The End of the Age - Dominion

Sermon Manuscript (download here)

This morning, we are continuing in our study of the “End of the Age” that we began last week. Because this study is so deep, it’s important to remind you of a few things. First, last week, I said that I would provide you with resources for digging deeper into this study. Last week’s sermon is very important to understanding the distinctions we will draw in this study, so, if you weren’t here or can’t remember or just need to refresh, you can get it by going to the Antioch West Facebook page and look for the link to my blog. If you don’t do blogs, I will be happy to print you a copy of my sermon. Second, I explained that the popular Christian interpretation of the End Times has been influenced by a movement known as Dispensationalism. Dispensationalism divides the work of God into “Dispensations”, where God provides different means of obedience as a test for humanity. Because of this division of Scripture, they separate the Jews and the Church into two covenant peoples. They also detach many prophecies from their original context and locate their fulfillment to sometime in the future. I offered three critiques of Dispensationalism. First, it has problems with interpretation. Because of their tendency to divide the Scripture, they misread prophecies about the coming of the Messiah as though they are pointing to the End of Time. They also apply a faulty means of interpretation by reading the newspapers and trying to find current events in Scripture, rather than understanding Scripture in its right context. Second, it has problems with salvation, by dividing God’s covenant people in two and teaching that the Jews are saved through obedience to the law while the Church is saved through the obedience of faith. Finally, they have problems of actualization. Dispensationalism just does not work, in large part because the predictions of Dispensationalism have not come true. Most notably is Hal Lindsey’s prediction that the Great Tribulation would begin within one generation of the re-establishment of Israel. If a generation is 40 years (which it is in Scripture) and Israel was established in 1948, then we are three years shy of two generations since that event. Add to that critique even the events of this week, where President Trump negotiated what he calls a lasting peace between Israel and Hamas. Dispensationalists claim that the Antichrist will negotiate a seven-year treaty with Israel that he will then break. If we were reading headlines back into Scripture, we’d have to say that Trump, in doing this, fits the mold. Yet, that puts us in the awkward position of being against peace, even as Jesus himself said that peacemakers are blessed. So, the dispensational view is internally inconsistent.

I remind us of all of this because we will come back, time and again in this study, to contrast the popular Dispensational view with what the Scripture actually says. This morning, we are back in the book of Daniel, as we work through the supporting prophecies of the End of the Age that help us understand what Jesus means in Mark 13. Let’s read Daniel 7 together. From this passage, consider three points: The Beasts, the Horns, and the Son of Man.

I will continually remind you of how important it is to anchor a prophecy in its context. Overall, the context of Daniel is the destruction of Jerusalem, the exile in Babylon, and the hope of restoration. The more immediate context of Daniel 7 is chapter 2, where Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a great idol made of four different metals: gold, silver, bronze, and iron mixed with clay. Daniel’s interpretation of the dream revealed God’s plan for the world. God would raise up four empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. In the time of the last kingdom, Rome, God will raise up a stone that has not been cut by human hands, and this stone will grind to pieces the fourth kingdom and then grow into a mountain. This stone is Jesus Christ, and the mountain is God’s kingdom that will expand into all the earth. These same four kingdoms show up in greater detail in the text we just read, but instead of four metals, they are represented as beasts that the wind draws up out of the sea.

Before we get into the specifics of each beast, there are three general truths to recognize about all of them. First, in verse 2, Daniel says that he saw the “Four Winds of Heaven”. The “winds of heaven”, or even just the winds, are always associated with the creative power of God. The passage we read as our call to worship, from Psalm 104:3, says that God “rides on the wings of the wind.” Wind or Breath is also associated with the Spirit of God. The Hebrew word for Spirit means “breath”. We find God’s Spirit, throughout the OT, creating things. Genesis 1:2 says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep (just like in Daniel 7). We also see that God causes winds to move to accomplish his purposes, so in Genesis 8, God causes the wind to blow and take away the waters of the flood. All of this points to the fact that God is sovereign over all things, even the realms of men. These beasts do not rise up of their own might, but God brings them out through his creative power. This is important to understand, because the typical way that dispensationalists present the End Times is as though it is a period in which Satan rules and God has very little control, or, if he does have control, he is reacting to what Satan and sinful humanity do. But, that is not the sense we get from Daniel’s prophecy. Rather, it is God who causes all of this, who creates the beasts and draws them out of the chaos of the world.

Second, we see also in verse 2 that the winds of heaven stir up the great sea. In prophetic writings, the sea figures as a symbol for the nations. Like the sea, they are chaotic, restless, and without restraint. The sea serves as a call back to creation, as Genesis 1:2 depicts the earth as covered in a chaotic, primordial sea, from which God brings order and complexity. And, just as with creation, when God speaks to bring about his will, and the sea responds to bring forth these beasts.

Third, when the winds of heaven move the great sea, four beasts spring forth. It’s common among popular interpretations of Daniel and Revelation, to read these beasts as entirely evil and destructive. Yet, that is not the intention God has for them. God has a purpose for each of these beasts. They bring order, even as they destroy. They establish a framework that protects the people of God and prepares the way for the Messiah. So, even as God will use these beasts to judge Israel, he will also use them to protect her and foster the line of David that would lead to Jesus.

With all that understood, we should ask, what are these beasts? Daniel sees four great beasts, each representing consecutive empires that correspond to the image of gold, silver, bronze, and iron in Daniel 2. The first beast is like a lion with eagle’s wings, which represents the nation of Babylon. The Babylonians depicted their goddess, Ishtar, accompanied by lions. The Ishtar Gate and Processional Way in Babylon were lined with statues of striding lions. The eagle’s wings emphasize the exalted rise of Babylon as a great world power. The second beast is a bear, which represents the Medo-Persian empire. The Persians were a massive force, known for overpowering their enemies with shear, brute force, like a bear. The third beast is a leopard with wings, representing Greece. Again, like Persia and the bear, a leopard is a fitting animal to represent the Greek empire. Alexander the Great conquered all of the known world in the span of three years, moving swiftly from his home in Macedonia, through the Middle East and Africa, all the way to India – like a leopard whose feet don’t touch the ground. The fact that the leopard has four heads confirms this link with Greece, as Alexander split his kingdom among four generals, who took over a divided kingdom when he died.

The fourth beast is indescribable. Daniel doesn’t understand what he’s even looking at, other than to say that this beast is terrifying, dreadful, and strong. It has teeth of iron and ten horns. This beast connects with the legs and feet of iron and clay from Daniel 2, and it represents the Roman Empire. Rome had all of the attributes that Daniel used. It was terrifying, dreadful, and strong. Known for marching straight through its enemies with the power of the locked shields of its hoplites, the Roman army would stamp to pieces all who opposed them. 

Yet, it is at this point that the popular, dispensationalist interpretation makes a distinction. They argue that, yes, this beast does represent Rome, but it also represents a future, reconstituted Roman government, found in the One-World government of the Antichrist. They read the ten horns to be ten European nations, and the little horn of the beast to be the Antichrist. But, this interpretation is nowhere to be found in the context or the text itself. To show that, we need to consider my second point, The Horns.

We are given an interpretation of the fourth beast in verses 23-25. In this interpretation, the angel tells Daniel that the ten horns represent ten kings, and a king will rise out of them (the little horn) that will put down three of the kings. This king will make three offenses. He will speak against God, persecute the saints, and change the times and laws. The angels says that the people of God will be given into the hand of this king for “time, times, and half a time.” All of this detail very clearly points to the Roman empire, and to a specific group of emperors within it. This is especially clear when you connect this beast with John’s version of it in Revelation 13 and 17, which we will do shortly.

First, the ten horns of the beast are the ten Roman emperors leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. That is easy enough to see. The harder question is, who is the little horn? This question is harder because there are several candidates who meet this description, and yet only one that fits it to the tee. Some suggest that this little horn is Emperor Nero, who blamed the Christians for burning Rome and then began a three-and-a-half year persecution of Christians that only ended with his death. Nero also famously set himself up to be a god and blasphemed against God. So, he certainly takes the same actions that the little horn does. But, Daniel says that this little horn comes after the other horns and puts down three of the previous kings, but Nero is sixth in the line of emperors and doesn’t put down any other kings. That claim to fame would fall to Vespasian. During the reign of Nero, Vespasian was commissioned by Nero to put down the Jewish rebellion, beginning in in the spring of 67 AD. During the Judean War, Vespasian spun the tale that he was the promised Messiah, fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy that the little horn would speak great words. Vespasian also made war against the saints. Remember, Daniel’s concern is for the covenant people of the land of Israel, and so the saints in view here are the Jewish people in Jerusalem. Vespasian was the commander during the Jewish War. This war lasted from 67 AD to September of 70 AD, when Vespasian’s son, Titus, lay siege to Jerusalem and sacked it, destroying the temple completely. If you do the math, that is 3 ½ years, or a time, times, and half a time, in Daniel’s telling.

We also know that this beast is Rome because of the way John uses this same beast to describe the great empire of his Apocalypse. In Rev. 13, John says, “I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads.” The ten horns are those same ten Roman Empires, and the seven heads are a common reference that Rome even used about itself. Rome sits on seven hills, and the Romans saw these hills as a symbol of her majesty. The Roman poet, Ovid, calls Rome, “the place of empire and of the gods that looks out on the whole world from seven hills.” John gets even more precise than that, though. Rev. 17:9 says, “The seven heads are seven mountains… they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has yet come, and when he does come, he must remain only a little while.” John wrote this line before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and this is an extraordinary prophecy that proves that the beast is Rome. He says that the seven heads represent seven kings, five of whom have already fallen. That would be Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, and Claudius. Then, he says that there is one king that is. In other words, there is one king that is living at the time John is writing. That was Nero, the first emperor to persecute the church. Then, here’s the amazing part. He says that there is a king that has not come yet, and when he does, he must remain only a little while. In 68 AD, the general Galba raised an army to depose Nero, but Nero committed suicide before he could. Seizing the opportunity, Galba named himself emperor, but his rule only lasted four months before he was betrayed by his own army. John nailed this historic development and proved beyond any doubt that the fourth beast is Rome, the little horn is Vespasian, and the great man of lawlessness that persecutes the saints in the book of Revelation is Nero. After all, Rev. 13:5 says that the beast will be allowed to blaspheme God and persecute the church for 42 months (or 3 ½ years), and Nero persecuted Christians from August 64 AD to June of 68 AD, about 3 ½ years. For us, today, none of this points to a future World government or one man who rises as the Antichrist. It all points definitively to God’s dominion over the empires of the World and what he will do to establish an everlasting kingdom when the Messiah comes.

With all that in view, let’s move on to my last point: The Son of Man. In verse 11, Daniel sees that this fourth beast is killed, destroyed, and burned with fire. The rest of the beasts (like the other metals of Daniel 2) are diminished, but they are left for a time. Then, Daniel sees a vision of the throne room of heaven. He sees the “Ancient of Days”, which is God the Father, seated on a chariot-throne that is set ablaze. He also sees “one like a son of man”, who comes to the Ancient of Days and is given dominion and glory and a kingdom. All peoples serve him and his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. Verses 25-27 give us the interpretation of this scene. The angel explains that the beast of Rome will persecute the people of God for three-and-a-half years, and then it will be judged and destroyed. Remember, God had a purpose with all of these kingdoms. He used the Babylonians to discipline his people. He used the Persians to restore them to the land. He used the Greeks to establish a common language among all people. And, he used Rome to create an economy that would allow the Gospel to spread into all the world. He also used Rome to bring a final judgment on Israel in 70 AD. But, once God was done with each kingdom, he destroyed them, and that is particularly true of Rome. Rome’s influence in the world slowly diminished until it vanished with a whimper in the 5^th century. Sure, people still dream about Rome. Some try to claim that our government or our economy or our laws are based on Rome. The idea of “human rights” is not a Roman principle. It’s estimated that up to 30% of the Roman population were slaves. There was no such thing as bodily autonomy in Rome. Women and slaves were used and abused as the nobility saw fit. There was no free speech, no voting rights. The values we hold dear in Western society did not come from Rome. They came from the church.

This is the great promise of Daniel 7. In the midst of the terror of the fourth beast, Daniel sees one like a son of man, coming on the clouds of heaven, with all the authority of God. In Luke 22, as Jesus stands before the Sanhedrin, beaten and bloodied, they ask him, in verse 67, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” Jesus answers, “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God”, directly referencing Daniel 7:13. In his ascension, Jesus laid hold to the dominion promised in Daniel 7. Paul says, in Phil. 2:8-10, “[Jesus], being found in human form, humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.”

The promise of Daniel 7 is also extended to his church. Verse 27 says, “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.” In Jesus Christ, the meek have inherited the earth. In Christ, the saints resist the fiery darts of Satan. In Christ, the gates of hell will not prevail against us. In Christ, we can go into all the world and preach the Gospel, knowing that he has all authority. Jesus has been given dominion over this earth through his death and resurrection, and as his saints, we are taking this world back by bringing that dominion to bear in our lives, in our churches, and in our communities. So may we go from this place with the authority of heaven and take dominion.