We are in Revelation chapter 11.
The title of this message is The Certainty
of Christ's Reign, and by that I'm talking
about the reign of Christ that begins on
earth and goes on into eternity.
I am reminded of what Charles Dickens wrote
in the very beginning of the story of
the Tale of Two Cities.
He wrote these words.
He said it was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom, and it
was the age of foolishness.
It was the epoch of belief, and it
was the epoch of incredulity.
It was the season of light, and it
was the season of darkness.
It was the spring of hope, and it
was the winter of despair.
We had everything before us, and we had
nothing before us.
We were all going directly to heaven, and
we were all going directly the other way,
end quote.
That reminds me so much of where we
are in the book of Revelation, and so
many of those superlatives could be used to
describe the section we are in and the
age that is before us in the book
of Revelation and what is opening up beyond
it.
It is the worst of times when we
study that man and his foolishness in an
epoch of incredulity and a long season of
darkness and a winter of despair will follow
such an individual as the Antichrist and follow
him with passion and devotion and then follow
him to the judgment that will be theirs
for having rejected the real Christ, Jesus Christ.
Then before us in our studies, we have
the best of times, the age of wisdom
and the season of light and the spring
of hope with everything before those that are
going to heaven that they could ever want.
I have learned more about heaven studying the
book of Revelation than I ever learned with
all the rest of my studies put together.
As we begin our study in Revelation chapter
11, I want to start by going back
to chapter one, if we could just for
a moment to the first verse.
Revelation one, one, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
It is a book that reveals Christ as
sovereign king, and it also is a book
that reveals him as the king who is
going to come and reign on this earth
right here.
Thousand years on this earth, and he's going
to dissolve this, create a new heaven and
a new earth, and he will go on
reigning forever.
So once he comes back and begins to
reign, he will reign forever and never stop.
I love that thought.
There is an end coming to the things
as they are around me today.
Now we've talked about how Christ regains control
of the earth.
Do you know how he does it?
He does it through judgments, specifically three forms.
Do you know what they are?
Seals, trumpets and balls, and they come out
in a telescoping fashion out of the seventh
trumpet blast will then come rapid fire.
The seven bold judgments, they take place in
the last few months and days of man's
history on planet Earth, as we know it
right before Jesus Christ comes back.
Read with me from Revelation 11, 15.
The seventh angel sounded and there were loud
voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this
world have become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ, and he shall reign
forever and ever.
And the 24 elders who sat before God
on their thrones fell on their faces and
worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O
Lord God Almighty, the one who is and
who was and who is to come because
you have taken your great power and reigned.
What a day it's going to be when
we are finally able to say that because
he's done it.
The angel sounds and then all of heaven
breaks into an uproar of praise and worship.
But basically what they're worshiping about is the
announcement that Christ is going to reign on
this earth and then reign eternally.
Now, the way our minds work.
When we are very young, we have very
little in our minds, right?
That's why little kids can remember things you've
long forgotten.
And maybe even if it was two days
ago or last week.
Do you remember when they got every little
detail and you're going, yeah, you've forgotten the
whole thing.
Well, why is that?
That's because there's very little in their minds,
very little knowledge.
So what is in there is very clear
to them.
What happens to us is as we grow
as adults and as we grow as Christians,
as we fight the devil, as we work
out our problems, as we deal with our
own sins, as we go to our jobs
and deal with our neighbors and family members
and all those things, our minds become cluttered.
And they become very preoccupied.
So we come to the Bible and we
come to a verse like he will reign
forever and ever.
The kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and Christ and he
shall reign forever and ever.
And we tend to with our cluttered, preoccupied
minds, we tend to go, oh, that's really
cool.
Praise God.
Now, that's why I'm a Christian.
Hey, you know, we kind of let it
go at that move on.
Well, I think there's a problem with that.
What happens is it becomes a habit.
In our reading and we fail to plow
deep in the word as the years go
by.
We can become very broad, but not very
deep.
We need to go deep on this fact
that Jesus Christ is coming back to this
earth to rule and reign on this earth.
He's going to take the kingdom of this
world back from Satan and he's going to
do it his way.
One of the things I love about studying
Revelation, it is the most.
Incredibly organized, tightly woven.
Book, and it leads me back to other
books in the Bible, and it causes me
to with each passing day and week that
I study it, it causes me to marvel
at how organized the Bible is, how tightly
woven it is, and to see how the
mind of God is woven all the way
through it so that there's nothing random anywhere.
What happens to you then as you begin,
as it happens to you, you begin to
read your Bible a little more slowly.
You start to look for things.
And as you read your Bible, you seek
to retain what's there because you might run
into it somewhere else.
And if you do, the light goes on
in your head and your heart and you
suddenly understand more of the kingdom of God.
You understand how to walk closer with God.
And in the process, you understand how to
defeat the devil on a more regular basis.
You also understand more and more how God
works and why his way is better than
the devil's way.
So you start saying yes to Jesus and
none of the devil, a lot more.
As you study and pay attention now, we
read in our text an announcement, Christ will
reign on this earth eternally, and we read
a verse 15, the kingdoms of this world
have become the kingdoms of our Lord and
his Christ.
I love this.
He's going to take the kingdoms of this
world if they're the kingdoms of the world
and they become the kingdoms of our Lord
and his Christ.
And who did they belong to before that?
Satan.
He's going to take the kingdoms of this
world away from Satan.
Luke, chapter four, verse five.
When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan
afterwards, the spirit of God drove him into
the wilderness to be tempted for how long?
Forty days.
So for 40 days he was tempted for
40 days.
He was fasting and a man in tremendous
condition.
Jesus walked a lot.
He ate a lot of fish.
He was a stonemason carpenter type.
So he was lean.
He was in really good shape.
So for 40 days he's fasting.
But at the end of 40 days, he's
going to begin to starve to death.
So a human being in the best of
condition can live for 40 days fasting and
be OK.
But after that, you start to starve to
death.
All right.
Along the way, we tend to think he
went there.
He was there 40 days.
He's fasting.
And at the end of it, the devil
comes and tempts him.
Now, the devil was tempting him the whole
time as he gets weaker and weaker.
He starts to hit him with the bigger
and bigger temptations until when he hits the
40 day mark.
And now he's beginning to starve to death.
He is hit with the biggest guns the
devil has, the kingdoms of this world.
We read in Revelation 11, 15, look at
Luke 4, 5.
Now at the 40-day mark with Jesus,
the heaviest temptations come.
Then the devil, taking him up on a
high mountain, showed him, what does it say,
all the kingdoms of the world.
And he did it in a moment of
time.
Tell me the devil doesn't have power.
He took the Son of God to the
top of a high mountain.
He showed him all the kingdoms of the
world in a moment of time.
Satan has power.
And the devil said to him, all this
authority I will give you and the glory
of these kingdoms.
Verse six, very interesting statement by Satan, for
this has been delivered to me.
Thank you very much, Adam.
This has been delivered to me.
I just threw that in because that's how
he got it.
This has been delivered to me and I
give it to whomever I wish.
If you will worship before me, all will
be yours.
Very interesting.
A lot of insight on the power of
the devil.
A lot of insight on who is running
the kingdoms of this world.
And if he runs them collectively, in the
end, it's one kingdom run by the devil.
He's called in the Bible the God of
this world.
Now he says you can have all of
this if you will just do one thing.
What did Satan want in the beginning when
he rebelled against God originally?
What did he want when he led one
third of the holy angels in rebellion against
God?
And what did he want?
He wanted to be God.
He wanted to be worshipped.
Here he says to the son of God,
I'll give you all of this, verse seven,
if you will just get on your knees
now, Jesus of Nazareth, carpenter man, rabbi in
tattered robe.
You can just see it all.
He's playing directly to his humanness.
Why this, though, why all the kingdoms of
the world?
Because he wants Jesus to give up his
plan of going to the cross.
And dying on the cross and raising again.
Why?
Because he knows for one thing what that's
going to do for all the people of
the world.
He's been trying to overthrow that plan since
the beginning when it was announced to him
in Genesis 315, the cross.
But further, he knows what's going to happen
to him when Jesus goes to the cross.
Right.
So I will give you all the kingdoms
of the world if you bow down and
worship me.
The temptation is geared to the human side
of Jesus.
Further, it's pointed at the human side of
Jesus, because right now he's starting to suffer
40 days of fasting.
He will have to suffer at the cross.
So what he's saying to this is, I
know you're going to go to the cross
and get the kingdoms of the world.
But I have a way around the cross
for you.
Suppose I could tell you, Jesus, that you
can have all the kingdoms of the world.
You could be a king of kings, a
king of kings.
If you just bow down and worship me
and you wouldn't have to go to the
cross, you could bypass the suffering of God's
will.
And yet still get most of what you
want and most of what he wants for
you.
Satan is saying, I will make you a
king of kings.
He would then be the devil's puppet king.
Right.
So what is happening here is Satan is
making an offer to Jesus, really hitting at
his humanity to cause him to turn away
from the father's will.
And I love the answer of Jesus in
verse a.
Jesus answered and said, get behind me, Satan,
for it is written, you shall worship the
Lord, your God and him only shall you
serve.
See, he's attacking Jesus from the angle of
his humanity to get him at his weakest
point.
And I love the fact that Jesus doesn't
come back and say, get behind me, Satan,
because I'm God and I don't have to
put up with any more of this because
my 40 day plan of coming to the
wilderness to be around you is over.
So get away from me and don't come
back until I offer you another season.
No, he doesn't say, I'm God, you're defeated.
He says, get behind me, Satan, for it
is written.
I love it.
I don't have to be God to beat
you.
I only need to be a man born
of the spirit and filled with the spirit
and filled with the word of God.
You're done, get behind me, for it is
written, you will worship only the Lord, your
God.
And you know what else it says to
me here is that it doesn't matter what
Satan offers you to steer you away from
the plan of God.
The answer is you will worship the Lord,
your God.
And Satan is going to offer you different
offers to steer you away from some suffering
that might be involved in the will of
God for your life.
He will make you offers.
The answer is I don't bargain with you,
Satan.
I worship only the Lord, my God.
He will even offer you.
Watch this.
He will even offer you things that if
you continue to walk in the will of
the Lord, the Lord will give you.
But you will have to suffer with God
to get them.
He will offer you those things in such
a way that you won't have to suffer.
But you know something, he cannot offer you
the blessing of God with those things.
You may be able to counterfeit and give
you those things, but he can't give you
the blessing of God.
And without the blessing of God, what good
is anything you've got?
I would much rather, as Peter said, suffer
according to the will of God.
And then have God give me or bring
my way whatever he wants and do it
by worshiping God than by selling out to
the devil.
My brother has an old saying, the devil
pays up front.
But he pays in counterfeit money and you
get caught when you start using it, and
that's how it is here.
Doesn't matter what's offered.
You don't ever forget that.
It doesn't matter what's being offered me.
I will worship the Lord, my God.
And you know something, when you come to
Revelation chapter 11, verse 15, that's how Jesus
gets the kingdom of this world, because he's
been worshiping and obeying only the Lord, his
God, his father.
Go back to Revelation 11, 15.
By the time we come to this passage,
Jesus gets it all.
He gets everything Satan offered him.
And this is the way it always is
with God.
More, much more, infinitely more.
So verse 15, the seventh angel sounded Revelation
11.
There were loud voices in heaven saying the
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms
of our Lord and his Christ and he
shall reign forever and ever.
I just love that because here Jesus takes
over.
He takes the kingdoms of this world, which
are the devil's kingdom.
He takes the things the devil offered him.
And at the same time, he's defeating the
devil himself.
And he already went to the cross and
secured our salvation.
And here it is.
He's getting it all.
But he got it all God's way.
And that tells me that's the way that
I'm going to go in my life.
And I thank God that as Hebrews tells
me that Jesus Christ is the forerunner of
our faith.
He is the line leader.
He's the captain of our salvation.
The original Greek is the forerunner or the
leader of the rank and file, the marching
soldiers.
He's the pioneer.
He's the one out front.
And I thank God these things are recorded
in Luke, then recorded all the way over
in Revelation, recorded on Earth.
Follow this recorded on Earth in the desert
and Luke, then recorded of all of this
taking place in heaven in the book of
Revelation, but recorded on Earth and Luke in
an encounter with Satan, who's from that other
dimension.
Christ is in our dimension in a human
body, then recorded in heaven.
He went back to heaven with that body
after he rose from the dead.
What I love about Revelation, what I love
about the Bible, as I put it all
together, is it begins to have the dimension
of Earth and the dimension of heaven crisscross
and interact.
And it more and more and more enables
me to understand that it's not just about
me.
It's not just about us.
It's not just about human beings running around
on this little planet Earth.
It's not just about us.
It's about us.
And there's other beings God's created angels.
And there's a plan and there's dialogue and
rejoicing.
And it's this is real.
This is a real relationship with the living
God that spans different dimensions.
And the dimension on Earth is only one
in a very small space of time.
And what is real and lasting is what
we're studying about here.
The kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
This fills my mind with the truth.
It makes me free.
It really does.
It straightens out my thinking because, you see,
this is Satan's world.
This world is under one king, Satan, and
you know what?
God even scattered his kingdom.
You know that there was a point in
time in the Bible when God scattered the
kingdom of Satan.
You know, when he did it, you know
how he did it.
Is that the tower?
I'll give you a hint.
Is it the tower of.
Starts with a B and it's called Babel.
There you go.
The tower of Babel, their tower is a
united effort of mankind spawned by the devil,
really to build a tower of worship and
leave God out.
So they're following the devil.
Well, God came along to the tower of
Babel and they were out there working and
they were really getting along quite well and
proceeding quite fast.
And God said, that's about enough.
If I don't do something, they were, after
all, created in my image and the residual
that's still there in the human brain after
the fall, empowered by the devil.
Follow that.
OK, then man is still capable of a
lot.
If I don't scramble their languages there, that's
going to be awful.
And so here they are.
And you got this guy over here.
He's pushing his wheelbarrow full of cement.
Another guy saying, hand me another brick.
Another guy going, hey, how are you doing?
You know, and pounding some nails and doing
a little carpentry work.
And so they're hanging out together and it's
lunchtime.
They sit down.
One guy says, hey, could you pass a
little of that warm pita bread?
The other guy says, say what?
Because what he heard was.
And he said, what do you don't don't
don't mess with my head, just give me
some of the pita bread.
And he's like, hey, don't you don't you
be doing that to me?
And pretty soon nobody can understand anybody.
And because he scrambled their languages, they scattered.
And in the scattering, the kingdom of the
devil was scattered.
So now he rules in this world, but
his kingdom is in fragments.
He rules it in fragments.
Does that make sense to you?
And he is known by many names in
the Bible as the king of the fragments
of his worldly kingdom.
I think you should know those names.
Paul said we are not ignorant of Satan's
devices.
Thus, he had victory over him.
Give you some of the names you find
in the Bible for the devil.
How many names do you think, you know,
for the devil in the Bible?
Let's see.
Devil is one.
Satan, that's two.
OK, how about this?
What the Bible has for the names, the
devil, the accuser, revelation, the adversary, first Peter,
Beelzebub, Matthew, Belial, 2nd Corinthians, the dragon, revelation,
the evil one, John 17, the god of
this world, 2nd Corinthians 4, the prince of
the power of the air, Ephesians 2, the
roaring lion, 1st Peter, the ruler of the
demons, Mark 3, the ruler of the world,
John 12, the serpent of old, Revelation 12,
the tempter, the devil, Satan.
All these names speak of the different things
that he does in the way that he
rules his kingdom.
And all these names speak of evil that
he brings our way as Christians.
So to identify those names is already more
truth to help you stand against him in
his ways.
Christ comes here and in Revelation 15, we
find out he's going to take back the
kingdoms of this world from Satan and they
will become his.
He will write on this earth now.
Back to Revelation 11, 15 and down to
verse 17, they say, we give you thanks
to the Lord God Almighty, the one who
is, who was and who is to come,
because you have taken your great power and
reigned now.
After the angel sounds and I alluded to
this a few minutes ago in Revelation, after
the angel sounds, you don't get the bold
judgments.
And that's all that's left after the seventh
trumpet blast.
Why not?
What happens in the next three chapters?
Well, what happens is critical to understanding the
book of Revelation.
You get lost right away.
If you really do understand that God takes
back the earth and the title and the
ownership of it all into his possession through
the judgment seals, trumpets and balls.
And then you hear the angel sound in
verse 15 and then you go three chapters
and it's all over the place.
Then you're going to start thinking, well, that's
not how he does it.
He doesn't do it by seals, trumpets and
balls.
And then if you let go of that,
you're lost in Revelation.
So what happens in the next three chapters?
I'll tell you what happens in the next
three chapters is a digression.
Up until now, we've been looking at everything
from the side of Christ and God dealing
with the world in the next three chapters,
chapter 12, 13 and 14.
We're going to be looking at the career
of the Antichrist, the career of the Antichrist.
So we'll be going back across time that
we've covered, but looking at it from a
different angle, specifically with what the Antichrist is
doing on earth.
On the earth during all the time that
we've been studying, is that clear as chapter
12, 13 and 14.
Then when we get to chapter 15, the
seven trumpet blasts and out of that come
the ball judgments and it's boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom.
And it's over.
And then all the good stuff about heaven
as we come toward the end of the
book.
What is important about what we've seen so
far?
The announcement that Christ will reign on this
earth and he will do it eternally.
You understand Revelation as a digression here for
the next three chapters, looking at the career
of the Antichrist.
What I want to spend a few more
minutes on is take you through some scriptures
and show you not just the fact Christ
will reign on earth, this earth and then
eternally.
But the certainty of it.
The certainty of it, what we read in
Revelation 11, 15, he will take the kingdoms
of this world.
They will become the kingdoms of our Lord
and his Christ and he will reign forever.
You might be thinking, well, why should I
be so so concerned that he's going to
come and reign?
I mean, I understand it.
I get it.
I've got the point.
Maybe you do have the point intellectually.
But the certainty of the coming of Christ
to reign on earth on earth.
Is a dominant theme throughout the entire Bible.
The details of this are spread with clarity
and certainty throughout the entire Bible.
It is a certainty in the Bible that
is to be driven deep into our hearts.
One old saying is to say that we
need to take the truth and screw it
down deep into our souls.
This is a truth we need to do
that with.
It's a certainty, I would say, that's commonly
overlooked by a lot of Christians today.
Oh, I know the Lord is coming.
Hey, do you believe in the second coming
of Christ?
Yes.
Do you believe in the rapture?
Yes.
But those same people just let all hell
break loose in their life.
And those same people will come around to
you and they'll come up and they'll start
asking you questions like, do you ever secretly
think that maybe it's not going to happen
the way he said?
Because I'll tell you what, you know, I
came to the Lord.
I was really joyful, man, for about the
first two weeks of the first month.
And you'd be surprised if people do.
And but now I've been walking with God
for a couple of years.
Oh, I don't you think that just maybe
it might not happen exactly the way he
says, because I thought it was going to
happen.
Do you ever doubt that it might not
happen?
Well, I never seem to be amazed at
how many people come up and ask me
that.
My answer is always a resounding no, no,
I do not.
I do not doubt that these things are
going to happen.
However, there was a time when I did.
And so in the early years, my answer
sometimes was, well, you know what?
Yeah, sometimes I sometimes I do.
No, you would never say it real loud.
You know, sometimes I do.
No, let's just keep this between you and
me.
You know, let me say this.
If those doubts have plagued you, they should
end today.
And I'm serious about it.
Because in Revelation 11, 15, we have God's
word on it.
We went back, we saw the whole scenario
with Satan and the temptation in the wilderness
when he tried to give the Lord the
kingdoms without the cross.
We know he went to the cross.
This is a long time after he's risen.
This is in heaven.
And now we find it's all happening God's
way, exactly the way God wanted it to.
So we know that it's going to happen.
The certainty has to go from the pages
of the Bible into your head and down
into your heart.
Do you understand that the certainty that Christ
is coming back to this earth to reign
on this earth and then make a new
heaven and earth and reign on into forever?
Do you understand that that is in the
Bible as far back as Exodus?
You say, well, how do you get into
that journey?
How do you find that out?
It's not that hard.
Take your Bible and turn to the right
to Revelation 15, 2, and you'll be right
into the journey.
It'll take you chapter 15 right back to
Exodus and you'll find out some more things
about heaven.
You didn't know Revelation 15, 2.
And I saw now this is a time
where Christ is taken over as king.
He's ruling and reigning.
It's the beauty of heaven.
And I saw something like a sea of
glass mingled with fire.
Tell me heaven isn't glorious and beautiful.
Something like a sea of glass mingled with
fire.
And those who have these are Christians, those
who have victory over the beast, the Antichrist,
his image, his mark, his number, the number
of his name.
Those who didn't take the mark would follow
Christ.
I saw them standing on the sea of
glass.
So something like a sea of glass, fiery
brilliance.
And they're standing there and they are.
Here's an amazing thing.
They're all musicians.
They have the harps of God.
You read just that and you realize, my
God is into beauty.
My God is into blazing glory.
And my God is into music.
He is big time into music.
Do you like music?
Everybody likes music.
Do you know what that proves?
That proves you like music.
So it proves you like music, which proves
that you like heaven.
They're standing on a fiery sea of glass.
They've all got harps.
Everybody's out there.
Now, the Bible says that when Abraham died,
he was gathered to his people.
When Isaac died, he was gathered to his
people.
So when you die and you go to
heaven, it's not like you get released into
some convention center or a stadium.
You don't know anybody there.
Oh, my gosh.
I don't know anybody here.
Hey, anybody out there knows me?
I know I look a little different.
No, you're gathered to your people.
Isn't that great?
So you get ushered into heaven to your
section.
So you get gathered to your people and
you're musicians with harps.
So here's everybody on the sea of glass.
They're all in their own group, man.
Just jamming away.
And that's important because down here you say,
well, yeah, I like music.
But you know what?
If I had my way, I wouldn't have
your kind of music maybe in heaven.
You know, you might not like I'd like
heaven as long as they don't play your
kind of music in heaven.
You know, you know something in heaven.
The music will be perfect.
Any of you listen to those stations that
play oldies ever?
You know, just be honest for once in
church.
OK, in Revelation 15 three, it says so
we see them on the sea of glass.
It's fiery.
They're playing harps.
They're jamming.
And here's what they're singing.
Then we read, they sing the song of
Moses.
They're singing oldies in heaven.
They sing the song of Moses, that's Exodus
15, one through 18, singing the song of
Moses.
Isn't that great?
So you go from the song of Moses,
which was real is back in Exodus 15.
And it was real then.
And it's real in the future in heaven.
See, we bridge the gap.
God has made this creation.
It's got different dimension, different time zones and
finite here, but eternity there.
And it just starts to tear down all
the walls between us and God and heaven.
And here is everybody have been singing the
song of Moses and Moses is good.
You know, I wrote that.
Did I ever tell you I wrote the
song of Moses?
But what's great about that?
I mean, that's wonderful.
But what's great about it is that it
speaks of the time when Jesus Christ will
reign over the nations.
They sing the song of Moses and you
have the words.
Great and marvelous are your works, just and
true your ways, O King of the saints.
And then Revelation 15 for who shall not
fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name.
You alone are holy.
Here it is for all nations shall come
and worship before you.
So even the song of Moses looked at
the time when the Lord would come and
rule and reign all the way back to
Exodus.
You see, the time of Christ's reign foretold
in Psalm two because we're running out of
time.
Let me read Psalm two to you or
you can turn there quickly if you are
good with your Bible.
Psalm two, verse six.
Yet I have set my king on my
holy hill of Zion.
Zion is the ridge that runs underneath Jerusalem,
it's that mountain ridge.
Mount Moriah is on that ridge and Mount
Calvary is on that ridge.
Zion is the ridge that runs underneath those
peaks.
So Psalm two, verse six, I have set
my king on my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree.
Now, Hebrews chapter one, the writer tells us
this is talking about Jesus Christ.
So the writer of Psalm two is talking
about Christ coming to reign on the earth.
I will declare the decree.
The Lord has said to me, you are
my son.
Verse seven.
Today I begotten you.
I will give you, verse eight, the nations
for your inheritance, the ends of what?
The earth.
For your possession.
And on it goes, quoting things that are
other places in the Bible as well.
The Bible validates itself in so many ways.
Daniel wrote concerning this day when Christ would
rule and reign on the earth.
In Daniel chapter two.
Verse thirty four, it's an amazing prophecy.
Once you turn to Daniel, then we'll end
up there.
Daniel chapter two, verse thirty four.
You know, as you're turning there and you
think about Daniel, what does the Lord do?
When a righteous individual who loves him.
Is caught in the midst of a group
of unrighteous people who don't love him.
And has to live like that, what does
the Lord do?
Daniel was taken out of his homeland when
he was about 15 in a captivity in
Babylon into the palace and he lived to
be about 100.
What does the Lord do when one of
his righteous people is caught in the midst
of a group that are unrighteous?
He does this, he has his ways of
blessing them in the midst of the mess.
And that's what he did in Daniel's life.
He gave him an inward life filled with
the glory of God.
Daniel two thirty four, you watch while a
stone was cut without hands.
That is the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
Which struck the image on its feet of
iron and clay and broke them in pieces,
dealing with the major kingdoms of the world.
As we studied in Revelation 11, 15, major
kingdoms of the world.
Verse thirty five, the iron, the clay, the
bronze, the silver, the gold were crushed together
and became like the chaff from the summer
threshing floor.
The wind carried them away so that no
trace of them was found.
And the stone that struck the image became
a great mountain and filled, what does it
say?
The whole earth, the whole earth is full
of his glory.
The Bible says in another place, this is
Jesus Christ coming and shattering the kingdoms of
men and setting up his kingdom on earth.
Daniel two forty four.
And in the days of these kings, the
God of heaven will set up a kingdom.
Look at this.
Which will never be destroyed.
And at the end of the verse, verse
forty four, it will stand forever.
And verse forty five at the end.
It says the dream is certain.
Its interpretation is what?
Sure.
Did you ever wonder if maybe sort of
somehow that, you know, I've been going through
a lot of hard times lately and I'm
starting to doubt.
I really don't know if if maybe it's
all going to happen the way he said
it.
No, I don't.
I don't doubt anymore.
The interpretation is sure he will rule.
He will reign.
These things will be fulfilled.
And as a child of God, Daniel seven
eighteen.
This is for you.
Turn there and read it.
Daniel seven eighteen.
And we'll wrap this up.
Daniel seven eighteen.
But the saints of the most high saints
is a biblical word for the people of
God has called out ones separated out by
the blood of Christ.
The saints of the most high shall receive
the kingdom.
And possess the kingdom, how long?
Forever, even forever and ever.
I like that.
Now, that's one to pull out and use
in spiritual warfare.
I'm pretty sure you lost your salvation today,
buddy.
The devil says to you, but when the
devil comes to you and he starts to
shove on you and say the Lord doesn't
love you, you're never going to heaven.
You go here and you put your finger
right here on the promise.
The saints of the most high God, Daniel
seven eighteen, will receive the kingdom, possess the
kingdom forever, even forever and ever.
And then down to verse 22, the ancient
of days came.
Look at this.
And judgment was made in favor of the
saints of the most high.
That's those that are saved by the blood
of Christ.
And the time came for the saints to
possess what the kingdom Paul wrote.
And he said, writing to the Corinthians, he
said.
In Second Corinthians, 10 for the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal.
They are mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, the knowledge of God.
And bringing every thought into captivity, every thought
into the obedience of Christ, the revelation of
Jesus Christ is what we're studying.
It is the truth that makes you free.
The fact that he's coming to rule and
reign is absolutely certain when it becomes absolutely
certain to you.
You have slammed the door on so many
of the devil's temptations.
He made a judgment in favor of the
saints because of the blood of his son.
God is absolutely satisfied with the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ for your sins, and he is
satisfied forever with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
for your sins.
So guess what?
God is satisfied with you.
If you are in Christ from here, he
wants to know you and he wants to
work in your life and he wants to
practically speaking, make you free for whom the
son sets free.
He will be free indeed.
Let's pray, shall we?
Lord, thank you for loving us so much.
There's something in our hearts that trembles when
we read the word saints and find that
we are included in the crowd.
Thank you, Lord, that the only way anyone
becomes a saint in your kingdom is by
believing on Jesus Christ.
The blood of Christ, which alone saves us.
Thank you, Jesus, that you have saved us.
And thank you, Lord, that your kingdom will
come, your will is going to be done
exactly as you said, and that we can
rest in you.
Lord, take those doubts away and the fear
that comes with the doubts and may we
rest in that rest that remains for the
people of God.
May we rest in the finished work of
Christ on our behalf.
And the time will come for each one
of us when we enter in fully to
your eternal kingdom.
And we thank you for these things.
In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen.