Verse by verse teaching - Daniel 7:9a "Casting Thrones"

All right, now if you take God's precious word and turn to the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel. Chapter 7 and God willing we're going to be studying the first half of verse 9. The first half of verse 9. Daniel chapter 7, verse 9. And the tile of the mesh this morning is casting thrones. Casting thrones. If you are a fan of contemporary Christian music, then you've probably heard of the singing group Casting Crowns. Well, there would never be any Christians casting crowns if it were not for Jesus first casting thrones. And we're going to learn about that this morning. We're continuing our study of this amazing prophetic chapter of God's Word. Learning about the future of our world by studying its past. The past couple of weeks, we've learned about the fourth beast in the book of Daniel, chapter 7. Daniel's prophetic dream, which we learn is the Roman Empire. And we learn that the Roman Empire, being the empire in power when Jesus came the first time. was a picture of the empire that's going to be in power when Jesus comes again. We saw, therefore, that most of what we are told in the Bible about the fourth beast has not yet occurred. And I believe we'll see this even clearer in verse 9 today. Last week we saw that the fourth beast had ten horns, and we've learned that those ten horns are ten what? Kings, their ten kings, which will have power in this beastly empire to come before Jesus comes again. And then Daniel saw another little horn. Remember that little horn that came up? That's a small king or a king from small beginnings rise up on this beastly empire, and then three of the original horns or the original kings were plucked up by their roots. In other words, they lost their territorial reign. And the little horn that came up Had a big mouth. Remember, his mouth was bigger than his eyes. And he spoke big claims and made blasphemies against God. And now, keeping all that in mind, we're going to move forward in Daniel's vision as we take a look in verse 9. But before we do, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your precious word. We're so grateful, Father. For your Holy Spirit that does all the teaching, that has all the truth. And all we are, dear Lord God, are just vessels of clay. But Lord, we look to you today, dear Lord God, for you to teach our hearts, to open our eyes, to give us the understanding, Father, that we need. For you to receive all the honor and glory and everyone's attention to be on you this morning. Forgive us when we failed you. We love you so much. And Father Lord, we pray for great edification of your saints in your word this morning. In Christ's name, amen. Daniel chapter 9, Daniel said, I beheld till the thrones were cast down. I've been following politics since the late 80s, closely since the 90s. And I tell you what, I'm going to be following politics all the way to the end until every throne is cast down but Jesus' throne. This is why it's called casting thrones. He said, I beheld till the thrones were cast down. You realize one day every political power. That has ever existed is going to be completely crushed by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Daniel's prophetic dream, he continued to watch until all the thrones in his dream Namely, the horns on the beast that we've been talking about, for they are kings that sat on their thrones. Okay, so when the thrones are cast down, The horns are plucked up by the roots. Okay? And so the horns on the beast is what we've been talking about. They are kings that sat on their thrones, and Daniel continued to watch until all those thrones were cast. Down for the thrones of these godless kings to be cast down, that means they and their positions of power on earth. And the beast that gave them that power that they sat on will be completely overcome by a power superior to them. That's going to happen. Now I've told you that the empire that was in power when Christ came the first time, that's Rome. Was a foreshadowing of the empire that's going to be in power when Christ comes again. So understand, when Jesus came the first time, he partly fulfilled. What we read about in this verse. He partly fulfilled what Daniel saw. In his dream, because when Jesus came the first time, he cast down thrones. But you have to understand to be able to understand these prophecies and get it right, you have to understand that His coming is in two parts, right? When we read about the coming of Christ in the Old Testament, It's always understood that his coming is in two parts. The first time to die, the second time to reign. In the same way, his fulfillment of what Daniel is seeing with the first beast comes in two parts. The first time he comes, he casts down thrones legally, if you're taking notes. The first time Jesus comes, he comes to cast down thrones legally. So when Jesus came the first time, he legally cast down Satan and the kingdoms of this world. Now listen carefully to what Jesus said the first time he came, and this he said concerning his death on the cross. His coming resurrection. This is in the Gospel of John, chapter 12, verses 27 through 31. And the reason I'm backing up all the way to 27 is to get context. John 12, 27, Now is my soul troubled. Now, why was Jesus' soul troubled? He was about to die on the cross. He said, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause, Came I unto this hour. In other words, I came here to die on the cross. So I'm not going to ask God to save me. So here's what I am going to say. Verse 28, Father, glorify thy name. I'm not going to ask the Father to save me from dying on the cross. I'm going to ask him to glorify his name by me dying on the cross. And then it says, Then came there a voice from heaven saying, This is from the Father, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said that it Thundered. Others said an angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Listen to what Jesus is saying now about his coming death. Now is the, say this word with me, judgment of this world. That word judgment means in the Greek a tribunal. It means the condemnation of this world. He says, Now shall the prince of this world be said with me cast out. All right. So the words translated cast out here means to be ejected, to be kicked out the door. So notice that there are two judgments Jesus is speaking about here in John that we just read, in the passage we just read. Jesus said, Now is the judgment of this world. That's the world being judged, right? But then he says, and Jesus said, the prince of this world is being cast out. So the world's being judged. And the prince of this world is being judged, okay? And the prince is what? He is a principality. He is a power. He is a horn, you see. He is a king, the king, not of this world in the sense that God is, but the king of this world in the sense of the worldly, the godless. Unbelieving world, the world system that now exists, the end rebellion against God and the authorities. That now exists that are under the influence of the devil. And so Jesus was saying through his death on the cross, he was going to judge the world. He said, Now is the judgment of this world. So through Jesus' death and resurrection, the world was judged, and the prince of this world was Cast out by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So understand this: when Jesus died and rose again, he condemned this rebellious world system. He overcame its prince, the devil, and then he kicked him out the door. So when Jesus comes the second time, Satan, the prince of this fallen world kingdom, is going to be ruling through men on this earth just like he did the first time. Waging war against God and against God's people. Isn't that what Satan did the first time Jesus came? He waged war against God. He waged war against God's people. And we had Christians being slaughtered. After Jesus came, the church was being persecuted. People were having to flee for their lives. And Jesus was put to death. And that's exactly what Satan did when Jesus came the first time, and that's what Satan's going to be doing when Jesus comes again. Luke chapter 22, verse 1 through 4. Listen now. Luke 22, 1 through 4. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. Now this is right before Jesus was crucified. Because he was the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him. They're wanting to kill God's Son. They're wanting to destroy God's Son. Why? Because he is the true prince of this world, the true king. But who was working through those priests and scribes? It was the devil, the prince of this world, this fallen world. It says in verse 2, And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people. Verse 3, then entered Satan. Into Judas. Who was betraying Jesus? Who was orchestrating Jesus' death? Satan was the prince of this world. Who allowed Satan to work through him? Judas did. So that's why Jesus said, Now is the judgment of this world, Judas, and those who are like him. Now shall the prince of this world, Satan, who entered Judas, be cast out. They both have to be judged and condemned because man can't blame it on the devil and the devil can't claim to be innocent. He's the one orchestrating all of it, and man is the one yielding to it. So it says, Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being one of the Of the number of the twelve, and he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him unto them. The lost men of this godless world kingdom were in the foreground. But make no mistake, it was Satan who was in the background. It's going to be the same way when Jesus comes again. You're going to have a man of sin, you're going to have another beastly empire. You're going to have horns grow up on that beast, or kings come up on that beast to reign. They're going to all be in unison together. They're all going to be against the Lord and against his Christ. Christians are going to be persecuted. Christians are going to be put to death. There's going to be an all-out war being waged against the church of Jesus Christ, and it will be the. Godless world in the foreground, but it's going to be the devil in the background. And one day that devil at the end is going to come out of the background. And that's when Jesus is going to come out, too. And during the reign of this fourth beast, when Rome crucified Jesus, Jesus cast down those satanic thrones of the godless beast. that was and the godless beast that was to come. By dying and rising again, Jesus ejected the devil and all who subscribed to his godless, beastly empire. But how did Jesus do that by dying and rising again? By dying and rising again, Jesus overcame sin and death. Which was the power of the devil over the people of God. That's the power he held over us. The power of sin, the power of death. You see, by Jesus taking on humanity, Jesus is God. And by Jesus taking on humanity and dying as a man, it was man that overcame the devil. It was man that overcame sin. It was man that overcame the grave. That's why Jesus didn't do this as God, he did it as a man. We would overcome the devil. We would overcome sin. We would overcome the grave. Don't you want to be an overcomer? Well, you are an overcomer in the Lord Jesus Christ. By Jesus taking on humanity and dying as a man, he caused you to overcome Satan, you to overcome sin, you to overcome death, and he put all those things under our Feet victoriously sin, Satan, and death under our feet when he came out of that grave. Now, do you feel like all that's under your feet right now? We still got to die, don't we? We still got, my wife and I, we talking about picking out our gravestones here pretty soon. Get that out of the way. One less thing my kids have to worry about doing. So, do we really feel like all that's under our feet? Y'all still have trouble sinning? I do. Do we really feel like all that's under our feet? Did Jesus really do all that for us? Yes, he did. By becoming a man and overcoming sin, Satan, and death as a man, he put that under his feet, and by being a man, he put it under ours. Hebrews 2, verse 14 says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, that's us, we have flesh and blood, we got that when we were born, he also himself Likewise, he took part of the same. In other words, he was born like us. Why? That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. Over us, that is the devil. When Jesus died on the cross through his death, he destroyed the devil who had the power of death. Over us. So when Jesus went to the cross, he cast out the devil and he cast down all his beastly thrones. The thrones that were, the thrones that are, the thrones that will be to come. And I believe this is what Revelation chapter 12 verses 9 and 10 is referring to. Which says, and the great devil was what cast out. Remember what Jesus said in John 12? Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be what? Cast out. And now in Revelation we see a different angle of that. The great dragon was cast out. That old serpent. The one from Genesis, who tempted Eve, called the devil. And Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with Him, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. He's put under our feet. He has been crushed by Jesus, which accused him before our God day and night. So the first time Jesus came, the beast and all his horns were cast down. And by casting them down, Jesus put them all under his feet. Thus he put them all under our feet, but once again. As I said, we still have to die. Once again, as I said, we still struggle with sin. Once again, the devil still messes with our mind, and we still wrestle in this world, and that's because. Jesus' victory comes in two parts as his coming came in two parts. His first coming, his second coming. The first time Jesus came again, he won a legal Victory for us. So when he came, Satan, the throned in all his thrones, sin, Satan, and death, all that was cast down legally. The first time Jesus came, the legal victory was won. The arrest warrant was signed. All right. Now I made a lot of arrests when I was a state police officer. I got a lot of arrest warrants when I was a state police officer. And there's not going to be an absolute comparison here because we're talking about English law versus heavenly law, but there'll be definitely some things you can draw and understand. So, under English law, if I want to deprive someone of their freedom, I have to either witness them doing it, have to be done in my presence review. And if it's not done in my presence or view, then I have to get a warrant for that person's arrest based on my investigation. And there has to be probable cause that that person committed that crime, which means more likely than not they did. And so anytime I wanted to get an arrest warrant on something, if I was doing an investigation, I would get all of my evidence and I'd summarize it. And I'd put it in an affidavit. I'd then take that affidavit to the judge. I'd sign it before him. The judge would read it. If the judge says yes. More likely than not, this person committed that crime. The judge would then sign the warrant. When that warrant was signed, I now had the authority to arrest him. But listen. When that warrant was signed, he was not arrested. You see? I had the authority to arrest him. I had a legal power to arrest him, but he was still free. He was still on the loose. He was still committing crimes. You're drawing the connection here now. Same thing with an indictment. If the grand jury hears testimony, the grand jury decides to bring an indictment against the criminal, the grand jury can issue a warrant. The grand jury can indict. And then you have the legal power to deprive that person of their liberty and take them into captivity. But just because a person is indicted, Doesn't mean they're behind bars, right? And that's what we're looking at here. When Jesus came the first time, The arrest warrant was signed. But it went beyond that. When Jesus came the first time, the trial was held. He said, Now is the judgment of this world. Now is the trial of this world. When Jesus came the first time, the trial was held. Judgment was made. When Jesus came the first time, the death sentence was given. The devil and all those who follow him, and all those horns that raised up power against the Lord and his Christ. And would not reign under the power of God, but wanted to reign under their own rebellious power. They were all legally cast down in the death sentence. Was given to them. All of this was the legal authority for our victory over sin, Satan, and death. That Jesus accomplished for us the first time. All the legal paperwork was signed through his death and resurrection, and God's judgment on the cross. Because whose sin was put on Jesus? All the world's. Not just ours. But those little horns that pop up on that beast, Brother Doug. Judas's sin was put on Jesus. And Judas was tried, sentenced, and condemned. Satan was tried, sentenced, and condemned. In 2020, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was indicted by a federal grand jury here in the United States. And an arrest warrant was issued. But did that stop Maduro from trafficking narcotics? Did that stop Maduro's reign from bringing people to a miserable death? No, because why? He had an indictment. He was ordered to be arrested and to be brought before a federal magistrate. Why didn't he come? Because illegal people don't respect legal orders, right? Illegal people don't respect legal orders. Right now, there is a legal order out for the devil. Do you think he's going to turn himself in? No, just like Nicholas Maduro, he's still wreaking havoc on this world. Legal orders do not affect illegal people. He wasn't going to turn himself into the United States government. And listen, the devil's not going to turn himself into God. Maduro didn't recognize our authority. Satan doesn't recognize God's authority. The godless people of this world, they don't recognize God. They mock him. They blaspheme his name. So Maduro continued his illegal and unrighteous reign and behavior for six years, laughing us off. But earlier this year, the United States military, with a great, powerful might, entered his country. enforcefully executed that arrest warrant, removing him from power The legal victory, the legal authority from the grand jury and from the judge, was then executed by force, you see, by force. And it's the same way with the devil. It's the same way with the devil's fallen kingdom. The lawless don't care about God's law. The devil and his demons and the wicked people of this world, they're not going to surrender the earth back to God. In his church, voluntarily. Who did Jesus say would inherit the earth? He said the meek would. You know what the meek are? Those who bend the knee to God and his law. Those who say, Yes, God, you are God, you're the Creator, I'm the creature, your law is right, I am wrong, you sent your Son, I bow my knee to His authority, and I accept His redemption He provided me. That's the meek. They bend the knee to the truth and to the authority of God over them. Those are the ones who are going to inherit the earth, but the lawless world is not going to hand that earth over to us. It's going to be just like the first renters I had, Brother Doug. They were a nice, handsome couple, and they kept that house cleaner than I did. Only problem was they just wouldn't pay. I just didn't believe in paying their rent. They figured, hey, this is our house. It was really mine legally. I just couldn't get them out. So I had to go get a judge's order. And after that judge issued that order, do you think that got them out? No. Guess what has to happen then? Now you've got to have a constable. Law enforcement goes over there and boot them out the door. Now is the judge from this world, now shall the prince of this world be Ejected out the door. You see, the devil's an unlawful tenant. The order of eviction has been signed. That's what happened the first time Jesus came, but when Jesus comes back, he's not going to be the tenant getting all of his legal work in order. He's going to be the constable kicking him out, you see? All of that legal work is going to be enforced. The devil and his demons, once again, in this wicked world, they're not going to surrender the earth back to God and his church voluntarily. But when Jesus comes back, the second Time, the legal victory of his gospel will be executed by the victory of his revelation. Watch how those two go together. The gospel is his legal victory. The revelation is his powerful victory. The gospel brought the legal victory. The revelation, his second coming, is going to execute his legal victory of the cross. When Jesus came the first time, the arrest warrant was issued. The judgment was held. The sentence was announced. But when Jesus comes back the second time, the arrest will be made. Do you know what you see in Revelation? It says the devil was bound. Now the arrest is being made. And he was cast into a lake of fire. You see? So when Jesus comes a second time, the arrest will be made, the judgment will be carried out, the death sentence will be executed. Listen to how the Bible explains this in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. It says, Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. Now that's talking about Jesus' feet. So right now, God has put everything under the feet of Jesus Christ victoriously. And since he has put everything under Jesus' feet, Jesus being a man doing this on our behalf, he has put everything under our feet. So he's put everything in subjection under us right now. We have the eviction notice. We have issued by the judge that that house belongs to us, this world belongs to us, we are the rightful occupants. The problem is, we're living with a mixed multitude of people. We're here in this world, but we're like Abraham. We're wandering around like strangers on the earth. Because the church isn't ruling right now. So it says, Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, Jesus' feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now, watch this. Let me get my little pointer. He put past tense all things in subjection under his feet. But now, right now, at this time, we see not yet all things put under him. Watch the difference. He has put all things under him. They are under Jesus' feet. They are under our feet. But we don't see it yet. You see? Not yet. They are, but we don't see it. We haven't seen it come to pass yet. But it's ours. That victory belongs to us. The earth is ours to occupy forever and ever in the power and authority and the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. But now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see, here is what we see right now: we see Jesus. Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death? You know what we see right now? We see the fact that Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels. That means he became a man. Why? So he could die for the suffering of death. Crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. That's what we see right now. That's what we're preaching right now. That's what we know right now. That's what we have as a church experienced. Right now, we have experienced the coming of Jesus Christ. We have experienced his death. The world has seen the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What we haven't seen yet is him coming again and taking what he put under his feet legally Doing it powerfully, practically, experientially on our behalf. So understand those words, not yet. God put these horns under Jesus' feet, He put these horns under our feet during the time of the Roman Empire. And we will see them under his feet during the time of the last empire. For Daniel said, the thrones were cast down. Look back in your text now in the book of Daniel, chapter 7. The thrones were cast down, and the angels were. Ancient of days did sit. You realize what he's saying? He's saying every throne is going to topple. And there's going to be a new sheriff in town. The ancient of days, he that is from everlasting to everlasting, the almighty, eternal, everlasting God. Finally, once the devil is cast out experientially, and the world is cast out experientially. And those thrones have been finally toppled down, not just legally, but practically. The ancient of days is going to be the only one sitting on the throne of this world. Daniel saw it prophetically. Soon we will see it experientially. On his throne, which will never be cast down, what a glorious day that will be, and God willing, we'll take back up in this last part of this verse. Next Sunday morning. Father, we thank you so much for your precious word. Thank you, Father, for this amazing prophecy. Thank you, Lord, that half of it has been already fulfilled, like a down payment. And all we're doing is waiting, Father, on the second half to come. We're so grateful, Lord, for the legal victory. Now we're waiting on the arrest. And Father Lord, until that time, may we live, Lord. In righteousness, in faith, living, Father God, for your kingdom as we wait on it to come in the ancient of days to finally forever sit. In His precious name we pray. Amen.