, he's talking about uh uh uh a sower going forth to sow and sows the seed of the gospel across the world.
And the believers believe, and then what happens?
It springs up fruit.
You have new life.
In other words, they're born again of the word of God and it shoots up like a plant.
Now uh I planted some wheat one year in my backyard.
Y'all may remember that.
It came up, it was such beautiful wheat.
But you know what came up of that wheat?
Some tears came up.
And you couldn't really tell at first until they got up a little taller, and you could tell by their fruit.
You could tell by the head the seeds at the end of that grassy stalk.
And so what happens is we're not the only people sowing seed.
You have the devil out here in his people, and they're sowing atheism, they're sowing communism, they are sowing Buddhism, they're sowing uh all kinds of uh uh false christianities all kinds of false religions sowing sowing sowing and you also have people Who in their rejection and unbelief of the one true God and His Word are taking in that false seed and bearing fruit as well.
And so what happens is Jesus starts explaining that the wheat which belong to God, those are the believers.
We don't live in this world by ourselves, do we?
Wouldn't it be nice if everybody was a Christian?
It would be absolutely wonderful.
I tell you what, I wouldn't even lock my doors anymore, Brother Doug.
Wouldn't he lock my doors?
But it's not that way.
We grow among the tares.
And so Jesus explained, you gotta get those separated.
Because he's not going to let the believers and the unbelievers live with each other forever.
Thank God we won't have to worry about somebody.
I was reading the other day, apparently some man had disemboweled somebody Got arrested, they let him right back out, and he's done stab somebody else.
One day we won't have to worry about that anymore.
God's not going to leave us among these unbelievers He's going to separate us just like I pulled my wheat up and I separated and divided it from the tares And I got my grain out of that wheat.
Now listen to how Jesus says it's going to happen.
Watch how he describes that process.
He says, as therefore the tares are gathered and burned where?
In the fire.
You see how this is going together with what Daniel's saying here.
So shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of Man shall send forth his, say it with me, angels.
Here we go.
And they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do Do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of what?
Fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
So what we see here is the ancient of days sitting on his throne.
It's a fiery throne because it's time to judge the world.
It's time to gather the tares. out of the world, put them in a furnace of fire, and the meek, the believers in Jesus Christ, to inherit the earth, as Jesus said.
And so from his throne is flowing this river of fire.
And now you have these angels here, chariots of God like an army with fiery wheels, and they're coming down.
God's judgment rushing forth from his throne, his righteous throne to gather these unbelievers up after they are rightly convicted by the king on the throne.
We'll get to that here in just a moment.
And then they will Go into the lake of fire, also called a furnace of fire.
It's all the same thing.
And there's going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
So Daniel sees thousands upon thousands of angels ready to render service to God by executing God's judgment upon the ungodly. separating them from the church, praise God, and committing them to the fire when God so demands it.
Right now they're at the ready.
Right now they're standing by.
Right now they're waiting for the order.
But not only did Daniel see a thousand thousands ministering to God, the angels ministering to God, but he said, look back in your text, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
So God's on his throne, this fiery throne River of fire coming forth.
You've got the chariots of God, which are the angels of God with these fiery wheels, and they're ready to go forth and execute God's judgment.
But now you have some other people that Daniel sees.
And he says Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
That is, stood before the ancient of days.
Now notice there were thousand thousands that ministered to God And that means in addition to that, it means they're separate.
They're not the same people.
Some translations get this wrong.
These are different folks than the angels.
So you've got the thousand thousands ministering to God and You have the 10,000 times 10,000s that stand before him.
And that means there were many more.
That stood before the Lord than those that ministered to him.
See what's happening?
When speaking about the number of those who ministered and versus those who stood before him, Daniel is using two different Chaldean words We're not just talking about thousand thousands, one one Chaldean word, and then uh then the other thousand standing before him, the same Chaldean word.
No, it's two different Chaldean words here.
One modern translation words it this way.
Millions were serving him, and hundreds of millions stood in front of him.
You got it?
So we have already established that the ones serving God are his angels, waiting to execute God's judgment.
So who are these many More that are standing before him.
Well, those are the ones who are about to be judged and committed to the fire.
For now we are told that, look in your text, the judgment was set.
You see that?
The judgment was set when it's not near the same scale But uh I've served as bailiff on many occasions in federal court.
And do you know where the bailiff sits in court?
When it it and I'll I'll probably never serve as bailiff again, but uh not what I do today.
But When I did serve as a bailiff, I had one main job.
Do you know what that job was?
Protect the judge.
That was it.
My job was to protect the judge.
So guess where the bailiff sits?
The bailiff sits down in line with the judge where he can watch everybody in that courtroom.
Everybody in that courtroom.
And if someone goes up there and tries to charge that judge, then it would have been my job to charge them, you see?
Protect that judge.
So you've got all of these angels here.
They're ministering to God.
In other words, they're standing at the ready to serve Him at His beck and call.
But then you have those that are standing before Him, just like the people out in the gallery.
And they're standing before the judge.
And now the judgment is set, the Bible says.
The judgment is set.
In other words, court was ready to convene.
That's what Daniel saw.
In modern terms, we'd say court was called to order.
And then what happens?
And the books were open.
See that in your text?
And the books were opened.
For these hundreds of millions of people are about to be judged by the books that were opened.
And when they are judged by those books that were opened, they're going to be found guilty and they're going to be condemned.
Now remember earlier When we were reading about the river of fire, I told you to underscore the words saying that the fiery river, what did you underscore?
Can you read it for me?
Yep, came forth from before him.
That's right.
So the fiery river Issued forth, rushed forth from before him.
Well now look where these millions of people are standing.
Where are they standing?
They stood before him.
Guess who's in the way of this fiery river?
These millions upon millions of people are standing in the way of that river.
We're about to uh to uh uh in December they say we're gonna be finally after seventeen years gonna be having a a firing squad Assassinate the man, that soldier that killed so many people.
And guess where he's going to be?
before in the direction of those rifles.
Daniel said they stood before him.
In other words, it appears they were standing in the path of that river of fire that Daniel saw.
Which upon their judgment, to the agency of the angels, is going to come hidden And rush them right into the lake of fire.
See how that works?
And carry them off.
Y'all saw what happened at Camp Mystic.
I'll see some of that film.
And that water comes through powerfully and carries it all away.
So it's not seen anymore.
And deposits it somewhere Downstream.
With all force and with all might, fired by the mighty wrath of God.
The righteous indignation of God is going to come forth, hit these people when those books are open, and it's going to carry them forth.
It's going to deposit them in the furnace of fire and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Now the Jews don't believe in a lake of fire.
They don't believe it.
Now here we are reading about the river of fire.
They don't believe in a way lake of fire.
Where do they think this river is going?
They don't believe in eternal punishment at all.
They believe that any reference to hell in the Old Testament is simply a place of correction and purifying.
You just get purified.
But speaking of the day of God's judgment, their own scriptures say this, such as in Psalms 21.
9.
Psalms 21. 9 says Thou, talking about God, talking about the ancient of days, thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.
Does a fiery oven and a furnace of fire sound the same to you?
Yes An oven is a furnace, a furnace is an oven.
Jesus said though the tares are going to be put into a furnace of fire.
There's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And here, again, Psalm.
21. 9 says, Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall Purify them.
Make them holy.
It's going to devour them.
Some people think it's barbaric.
It's wrong For the military to execute that terrorist publicly.
Let me tell you, the righteous judgment of God does not belong in a closet.
It belongs on the street for all to see.
And one day, God's court is going to convene.
As we read here this morning, judgment was set.
And there is going to be a great, complete, violent, public, righteous judgment take place before the eyes of angels and men.
That's what Daniel saw, and that's what we all are going to see not too long from that.
Well that will close this morning's message, and Lord willing take back up. where Daniel left off next Sunday morning.
What a book, isn't it?
My goodness, what a book.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Father, which never disappoints us, which always enlightens us.
Which the more and more we come and study it together, Lord, the more clear and clear The future gets in our eyes.
The more discerning we become, the more we grow in your grace.
The more we are corrected, the more we are reminded, Father, of what really matters while we're living in this world and how brief that time is for all of us.
Lord, let us live today, Father God, in view of tomorrow, giving you all the honor and glory.
And like the angels that minister to you, Father God in heaven, let us be those who stand before you, ministering to you today.
In Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
