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So now, as we settle ourselves down to our study this evening, perhaps we should spend the first part of our session in some necessary preliminaries. And first of all, we might profitably take up some unfinished business from yesterday's study. Yesterday, we were studying together the vision given by God to Nebuchadnezzar and recorded in chapter two of the book of Daniel. The vision that gives us a survey of the rise and fall of Gentile imperial powers from the time of Nebuchadnezzar up until what we call the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those empires were figured in an image of a man composed of various kinds of metal, and that image of a man was destroyed when a rock cut out without hands from a nearby mountain fell upon the feet of the statue and smashed the whole thing to a thousand smithereens. The rock, the stone that fell upon the feet of the image was, of course, a picture of our Lord and his coming and the setting up of his messianic reign. We raised then the question, does the prophecy tell us anything about when the messianic reign of our Lord Jesus Christ was to be set up? Let us think about that very briefly for the moment, not at all exhaustively, of course, but briefly as preliminary to the further studies of this book. Some people have felt that we should understand the vision as follows. The empires represented in the image were first Babylon, secondly Medo-Persia, thirdly Greece, and finally Rome, imperial Rome, that is. They then observed that our Lord Jesus was born under that fourth empire, the imperial Rome. And they have concluded, therefore, that it was when our Lord Jesus was born that he destroyed Gentile dominion and set up his own messianic kingdom here upon earth. If we should ask those who hold that view, but how comes it that the Gentile powers have survived and survived in enormous strength and increasing power all these long centuries? They will then seriously reply that we have to understand the setting up of the kingdom of Christ as in two phases, having been set up when he was born, or if he, when he was died, or perhaps when he rose again and ascended, and that then the Gentile powers were in principle destroyed. But at the same time, it's taken all these centuries gradually to do the mopping up of the pieces, so to speak, into which the image wa- was, uh, broken. And that the Messianic kingdom of our Christ will eventually be manifested at his second coming. But the image was in principle destroyed when our blessed Lord, uh, came first to earth. I humbly submit that that is not what Holy Scripture really teaches. To start with, we should notice that the image that we were considering last night was formed not simply of four different kinds of metal. The first kingdom was of gold, the second of silver, the third of copper, the fourth was in its first and early phase formed of iron. It was only in the last phase of that great kingdom that there came this mixture of iron and clay. That in itself is significant. You may talk, if you wish, of the four kingdom image, or you could talk of a five kingdom image. Perhaps more exactly, you should divide the fourth image, the fourth kingdom, into two bits, the fourth A and the fourth B. The fourth kingdom of Rome lasted, of course, an exceedingly long while. It is sometimes forgotten by us who live in the West that the Roman Empire continued to survive in the East, based on Byzantium, until the year fourteen hundred and eighty AD. It lasted a very long time. Now, our Lord was certainly born under the Fourth Kingdom, Imperial Rome, but he was born in its very early phase. He was born under its first emperor, Augustus. When he died and ascended to heaven, it was still only the reign of the second emperor, Tiberius Caesar. Our Lord was not born in the last and final phase of that fourth kingdom. Moreover, we should perhaps notice how helpful it is to distinguish, uh, between the two meanings that are given us in the book of Daniel to the phrase the kingdom or dominion of God. If you care to turn in your copy of Daniel to chapter four, for instance, and verse thirty four. Here is Nebuchadnezzar speaking, and he says, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heavens, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever and ever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. So here is Nebuchadnezzar making observations about the kingdom of God, and you will notice that that kingdom of God was already in existence. He describes it as an everlasting dominion, for he is talking of the kingdom of God the Creator. He has always been king. He has never ceased to be king. He has never abdicated the throne of the heavens, nor departed from his rule over earth. It was a present reality in Nebuchadnezzar's day. It is still a present reality in our day. It goes on from everlasting to everlasting. The kingdom of God, therefore, in that sense, a present reality. But that, of course, as you rightly see from the book of Daniel, is not the final answer to the problem of evil in the world. Already in Daniel's time, as in centuries past and in the centuries that were to follow, the Most High in the exercise of his kingdom would sometimes allow Nebuchadnezzars or Hitlers to arise, and he would eventually chastise the Nebuchadnezzars in this world and bring them to a better frame of mind, or else destroy the tyrants of this world as he destroyed Belshazzar. But God's providential government of this world, his raising up and putting down of world authorities, has not solved, has it, the problem of evil. And anybody who has lived through this last century will have proved by experience that the problem of evil not only has not been solved by the birth into our world of our blessed Lord Jesus, that it has not only not been solved by his death, resurrection, and ascension to God's right hand, the problem of evil has gone on almost unabated. And in our present century, we have witnessed Hitler and Stalin and the Khmer Rouge and Yugoslavia, and the butchering of myriads of millions. The problem of evil has not been settled, not even by the coming of our Lord, his birth into our world, nor by his resurrection, nor by his ascension to God's right hand. And of course, scripture would not have encouraged us to think that it has been settled. We must not confuse God's governmental kingdom, his control of the nation, in which from time to time he chastises evil governments and puts them down, with God's final answer to the problem of evil. And that shall be a kingdom of another sort. Of that kingdom we could have read in chapter two of Daniel. Let's go back to chapter two and look in verse forty four. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Here then is the Messianic kingdom, to be distinguished from God's kingdom in the other sense of the term. God's kingdom, his providential rule, was already in existence. When here God announced that the day would come when he should set up another kingdom, that to be the messianic kingdom of his Christ. When, therefore, shall Christ put down evil and reign? The quickest way to solve that problem is to consult the Lord Jesus himself, isn't it? And he tells us, as he told his disciples when he proposed to put down evil and set up his kingdom manifestly in the world. Let us read two scriptures apropos that topic. Matthew, to start with, Matthew nineteen and verse twenty eight. uh Matthew 19, verse 28. Here is our Lord Jesus talking to his disciples and telling them that one day they will be rewarded for their sacrificial following of him. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that you which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon th- twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So here is the time when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory. Here is the time when his faithful followers shall be rewarded and be given to share the government with him and reign with Christ. It is described as the regeneration. And when, pray, will that be? Is that now or when? And our Lord answers our question in that same Gospel chapter twenty five and verse thirty one. When shall the Son of Man sit on the throne of his glory? Matthew 25, verse 31. But when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. Here is our Lord interpreting the prophecies of Daniel for us. The time for the public setting up of his messianic kingdom, the time for him to sit upon the throne of his glory, the time for him to gather the nations and to judge them is not now, nor the time of his ascension, and certainly not the time of his birth, but the time of his second coming in power and great glory with all the holy angels, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory and execute the judgments of God upon the nation. With that, we ought to come to a survey of the chapter that will occupy us this evening. That is to be chapter seven. and as I have said on previous evenings, we shall not be reading the whole chapter. We shall take it that you have been able to read the chapter before you came. But we ought to notice the structure of this vision, the problems it raises, and the answers that are given. So Daniel here tells us of a vision. Three times over, he uses the phrase, I saw in the visions of the night, or i- i- in my vision by night. Look at that, verse two, Daniel seven verse two: Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night. And then in verse seven again, and I saw in the night visions. And verse thirteen once more, and I saw in the night visions, and behold. three parts to the vision that he saw, and he very carefully distinguishes them. In the first part of his vision, he saw three beasts representing three successive Gentile dominions, and interesting things he saw about them. But then the fourth beast that he saw next was so remarkable that he prefaces his account with the words of verse seven: and after this I saw in the night vision this fearful, destructive fourth beast. And he saw what the God's answer to that destructive beast would be. Uh, verse nine: I beheld two thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit. His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and the wheels that are burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed, and he was given to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. God's first answer to the problem of this destructive beast, the setting up of his throne, the day of judgment, and the destruction of that beast. But then there is a second part to the answer, and Daniel prefaces it once more with the observation in verse thirteen: uh I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and the dominion was given to him. The second part of God's answer to the destructive fourth beast. After that, in verse thirteen, Daniel says he was distressed and sought certain, uh, gave certain questions to seek certain answers to the things that troubled him. So he came, says verse sixteen, to one of them that stood by and asked him the truth concerning all this, the general truth, the general point of the whole of the vision. And he was told, these great beasts which are four are four kings which shall arise out of the earth, but the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. And now you find a third answer to the problem of the destructive beast. Not only shall the throne be set up and there take place a judgment. Not only shall the dominion be given to the Son of Man, but in the third phrase, dominion shall be given to the saints of the Most High. Then Daniel had a second question to ask, says verse nineteen. Then I desire to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceeding terrible, and thus, and thus, and thus, and thus. He asked about the significance of the fourth beast, and the answer was given him in the words of verse twenty three down to the end of the chapter. And in that answer, i- in that reply, another element is given to God's answer to the problem of the destructive beast. Namely, that the dominion shall certainly be given eventually to the saints of the Most High, but not until God has permitted those saints to endure unequal suffering and persecution at the hands of the beast. For you see, verse twenty five explains, and he that is the beast shall speak words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and he shall think to change the times and the law, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. Not until that time of persecution has reached its end, will the judgment sit. And they shall take away the dominion from the beast, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. It was a complicated vision, therefore. It receives not a single answer, but a complex answer. And these are the facts to which we have to bend our minds, by God's grace, to try and understand them this evening. So much for our preliminary observations, and to let them settle down in our minds, let's refresh ourselves by singing. Come now then to God's second critique of Gentile imperial power and politics that we find in the book of Daniel. And we shall notice at once how vastly different it is from the first critique that was given us in chapter two. In chapter two, God's presentation of Gentile imperial politics is of a magnificent image, beautiful in its construction. The image of a man so large and so beautiful and so wonderful as almost to be awe-inspiring. And thus did God pay his divine compliment to man's progress, man's attainment in the field of politics. And we paused last night to allow ourselves to admire man's achievement in this direction. I repeat what we then said. It is not good that we should take the view that all human government has been impossibly corrupt, a thing of evil to be despised. God's own comment is different. He recognizes that man has made magnificent advances and attained to magnificent achievements in the ordering of his world, and he has done so, of course, with divine assistance, for there is no power but what is of God. That is not to overlook the faults and failings of mankind, but it is to be honest with the facts. Mankind's achievements in the great empires that have ruled the world has been splendid and magnificent from some point of view. So God presented there the four empires in the form of a great, splendid, glorious, magnificent image of a sophisticated man. It's very different symbolism that God uses in chapter seven to depict these very same Gentile imperial power. For now he presents them not as an image of a sophisticated man, but in the form of four wild, ravening beasts. The fir- the second vision, of course, is not meant to contradict the first, but it is meant to put another side of the equation. We shall notice the second difference, that, uh, the fault in the first critique, the fault that God finds with the image of a man, was its inherent basic instability because of its fatal weakness. It had this unhappy mixture of iron and ceramics in the feet, not in the head, you may observe. That might have been an appropriate symbol for some of them, uh, but in the feet. And this mixture of incoherent substances in the feet rendered the whole image ultimately unstable. For all its magnificence, it had this fatal weakness and was therefore destroyed as being inadequate to bring in the great age of peace and glory that we all anticipate. How different it is with the critique in chapter seven. The fourth beast, the last in the series, is not criticized for being weak. The very opposite is true. The fourth beast is represented as a wild beast, and not only a wild beast, but a wild beast of unprecedented strength and ferocity. It stamped, it chewed, it pulverized all the opposition. It was not for the reason of its weakness that it had to be set aside, but because of its hideous strength, let to go free and continue much longer, it would have destroyed the very planet and destroyed the whole phenomenon of the human race. It had to be put down, therefore, not for its weakness, but because of its hideous strength. And then you will notice the difference in the symbolism that is used in these two visions to represent the Messianic kingdom of our Lord that will one day take the place of all Gentile dominion and authority. In the vision of chapter two, the Messianic kingdom is represented by a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. And at first sight, it seems a somewhat crude alternative to that sophisticated and highly polished image that had been finely wrought by the best skill that the artists could, so to speak, um, uh, bring to bear upon it, dream image though it was, that never did exist in reality. The kingdom that sup- supplanted it is a rough stone, vividly different from that sophisticated image. But now this rough stone, you are told, was not the subject of any human artist's advice. No chisel had been raised upon it by any human. It was cut out by divine power, for that is the meaning of the Hebrew term, cut out without hand. And it forms a perfect, uh, substitute and answer, doesn't it, to the problem of the image that was so desperately weak. The answer must be a kingdom that is based not on human power, but on divine strength and power. Uh, if the Messianic kingdom is represented as a stone cut out without hands in the vision of chapter two, in the vision of chapter seven, the kingdom that supplants the rule of the Gentile beast is not a rough-hewn stone, nor is it another beast. But by vivid contrast, we are told, the kingdom for all the earth is given into the hands of the Son of Man. Notice the very carefulness of the vision. You might have thought that the Son of Man was the more appropriate substitute for the image of a man in chapter two. It isn't, is it? For here the Son of Man, in all the wonder of his ideal manhood, rationality, justice, morality, the glorious, perfect, ideal Son of Man stands in contrast to the lower order of those fearful beasts. The two visions, therefore, are very different, and deliberately so. They put two sides to the same question. Both are answering the question that is right written in our mind. Why is it that if mankind upon this earth has made such remarkable progress, and not least in the area of politics and world government, why is it that man's efforts at governing the world will not lead to the paradise that we all seek? But contrary wise, God will have to remove human- human government and set up the kingdom of his Messiah. Why is that? Well, we have already considered the answer given in chapter two. Now let's consider the answer given in chapter three. And first of all, God's diagnosis of the nature of Gentile imperial political power. It represents them as four wild animals, and that, I assure you, is not God being unnecessarily insulting and sarcastic. I hope you like wild animals. I do. They can be very pleasant, can't they? Friends of mine took me when I was in, uh, Kenya into one of the national wild parks, to say. And my friend who took me, being a very ardent and courageous man, took me within a few feet of a lion, you'll see. Hmm. And to my surprise, I came within a few feet of him. He was very polite and kindly disposed and sat there unperturbed at my sight, you'll see. The reason, it was explained to me, was that he just had his breakfast and the remains of a giraffe were by his side, and he was perfectly content and happy. He didn't shake my paw. His breath felt so bad I shut the window in case he misbehaved himself, you'll see, subsequently. You'll say, but wild beasts are good, aren't they? Not all bad, you'll say. But then there is that feature about wild beasts, you know, um, they are absolutely amoral. Now, please note my curious pronunciation. I did not say immoral. I said amoral. They have no concept of morality. They are not led in their decisions by morality. Not even your pet dog Fido is led by considerations of morality. If he abstains from misbehaving himself in the lounge, that's simply because you've beaten him once or twice for misbehaving in the lounge, and he remembers the feel of it and learns not to do it again, Josie. It's nothing to do with morality. Animals have no concept of morality. So if you meet your lion when he's had his breakfast and his stomach is full, he'll be as genial companion as you could possibly desire, Josie. But if you should meet him one, one evening when he's short of food and hungry, and you are the only potential dinner in sight, be warned, he knows nothing about the compunctions of morality. He will eat you without compunctions and without the slightest calm, qualm of conscience. For animals are only concerned with animal instincts, and the law of the jungle is survival at any cost. When God here depicts Gentile political powers as wild beasts, God, I say, is not being unnecessarily, uh, critical. He's only saying what political philosophers have many times said. Professor Niebuhr in America has taught more than one American president, hasn't he, to understand that while individual men and women are expected to behave morally, governments cannot be expected to behave morally, and very frequently don't. Well, governments are very different things from morality. Try it, sir. If you have a personal enemy in England or in France, you try shooting him in the dark coke and dagger method and see whose court you end up into. But if you should be a government in charge of the Secret Service, you murder who you like and who you can. For the good of protecting the country. And you don't get called to the court. Curious, isn't it? You'll say America has enough oil, by and large, herself and from her friends. But if the day ever came when America ran out of oil, and her whole economy was about to go bust, and the only way for America to survive was to take your oil. Be warned. American government would do what governments have done in the past when it comes to survival. They would take everybody's stuff that they could lay their hands on without compunction. There was more than a slight suggestion, wasn't the last year, that the reason for Allied interference in the Gulf was not without its interest in maintaining the West's oil supplies. It was not all undiluted questions of principle and morality. And if we doubt that of our moderns, let's read our history. Oh, what a story it has been of Gentile governments behaving like wild animals. And if you wanted a modern example, you have Yugoslavia on your doorstep. Now, but wait a minute. It's not all gloomy. I, I must call your attention to a, a very interesting feature of the vision. There was, for instance, the first beast, you see. Verse four of chapter seven says he was like a lion and had eagle's wings, and I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. It must have looked a little bit comical for old Leo to try and dance on his hind legs, wasn't it? But this is a vision, you'll see, not a zoological expedition. And the vision is saying that this thing that was a wild beast, and an extraordinarily powerful wild beast, because together with the strength of a lion, it had the agility of an eagle, was, uh, went through an experience that cut out some of the animal bit, but was made to stand up on his hind legs like a man, and a man's heart was given it, and it was humanized a little bit. You may perhaps, uh, hold the view that this is referring to Nebuchadnezzar and the experience of God he had that taught him sense that he never had before. But let's stay with the sheer imagery of it. Here, this first beast was, to some extent, humanized, made more humane, and a man's heart was given to it. And that has been true of more than one Gentile kingdom, hasn't it? It's been true in our own country in comparatively recent times. Why, last century, as I said last night, if you had stolen a, a sheep or a horse, uh, you could have been, uh, transported to Australia. What worse fate could befall you? You'll say, just for stealing a sheep. Well, you can steal a sheep now if you want. They won't send you to Australia now. They might not even put you in prison, might they? They certainly won't execute you. When I was a child in my hometown, I remember seeing the children of poor people walking the streets in bare feet, clad only in a vest. The government's more humane than that now, isn't it? With all its faults and failings. There has been a compassion since the war, has there not, that introduced the health service, and you won't see children now running the streets in bare feet and just a vest, will you? Governments have become more humane in large parts of the world. And you say, there, there is the hope. There is the hope that little by little, by little by little, the humanizing of the human heart and the heart of government will lead eventually to the introduction of a great paradise of peace that all of us look for. But I'm sorry I have to disappoint your hope. It will not be so. Come back to the beasts, will you? Don't forget that they start off by being beasts. Governments are what in technical terms are called power blocks, aren't they? B-L-O-C-S, power blocks. They are amoral in the final analysis. Mark the fourth beast. For it is said that he was given the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things. But alas, it is not said of him he was given the heart of a man. His heart remained that of a wild beast. And the combination of human intellect, signified by the eyes, and the heart of an amoral beast is a recipe for such hideous, destructive strength, which would make shivers run down your spine, would it not? We have lived to a day when man has been allowed to have insights into nature, its basic, uh, building blocks, and the basic energy stored in the atom and elsewhere, to the point where man has power to obliterate Europe, if not the planet. Just imagine that insight given to human intellect, and marry that with a heart of an amoral beast. Why, it has been a considerable worry, hasn't it, of the Western powers now that Russia has, uh, uh, uh, fragmented. There's been a considerable worry to know into whose hands Russian atomic power might fall. Let it fall into the hands of some nations, and they would have no compunction against holding the whole world to ransom. And there are desperados enough in this world that would blow the panel- planet up, rather than give in to their enemies. No. Humanized though some Gentile governments have become, the humanizing of Gentile political powers is not the way into the coming kingdom of peace and glory. What then is God's answer to the problem? And how and by what steps will God introduce his solution to the problem? The first part of the answer is given us naturally first in the vision, and in that first part, no mention is made of the Son of Man, simply as this, that when the first beast became so terribly powerful, then says Daniel, I saw till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousands, thousands ministered to him. The judgment was set, the books were opened, and the ancients of days dealt with the beast. Not before time. I beheld, says Daniel, because of the voice of the great words that he spoke. For see the final infatuation of human government. This politician with the eyes of a man, the intellect of a man, and a heart of a beast, so became infatuated with the colossal power at his command, that now he began to blaspheme God himself. The great words, the great swelling words he speaks, are of course swelling words against Almighty God himself. He conceals of the fact that he is God. There's no God out. He has the ultimate power. Therefore, he can play at being God. That has been a fancy in man's mind ever since the fall, hasn't it? You shall be as God. I was listening to some eminent scientists just recently, and they were holding thoughts of you that now we understand, said they, according to them, all the secrets of the universe and how the universe came to be. We have no longer need of God. What more hideous end to humanity could you imagine than a man who has the greatest intellect with the heart of a beast trying to play God. What will he do when he tries to play God? Well, terms I've given to it in verse twenty five: he shall think to change the times and the law. He's talking, of course, in terms made familiar to the Israelites, the law of God given from Sinai and onward that lays the foundation of true human responsible behavior on Earth and governs human relationships. And the times, that is, the great religious festivals that mark the rhythms of God's creation and the rhythms of God's redemption. And this great ruler obsessed and infatuated with his power wants to praise God. He will change the very ground rules of human existence if he can. And you know, there are times when it is suitable to get frightened. First answer is, clap your hands, get ready to clap your hands for what the first answer is. The first answer is, there is going to be a judgment. Clap your hands do. There is going to be a. You've never heard such a marvelous gospel, a more marvelous gospel ever. There is going to be a judgment. Well, now we have a funny idea of God's judgment, don't we? We think it's such a solemn subject. Perhaps we wouldn't be wise to talk about it in a gospel meeting, lest our unconverted friends would get offended and not come anymore. I don't hold that view myself of the judgment of God. I hold the fact that there's going to be a judgment in a glorious gospel. And so did the psalmist in ancient Israel. You read your psalms round about Psalm ninety four and ninety six and ninety seven. What is the answer to evil, says the psalmist, the long centuries of evil? O come your hands, you mountains and you rivers and you fields, doubt of every joy, for the Lord cometh, the Lord cometh to judge the world, and he will judge it in righteousness. Marvelous news, isn't it? You agree with it, don't you? You want there to be a judgment. Who among you wants the ter- the the evil in this world to go on forever unchecked? What sane person could possibly want it? Well, the unconverted man, if he's got any decent sen- moral sense left, would want it, wouldn't he? Even if he doesn't believe in it and thinks it's mere whistling in the dark and comforting yourself with fairy tales, but he would hope it were true, wouldn't he? He would hope that evil isn't going on forever. He would hope there's going to be a judgment. And there is, of course. God has given assurance to all men that he will one day judge the world in righteousness by the man he has ordained, whereof he's given assurance to all men, indeed he has raised him from the dead. Oh, picture the scene with the help of the imagery, my brother, my sister. Here is this fearful, hideous beast ravening, and over against put it the triumph of rationality and wisdom. The thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days did sit, and his hair was white as wool. Perfect, sublime, divine wisdom and rationality. And the books were opened. You never saw an animal reading a book yet, did you? The books were opened. Perfect record. And the thrones were set. Perfect justice. Not incidentally, not one throne, but thrones, and we shall come to that again. The ultimate triumph of rationality, wisdom, and justice. Oh, praise God in your heart that the vision is true. Let us preach it unashamedly, my brothers, my sisters. This is gospel to our world. And here we hold up our heads as against the atheist and the humanist, for precisely at this point, they have no gospel to preach. Humanist declares that his interest is in humanity. He has got rid of God, he says, with all that tyranny of God, for he's on man's side. So I like to say to my humanist friends, all right, you've got rid of old tyrant God, have you? For you're for man. Right. And I say, now come with me, my dear son, and we'll visit Auschwitz, shall we? One of Hitler's concentration camps and gas chambers. And in our imagination, we'll come and visit it one day, and here is a row of cells, and their occupants are, are, are, are scheduled to be gassed next Thursday. I say, now, what do we say to them? There they are, and when they see us and imagine that we are some hope, they say, ah, ah, what are you doing for us? Please, we, we, we want justice. What will you say? That's how I do it first. I say, I'm very sorry. I have to tell you that you're not going to get justice in this world. First, you will be guessed. There's nothing anybody can do about it. But there's hope, for this life isn't the end of it. The sense of right and wrong that you have in your heart was not your own imagination. It was put there by your creator, and it's not put there to mock you. There is to be a judgment where Earth's wrongs will be put right. And for you, there is forgiveness of all your sins right now, if you'll have it, and the marvelous assurance from the judge himself that if you trust him, you shall never come into judgment, but are passed from death to life. And I say, come on, old humanist, you, you speak to him. Now you say. And they're saying to you, we want justice. What will you say? You're interested in humanity, aren't you? You, you've got rid of God in order to improve the human lot. So come on, talk to them. What will you say? I have to say, well, I'm sorry, we're not going to get justice in this life. We're going to be gassed on Thursday. And since there is no life to come, and no God either, and no final judgment, we're not going to get justice after this life. And the prisoners replied, you mean to say that all my hope in justice has been a mocking delusion. Yes, that's the humans. And you better face reality like a grown up. Oh, I see. And it wasn't just Hitler's victims in the gas chambers, was it? Who shall count the multi-millions that died unjustly in this world. Oh, I tell you, God has an answer to it. Our sense and right of right and wrong is not put there to mock us. It comes from our God and Creator, and there's going to be a judgment. The resurrection of Christ is the final assurance of the fact. Ah, praise God and shout hallelujah. There will be a judgment, triumph of rationality and wisdom and sanity and justice. There is to be a judgment where Earth's wrongs shall be put right. Ah, but there's a second part to the answer, as you see. Well, perhaps some of you are saying secretly in your heart, if not openly, but wait a minute, Mr. Preacher. You denounce one tyrant and his, uh, excessive power, but your answer seems to me to be simply this, that you substitute for one tyrant another tyrant who happens to have a bit more power, namely Almighty God. Uh, and is that so? The final answer in the great struggle of life is, uh, simply a question of who has the biggest power. Would you say, well, uh, the beast destroyed other people, now God destroys him, but what's the difference? They both destroy. Of course, you wouldn't say anything so silly, would you? But you have met people who will, and they're not earth ignorant either. But God has anticipated their objection. There is a second answer. There's going to be a judgment. The Ancient of Days did say, there came in the clouds of heaven, the clouds of heaven, one like unto a son of man, and the judgment was given unto him. Oh, shout your louder ho- ho- Hosanna at this moment, your louder hallelujah. For we know exactly who that person shall be and is, for it was precisely with reference to that particular text that our Lord claimed to be that very Son of Man. To his judges in the priestly court, he said, you shall see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of God and coming with the clouds of heaven. God's answer. And our blessed Lord spelled it out, did he not, and the record of it is in John chapter five. our Lord's authority and qualification to be the judge. The Father judges no man, he says, but has committed all judgment to the Son, and the Son shall judge. The judgment has been committed to him because he is the Son of Man. That's why. All the amazing grace of Almighty God. He shall judge nobody. It will not be a question of God Almighty in his position as God Almighty just crushing his creatures. God himself has decreed that the judgment of men shall be done by a man. That's fair, isn't it? As judgment by peer. And his qualification to judge, my judgment says he is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me. A perfect human man. Ah, truly man. He wasn't obsessed with power, was he? As he looked over his loved mother city of Jerusalem and saw the sufferings that must descend upon that city, he who will be the judge in that final day broke down and wept over the city. Oh, Jerusalem, said he, how often would I have gathered you? But you would not. The judgment of mankind will be in the hand of that sinless, compassionate, perfect, ideal son of man. You'll see the idea that the final battle is a question of who has the greatest power is false. Think a moment and you will see that nobody of any sense in the universe, not even the devil himself, has ever imagined that he could possibly attain greater power than God Almighty. The ultimate question is who loves man the best? Judgment shall be given to the son of man, not only because it will be judgment by fear, man judged by man. But now think not only of his qualification, but of his worthiness to judge. And I remind you of that well-known and well-loved vision of Revelation chapter five where the hosts of heaven proclaim the Lamb worthy to take the book and open the seals that shall begin the preparations for the judgment of mankind. He's worthy to do it. Why? Not simply because he's the son of man, but because first he himself was slain. There shall be no voice raised at his judgment to say it's unqualified and unfair, that he has been brutal. They shall be shown cowardly. Oh, how the wild beasts tore him, didn't they? At Calvary, with their enmity and their jealousy and their envy and their spite and their power politics, both religious and civil. Oh, how they tore him. And he put up with it. He who is invested with the very power of God himself, and he put up with it. How come? Why, my good sir, if tonight you were out walking in the park and a mosquito had the effrontery to latch upon your noble forehead and sting you, you wouldn't think twice what you would do to it. You would squash it out of existence in an instant. And then a little bit of clay, six foot tall, should turn round and to insult to God and crucify his son. Oh, why didn't God snatch out the planet, hook, line, and sinker? But that's not God. Before the blessed Son of God shall mount the throne of judgment, he first mounted the cross of Calvary. He's worthy to execute judgment because he was slain, that men might go free and be redeemed, and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. Out of every kingdom, tongue, tribe, people, and nation, and made us a kingdom, even priests to our God forever and ever. Oh, God is not, is determined not just to destroy creation. He will not thus yield to defeat. Christ is going to make something of it, and marvel of marvel, Christ will make something yet of human beings by his redemption, not only forgive them, but turn them into a kingdom of priests to live and serve God for his eternal pleasure. So there's a second, uh, part to the answer, and then, incredible though it seems, there's a third part. And the answer to the destructive power of Gentile unregenerate political system is that not only shall God stage the judgment, not only shall the kingdom be given to his son Messiah, but the dominion should be given to the saints. You say, who are the saints? We'll say the theologians, and of course they're right. They generally are. They say the saints are the saints of Daniel's people, and they're the Jews. He's talking about the Jews of the last days before the coming of Christ, who will be persecuted by the beast. That's who they are. Yes, that's right. That's absolutely right. That's what Daniel is saying in the first place. I nearly said he didn't know any better, but there he is, he's inspired, and that's what he says, you'll see. Oh, dear people that shall be persecuted with unparalleled ferocity by the final administrator of that final fourth kingdom. Oh, what a persecution it will be. And not till it's finished will God hand over the kingdom to them. But I've been reading the New Testament, and you won't mind if I add a codicil to Daniel, will you? You'll say, in the light of my, my New Testament knowledge, and I have read thou of the likes of you and me that once time were Gentiles, far off, called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, children of wrath, even as the others. What did you not deserve? But God had mercy upon us, and not only saved us and forgave us, but lo and behold, he's made us fellow citizens with... Ah. And we shall reign with Christ, so it is written. We shall reign with him, if so be that we suffer with him. Oh, I tell you, Almighty God is no tyrant. It isn't because he's jealous of the beast and the power that's in the beast's hands. Great is the power that is put into the, allowed to come into the beast's hands. I tell you what, that the mere saint of God in the day to come shall be entrusted as a steward with power that shall infinitely surpass any power that the beast may ever wield. For they who suffer with Christ shall reign with Christ. Almighty God is not a tyrant. He wants to share his government. And right from the very far first, it was not just one throne that was set up, was it? But thrones were. That's the marvel of the gospel. And all my dear brother and sister, I wish I could see you already with your crown on. Oh, what would you be like? And at last, the Almighty hands the kingdom and the dominion to the saints of the Most High. I wish it were right now. Ha. You do, don't you? So what? The story is not yet. Those people of that final day shall be called upon to go through unimaginable sufferings before they reign. But in principle, it has been similar down the angels, down the ages, haven't it? Daniel's three companions were thrown into a fiery furnace, and Daniel himself into a den of lions, and for early Christian brethren, eaten by lions in the capital city of Rome for the entertainment of the crowd. Why is it so? Why must God's people be allowed to suffer before they reign? There are many answers to that problem, and on another occasion we shall have to think of some of them. I call your attention as we finish to one answer given us in two Thessalonians chapter one. Two Thessalonians chapter one. And here Paul is writing to comfort the Christians in Thessalonica over the question of the sufferings that they are enduring for Christ's sake. And he says, verse four, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which also you suffer. If so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted, rest with us at the revelation of our Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power. Why must you suffer? For the vindication of God's name, and to demonstrate to the universe at large that God is just. Oh, just you imagine the scene. You are taken up, and at the invitation of God, the dominion is given into your hand, and the throne is prepared for you with Christ. And your next door neighbor... eventually consigned to perdition. What do you suppose the next door neighbor is going to say about that? Oh, oh, well, I know. Who would have thought it? I, I, I, I never knew he was there. And why did God put him there? You should have seen him at work. And God has put him there. Well, I was more honest than he was. And God puts him on a throne and me in the pit. Put not us, not too fine a point on it, my brothers and my sisters, God has got a problem of justice, hasn't he? You say, I, I, I, I, all my sins are forgiven because of the blood of Christ, and that means it doesn't matter how you behave. So that if you behave worse than your friend at work, nevertheless, you shall reign, and your friend go to petition, and your friend have nothing to say about it. Now, of course, none of us deserves to reign. We couldn't possibly deserve it. But if by God's grace we've been forgiven, and if by God's grace we're given to reign with Christ one of these days, God is going to demonstrate to the world that he's just in his choice, and he needs to be able to point to you, sir, you, my friend, and me, and say, in spite of all their perfections, in spite of all their shortcomings, they are covered by the blood of my son in whom they trusted. But look, in the actual outworking of things, they were prepared to suffer for my son's sake, weren't they? Weren't they? And they stood with him through thick and thin. And suffered for him. And I'm just, says God will say, in elevating them to the throne. It is manifestly. Oh, my brother, my sister, must I not take notice of the situation? If ever God puts me on a throne in the coming kingdom, shall God be able to demonstrate before the whole world that his decision to put me there was just in light of the sacrifice that I was prepared to make for him here in this life. And one final thing, we are called upon to suffer with Christ, aren't we? Burn our allegiance that we may be glorified together. It wouldn't do, would it? For us so to forget ourselves that we started to behave like wild animals. You say, what are you saying? No believer ever behaves like a wild animal, surely. What are you saying? Well, I'm saying what Paul said. Take heed, says he, that you don't devour one another. For if you fight and devour one another, you shall be devoured, each one by the other, won't you? And that's how wild animals behave. Our study tonight, my brothers, my sisters, lifts us up to the very heaven of God. It brings us down to the realities of daily life in the world and life in the family of God. God write these lessons on our hearts and help us to put them into practice. Shall we pray? Lord, we thank thee for these marvelous visions given us in thy word, and their self-evident quality. These are no fairy stories, they are true to life. These are the true sayings of God. We worship thee in our hearts for what we have seen tonight of thy glory and the wonder of thy ways and the beauty and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. We bless thee for our salvation in him. We thank thee for the glorious hope thou has given us, and now we pray thy grace as we go, that we may walk worthily of the kingdom to which we have been called through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.