The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the profound assertion that "God rules in the affairs of men," as illustrated through the Book of Daniel. The speaker delves into significant biblical passages, particularly focusing on Daniel's interactions with kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, emphasizing God's sovereignty over nations and rulers. The discussion highlights the historical context of Daniel's life, including the challenges faced by him and his friends in Babylonian captivity, and draws parallels to contemporary issues of faith and culture. Listeners are encouraged to recognize the importance of maintaining a steadfast faith amidst a tumultuous world, reflecting on the enduring relevance of biblical prophecy and the assurance it provides. The episode ultimately calls for a proactive engagement with current events, underscoring the need for Christians to remain vigilant and trust in God's plan.

The podcast delves into the profound themes found within the Book of Daniel, emphasizing the sovereignty of God over the affairs of mankind. Speaker A guides listeners through key verses from chapters two, four, and five, highlighting the pivotal message that there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and governs the rise and fall of kingdoms. The discussion reflects on the historical context of Daniel's life, illustrating how he and his fellow captives were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, where they faced significant cultural challenges and temptations. Emphasizing the importance of faithfulness in a foreign land, the speaker draws parallels between Daniel's experiences and contemporary believers' struggles to maintain their faith amidst a secular society. The episode serves as an encouragement to listeners, reminding them that God remains in control, regardless of the political or social chaos surrounding them.

Furthermore, the episode touches on the prophetic implications of Daniel's visions and their relevance to the current state of the world. Speaker A explores the concept of 'consummationism'—the belief that God has a plan that will ultimately be fulfilled. The discussion progresses to the importance of understanding biblical prophecy, especially in light of the New Testament, where Daniel's insights are frequently referenced. Listeners are called to remain steadfast in their faith, actively engaging with the world while trusting in God's overarching plan for humanity, thus inviting them to reflect on their roles as modern-day Daniels who shine brightly in a perverse culture.

Takeaways:

• The Book of Daniel emphasizes that God is sovereign over the affairs of men.
• Daniel's life exemplifies the importance of standing firm in faith during adversity.
• The message of God’s control is particularly relevant in today’s uncertain political climate.
• Understanding the historical context of the Jewish exile enriches our comprehension of Daniel's message.
• The prophecy in Daniel assures us that God has a plan for both Jews and Gentiles.
• The church serves as God's primary means to spread the Gospel in our current age.

Man, if you wouldn't.

Your Bibles tonight, turn to Daniel, chapter two.

Daniel, Chapter two.

We did have some handouts.

I guess some of those were passed out.

I know there wasn't enough for everybody.

Did some of y'all get some of those?

Everybody?

No, no.

Hope some of you did, some of you didn't.

That's okay.

You can just listen.

It's Brother Stewart's stuff anyway, so.

But there are two charts.

If I may make up some more next time we meet and share those with you.

But every time we study a book of the Bible, we normally do run through Brother Stewart, his charts.

He's like the master chart builder.

And it does help to kind of give an overview.

And that's what we're going to do tonight, an overview the book.

And so Daniel, chapter two, verse 28 is where we'll start.

And we're gonna look at three verses really quick, and then we'll pray.

So get your thumbs ready.

It's gonna be kind of a Bible study tonight.

Y'all ready?

Daniel, chapter 2, verse 28.

But there is a God in heaven.

Just stop there.

So Daniel's telling the king there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.

Thy dream and thy visions of thy head upon thy bed are these.

And he goes in to explain the vision.

But again, the point here is, but there is a God in heaven.

Look over to Daniel, chapter 4 and verse 25.

Daniel, chapter 4, verse 25.

Again, if you know this chapter, King Nebuchadnezzar kind of started bragging about all that he had accomplished, all that he had done.

And then he gets this word from God.

Daniel, chapter 4, verse 25.

And what it's describing here is what's going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar because of what he did.

And for seven years, King Nebuchadnezzar eats grass like a cow and just goes crazy for about seven years.

So look, it says that they shall drive thee from men.

So God is describing what they're going to do to Nebuchadnezzar.

And thy dwelling shall be with beasts of the field.

And they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of the heaven.

And seven times shall pass over thee.

Seven years.

Till thou know that the Most High.

Listen to this.

Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomever he will.

God's reminding King Nebuchadnezzar that God rules in the affairs of men, that it's God who sets kingdoms up and takes them down, it's God who puts rulers on the throne and.

Or sets them aside.

And I do believe it'll be interesting, but I think Nebuchadnezzar will probably be in heaven with us.

And anyway, turn over, if you would, one more Daniel, chapter five, just a page over and verse 23.

And this is that story most of you will remember if you've read the story or you have heard it preached about Belshazzar as he had this big drunken party and took the vessels from the house of God and brought them into the party.

And this is what God says.

But look at verse 23.

But Hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, talking about the vessels they brought from the house of God.

And thou and thy lords and thy wives and thy concubines have drunk wine in them.

They took the vessels from the house of God and drank wine in them.

And thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold and brass and iron and wood and stone, which see not, nor hear nor know.

Listen to this.

And the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified the God in whom your very breath is, the God who is in control of all thy ways, all the things that you're going to experience in the future, Everything that you do is God, the God who holds your breath, but you haven't glorified him.

There is a God in heaven, there is a God who sets up kingdoms and puts them down.

And there is a God who holds our very breath in his hands.

God rules in the affairs of men.

That's the theme of the Book of Daniel.

God rules in the affairs of men.

I think that's so appropriate for today to be reminded.

Whatever happens Tuesday happens.

God rules in the affairs of man.

God sets on the throne and God is the one who again makes the way.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you for the wonderful truth that you are in control.

And Lord may be reminded of that.

May we trust you as we ought in these dark days.

I pray, God that you would encourage us also tonight and help us to be like Daniel and his three friends.

Help us to stand today.

Help us to be shining lights in a perverse culture.

And Lord, we're looking forward to that blessed hope and your return.

We thank you and Love you in Jesus name.

Amen again.

As we said a couple of weeks ago, we're living in the last days.

In fact, we're living in the last of the last days.

He even told the disciples, the disciples were told, you're living in the last days.

But we're living in the last, the last days.

We're living in the times of the Gentiles.

And even again, the time of the end of the Gentiles.

We described second Timothy chapter three that describes the cultureship that'll take place in the last days.

And men shall be lovers of themselves.

And it goes, it gives you that big long list.

You can go look at that in two Timothy chapter three and verse one.

And when J.C.

house was here the last time he got to really preach for us, he used that phrase, the world is not falling apart, it's falling into place.

The world is not falling apart.

I saw someone preaching on one of the things I saw anyway, a man preaching and he was saying the same thing, do not lose hope.

You know, we do live in a dark time.

We live in a just a weird time.

But understand it's not falling apart, it's falling in place.

God has a plan.

We do believe one of the major themes.

There are three major themes in the Bible.

And one of those major themes found throughout all of the Bible is consummationism.

In other words, God's going to keep his plan.

God knows what happens in the end.

I read the back of the book and we win.

And we know that.

So we are not absolutely not without hope.

The Word of God gives us hope in these times.

And this is what we preached on a couple weeks ago.

The Word of God is what gives us hope.

It's the word of God that unveils to us and reveals to us what is going to happen.

It's amazing how the Bible's prophecy is so accurate.

The accuracy of the Bible, the reliability of its prophets, astounding.

Revealing to us the people and events and places to look for in the end times.

The Antichrist is coming.

He will step out and you can see it now, can't you?

You can see how a man could step out on the scene and say, hey, I've got the solution to all this.

I can bring peace and bring together all nations together, one world government which we know will take place in the end times.

Again, we know the prophets are warning us of dark days, but encouraging us of greater days ahead.

I love how the prophets will warn Israel, I'm going to punish you.

This is what's going to happen to you, but God's gonna bless you and God's gonna reveal to you and there are greater days ahead.

He does that in all the prophets, the two sides.

I love that.

So it's good to be reminded of that.

Judgment is coming right on one hand, but God is coming on the other.

And so again, we see all the prophets kind of have that same theme running throughout their books again.

Bible prophecy is so amazingly accurate.

We know this by all the prophecies that have already been fulfilled, whether it's the virgin birth or the resurgence of Israel and Israel returning to their homeland.

It's amazing how the Bible, the prophets, are coming to realization.

Second Peter, chapter three warns us of scoffers in the last days, those who would mock the Bible and mock the truths of the Bible.

We see a growing number of scoffers in our world today.

Atheists who claim they don't believe there is a God.

By the way, God doesn't believe in them either.

So I just.

God doesn't believe in atheists anyway.

I won't go into that tonight.

Second Peter, chapter three, verse three tells us why they scoff at God's truth, why many of them scoff at God's existence because they walk after their own lusts.

They do not want to be accountable to a creator.

They don't want to think about what God said in those three verses.

We just said there is a God in heaven.

He rules over all the kingdoms.

Our breath is in his hands.

Our ways are in his hands.

They don't want to accept that they walk after their own lust.

I want to encourage you tonight as I encourage myself, to be steadfast and faithful and unmovable in the last days that we do stand.

As I said this morning, and I just stuck it on the end as a tagline this morning of the service.

But it's important for you as a Christian to vote for you as a Christian to stand when you can, right?

To stand when you can, do what you can, what God gives you the opportunity to do.

And God's given you the opportunity to vote.

And we could have said many years ago that sometimes our vote didn't really, you know, because.

But today, and I was looking again how some of these states were won by 10,000 votes.

Your vote matters, you say, well, Texas, that's not going to happen in Texas.

Notice lately the way the trend's going in Texas.

I'm telling you, we need to be steadfast and faithful in these last days.

As I mentioned in the last message in the intro here, I said, and I quote, a quality and consistent walk with God is what will preserve your faith.

A quality, consistent walk with God.

And I use the term quality instead of quantity because the quality is more important.

And that is you spend time with the Lord and walk with him and talk with him and do so in a way that is effective in your own life.

That may mean five minutes instead of 30 minutes, because you're able to concentrate more.

I don't know who's like that.

No, I'm just kidding.

But, you know, maybe it's spending time on your way to work.

Whatever it takes to take that time to walk with God on a daily basis.

Trust in him.

Trust in him.

Our theme for the year.

Trust in him with all your heart.

And as Daniel did, be reminded of how important it is to have the understanding of the times you live in.

And that we as Christians shouldn't bury our heads in the sand.

Amen.

It's so important.

God rules in the affairs of man.

He is on the throne.

He is on the throne, as I've already said.

He raises up nations, he takes them down.

He raises up leaders and kings and presidents, and he takes them down.

God rules in the affairs of men.

If you have the chart on the back, on one side of it is a chart like this.

How many?

Raise your.

If you have the chart, raise it up.

How many y'all.

Actually.

Does only one person have the chart?

Can we.

Can we go to the back?

A couple of men.

And there.

There's a stack of them there.

It is important.

This is more of a lesson, and I want you to see it, because this is pretty cool.

So brother Stewart does have some good charts every once in a while, but sometimes it takes some splaining.

Splaining.

Sometimes his charts, it takes some splaining to do for you to get them.

And so one per family.

We don't have enough for everybody.

Brother Josh.

It takes explaining sometimes on brother Sturt's charts, but this particular chart is called Daniel and His Times and Contemporaries.

And so it gives you kind of a timeline.

It's pretty cool.

And I always.

I love these charts.

One of my favorite charts that brother Stewart took and improved is a chart out of Ryrie's study Bible.

Several other men have made charts about it, but it gives you all the chronological order of the Bible in a chart form.

And this is kind of the same thing.

Kind of gives you the order of the book of Daniel and the timeframe and the contemporaries, those who are prophesying during the same Time, the kings that are ruling at the same time as Daniel.

And so it really does help you in understanding the book if you kind of, in your mind, know what's going on.

One of the big things to know that's going on, and this is not on the chart, but is to be be reminded that when.

That when Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms.

It's split into two kingdoms.

The northern kingdom made up of ten tribes, the southern kingdom made up of two tribes.

And so.

And then time marches on.

But the northern kingdom, which is referred to in the Bible as Israel, normally, the southern kingdom, usually referred to as the.

Is usually referred to as Judah.

All right.

Primarily.

So when you're reading the prophets or you're reading in kings and Chronicles, that's kind of what you'll see.

It was confusing for me as a kid.

I never really.

I didn't quite catch it.

I really didn't catch it until I got in Bible college, to be honest with you.

And then the first couple of weeks at college, I'm going, oh, that's why.

You know.

But if you can ever, in your mind just truly get this, it'll help you.

Cause sometimes you're reading and you're going, why is there two kings of Israel?

Well, there's not two kings.

There's a king of the northern kingdom, there's a king of the southern kingdom.

And so understand that the northern kingdom never had a good king.

They were all ungodly, had a lot of prophets that preached to them, have them to return, to come back to God.

And so they were carried into captivity by the Assyrians in 722 BC.

All right, so the Assyrians came in and captured and took the Northern Kingdom, those 10 tribes into captivity.

Remember the story?

They tried to come down and take the southern kingdom, and God intervened in a mighty way.

Over 100,000 of them died outside the walls of Jerusalem of their armies.

It was pretty amazing what God did with Hezekiah and so forth.

And so time marches on.

God had warned the southern kingdom that they too would go into captivity.

And they just kind of snubbed their nose at God and said, dan, you will never do that to us.

You would never allow Jerusalem to be defeated.

You know, you'd never allow the temple to be destroyed.

I mean, that's where God dwells.

God dwells between the cherubs and the holy of holies, there in the temple.

There's no way the Shekinah glory, literally the light, the representation of God setting in the holy of Holies.

No way God's going to allow that to be captured and taken.

Well, he's already proven before that when the Ark of the Covenant was taken before.

But anyway.

And so they stubbed their nose.

Well, of course, God did fulfill and God did judge the southern kingdom.

And that's where we come to Daniel.

Daniel is a part of and was carried into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar in the southern kingdom in 606 BC so the northern kingdom went into captivity in 722 BC that was the Assyrians, who were the world power at the time.

The Babylonians defeated the Assyrians.

So kind of get it now.

Then you have the Babylonians.

By the way, the Babylonians also defeated Egypt.

And Babylon king Nebuchadnezzar.

Man, he was absolutely a world power almost to the extent as we think about the Roman, you know, Roman rule.

He had a lot of land that he was the king of a lot of nations.

He was the king of.

But this little bitty nation in the center, this little southern kingdom, this little bitty thing, Nebuchadnezzar came in and again and carried them in, defeated, Burned the walls of Jerusalem, burned the temple.

Not one stone stood on top of another.

Decimated the temple and Jerusalem.

All right, so that's where we're at.

So here you see at the top of the chart it says dates of the chapters.

So you have chapter one and two.

And you can look then go down the chart that gives you the ruling empire.

So who was ruling at the time?

Babylon.

Babylon neo.

The new Babylon.

There had already been a Babylon before over in Genesis.

Nimrod?

Anybody?

I don't have time to go back over there.

But there are three Babylons in the Bible.

There's the one in Genesis, there's this one and the future Babylon.

So it's kind of interesting, isn't it?

Then if you look under that, you can see the various kings.

And then our primary thoughts are with Nebuchadnezzar, who comes on the scene there in the book of Daniel, comes and defeats the city of Jerusalem.

You can see right below that, you see where it says the temple destroyed in 586 BC all right, so they come in in 606 BC first.

So we call it the three deportations of the children of Israel.

They come in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar comes in at 606 BC and carries away captivity.

All the choice people like the princes and those who were highly educated and so forth, carries them away.

Then in 597, he comes and carries away some more.

And then in 586, when the last king of Israel, Zedekiah, tried to, you know, create mutiny and try to, you know, become king again instead of just a puppet king, then they were wiped out.

And Nebuchadnezzar came in and wiped Jerusalem again.

Not one stone left on another.

Just completely wiped it out.

And the.586, the rest of the children of Israel, except the very poorest of them, were carried into captivity into Babylon.

So get the idea now, understand, the Babylonians defeated the Assyrians.

The Assyrians carried the children of Israel into Assyria.

Now you have the Babylonians in control.

So you already have the majority of the northern kingdom in captivity.

And then now the southern kingdom is joining them.

You see that?

Because the Babylonians defeated the Assyrians.

Now you have all the children of Israel again, except for a remnant in captivity.

Look under there.

Under the.

Where it says, temple Jerusalem destroyed.

580.

Everybody's still good.

Okay, I like this stuff.

Bible structure helps me.

Knowing the structure of it kind of.

It helps me.

I know maybe some it doesn't, but it helps me.

Then you see the 70 years of exile.

Okay, so God promised the children of Israel that when they went into captivity, that they would be there 70 years.

70 years.

I love it.

I mean, even naming King Cyrus as the one who would allow them to go back.

And underneath that, look at Daniel.

There's Daniel's timeline.

Daniel is all the way from that first king of.

I'm not gonna try to pronounce his name.

Napopolassar, whatever his name is.

Daniel was born during his reign.

But understand that Daniel.

Daniel was alive when King Cyrus came into.

That's why sometimes we'll say, maybe it was Daniel who went to Cyrus and said, hey, your name's in our book.

Wouldn't that be cool?

Somebody did, I think.

I mean.

Cause it's in there.

Hey.

125 years ago.

150 years ago, Isaiah put your name in our book.

It's pretty cool.

Anyway, maybe it's not as cool for y'all as it is for me.

I just.

It's amazing.

Daniel lived to be maybe even 90 years old and still had a major influence in the government.

If you go below that, you'll see the last kings of Israel, the last kings of the last five kings of Israel.

You have Josiah.

Remember, Josiah is the one who was a righteous king and one of Judah's very best kings and brought the kingdom back to God and great revivals broke out.

We can say, though, that those revivals were mainly one of emotions and not truly a heart transformation.

And you can go read about that.

But Josiah was a great king.

Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah.

The Bible says that he was an evil king.

He reigned three months and he got taken out.

Then Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, again was placed on the throne again.

They were really puppet kings of Egypt.

And then you had Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, again only ruled three months.

He's the one whom God judged and said that your family will not sit on the throne.

And that's a whole nother sermon.

Then the last king is Zedekiah.

Zedekiah.

He was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar.

He reigned about 13 years.

He rebelled and the Babylonian king had his sons killed before him and his eyes put out by the Babylonians.

By the way, it's a prophet about King Zedekiah that he would go into captivity with his.

With the rest of them, but he would not see them.

So there's a prophecy, if you understood it, that he was going to lose his eyeballs.

Maybe somebody should have came and told him, because, yeah, if you look at the chart again, you've got the last kings of Israel.

And then if you go to the side there, go west, young man, go west.

I think that was an old contemporary song.

Sorry, Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel leads the first return of the exiles back to Jerusalem in 539.

Again, Cyrus makes that decree.

By the way, Cyrus, we know again the Babylonians were defeated by the Medo Persian empire.

We'll cover that chapter there.

Belshazzar and all those things that when the Medo Persian empire defeated the Babylonians.

So Zerubbabel leads back a great company of people to Jerusalem to begin to rebuild the temple.

And then Ezra leads back a host of people in 458.

And then Nehemiah leads.

He's the last return of the exiles in 445.

And so you have the three returns of the children of Israel.

If you look right above that.

Go ahead.

And I'm sorry, look below again, look below that.

You have Jeremiah's ministry happening during Daniel's.

Ezekiel's ministry is happening during the same time.

So they're contemporaries.

Haggai is a little after.

Maybe again they knew each other.

Maybe a little Zechariah ministry.

You can see that below.

Now go back up to where it says.

Go to the left of the chart and go to 6:26.

Everybody see that?

626.

Everybody got your eyes on that?

And then follow that to the right.

606, that's the first deportation.

597.

The second deportation.

586.

The third deportation.

582, 562, 553, 539, they return.

And then you can go throughout there.

And I will stop there.

But kind of gives you an understanding of what's going on, the timeline that's taking place.

That chart help you?

It does me.

You can go home.

You can look at that some more.

If you have questions, let me know.

And so it gives you those contemporaries, gives you the timeline.

Now you can flip that over to the back and you'll see Daniel's overview.

And I got the pulpit about five minutes early, so we might just go ahead and use the time.

So the overview.

Overview of the timeline.

So look at there at the top of the chart.

It says, encourages the Jews in exile while being a witness to his captors.

All right, so Daniel is witnessing to those Jews in exile.

He's encouraging them, but he's also being a witness to the captors, those who captured him.

And again, I believe Nebuchadnezzar will be in heaven.

It's amazing that that could happen.

But Daniel was such a witness that then look under there.

It says, the true God's sovereign rule and his future program for Jew and gentile.

All right, so God rules in the affairs of man.

He is sovereign.

He is overall.

Overall.

But there is a program he's put in place for the Jew and gentile.

So we'll discuss about what the Jew's role is, not only what their role was during the time of Daniel and before that, but what is the future role of the Jews.

God has not.

God is not done with the Jews.

The Jews are still God's chosen people.

The church did not replace the Jews, no matter what your YouTuber says.

It's amazing what stuff goes on on podcasts and YouTubers and what you'll believe.

God's not finished with Israel.

You gotta think about the Jews.

And one of the illustrations Brother Stewart uses a lot is you think about the Jews and you think about a railroad track.

Think about a train on a track.

And that train represents the Jews, and it's on a single track.

And as it's heading down the road, as it's heading down the road, as it's heading down the track, it comes to, you know, the death and the burial and resurrection of Christ, that timeline.

And when that timeline happens, that train goes off that track and diverts down to a track below it.

So somebody, not somebody, the Lord throws the switch and now that train is on another track.

It's not that it's not on a track, it's on a track.

God's got a plan for Israel.

Everybody with me, what comes on the track that the Jews were on the church when Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried and rose again from the dead.

And then he had already established his church while here on earth.

He established it.

Not the apostles, not John the Baptist.

The church didn't start in Acts, chapter two.

Jesus said, I will build my church.

And so he started it with the apostles.

And so that is now the on the track in which God is influencing the world with.

How is God going to reach the world?

How is the Lord going to reach the world?

With the gospel.

He's doing it through the church.

He was doing it through the Jew, now he's doing it through the church.

So the church now is God's primary mouthpiece to share the good news of the Gospel.

Before the death, burial and resurrection, the old covenant, the old contract, the Jews were the primary mouthpiece to share the gospel.

And they did a lousy job.

And so God brought them off the track.

But guess what happens?

One day a rapture will take place.

Now, the Bible doesn't use the word rapture.

It says we'll be caught up with him to be in the air.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

First Thessalonians.

And when we're.

When the church and that again.

I believe the church to be all the church is.

And those who have been saved will be caught up to be with the Lord in the air.

When that happens, guess what happens?

The train of the church, that locomotive, it goes bye bye.

It's not there no more because it's now with the Lord.

And the Jews come back onto the track.

And during the tribulation, it is the Jews and the Jewish evangelists, over 100,000 of them, who will be the primary mouthpiece for God in giving the gospel.

It's an amazing thing.

It's an amazing thing.

God is not done with the Jews.

They are still God's chosen people.

And one day they will see him for who he is and they will accept him as their Messiah.

Get to preaching.

Don't I look at your chart again.

From the fading unto the captivity.

All right, so you see the kingdom of Israel fading as it splits, starts to fade.

Then the northern kingdoms carried off into captivity.

It begins to Fade even more.

Then the southern kingdom's carried off into captivity.

So now from the fading unto captivity and past the fall of Jerusalem.

So that's the timeline here we're going to see in the book of Daniel.

Now, the next little area we've already covered, we went to these verses.

There is a God in heaven till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomever he will.

Then the God in whom thy breath is, and whose all thy ways thou hast not glorified.

Then in chapters one through six, you have the historical setting or historical part.

And then chapters seven through 12, prophetical.

Now, there are some also prophetical in the historical section as well, but that's primarily how it's divided into.

All right, and so chapters one, it gives you all the different chapters there.

Under there, it gives you the primary kings during those chapters.

The primary king from chapter one to chapter four is Nebuchadnezzar.

Then chapter five is Belshazzar.

Now understand, Belshazzar was not a king.

He was not the.

He was not.

He was a king, but he wasn't the primary king.

He was a regent ruler under Belshazzar.

Everybody with me, I'm sorry.

Under Nebuchadnezzar.

We'll cover that when we get there.

And then we have Darius coming again when the Medo Persian empire defeated the Babylonians.

And then chapter seven, we have Belshazzar again under the Babylonians, Belshazzar in chapter eight, and then Darius again in the Medo Persian empire in chapter nine, and then Cyrus in chapter 10 through 12.

All right, look down at the bottom chart.

All right, so the bottom of the chart, 606 to 605, we have four promising Royal Jewish captives in the University of Babylon in preparation for government service.

So you have Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.

Right.

And Daniel.

So the story there as they enter into Babylon University, I just, again, it blows me away to think that these four young men, they would have been teenagers, probably 17, 18, 16, and they were carried into captivity because they were of the rulers, they were kids and young people of the princes.

They were carried into captivity and they were put into a situation and into a college as such, where they were inundated with Babylonian culture.

Babylonian culture.

Everybody understand that?

When I think about that, I want to look at something real quick.

I brought way too many notes.

And we're not going to cover all this.

When they enter into that college.

It wasn't a college per se.

Just Anyway, stay with me.

They moved them from Jerusalem to Babylon.

They were disconnected from family.

They were disconnected from their Jewish roots.

They had to learn Babylonian, Chaldean.

They learned a new language.

Their learning would cover all areas of study.

They changed their names.

They changed their names from godly names to, again, evil names or, you know, again, Babylonian names.

So, like, for instance, Daniel.

Daniel's name means God is my judge.

They changed his name to Belteshazzar, which means, may BAAL protect his life.

Hananiah, his name means Jehovah is gracious to Shadrach.

I mean, again, all their names were changed to Babylonian names that identified with gods of the Babylonians.

They changed their lifestyle, the way they dress, their diet.

They changed everything about them.

They wanted them to disconnect from their roots.

I'm telling you, we're seeing that today.

I am telling you, don't I know our group tonight, and I'm preaching to the choir.

But don't be naive.

You say, well, preacher, you believe in conspiracies?

I do.

In the educational system, the public education system.

I'm thankful we have some conservative public education systems around us.

But we see the hour in which that won't be the case anymore.

We see the darkening taking place, the indoctrination.

See, Daniel and his three friends were indoctrinated.

That's what they wanted them to learn.

Everything about the Babylonians, all the Jewish culture.

They wanted them to disconnect from God, Jehovah and from all their roots and connect to their gods and so forth.

And we see that happening in our public school system around the nation and also especially in the universities.

We have to be Daniels.

We have to be Michelle and Azariah and Hananiah.

We have to teach our kids to be Daniels, teach our grandkids to be Daniels.

Well, preacher, we got them at Heritage Christian Academy.

I'm thankful for that, too.

And I think as a parent, I would protect my kids as much as I can and as much as I possibly can.

But understand the exposure is still there.

That thing they hold in their hand, all the other things they are exposed to and way more than we experienced.

And I used to say that when I was a youth pastor, I'd say, well, they experienced it way more than I.

Just amazing, isn't it?

May we be Daniels?

If you look down again, we're not going to have time to go through all these chapters, but you can go through and look at it.

The second chapter has to do with the stone that was cut out of the mountain, picturing Jesus Christ that rolls and stumbles and cuts things down.

The 90 foot golden image.

In chapter three and chapter four again, Nebuchadnezzar has a second dream and he becomes insane.

Chapter five, we have the party of Belshazzar and we'll cover that.

Chapter six, the entrapment of Daniel and in the lion's den.

And then chapter seven, the prophetic beasts and the visions of Daniel.

And that'll correlate with Revelation as well.

And then chapter eight, Belshazzar again, prophetic vision of the ram and the horns and all those things.

Darius in chapter chapter nine and the 70 weeks we'll cover that again.

What are the 70 weeks of Daniel?

And then in chapters 10 through 12, Cyrus when he allows the children of Israel to return.

And again the prefigure of in the Middle east and the nations that will rise up.

And so we'll spend a lot of time in prophecy.

I'm reminded that by the way, in the New Testament, Daniel, the book of Daniel was quoted 152 times.

Can I remind you that the Old Testament is foundational to the New Testament.

You have to know, you will understand Revelation far better if you understand the Book of Daniel, if you know the Book of Daniel.

It's one of the foundations of the book of Revelation.

I'll end with this.

That was number one of my conclusion.

Foundation of the New Testament is the Old Testament.

It's important that you know it.

The New Testament writers wrote in light of that, you already know your Old Testament.

Secondly, I've already mentioned this, what an example Daniel was.

He could stand in his 80s when he was 80 and 90 years old because he stood when he was 17.

As I said when we started the message, election day is coming two days away.

And one of the things the devil loves to do is to likes to put fear in our heart.

I'm telling you, be not afraid.

The Bible says don't be afraid.

Trust in him, put your hope in him.

Politicians aren't our hopes.

The Lord is God, rules in the affairs of men.

Trust in him.

Let's all stand.

We'll have a verse invitation tonight.