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Now, tonight we resume our studies of the book of Daniel, and I put here on the screen, just to remind you, the table of contents of the book. So if nothing else comes of this series of talks, we have a, a scaffolding on our minds so that we can, you know, when we're traveling on Ulster bus to who knows where, uh, do you see Ballywill Will or other such place, nothing other than do than a few cows to look at and pieces of grass that all like look like each other. Uh, do you see, you could turn mouse to have a practical exercise. Could I remember what the contents of Daniel are? That's always the beginning, isn't it? So there was the first group here of five chapters, and then the group of five major topics on the other side. Here we started off with the witness of Daniel and his three companions in their university in Babylon, how they refused to defile themselves with the food that had been offered to idols and stood their ground in university for the one true God and behaved accordingly. Then we notice there are two images here, Nebuchadnezzar's dream image, and then the Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. This one he saw in a dream, this one he actually made. And we have found in looking at them, these constitute Daniel's and therefore God's critique of Gentile politics. Daniel, we reminded ourselves many times now, was an eminent civil servant in the Babylonian civil service, and when the Medo-Persians took over, he became head of the civil service, a man of vast experience in administration and the affairs of the empire, and therefore knew the emperors very well. And, uh, here, after long years of experience, he gives God's critique of Gentile politics. Then we have two stories about kings. This was God's discipline of Nebuchadnezzar, uh, the, uh, emperor in Neo Babylon, how he was cut down under God's discipline and then restored when he had learned his lessons. And here, the story of another king, he was the vice regent, to be exact, who knew all about God's discipline of his grandfather, but in spite of it, went his foolhardy way and defied God and insulted him. He was cut down. Whereas this man was disciplined and then restored. This man was cut down. That was the end of him and the end of Babylon. You'll see. Then the Medo-Persians took over. On the second side, some of the incidents, the dreams and things that Daniel was given happened during that first period. But as you see, we start here with Daniel refusing to bow down to the king's command that for two months no one should worship any god except the emperor. Daniel disobeyed it and for his trouble was put into the den of lions, and there God preserved him. He became an exceptional testimony to the Medo-Persian emperor. Then two visions given to Daniel, this time in the form of chapter seven, four wild animals, and chapter eight, uh two wild animals. And as we saw last week, and shall see again tonight, they too, just like these two there, these two there are God's critiques of Gentile politics, with prophecy of what shall yet await this world at the end of this age. Then here, two chapters, two writings explicated. First of all, the prophecy in the book of Jeremiah about the destruction and the restoration of Jerusalem. At the time when Daniel had the vision, Jerusalem lay waste. It was old Nebuchadnezzar that had destroyed it. And you think of the mercy of God that cut down Nebuchadnezzar under God's discipline and then restored the man. And the very Nebuchadnezzar who laid waste Jerusalem, he was restored to his eminence. Naturally, Daniel took the matter of the restoration of Jerusalem to heart and prayed about it. Prayed about Jeremiah's prophecy that after seventy years of the captivity, the Israelites would be allowed to go back to their land, build city and temple. But even so, God indicated to Daniel that Jerusalem wouldn't be permanently restored. There would come a time when Jerusalem would murder its own Messiah, and as a result, there would follow desolations to the end of the age. Now, with Israel back in the land after many centuries, of course, it renews interest, doesn't it, on this question of Jerusalem, and when shall Jerusalem be restored? The writing then in the prophecy of the book of Jeremiah. And now the angel comes to tell Daniel what is written in the writing of truth. God's book, the heavenly book of God's purposes, and how those purposes shall be fulfilled. And the prophecy takes us right through Daniel's time, onward to the time of the Seleucid rulers and to the Maccabees, and on again, on to the very days of the Antichrist, who shall, whose reign will precede the coming of our Lord in power and great glory. The contents of the book of, um, uh, Daniel then. Last week, we were thinking together too of chapters two and then of chapter seven, and we thought about Nebuchadnezzar's dream image, how he dreamed this marvelous image, glorious, majestic it was, of various metals, and was told by Daniel it represented a succession of world empires. Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, then the Roman Empire. We concentrated last session on the significance of the imagery. For this, as we said earlier, is God's critique of Gentile politics. And at this level, God first gave Nebuchadnezzar an image of his own empire, and then the successive empires. They were in the form of an image of a man made of gold and silver and bronze and iron. It was a majestic, wonderful, glorious, beautiful image. Man writ large, so to speak. It was God acknowledging the majesty of the human achievement in government. We ought to be very grateful to God for government, even in the hands of old sinners like Nebuchadnezzar. Any government almost, almost is worth, is better than no government and chaos. It's our duty to pray for the governments, isn't it? But this image, though it was glorious and represented man's marvelous accomplishments in government, it had a weakness, a fatal weakness. The toes, the feet and the toes of the image were made part of iron and part of clay. They were therefore brittle. The whole image was unstable, and it was destroyed by a rock cut out without hand. Now that rock represents our blessed Lord Jesus, who, when he comes in glory, will put down all rule and authority, and he shall rule from shore to shore. Then we looked at chapter seven last week and compared chapter seven with chapter two, For chapter seven covers the same ground as chapter two. Instead of there being the great image and the metals, gold, silver, copper, iron, here Gentile government is represented by four wild beasts. And that is not a God being peevish or insulting about great systems of politics. This is God pointing out that there are two sides to human government. One is glorious, a great human achievement. Uh, when I say a human achievement, forgive me for pointing this out, but you'll be glad you're living in, where are we? Northern Ireland, isn't it? Yeah, that's right, yes. And nominally part of the UK, that that's, I've got that right too, am I? Yes. And I do say, mm-hmm, rather than perhaps in, uh, well, even in Kenya at the moment, with longer years of experience of government and government that is developed, and therefore has a certain stability, as distinct from the horrors that go on in some of these countries, where at the slightest provocation, people take out machetes and carve each other to pieces, and teach the ten-year-olds how to use machetes and cut their parents to pieces. We can be grateful to God for the great achievement of human government. But here there's another side to government. Wild beasts have no morals, you know. They're simply interested in their own welfare. If a lion has had his breakfast, he won't eat you. You can go, go keep a respectful distance and talk to him and be nice to him and ask about his wife and his children and all that kind of thing, and that's okay. Do say, and the ordinary animals are not afraid of lions. They'll feed, even the little deer will feed among a pack of lions. But when the lion gets hungry, do remember he has no morals. If you're the nearest breakfast, he'll take you without compunction. So are the nations. If some of the big nations run out of oil and somebody else has got oil, well, they're going to get it. Governments are notorious for being amoral, not immoral, amoral. They have served the nation's interests, they say. That's the end of it. If it involves corruption and violence, well, so it must. They're looking for the national interest, like lions are. They're looking for the lion interest, if you see what I mean. They have no morality. And it's the results. There comes up at last a beast representing the final form of political rule before the Lord Jesus comes. It will be hideously destructive. The first beast had a human heart given to it, and it got up on his hind legs. Do you see? Dear old Nebuchadnezzar. He was an old savage pagan, but a beautiful artist. Uh, he got a conversion, if you like to call it so, found the true God, became much more humane. And human governments from time to time have become more humane. The last beast, it had human, but not a heart, human eyes. A human intelligence in an animal, utterly destructive. And God had to destroy him, lest he destroy the whole human race. We are moving to perilous times, you know, in the last time, perilous times shall come. We've discovered DNA, haven't we? Now we have chimeras. Human genes put into animals. Yes? How far will ungodly men go who don't own a creator? They are atheists. Refashioning human beings according to their own principles. How far will God let them go? We have the example, don't we, of the splitting of the atom, a tremendous scientific achievement. And the first use of it? To blot out hundreds of thousands of human lives. That's mere child play now. The God who destroyed that evil beast to save the human race will, in the person of Christ, come and put down all rule and authority at the end of the age. And the government shall be given, as here, the Lord Jesus once more, but not represented as a stone cut out without hands, but as the Son of Man and the saints. Here the stone cut out without hands, supernatural power, as distinct from the image that while it was beautiful, it had a fatal weakness and instability in it because of the toes of mixed iron and clay, and they don't cohere, and it tottered, you see. And it was supernatural power that destroyed it and then became a big kingdom. Yeah? It's a picture of our Lord Jesus, who represented himself as a stone. He is the stone that the builders rejected, will yet become the head of the corner. Whosoever stumbles on this stone, said our Lord, shall be broken. His Jewish nation stumbled at it, didn't they, at him? But then our Lord added, on whomsoever that stone shall fall, to grind him to powder. That's what the stone did here to the image, fell on it, ground it to powder, and in its place became a great empire, great power. But here, in contrast to this hideous strength of the defiled beast, and to all the four beasts, the kingdom is given by God to the ideal, the glorious son of man, truly human, yet divine, and to the saints. You may wonder why the Lord sometimes lets us go through difficult circumstances and painful experiences. That's, if I may put it that crude way, is to get the animal out of us and turn us into saints that can reign with Christ in the day to come. That's so far, but tonight we have easier lessons. Tonight we're going to think about chapter three and then chapter eight. I put it on here because chapter eight, unlike chapter seven— chapter seven has four beasts, we shall find chapter eight has just two beasts. So why will we go to them? Well, because tonight we have to consider together once more, Josie. Let's look at the table of contents. Last week we considered Nebuchadnezzar's dream image, and to help us understand it, we put it in the context of the, uh, four beasts. Tonight we have to move on to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, where he demanded the people to bow down to it. And Daniel's three friends refused to bow down and got cast into the furnace of fire. That one. In chapter eight, we're going to look at the two beasts, and what they have to do with each other, we shall presently perceive. Perhaps you find yourself wishing, I wish he had, uh, told us less about the, the, uh, uh, the symbolism of Nebuchadnezzar's dream image and had really applied the prophecy to it. When does the Lord come, and at what stage of the Roman Empire and its revival, and so on. Well, hang on to the hope, because, um, I haven't sort of forgotten it, but, um, we shall discuss this image once more, and what it has to say prophetically, and what it has to indicate about the end of the age and so forth, uh, to see when we come to this chapter seven, as we shall do God willing, if ever we get another opportunity, do you see? When we come to this, we've already thought about it, but we'll put these two together, for they will say the same kind of thing when it comes to the prophecy. When shall the Lord Jesus come and put aside all human government and reign himself? Now, tonight we're going to do these two. We're going to discover what they have in common. And the lesson is more straightforward, maybe. So chapter three it is, the, first of all, the image that Nebuchadnezzar made and demanded that everybody should bow down and worship. And the lesson we're going to learn is this. What shall believers do? What must they do when a totalitarian government demands of a believer the loyalty of heart that should be given only to God. We can sum it up by the word worship. What shall a believer do when a government demands from a believer the worship that should only be given to God. We raise a subsidiary question. Is it ever right for a believer to disobey the government? Is that ever right? Well, oh, I hear the voices of experience speaking. Yes, it is right. Normally we are to submit to the authorities, but if the authorities demand of us something that God forbids, then we must disobey. As Peter said to the Sanhedrin, well, you judge whether we ought to obey you or God. It is to be noticed that if believers are called upon to disobey the government, they are not allowed to shoot the government. They are required to take the consequences. One word shall help us, a little study of the meaning of words as we read this chapter, because the word to worship or to bow down before will be one of the chief words we're looking at and using. So let's just think a moment about the word worship. In our modern sense, where we use it for worshiping of God, very often it includes the idea of telling God from grateful hearts how wonderful we think he is. Isn't that worship? We sing his praise and glory. Do you see? And that is right and proper, of course, as we bow down before the Lord, to pour out before him our adoration, our thanksgiving, our praise for him and for his character and all he is and has done for us. But originally, the word doesn't mean all that. It means to bow down in front of some authority, to recognize that authority as supreme, and if need be, to kiss the king's feet, or to kiss the ground he's standing on. It doesn't mean that you then have to make a great speech or prayer, say how marvelous you are. Simply a question of bowing down and admiring and a- acknowledging the authority of the ruler. So when Satan came with the third temptation to Christ, you'll remember what he said, won't you? All these kingdoms and the glory of them I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. What do you think Satan meant? He didn't mean, Lord, if you get out your hymn book and sing glorious hymns to me, I'll give you all the, all these kingdoms. No, no, no, no. And Satan said, you must bow down and worship me, and if you do, I'll give you all these kingdoms. He simply meant you bow down and acknowledge me as a supreme and ultimate authority. And if you don't... If you don't what? Well, when Christ refused to bow down, saying, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. The next verse says, and when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been delivered up. John the Baptist was Christ's forerunner. And in those far off days, what happened to the forerunner will happen to the one that came behind. That's why you sent a forerunner in advance. If Christ wouldn't bow down to Satan, acknowledge him as the ultimate power. By then, Satan would have the next move. And John the Baptist was put in prison. And subsequently beheaded. So we're going to find this business of worship. Let's read chapter three. And as we read through, you may care to notice how many times the phrase occurs, the image which Nebuchadnezzar set up. Can you visualize him? Mustache and all, beard. They wore funny mustaches and beards in those days, the boys did. Uh, can you see him now? Which Nebuchadnezzar set up. He did indeed. Some set up. Anyway, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was threescore cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps and the deputies and the governors, the judges, the treasurers and the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the deputies and the governors, the judges, uh, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Well, I can't bore you with reading all those repetitions. They continue on, of course. You get the point. Nebuchadnezzar set it up, don't you? And he, uh, commanded that when time they heard the orchestra playing, they all were to bow down and worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. What does it signify? Well, eh, when he was thinking, he would have said, um, this is the image to his God. But when those three Hebrew young men refused to bow down, he said, if you don't bow down to the image to my- of my God, what God is there that will deliver you out of my God's hand? No. Out of my hand, of course. So yes, it was to his God. It was the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And what was he doing? Commanding particularly the sheriffs and the treasurers from all the provinces. It was a bit of a rackety, ramshackle old empire he had. Now he got the leaders together. It was their loyalty that he stood in doubt on. They didn't have walkie talkies like every other, uh, uh, student going down the road, and housewife and man, so down the road. They can't just walk down the road, not nowadays. You have to be talking to somebody, don't you? Uh, or on the email to somebody else. And they didn't have that in those days, not Nebuchadnezzar. And, uh, how did you get these, uh, sheriffs and treasurers and things in the far off provinces of the empire to obey? You must get their hearts. You must get their loyalty. And this was the one of the ways he thought out of doing it, to make an image ostensibly to his god, Nebuchadnezzar's personal god, but you bow down to show your heart loyalty to the emperor. That has not been an uncommon technique of governance in the course of history. It was suggested to the Medo-Persian Darius that for two months or a month, or however it was, the people should be forbidden to pray to any god except to the emperor. Alexander the Great, when he conquered a great empire, uh, decided he would like to be worshipped as a god. The Orientals, of course, were used to the notion. The Greeks, a lot of cynical, uh, uh, people they were, they said, yes, which particular god would you like to be, Alexander? I mean, choose which one you'd like to be. Yeah, the Roman emperors. When the Roman Republic, because the Roman government had been a dem- democratic republic, but it ended in bloodshed, fearful bloodshed. And when Augustus, uh, uh, conquered and ruled, set up himself as the first big emperor, then, of course, he had himself deified. He didn't mind what religion you belonged to, carry on, but every year or so you had to be brought before the magistrate and offer your pinch of incense on the altar of Augustus to the divine Lord Augustus. Using religion to harness the loyalty of people politically. If you had gone, say, to East Germany, or to Russia for that matter, in the days when Moscow ruled. You will find that for school children about eleven or years old, um ten or eleven, there was an organization called the Pioneers. These were junior Marxists. It was celebrated more or less exactly in the same way as the Roman Catholic and the Lutheran churches celebrated the confirmation of the young people in the church. So at a school, you had to join the pioneers. If you didn't, you could be very deprived of a considerable part of your education. I have a friend, a dear friend, haven't seen him for many years now, but he had a daughter when she was ten or eleven or twelve. The teacher at school said she had to join the pioneers. She said she wouldn't. Said the teacher, there's no education for you. Yes. Trying to use religion to capture the loyalty of the human heart. A lot of the satraps bow down. They were all idolaters anyway, worshiping gods of every kind, so he didn't mind adding, uh, one more. And when they bowed down, they weren't saying under their breath, oh, how glorious Nebuchadnezzar is. They were saying, this silly old fool, but we were bowing down to acknowledge his absolute authority. And then it was found that three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego of the Hebrews, amidst the great throng that was there, refused to bow down. Well, Nebuchadnezzar hold them in front of him and said, is this right? You refuse to bow down to the image I have set up? Well, now behave, and you'll be all right if you carry on refusing, you shall be cast into the furnace of fire. They said, we're not careful to answer you, your majesty, for our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. But if not, if he doesn't deliver us, be it known to you, we will not bow down to your God. We own loyalty alone to the God of heaven. They were cast into the flaming fiery furnace, heated seven times hot. And you know the wonderful story? It was a miracle. Do I read your heart, you're saying, cool, I wish something like that would happen to me. And you'll say, oh, that would make a good missionary report, wouldn't it, when I got home? Do you know, I, I was very valiant, and uh, they, they threw me into a, a fire, and I didn't feel a thing. It was beautiful indeed, and it was a miracle, and I experienced a miracle and came home, you see. Didn't suffer a thing. That wouldn't be quite like what happened here. It was not that they didn't feel any pain in the furnace. The furnace was so hot. They would have been snuffed out instantaneously. Why, even the hardened soldiers that were there to throw them into the open furnace were overcome by the heat there and then, and died. Destroyed the very lungs. It wouldn't have been the pain of being in the fire. The real pain was the days before, when they knew what was going to happen. And with the kids in bed, maybe. Dad and mum talking it over. What are you going to do then? Going to refuse? What's going to happen to me and the kids? In this foreign land. If you get the reputation of being again the government, what will they do to us? Must you? I mean, couldn't you perhaps do like all the other satraps are doing? Oh, silly old Nebuchadnezzar demands this silly old fool. Uh, uh, bow down and under your breath say, uh, uh, what a rotter he is, don't believe a word of it. Nazar is God, I don't think any of it, but bow down anyway. You can't do that. You must take your public stand for God. You think the pain when they said goodbye that morning... and thought never to see each other again. The cost of standing against idolatry in this fallen world. They got thrown into the furnace. It was, of course, a marvelous experience. For in the furnace, there came one like unto a son of the gods. It was in fact the son of God, was it not? And in the furnace, they found him who is eternal and indestructible, standing with them in the furnace. All that the fire managed to do, if it was indeed the fire that did it, was to snap the cords that bound their feet and set them free. And so they were walking around and walking with the Lord in the furnace. And when Nebuchadnezzar saw it in great alarm, he called them out, of course. Absolutely amazed, and so were his satraps and the rest of them, that not even the smell of the fire had caught them. And Nebuchadnezzar fell to praising their God. But one of the things that impressed him immensely, do you see? Verse twenty eight it is. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own. They yielded their bodies, and thus became a tremendous testimony to Nebuchadnezzar. But the phrase they yielded their bodies sort of resurrects... a... a memory or two. Isn't that a phrase that occurs in the New Testament? Somewhere. Try Romans twelve. Try Romans twelve. That's right. That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. My dear fellow believers, I'm beginning to get old, and you're young, some of you. Who knows what will be the situation if the Lord hasn't come, and you're in your forties and fifties? If we would be prepared for those eventualities, for persecution that might come, don't you think it's a good idea to practice yielding our bodies now? I first went to Spain in nineteen sixty four, and Franco was still reigning, and I get many times, while he was still reigning, he died in nineteen seventy five. One of the heart-moving things was to hear the stories of the believers, and the persecution that some of them had been through in Spain, for Christ's sake. All young men had to do three years of military service. So that when the Christians, uh, joined up to their military service, and very early after they joined up, there would be a great parade of the whole of the contingent in that part of Spain into some marketplace or in a cathedral. And there would be a stage, and the generals of the brick high top brass would be there, and the bishops and the archbishops and the cardinals, and thousands of folks, and they would celebrate the mass, and when the host was raised, everybody bowed down. To worship the host. And the believers wouldn't do it. So they were put in prison. For three years. And then the authorities got wise. It was three years with the time of their military service. So they changed it so that this big celebration of the mass was now held not at the beginning of their military service, but at the end of it. So having done three years, then the the ceremony came, and if they didn't bow down, they were put now in prison for three years. And I was told of one young believer, and he was in the army, and when this thing was coming up, he went to, uh, the, uh, Colonel in command and said, Co- uh, Colonel, I wondered if he could ask, please, could his duty be changed for that day? Why? Well, because you see, Colonel, when it comes to that ceremony and the host is elevated, I couldn't in good conscience bow down because I don't believe this is Christ incarnate in the host. I would keep standing, and I don't want to offend anybody. I thought it would be better if you could arrange it that I shouldn't be there, but I can be on any other service. I don't mind how hard a work it is. Send me on some other service. I don't want to in- offend anybody, but I can't bow down. But the service was going to be in a cathedral this time, and the colonel said, you will be in the cathedral, I shall be sitting right behind you, and if you don't bow down, I shall shoot you myself. So the day came, and the man was in the cathedral, along with his fellow soldiers, of course, and the colonel was right behind him. And the mass was elevate- the host was elevated, and there he stood. Until the fellow soldiers inside him got hold of him and dragged him down. For otherwise he would have been shot. Oh, I could tell you many stories like it. In Romania, they told me, the younger people, when you are taken in for questioning, you must say goodbye to everything you have, else they'll get you. After you've been in prison for a while, you'll be o- show, uh, given a letter written by your wife, her handwriting. Saying, my dear, I can't go on any longer. If you can't do what the authorities say, uh, and get out, I can't carry on by myself. I must divorce you. And said, my friend, you wouldn't know whether the letter was genuine or not, and no means of telling. It's what the older men meant when they said, when you're taken in, you must in your heart have said goodbye to any everyone. If you don't, the authorities will get you. This is not two thousand years ago. This was in the seventies and early eighties. in Europe. It's a big practical lesson, isn't it? Easy to talk about. More difficult to face. So it seems to me it's good to get some practice in. Not in the lurid circumstances of persecution, but every day. Thank God for all his many gifts and blessings, our families and friends, and all the vast blessings he gives us. But to make a practice of yielding our bodies, that we may prove what is the good and acceptable will of God. For that is our reasonable service. So that when the time comes, if it ever comes, we may be in the habit of yielding our bodies out of loyalty to the Lord. Well, I'd hoped I was going to talk about Daniel chapter uh eight. I can't do that, but people are so wanting to get at their buns and their tea, so I can't do it like that. But I can forewarn you, uh, uh, what it is, uh, how it is relevant, chapter eight. and then when you get five minutes, you could look it up and see if it's right. It's the chapter of the two beasts. It's chapter eight, of course. And just let's read the introductory words. These are two beasts. They represent two empires. The first one is the Medo-Persian Empire, not Babylon, but Medo-Persia. The second one represents Alexander the Great and the lightning campaigns he conducted as a young man of about twenty one or twenty two, and eventually defeated the mighty Persia and all the surrounding countries, went down to Egypt. Got there recognized as the god Amun. Went to the northern India. As well as conquering Greece, of course. So he's this second beast. He died very young. Aged about thirty three, um And after him, his empire was distributed among four of his generals, who carved up his em- empire into four bits, and each of the generals had one bit. One ba- part was, uh, given to Seleucus. That was the name of one of the generals, Seleucus. And he was the founder, therefore, of what is called the Seleucid Dynasty. Do you see? Headquarters in Antioch. And, uh, out of him came one of the biggest persecutors that ever assailed the people of God in the times before Christ. All I want to notice tonight before we go is a phrase that comes up in the introductory verses. Do you see verse two? I saw in the vision. Now it was so that when I saw, I was in Shushan, the province, the palace, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Uli. Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, and no beast could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and magnified himself. While Daniel was watching, there came another animal. He had two horns, you see. Verse seven: I saw this second animal, like a he goat, come close unto the ram, and he was moved with anger against him and smote the ram and break his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Do you notice that phrase repeated now as it was in the early verses? There was none that could deliver out of his hand. The lesson we shall have to learn if God gives us another opportunity so to do, as we come to chapter eight, is this: what happens when a government or a tyrant achieves absolute power that nobody can dispute. What happens? Say, why in the hell should we bother about that? Well, because it not only happened in history, it's going to happen again, my brothers, my sisters. When the great beast arises with his false prophet, all they that lived in the civilized world shall take his mark. Within his context, he will have absolute power. And what is more, his sidekick, the false prophet, will be able to make fire come down from heaven, if you please. Oh, Elijah did that miracle. That was a sign of the true God. What will people say when the false prophet makes fire come down from heaven? They will worship the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? The phrase who is like to is used of God, of course, meaning there's no one like him. God is unique. There'll come days when a man shall claim ultimate power, show himself to be God, and demand absolute obedience. What happens when a government or a tyrant gets absolute power into his hand? And this chapter eight is going to tell us. Here, Nebuchadnezzar made an image, and they all had to bow down to it. Here, the The horn that comes out of the second beast will have almost absolute power, and what he will do when he gets it, and how that will affect the people of God that are then living, that we can learn if God gives us the chance to study chapter eight in more detail. But let's keep the main lesson of tonight in our hearts. They yielded their bodies, said the astonished emperor Nebuchadnezzar. What a God they must have. And we hear the echoes. I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, day by day. Shall we pray? We thank thee, Lord, for these Old Testament records that tell us of thy servants of long centuries ago. We perceive as we read them, they were real human beings like we are, of like passions as we have, and facing the ultimate test of loyalty to thee. We bless thee for thy strengthening of them, for their resolve, for their courage. We thank them, thank thee that the Son of God himself presents himself with them as they were going through the fire. We bless thee for their preservation and for the tremendous testimony that affected even the emperor himself. As we think of the more recent times when thy people have been persecuted in many countries, and confess how unused to it we ourselves are, we pray thou wilt give us wisdom that we might prepare ourselves for whatever days lie ahead, by yielding what is, after all, only our reasonable service, in response to thy mercies in giving us thy dear son to die for us at Calvary, that we might present our bodies to thee as a living sacrifice, not once or occasionally, but by thy grace each day, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then we thank thee for the refreshments and pray thou wilt bless our conversation together, again through Jesus Christ our Lord.