So we turn now in our Bible to
Daniel chapter 5.
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to
a thousand of his lords and drank wine
before the thousand.
There are men who call themselves Bible scholars
and they belong to a school known as
higher criticism.
And for years these men declared that the
book of Daniel was not valid.
And one of their reasons for this declaration
was that in secular history they had not
discovered the name Belshazzar.
But one of the ancient historians, Neobonus, I
think it was, who, Neobonus, who gave a
genealogy of Nebuchadnezzar and there was no mention
of any Belshazzar in the genealogy that he
gave.
And naturally the historian could not be wrong,
it's got to be the Bible.
And so they put out their disclaimers on
the book of Daniel and discredited the book
and they gave a later author and just
were willing to use any little excuse to
disbelieve the book of Daniel.
However, Sir Rawlinson, one of the great archaeologists,
was doing a lot of excavating in the
area of Babylon, the palace of Shushan, when
they discovered it.
And he found some very interesting, many interesting
tablets and all in which the name Belshazzar
and all existed and there were, of course,
many confirmations of this particular account that we
have in Daniel.
And so the critics, you'd think they'd give
up?
No, they just went to something else.
But nonetheless, once more, the archaeologist Spade has
proved the truth of God's Word, its authenticity,
its reliability.
And it's a rather tragic thing that man
keeps pounding away, hoping that one day he'll
discover a true flaw.
You would think that after this length of
time, surely as brilliant and all as these
men are, they would have found one that
they could have hung their hats on or
you'd think that they'd be wise enough to
quit trying, you know, at this length.
The account of Belshazzar is an interesting account.
Belshazzar was not really the son of Nebuchadnezzar.
In the language, there was really no real
words for grandson.
So, the son of means that he came
from that lineage or from the line.
He was actually the grandson of Belshazzar.
And he was co-regent with his father.
Now, being a co-regent with his father,
it would seem that his father was, according
to other historians, his father was leading the
Babylonian troops in their battles.
Whereas Belshazzar remained at the palace and in
Babylon, ruling there in Babylon, his father, a
king, also co-reigning with his son Belshazzar,
was out in the field with the troops
in their conquering and plundering.
And that is, of course, the reason why
when this experience came, where there was the
handwriting on the wall and Daniel was brought
in to interpret it, he offered Daniel the
third part of the kingdom, because there were
already two parts, one to his father, one
to him, and so Daniel would receive the
third part of the kingdom.
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to
a thousand of his lords.
He drank wine before the thousands.
So, here's a tremendous party.
It lasted for quite a period of time.
Josephus records it, gives us some interesting details
about it, as does Herodotus, the other ancient
historian, and Xenophon also makes reference to this
banquet.
There are stories of ostriches pulling around trays
of fruits and nuts and delicacies and quite
a party.
In fact, they say that the incense was
so thick within the chambers that when a
person would just walk in, they'd become intoxicated
with the thickness of the incense.
Belshazzar, while he was tasting the wine, or
actually while he was under the influence of
the wine, commanded to bring the gold and
the silver vessels which his father, which would
have been grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of
the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the
king and his princes, his wives, and his
concubines might drink from them.
And then they brought the golden vessels that
were taken out of the temple of the
house of God, which was at Jerusalem, and
the king and his princes, his wives, and
his concubines began to drink from them, and
they drank wine, and they praised the gods
of gold and of silver, of brass, iron,
wood, and of stone.
And in the same hour came forth the
fingers of a man's hand, and wrote against
the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall
of the king's palace, and the king saw
the part of the hand that wrote.
And the king's countenance was changed, and his
thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of
his loins were loosed, and his knees smote
one against another."
Quite a graphic description of the whole affair,
to say the least.
As his thoughts began to trouble him, and
of course, well, might his thoughts trouble him,
as he had taken these vessels that had
been sanctified for use in the temple unto
the Lord only, and he had profaned, not
only profaned them by drinking his wine out
of them, but he began to praise the
gods of gold and silver.
Now, there's an interesting prophecy in Isaiah chapter
21, in which, in
verse 2, the prophet declares, "'Go up, O
Elam!
Besiege, O Medea, or the Medes!
All the sighing thereof have I made to
cease.
Therefore are my loins filled with pain.
Pangs have taken hold upon me as the
pangs of a woman that travails.
I was bowed down at the hearing of
it.
I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
My heart panted.
Fearfulness affrighted me.
The night of my pleasure hath he turned
into fear unto me.'" And he speaks then,
of course, of the Babylon is fallen, is
fallen, all the grave and image of her
god are broken to the ground, in verse
9.
So it's a prophecy against Babylon, speaking of
the fall of Babylon, and surely seems to
describe a couple of hundred years before the
event, this very thing of which Daniel now
describes took place there as the heart was
panting, fearfulness affrighted me, the night of my
pleasure he had turned into fear unto me.
And, of course, this is the night that
Babylon fell.
Cyrus, the Persian king, Medo-Persian king, came
in to conquer, and that, of course, brings
up another interesting prophecy in Isaiah, as he
was prophesying the destruction of Babylon, in which
he names Cyrus in chapter 44 of Isaiah,
verse 28.
Then saith he of Cyrus, he is my
shepherd, he shall perform all my pleasure, even
saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built into
the temple, thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to
Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to
subdue nations before him, and I will loose
the loins of kings.
So you read here that his loins were
loosed, and the joints, his knees began to
smite one against another, and here is the
prediction, two hundred years in advance.
I will loose the loins of kings to
open before him the two levy gates, and
the gates shall not be shut.
I will go before thee and make the
crooked places straight, and so forth.
And he said that you may know that
I am the Lord which call thee by
thy name.
I am the God of Israel, for Jacob
my servant, my elect, I have even called
thee by thy name, and surnamed thee.
Now Isaiah wrote this about the year 712
BC.
We are writing of things that took place
in the year of about 538 BC.
So a hundred and fifty years before the
event, God speaks about it, and he talks
about loosing the loins of the kings and
opening up the levy gates.
The city of Babylon was thought to be
totally impregnable.
It had a wall some three hundred feet
high, eighty feet thick, with these massive towers
upon it, and then it had also a
secondary wall, not quite as large.
The river Euphrates flowed through the middle of
the city of Babylon.
The wall was fifteen miles around the city,
and the city was lined off with blocks
going east and west, or streets, wide streets
going east and west, and north and south.
Now where these streets intersected, the Euphrates River.
They had bridges, and they also had gates
that they could shut so that the Euphrates
River could be sealed off, and the city
actually be divided into two by the sealing
off of the Euphrates River.
According to the historians, the night that Babylon
fell, this particular night that we're reading about
in chapter five, for some reason, and they
say it was because the soldiers were too
drunk to know what they were doing, they
did not lock those gates to the levy
that came in from the river Euphrates.
Now Cyrus, the king of the Medo-Persian
army, had diverted or had built diversion channels
for the river Euphrates, and he diverted the
flow of the river Euphrates, and his soldiers
came under the wall in the riverbed, having
diverted the flow of the river, and then
they came up into the city and found
these gates unlocked, and were able to come
in and take the city.
Of course, the soldiers were really too drunk
to defend it, and so prophesied by Daniel
in great detail, even naming the king that
God would use to destroy the city of
Babylon.
And now the fulfillment of it, and God
mentioning even such things as the loins being
loosed in prophecy, the joints of the loins
being loosed, the fear that came upon Belshazzar
when he saw the hand of God.
You know there are people whose activities are
those of open blaspheming against God.
There are people who seem to be so
forward in their mockery, ridicule, and blaspheming of
God.
It seems that there is no fear of
God within their hearts at all, and they
are just brazen.
Imagine this man calling for the gold and
silver vessels that have been sanctified for use
in the temple of God, and now drinking
his wine out of these vessels as he
praises gods of gold and silver.
But suddenly he saw the hand of God,
and this king who seemed to be so
brazen and so blasphemous is suddenly shaking like
a leaf.
And there are people today who seem to
be so brazen and blasphemous in their activities,
but once they see the hand of God
beginning to come in judgment, I've seen God
break people just down to a withering leaf
kind of a thing.
People talk so tough.
People seem to be so blasphemous against God.
But when God begins to work, I'll tell
you there's no man that can stand against
it.
This fellow began to shake.
His thoughts troubled him, and well might they
trouble him.
And the king cried aloud to bring in
the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers.
And the king spoke and said to the
wise men of Babylon, whosoever shall read this
writing and show me the interpretation thereof shall
be clothed with scarlet and have a chain
of gold about his neck and shall be
the third ruler in the kingdom.
His father was first.
He was second.
He is offering now the position of third
ruler.
Then came in all the king's wise men,
but they could not read the writing nor
make known to the king the interpretation thereof.
And then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled and
his countenance changed in him and his lords
were astonished.
Now the queen, that is the queen mother,
by reason of the words of the king
and his lords came into the banquet house
and the queen spake and said, O king,
live forever.
Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let
thy countenance be changed.
There is a man in the kingdom in
whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
And in the days of your father, light
and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of
the gods was found in him, whom the
king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king, I say,
thy father made the master of the magicians
and the astrologers and the chaldeans and the
soothsayers for as much as an excellent spirit
and knowledge and understanding the interpreting of dreams
and the showing of hard sentences and the
dissolving of doubts were found in the same
Daniel whom the king named Belshazzar.
Now let Daniel be called and he will
show you the interpretation.
Then was Daniel brought in before the king
and the king spake and said unto Daniel,
are thou that Daniel, which art of the
children of the captivity of Judah, whom the
king, my father brought out of Jewry?
I have even heard of thee that the
spirit of gods is in thee and that
light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found
in thee.
Now the wise men, the astrologers have been
brought in before me that they should read
this writing and make known unto me the
interpretation thereof, but they could not show the
interpretation of the thing.
And I have heard of thee that you
can make interpretations and dissolve doubts.
Now, if you can read the writing and
make known to me the interpretation, you will
be clothed with scarlet.
You'll have a chain of gold about your
neck.
You'll be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Interesting reputation that Daniel possesses in him dwells
the spirit of the holy gods, man of
excellent wisdom, understanding.
Then Daniel answered and said before the king,
keep your gifts, give your rewards to someone
else.
Yet I will read the writing unto the
king and make known unto him the interpretation.
The gifts of God are not really to
be bought.
It is really wrong, uh, for a man
to receive higher or to be hired to
do the work of God in that sense.
Jesus spoke about the hirelings and for a
man to, to sell these God given capacities
would be a wrong thing.
It would be the prostituting of the gifts
and the works of God.
That is why Daniel said, keep your gifts
given to someone else.
I don't need them.
I'll tell you what it says.
I'll interpret it for you.
But before he interprets it, he's going to
give the king a little message.
Now at this point, Daniel must be close
to 90 years old because the 70 years
of the captivity are almost over.
He was probably a teenager, maybe late teens
when he was taken captive.
So the 70 plus the late teens puts
him up close to the 90 mark, probably
85 to 90 years old, somewhere in there.
And he takes now this opportunity to preach
a stern message to this young King.
Oh, thou King, the most high God gave
to Nebuchadnezzar, your father, a kingdom and majesty
and glory and honor.
And for the majesty that he gave him,
all of the people, nations and languages trembled
and feared before him.
And whom he would, he slew the absolute
authority that Nebuchadnezzar possessed.
Whom he would, he kept alive.
Whom he would, he set up and whom
he would, he put down.
But when his heart was lifted up and
his mind was hardened by pride, he was
deposed from his kingly throne and they took
his glory from him.
They took it, these watchers from heaven.
And he was driven from the sons of
men and his heart was made like the
beast and he was dwelling with the wild
asses and they fed him with grass like
the oxen.
And his body was wet with the dew
of heaven until he knew that the most
high God ruled in the kingdom of men
and that he appointed over it, whomsoever he
will.
And thou his son, oh Belshazzar, you have
not humbled your heart, though you knew all
of this.
Now Belshazzar was well aware of the things
that happened to his grandfather.
The madness that he experienced until the seven
seasons had passed over him and his restoration
and the proclamation that his grandfather made upon
restoration that there is no God in all
the earth like the God of Daniel, who
is able to set up those whom he
would and bring down those whom he would
and sets in authority those whom he will.
Belshazzar knew all of this.
Daniel is reminding him that you are sinning
against the knowledge that you have.
You know better, but you have lifted up
yourself against the Lord of heaven and they
have brought the vessels of his house before
thee and you and your lords, your wives,
your concubines have drunk the wine in them
and you have praised the gods of silver,
gold, brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see
not, nor hear, nor know, and the God
in whose hand thy breath is and in
whose all of thy ways hast thou not
glorified.
Now, here was the man's sin.
He was praising these gods of wood, stone,
gold, brass, silver, the gods that they had
made with their own hands, gods that could
not see, gods that could not hear, insensate,
little idols, gods that knew nothing.
He was praising them, yet blaspheming the God
in whose hand his very breath was.
That, of course, is an interesting statement.
The God in whose hand thy very breath
is.
The lungs are an involuntary muscle.
That is, they're not attached to the skeleton
and you do not have to think to
breathe.
It's something that is done automatically.
Now, there are some people, very, very few,
that are afflicted with an extremely rare disease
and that is they have to think to
breathe.
And it's a very tragic thing because they
sleep very fitfully.
Actually, they've monitored them during their sleep and
they sleep for about 30 seconds and then
they wake up and take a breath and
then sleep for another 30 seconds.
And it's a very frightening kind of a
thing because they do not breathe except by
the control of the mind.
They have to think to breathe.
But you don't.
You can be thankful for that.
God controls the breath.
It's interesting.
God controls the heart, the heartbeat.
God controls those things that are vital to
your life.
God controls.
He lets you control other things, other muscles
of your body.
But those that involve life, God put on
this what we call the involuntary system.
That is, they don't take the mind to
control them.
You don't have to think to make your
heartbeat.
It's something that is done automatically for your
lungs to work, for your kidneys to function,
things of this nature.
Those things upon which your life depends, God
doesn't leave with something as feeble as your
mind to control.
The God in whose hand your very breath
is, your stinking breath, wine.
Have you ever spelled them?
Wine as breath?
Sour.
Yet the God in whose hand you're very
breath is.
Paul the Apostle, in talking about God to
the philosophers on Mars Hill, said, I want
to declare to you, I want to talk
to you about the unknown God.
For in him we live and we move
and we have our being.
God is much closer to people than they
realize.
But we need to become more conscious of
the all prevailing and pervading presence of God.
As David said, where can I flee from
your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there.
If I descend into hell, thou art there.
If I take the wings and I flee
to the uttermost parts of the earth, even
there you surround me.
He was conscious of the presence of God
wherever he might be.
One of the fallacies of the people have
always been that of localizing God.
And so they had gods of the cities
and they thought that this God dwelt in
this city, another God dwells in the next
city.
Or God is being put in an idol
and the worshiping of an idol.
It's the localizing of God.
He's there.
Let's go.
Let's go and visit our God.
It's always wrong to localize God.
God cannot be localized.
He isn't confined to one area.
Now we even in church many times fall
into this same kind of a fallacy of
localizing God in church.
And so often we'll hear prayers being offered.
Oh Lord, we're so thankful to have this
opportunity to come into your presence this morning
and sit here before you.
As though we weren't in the presence of
God when we woke up.
We weren't in the presence of God as
we were driving here, but at last we've
arrived and we come into the presence.
Oh, let's be quiet now.
Let's, you know, let's look sober now or
let's not joke now or, you know, and
we have that tendency of localizing God so
that we're not aware and conscious of the
fact that God is with us wherever we
are, in whatever circumstances we are.
He hears us.
He sees us when we think that we
are hiding.
We so often are with those blasphemers of
Psalm 71 who say, does God know?
Have, you know, God seen?
And we think that we can hide ourselves
from God because God is localized.
And so if I do my evil down
the street, God won't know it.
I just don't do my evil when I
get in church.
But not so.
God is not localized.
The very God in whose hand thy breath
is.
Now, gods who had no breath, gods who
could not see, the little insensate gods, they
were glorifying and praising them.
But the God who controlled their breath, they
did not glorify.
And for this reason, that part of the
hand was sent from him.
And this writing was written.
And this is the writing that was written.
And this is the interpretation.
You've had it.
Tackle.
Thou art weighed in the balances and you've
come up short.
Paris, thy kingdom is divided and will be
given to the means and the Persians.
What an awesome declaration from God.
Your kingdom is numbered.
It's finished.
You've been weighed in the balances.
You've come up short.
Your kingdom is going to be taken from
you and divided.
Medes and the Persians then commanded Belshazzar.
And they called Daniel with Scarlet.
They put a chain of gold about his
neck.
They made a proclamation concerning him that he
should be the third ruler in the kingdom
for the next few hours.
In that night was Belshazzar the king of
the Chaldeans slain and Darius the Mede took
the kingdom being about 62 years old.
Now it pleased Darius to set over the
kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the
whole kingdom.
Now that the Persian Medo-Persian empire has
conquered over the Babylonian empire.
Darius, who was co-reigning with Cyrus, set
over the kingdom 120 princes and there were
three presidents of whom Daniel was the first.
That the princes might give accounts unto them
and the king should have no damage.
So Daniel immediately moved into a position of
extremely high authority within this Medo-Persian empire
being made one of the three presidents in
the head over them.
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents
and princes because an excellent spirit was in
him and the king thought to set him
over the entire realm.
But then the other presidents and the princes
sought to find an occasion against Daniel concerning
the kingdom, but they could find no occasions
nor faults for as much as he was
faithful.
Neither was there any error or fault found
in him.
Then said these men, we will not find
any occasion against this Daniel, except we find
it against him concerning the law of his
God.
This guy is just too good.
We're never going to be able to trip
him up unless it be with the law
of his God.
Then these presidents and princes assembled together to
the king and said unto him, King Darius
live forever.
All of the presidents of the kingdom and
the governors and the princes and the counselors
and the captains have consulted together to establish
a royal statute and to make a firm
decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of
any God or man for 30 days, except
from you, O King, he shall be cast
into the den of lions.
This, of course, would be a guy would
have to be stupid to make this kind
of a proclamation.
No one can ask anybody for anything for
30 days except me.
Now they were, of course, playing up to
his pride and flattery.
You know, you know, you're so great and
all the people need to know how great
you are.
So to demonstrate this, let's make this proclamation
that throughout the entire kingdom, no one can
pray to any God or ask anybody for
anything except you.
So they don't know how great you are.
Now, O King, establish the decree, sign the
writing.
They have made this proclamation, brought it into
him, now sign it, seal it, that it
cannot be changed according to the law of
the Medes and the Persians, which alters not.
Wherefore, King Darius signed the writing and the
decree.
Now notice that the decree once signed could
not be changed even by Darius the king.
It shows that his rule was not as
strong as was Nebuchadnezzar's.
Nebuchadnezzar could make any decree and change any
decree.
He could do anything.
He had the complete control whom he would.
He, you know, saved alive when we would.
He killed him and he just had absolute
control with this.
He was controlled by the decrees.
Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was
signed, I like this.
Daniel knew that the king had signed the
thing.
He went into his house and his windows
being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he
kneeled upon his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God
as he was accustomed to do.
And these men being assembled, found Daniel praying
and making supplication before his God.
Now in the book of Second
Chronicles, when Solomon had dedicated the temple that
he had built unto the Lord, Solomon prayed
a beautiful prayer at the dedication.
And in a part of the prayer of
Solomon, he said, Oh, Lord, if these people
turn their back against thee and they begin
to worship and serve other gods and they
be taken captive by their enemies, if they
shall turn toward this place and pray unto
thee, then hear thou from thy holy place
in heaven and answer their prayer and deliver
them from their captivity.
And we remember God responded to this prayer
of Solomon by saying, if my people, which
are called by my name, will humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and heal their nation and so
forth so that Daniel was taken captive.
But even as Solomon prayed, Lord, if they
turn toward this place and pray, and so
he was turning towards the holy place in
the temple.
Now that is why the Jews today go
to the Western Wall and pray facing the
Western Wall, because on the other side of
the Western Wall, somewhere the Holy of Holies
once stood in Solomon's temple.
And so they are praying toward that place.
Solomon said, this place that I built into
the, you know, the heavens and heavens can't
contain you, much less this house that I've
built, but Oh God, you know, we pray
that this will be the place where the
people can meet you.
And if they turn toward this place and
pray and call upon thee.
And so Daniel was turning towards Jerusalem and
three times a day during the 70 years
that Daniel was in a captive in Babylon,
it was his custom to just turn toward
this place and pray unto God for the
people, for the nation.
What a beautiful man Daniel must be.
What a privilege it will be to go
up and shake his hand, get acquainted with
this fellow.
He's one of the top on my list
of fellows that I want to meet when
I get to heaven.
I really admire Daniel.
Courage of this man.
Knowing the King had signed it, he went
as was his custom, left his windows open.
He didn't bother, you know, hide anything, prayed
unto God.
And then they came near and they spake
to the King concerning the King's decree.
Have you not signed a decree that every
man that asked a petition of any God
or man within 30 days, except from you,
O King shall be cast into the den
of lions.
The King answered and said, the thing is
true.
According to the law of the Medes and
the Persians, which does cannot be altered.
Then answered they and said before the King,
Daniel, which is the children of captivity of
Judah does not regard you, O King, nor
the decree that you have signed, but he
makes his petition three times a day.
Then the King, when he heard these words
was very displeased with himself and he set
his heart on Daniel to deliver him.
And he labored until the going down of
the sun.
And then these men assembled unto the King
and said unto the King, no, O King,
that the law of the Medes and the
Persians is that no decree or statute, which
the King established may be changed.
Then the King commanded and they brought Daniel
and cast him into the den of lions.
And now the King spake unto him and
said unto Daniel, thy God, whom you serve
continually, he will deliver you.
Imagine this, Darius, the King of the Medes
comforting Daniel.
I don't worry, Daniel, I've got to do
this.
You know, I was a fool, but the
God that you serve, he will deliver you.
He sounds like the three human children, the
God that we serve, he's able to deliver
us from your burning, fiery furnace.
And he will deliver us from your hand.
And if he doesn't, we're still not going
to bow.
So a stone was brought and laid upon
the mouth of the den and the King
sealed it with his own signet and the
signet of his Lord's, the purpose that it
might not be changed concerning Daniel.
And then the King went to his palace
and he passed the night in fasting.
Neither did they bring the instruments of music
before him and his sleep had gone from
him.
And then the King arose very early in
the morning and he went in haste to
the den of lions.
And he came to the den and he
cried with a lamentable voice.
I like that half hoping, wondering, a lamentable
voice unto Daniel.
And the King spake and said to Daniel,
Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, is
thy God whom you serve continually able to
deliver you from the lions?
Now the King had some faith or he
had never gone out there.
Crying unto Daniel, the question he said to
him the night before, don't worry, Daniel, your
God is able to deliver you.
But he had a question in his mind.
So he asked the question, is your God
able?
Then said Daniel unto the King, Oh King
live forever.
My God has sent his angel and he
has shut the lion's mouth and they have
not hurt me.
For as much as before him, innocency was
found in me and also before the King,
I have done no hurt.
Then was the King exceedingly glad for him.
And he commanded that they should take Daniel
up out of the den.
So Daniel was taken up out of the
den and no manner of hurt was found
upon him because he believed in his God.
And the King commanded and they brought those
men which had accused Daniel and they cast
them into the den of lions.
Them, their children, their wives, the lions had
mastery over them and broke all their bones
in pieces before they ever hit the bottom
of the den.
Then King Darius wrote unto all the people,
nations, and languages that dwell in the earth,
peace be multiplied unto you.
I make a decree that in every dominion
of my kingdom, men tremble in fear before
the God of Daniel, for he is the
living God and steadfast forever and his kingdom,
that which shall not be destroyed and his
dominion shall be even unto the end.
I brought a proclamation for a pagan king.
He delivers and rescues and he works signs
and wonders in heaven and in the earth
and who has and who has delivered Daniel
from the power of the lions.
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of
Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the
Persian.
Darius was the king over the Medes and
Cyrus over the Persians.
Now at this point we come to more
or less the end of the historic part
of the book of Daniel and beginning with
chapter seven.
We are now going to go back and
deal with visions that Daniel had during previous
years.
In other words, as we go to chapter
seven, this particular vision came to Daniel in
the first year that Belshazzar was king.
You see, our story has taken us out
to the end of Daniel's life during the
reigns of Darius and Cyrus, the Medo-Persian
kings.
But now going back, we're going to start
dealing now with prophecies or with visions that
Daniel received.
The first one here in chapter seven was
when Belshazzar was in his first year as
the king of Babylon.
Daniel had a dream and visions of his
head upon his bed.
And then he wrote the dream and he
told the sum of the matters.
And Daniel spake and said, I saw in
my vision by night and behold, there were
four winds of the heaven striving upon the
Mediterranean Sea and four great beasts came up
from the sea that were different from each
other.
Now the first was like a lion and
it had Eagle's wings and I beheld it
until the wings were plucked and it was
lifted up from the earth and made to
stand upon the feet as a man and
a man's heart was given unto it.
And behold, there was another beast.
The second was like to a bear and
it raised itself up on one side and
it had three ribs in the mouth of
it between the teeth of it.
And they said thus unto it, arise and
devour much flesh.
And after this, I beheld and low another
like a leopard, which had upon the back
of it, four wings of a foul and
the beast had also four heads and dominion
was given unto it.
And after this, I saw in the night
visions and behold, there was a fourth beast
that was dreadful and awesome.
It was exceedingly strong.
It had great iron teeth that devoured and
broken pieces and stamped the residue with the
feet of it.
And it was different from all the beasts
that were before it.
And it had 10 horns.
Now, as we read of these four beasts,
we immediately see their correlation with the dream
that Nebuchadnezzar had that was interpreted by Daniel.
As Nebuchadnezzar had a vision of those world
governing empires or those governments that would govern
over the world.
Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he saw them as a image
of a man with the head of gold,
the chest of silver, stomach of brass, legs
of iron and the feet of iron and
clay with the 10 toes.
And of course he watched it until this
rock came not cut with hands that hit
the image in its feet and the whole
image crumbled and the rock grew into a
mountain that covered the earth.
Now we have a parallel vision by Daniel.
Only he does not see the world governing
empires as a man, but he sees them
as beast.
And the first lion would of course be
the Babylonian empire.
It had Eagle's wings that were plucked.
It was lifted up from the earth.
But then it was made to stand like
a man.
The second, like a bear, three ribs in
its mouth, the Medo-Persian empire.
The third, the leopard would be the Grecian
empire under Alexander the Great.
And interesting, the four heads.
When Alexander the Great died, the kingdom or
the Grecian empire did not pass on because
Alexander the Great did not have any children,
did not pass on in a dynasty, but
actually was divided into four separate heads and
four of his generals began to rule one
in Syria, one in Egypt, one in Asia
minor and the other in Greece.
And so the dividing into the four heads.
But finally this last beast, the Roman empire,
is just an awesome beast of which there
is no correlation.
There's no, you can't say it's a lion
or a bear.
It's just an awesome, fearful looking kind of
a beast such as does not exist in
reality.
It has ten horns and of course we
are reminded of the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's
dreams.
So you have the ten horns coming out
of the fourth beast, the Roman empire, even
as you have the ten toes, part iron,
part clay, showing their relationship to the Roman
empire.
So you have parallel visions here as God
is again revealing the four world dominating empires.
But now we're going to receive some other
interesting enlightenment that did not come in Nebuchadnezzar's
dream.
Now I considered the horns, that is the
ten horns of this final beast and behold
there came up among them another little horn
before whom there were three of the first
horns plucked up by the roots.
And behold in this horn were eyes like
the eyes of a man and a mouth
speaking great things.
So there is to be a federation of
nations in the last days.
Nations that were related to the Roman empire.
Ten of them together equaling the ten toes
or the ten horns.
Now in the European community we do see
today ten nations that were related to the
Roman empire that have federated themselves together.
So it is quite possible that what you
see today in the European community is actually
the beginning of the fulfillment of these prophecies
of Daniel.
If God doesn't use this alignment, he's missing
a good opportunity.
I believe that it is much more than
coincidence that Western Europe is rising as a
great financial and an industrial empire.
And surely there are all the qualifications necessary
to fulfill this vision of Daniel.
But there is a eleventh horn that arises,
which actually takes over three of the horns,
plucks them up by their roots.
And in this horn there were eyes like
the eyes of a man and a mouth
speaking great things.
This eleventh horn is the Antichrist who will
come in, plucking up three of the kings.
And I beheld, he said, till the thrones
were cast down.
You remember in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, the stone hit
the feet in its, the stone hit the
image in its feet and the image crumbled.
It was cast down.
So I beheld until these thrones, the ten
kings were cast down and the ancient of
days did sit whose garment was white as
snow and the hair of his head like
the pure wool.
His throne was like a fiery flame and
his wheels as burning fire and a fiery
stream issued and came forth from before him
and thousand thousands ministered unto him.
And 10,000 times 10,000 stood before
him and the judgment was set and the
books were open.
And so he beheld these horns until they
were cast down.
And he saw actually the throne of God,
the ancient of days and all of the
splendor and the glory surrounding the throne of
God.
A thousand thousand or a million ministering unto
him and 10,000 times 10,000 or
a hundred million standing before him.
Now, when we turn to revelation chapter five,
chapter four, actually we see God sitting upon
the throne.
We see the green, the green Emerald rainbow
about the throne of God.
We see the crystal sea in front of
it.
We see the 24 elders with their golden
crowns.
They're also before the throne of God and
the cherubim surrounding him, declaring Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord, God Almighty.
We see the brightness of God as he
sits there upon the throne.
And then our attention is diverted to the
scroll that is in the right hand of
God, because an angel is proclaiming with a
loud voice who is worthy to take this
scroll and to loose the seals.
And then we turn and we see Jesus
as a lamb that has been slaughtered as
he comes forth and he takes the scroll
out of the right hand of him who
sits upon the throne.
And we watch them as they offer the
golden vials full of odors, which are the
prayers of the saints.
And we begin to sing worthy is the
lamb to take the scroll and to loose
the seals thereof for he was slain and
he has redeemed us by his blood out
of all of the nations, tribes, tongues, and
peoples.
And he has made us unto our God,
kings and priests, and we shall reign with
him upon the earth.
And then he heard 10,000 times, 10
,000 and thousands of thousands equivalent to Daniel
here angels there before the throne of God
saying worthy is the lamb to receive glory
and honor and dominion and might and authority
and power and all.
So again, the scene in heaven, which will
be followed immediately.
The book is open when the scroll is
open brings actually the judgment, not the great
white throne judgment, but the judgment of God
upon the Christ rejecting world, which is then
described in revelations chapter six through 18.
So Daniel and John had corresponding visions of
this throne of God and the glory of
the throne of God and the impending judgment
upon the kingdom of man.
Now I beheld then because in verse 11,
because of the voice of the great words,
which the horn spake and I beheld even
until the beast was slain, we are told
concerning this beast, the man of sin, the
son of perdition, commonly called the antichrist, that
he speaks great blasphemous things against the God
of heaven and that he finally declares that
he himself is God and demands to be
worshiped as God puts to death those that
refuse to worship him.
So I beheld him till the beast was
slain and his body destroyed and given to
the burning flame.
We are told in the book of revelation
that when Jesus comes again, that he will
destroy this instrument of Satan, this man of
sin, and he will be cast into Gehenna,
the lake that burneth with fire.
So here Daniel and revelation are just running
side by side, parallel visions.
Now concerning the rest of the beast, they
had their dominion taken away, the kingdoms of
the earth, yet their lives were prolonged for
a season and a time.
Now I saw in the night visions and
behold, there was one like the son of
man coming with clouds of heaven and he
came to the ancient of days and they
brought him near before him and there was
given to him dominion and glory and a
kingdom that all people, nations and languages should
serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion and that
which shall not pass away in his kingdom,
that which shall not be destroyed.
And so he sees now Jesus Christ and
the receiving of the glorious kingdom being given
to Jesus and coming to reign a kingdom
that shall never end.
Isaiah nine, six unto us, a child is
born unto us.
The sun is given.
The government shall be upon his shoulders.
Names will be called wonderful counselor, the mighty
God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace
and of the increase of his government and
peace.
There shall be no end upon the throne
of David to order and to establish it
in righteousness and in judgment from henceforth, even
forever for the zeal of the Lord of
hosts shall perform this.
And the angel said unto Mary, fear not
for you have found favor with God and
behold, you will conceive and bear a son
and also call him Jesus.
And he shall be great for he should
be called the son of the highest.
And God shall give unto him the throne
of his father, David, and he will reign
over Jacob and of his kingdom.
There shall be no end.
So Daniel got a beautiful insight into these
things.
He sees Jesus coming with clouds of heaven,
coming to the ancient of days and receiving
the authority, the dominion, the glory, the kingdom
that all of the world should rule.
And in Psalm two, God says to Jesus,
ask of me and I will give unto
you the heathen for thine inheritance and the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession,
the glorious kingdom of God.
Now I, Daniel, he said, was grieved in
my spirit in the midst of my body,
the visions of my head troubled me.
So I came near to one of those
that were standing by and I asked, what
does all of this mean?
And so he told me and he made
me know the interpretation of the things.
Now the great beast, which are four are
four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the
earth, but the saints of the most high
shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom
forever, even forever and ever.
These are the kingdoms that are going to
rule over the earth, but ultimately the saints
will take the kingdom.
Then I would know the truth of this
fourth beast, this indescribable beast, the Roman empire,
which was different from all of the others
exceeding dreadful whose teeth were of iron, his
nails of brass, which devoured and broken pieces
and stomped the residue with his feet.
And of those 10 horns that were in
his head and of the other, which came
up before whom the three fell, even of
that horn, which had eyes in a mouth
that spoke very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.
And I beheld in the same horn made
war with the saints and prevailed against them.
Now we are told this also in revelation
13, as he speaks of the rise of
the beast out of the sea, the antichrist,
that he makes war with the saints and
overcomes them because the antichrist prevails against the
saints.
I conclude that the saints are not the
church for we have the promise of Jesus
Christ made in Caesarea Philippi to his disciples.
When Peter said, thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God, Jesus said upon
this rock, I will build my church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.
There's no way the antichrist or the gates
of hell or Satan can prevail against the
church of Jesus Christ.
So by virtue of the fact that the
antichrist is prevailing against the saints, they could
not be the church, but will be redeemed
Israel in the tribulation period.
And he will make war against Israel.
He comes to Jerusalem and he makes war
against the remnant of the woman's seed or
of Israel, but they are not church or
the church.
Daniel did not see the church in his
prophecies.
He was making war against the saints, prevailing
against them until the ancient of days came
and judgment was given to the saints of
the most high.
And the time came that the saints possessed
the kingdom.
Now you remember Paul rebuked the Corinthians, those
in the church in Corinth.
He said, what are you doing taking your
brother to a pagan judge?
You know, suing them before the courts of
the land.
You ought to be settling these things in
the church.
Don't you know, the saints are going to
judge the world.
And so judgment is given to the saints.
We will be judging the world one day.
Interesting.
That's one thing I never wanted to be.
Maybe I can just get a job picking
up coconuts on the beach in Hawaii, but
the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus, he said, the fourth beast shall be
the fourth kingdom upon the earth or the
Roman empire, which will be different from all
of the kingdoms and would devour the whole
earth and tread it down and break it
in pieces.
And the 10 horns out of this kingdom
are 10 Kings that shall arise and another
shall rise after them.
And he shall be diverse from the first
and he will subdue three kings and he
shall speak great words against the most high
and will wear out the saints of the
most high.
And he will think to change the times
and the laws and they shall be given
into his hand until a time times in
the dividing of a time or for a
three and a half year period.
Will he rule coming to Jerusalem and beginning
to make war against Israel during the first
three and a half years of his reign.
He'll make a treaty with Israel.
We'll get this next week in Daniel chapter
nine, but then he will break this treaty,
which will start the beginning of the end
in the countdown the last days until the
return of Jesus Christ.
But he is given power to rule over
these saints.
The redeemed Israel for three and a half
years, but the judgment shall sit and they
shall take away his dominion to consume and
destroy it.
And unto the end and the kingdom and
dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heaven shall be given to the
people of the saints of the most high,
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all
dominion shall serve and obey him.
Hitherto is the end of the matters.
And as for me, Daniel, my concentrations, much
troubled me and my countenance changed in me,
but I kept the matter in my heart.
Now, two years later, in the third year
of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision
appeared unto me, even as unto me, Daniel,
after that, which appeared unto me at the
first, a similar type of a vision.
But in this vision, it came to pass.
And I saw that I was in Shushan
in the palace, which is in the province
of Elam.
And I saw in a vision and I
was by the river of Uli.
And then I lifted up my eyes and
I saw and behold, there stood before a
river, a ram that had two horns and
the two horns were high, but one was
higher than the other.
And the higher came up last.
The Medo-Persian empire represented by the two
horns, uh, the Persian empire, uh, being the
higher coming up last and, and was more
powerful than the median empire.
And I saw the ram that is the
Medo-Persian empire as it was pushing westward
and northward southward so that no beast might
stand before him.
Neither was there any that could deliver out
of his hand.
And he did according to his will and
became great.
And as I was considering behold, a he
goat came from the west on the face
of the whole earth, touched not the ground
and the goat had a notable horn between
his eyes.
So he was watching this, uh, Ram, the
Medo-Persian empire as it was conquering.
But suddenly there comes this goat out of
the west Greece with a notable horn, Alexander,
the great and conquering so rapidly that the
feet weren't touching the ground.
You read to the conquest of Alexander, the
great, and it's amazing how rapidly he was
able to conquer the known world at that
time.
And he came to the Ram that had
the two horns, which I had seen standing
before the river.
And he ran unto him with a fury
of his power.
And I saw him come close into the
Ram and he was moved with color against
him.
And he smoked the Ram and broke his
two horns.
And there was no power in the Ram
to stand before him, but he cast him
down to the ground and stomped on him.
And there was none that could deliver the
Ram out of his hand.
Therefore, the, he go waxed very great and
was strong and the great horn was broken.
And from it, there came up four notable
ones toward the four winds of heaven, a
graphic prophecy, fabulous, interesting prophecy.
How could Daniel know this, except by the
inspiration of the Holy spirit, that the great
horn Alexander would be broken in his youth,
32 years old when he died And the
Grecian empire passed on to the four generals,
Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes.
And then of course, out of Egypt, Asia
minor and Greece.
And out of one of them came forth
a little horn Antiochus Epiphanes who waxed exceeding
great toward the South and toward the East
and toward the pleasant land Antiochus Epiphanes who
moved against Egypt down towards the South.
And of course, in passing from Syria into
Egypt, he had to go through the land
of Israel and it waxed great, even to
the host of heaven and it cast down
some of the host.
Now we go from Antiochus Epiphanes to what
he is a type of the antichrist.
And we go on now, right to the
antichrist.
And it waxed great, even to the host
of heaven.
And it cast down some of the host
of the stars to the ground and stomped
upon them.
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince
of the host.
And by him, the daily sacrifice was taken
away and the place of his sanctuary was
cast down.
And a host was given him against the
daily sacrifice by reason of transgression.
And it cast down the truth to the
ground and it practiced and prospered.
Then I heard one Saint speaking to another
Saint and said unto that certain Saint, which
spake, how long shall be the vision concerning
the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation
to give both the sanctuary and the host
to be trodden underfoot?
And he said unto me 2300 days and
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
Now this, of course, is a prophecy concerning
Antiochus Epiphanes.
It does have a dual aspect in the
fulfillment, but he's talking about this profaning of
the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes.
When he came to Jerusalem to show his
utter disregard for God and for their beliefs,
he sacrificed a pig upon the holy altar
there in Jerusalem.
And he sought to turn the temple into
a pagan temple.
This created such a feeling of incense in
the Jewish zealots that Judas Maccabeus gathered together
a group of men and against insurmountable odds
came to Jerusalem and defeated the Syrian army
that was there.
Now this is where the feast of dedication
comes from, Hanukkah.
They wanted to reestablish the true worship.
And interestingly enough, it was 2300 days after
Antiochus Epiphanes had profaned the temple.
Exactly as Daniel said, 2300 days later, Judas
Maccabeus and these faithful zealots had come and
they were wanting to reinstitute the proper sacrifices
and the temple worship again.
But it was found that they had, of
course, only enough holy anointing oil to last
for one day there in the candlestick.
And it took a period of about seven
days to prepare this oil, or eight days,
whatever it is.
And so by a divine miracle, the one
day supply lasted until they were able to
get the new supply of oil compounded and
made for the lights there in the temple.
And hence the feast of dedication, or Hanukkah,
and even to the present day, the lighting
of the nine candles to symbolize the miraculous
preservation of the oil in the lamps during
the period that they were preparing new oil
for them.
Jesus was in Jerusalem for Hanukkah in John
chapter 10.
It was noticed in the middle of the
winter.
Hanukkah corresponds, of course, Hanukkah is tomorrow in
the celebration.
Hanukkah comes this year on the 21st.
That's tomorrow.
And so the Jews will be celebrating Hanukkah
at the time that we are celebrating Christmas.
The feast of dedication, it was called, and
it relates to actually the period of history
of Judas Maccabeus, but it is prophesied and
predicted here, the profaning of the temple by
Antichus Epiphanes and the resultant cleansing 2,300
days later by Judas Maccabeus.
And so the sanctuary was trodden down for
the 2,300 days.
Now, there was a fellow by the name
of Miller.
He was the minister in the United States
back in the 1800s.
And he took and said, you know, 2
,300 days is actually 2,300 years.
And so he took the day that the
temple was profaned and he added to that
2,300 years.
And he said, Jesus is coming in the
2,300 years after the profaning of the
temple.
And so he picked a date in 1844
that he had determined Christ was coming and
they got white robes and they went out
in the hills there in Illinois and waited
for Jesus to come.
After a couple of weeks, they had sold
everything, sold their houses, farms, everything else, so
certain the Lord would come.
And of course, when the Lord didn't come,
the group that were known as the Millerites
sort of disbanded.
But then a lady came along, Ellen G.
White, and said, oh, Jesus at this point
cleansed the sanctuary in the heavens.
He entered into the sanctuary and cleansed it
in the heavens.
And so she developed the Seventh-day Adventist,
and they follow her writings and so forth,
which it turns out aren't necessarily her writing.
She was a plagiarist and has copied from
other books and so forth, which some of
their own scholars are discovering nowadays and exposing
and getting kicked out of the Seventh-day
Adventist.
It's quite a stir that's going on in
that particular denomination right now.
But at any rate, they took the prophecy
from here in Daniel, but there is no
basis whatsoever to make the 2300 days, 2300
years.
That's not good biblical interpretation or exegesis or
whatever.
Now, the Lord interprets the whole thing for
Daniel.
It came to pass when I, Daniel, had
seen the vision and sought for the meaning,
then behold, there stood before me the appearance
of a man.
And I heard a man's voice between the
banks of the Uli, which called and said,
Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.
So he, that is Gabriel, came near to
where I was standing.
Gabriel is an interesting angel.
He's going to be a fun one to
meet too.
Uh, we'll talk more about him next week
as we meet him again in chapter nine.
Uh, we meet him during the Christmas season.
Uh, he's the one that came to Mary
and told her that she was to have
a child.
He came to, uh, Zacharias, the priest, and
let him know that his wife, Elizabeth would
have the child, John the Baptist.
He said, how can I know this?
He said, I'm Gabriel.
I stand in the presence of God.
They got to lie to your man.
And, uh, so, uh, he is a very
interesting angel and, uh, here he's commanded, uh,
explain to the fellow what it's all about.
So he came near where I was standing
and I was afraid and I fell on
my face, but he said to me, understand,
no son of man for the time of
the end shall be the vision.
Now this vision is going to take you
out to the time of the end.
Now, as he was speaking with me, I
was in a deep sleep on my face
toward the ground, but he touched me and
set me upright.
And he said, behold, I will make you
to know what shall be in the last
end of the indignation for at the time
appointed, the end shall be now the Ram,
which you saw having two horns.
We don't need to question what is the
Ram for he tells us they are the
Kings of media and Persia and the rough
goat is the King of Greece.
And of course this is when Greece was
nothing.
And the great horn that is between his
eyes is the first King or Alexander, the
great, that is the first King during the
time of its conquering Philip Alexander's father, uh,
did not conquer or begin any kind of
a world conquest.
That would be the first King in its
conquering efforts.
Now that being broken, Alexander dying at 32
years where as four stood up, there will
be four kingdoms that will come out of
the nation, but not in the power of
Alexander, the great, which was true and did
happen.
And the latter time of their kingdom, when
the transgressions are come to a full, a
King of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences
shall stand up and his power shall be
mighty.
And this of course is referring not to
the antichrist, but not by his own power.
We read in revelation 13, that this beast
that rises out of the sea, that Satan
gives unto him his authority and his power.
So this man of sin is going to
arise.
He's going to be tremendously powerful, but not
his own power.
It will be Satan's power that will be
vested in him.
All of the power of Satan will be
given unto men.
This man, his power will be mighty, but
not by his own power.
And he shall destroy awesomely and shall prosper
and practice and shall destroy the mighty and
the holy people.
He's going to make war against Israel ultimately.
And through his policy also, he shall cause
craft to prosper in his hand.
He shall magnify himself in his heart and
by peace will he destroy many.
He's going to come on with a program
of peace and be hailed really as the
savior of the world.
He shall also stand up against the prince
of princes, but he will be broken without
a hand.
The brightness of the coming of Jesus Christ
with a word that goes forth out of
the mouth of Christ, the antichrist will be
broken and destroyed without a hand touching him.
And the vision of the evening and the
morning, which was told is true.
Wherefore shut out up the vision for it
shall be for many days.
Just close it because it isn't for now
it's for the future.
And I, Daniel fainted and I was sick
for certain days.
And afterward I rose up and I did
the King's business and I was astonished at
the vision, but none understood it.
It was all before the fact.
No one understood.
He just wrote it.
And of course that's an interesting thing.
I, man, I don't understand it.
This is weird, you know, but this is
what it was, you know, now we look
at it.
We say, wow, that's so clear.
Man, that's interesting how he could write with
such clarity things that did not happen, you
know, but that's because we're looking at it
from this standpoint and we can see where
it was fulfilled.
Whereas Daniel who Greece show, man, that little
area of Grecian what's over there, you know,
how can they ever destroy the Persian empire?
And, and yet in time, it all was
fulfilled as we get into the ninth chapter
of the book of Daniel.
I think that it does possess really the
key to the understanding of all of prophecy.
If you understand the ninth chapter of the
book of Daniel, the whole subject of prophecy
will become very clear to you.
If you're garbled on the ninth chapter of
the book of prophecy, your whole prophetic picture
will be garbled.
The ninth chapter is the key to the
understanding of the subject of prophecy.
And so we'll be spending a lot of
time next Sunday night in the ninth chapter,
because I want you to get the key,
because if you can get this chapter, then
prophecy shouldn't be a problem for you ever.
Everything will fit together perfectly.
If you get this ninth chapter.
So next week, we'll finish the book of
Daniel, Lord willing, but paying a special attention,
special attention to the ninth chapter of this
prophecy of Daniel, may the Lord be with
you in this hectic week.
My, one of my little granddaughters was in
a little ballet today at South Coast Plaza.
She was Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
Naturally, grandpa had to go up and see
her do her little bit, but oh my,
South Coast Plaza on the Sunday before Christmas,
what a zoo.
Was I ever glad I wasn't there to
buy anything, just to observe.
And this week before Christmas is so oftentimes
hectic.
They're out of what you were planning to
get, you know, and now it throws a
whole new dilemma on this problem of giving
the gift.
But may the Lord see you through the
whole malaise and may the giving of the
gifts to each other becomes secondary as our
relationship with God is enriched and becomes more
meaningful.
As we remember that God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son
and thus through it all, may the Lord
be magnified and may you be drawn close
to him.
And thus may your Christmas be a very
meaningful day of sharing God's love, receiving God's
joy, and experiencing the peace of God which
passes human understanding.
May indeed you know the joy that he
came to bring to this world, the peace
on earth, and the goodwill.