I make not one but five prophecies. Four of those prophecies come to pass just as I predicted. Would you now believe the fifth will come to pass in the future? You would wouldn't you? Why would the fifth fail, when four have already transpired? Logic would dictate that it would not fail. My fifth prediction would come to pass without doubt.
Why do we doubt God? All God has predicted has come to pass so far, the rest will happen without doubt.
God, please, help us to comprehend the truth of Your words. You've given us the future, you've told us what we can look forward to, we need to believe, we need to listen.
When we purposefully choose not to believe and lean to our own understanding we are doomed to a very dark future, a non-existent future.
We live in a dark world, filled with a lot of sadness. The sadness lurks around the happiness nipping at its heels because we know how temporary happiness can be. We hold tight to the temporary happiness, we search for temporary happiness as if that short-lived joy is what our lives are lived for. We need to live for the life after this life. We need to live for the life of everlasting joy- IT EXISTS, we have proof! That life -is one of the predictions already made, one of several that have come true, and we know the rest will come to pass!
God help us all, through the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!!!!! Amen! May we be yours LORD, may we believe YOUR TRUTHS! Help us to live knowing where true happiness will be found in YOU now, and in YOU forever!
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CHAPTER VIII. THE TIME OF SETTING UP THE KINGDOM
The first words of the revelation of God concerning man are these, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion." Gen. 1:26. Thus the purpose was announced to make man that he might have dominion over the earth. It has been noticed that when Daniel spoke before Nebuchadnezzar of the extent of his dominion which the God of Heaven had given him, he used the same terms that were used in the first declaration of the purpose of God, and in the original gift to Adam, of dominion over all the earth.
When man was created, dominion was given to him in the following words:--
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1:28.
We do not find these ideas expressed, or these terms again used, until Daniel reminds the triumphant king of Babylon of the source of his power. Thus he said:--
"Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all." Dan. 2:37, 38.
The same witness was given by Daniel in speaking to Belshazzar, in the closing hours of this great empire:--
"The most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor; and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him." Dan. 5:18, 19.
We have seen that the parts of the image in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar represented four great kingdoms which should bear rule over all the earth. The interpretation of the dream shows that it was given as a prophecy of the kingdom which the God of Heaven should set up. In other words, it was a prophecy of the restoration of the kingdom and throne of David, in the hands of him "whose right it is." The king in this kingdom, the seed of David, is also the Son of God; he is the seed of Abraham, in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed; the seed of the woman who should bruise the head of the serpent, and restore what was lost by the sin of our first parents. This kingdom is the same as "the first dominion," spoken of by the prophet Micah,--dominion lost by Adam. Now it seems altogether fitting that, in the prophecy of the restoration of the kingdom of the whole earth, the way should be prepared for a full understanding of the subject, by setting forth the kingdoms upon the same territory, by which the order of succession could be made plain.
In Dan. 2:44, the characteristics of the kingdom which the God of Heaven should set up are pointed out; but these are prefaced with a declaration concerning the time when the kingdom shall be set up. The exact time is not revealed, either here or elsewhere; only an approximation to the time is given.
The statement on this subject is very explicit: "In the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom. In the days of what kings? Some authors have assumed that it meant the Roman kings; that is, that the kingdom of Heaven should be set up in the time of the Roman empire. But there are insuperable objections to this view, and not a single good reason can be adduced in its favor. In the preceding verses the immediate antecedent of the expression, "these kings," are the ten kings that shall arise out of the fourth kingdom. If "these kings" did not mean the ten kings, then there is nothing to indicate that it refers to the kings of Rome more than to the kings of Greece, of Persia, or of Babylon. It is an evident truth that each part of the image represents one kingdom or king. In no case is either of them referred to in the plural number. The plural is not used until we come to the ten kings. Therefore if the ten kings are not referred to, it yet remains to be proved that it refers to the Roman kings rather than to those of the others of the four. Then it would mean that the God of Heaven would set up a kingdom somewhere in the days of the four kingdoms--say somewhere between the days of Nebuchadnezzar and Constantine. But such a construction is very far from the truth; it is based on an unreasonable supposition. It is not in harmony with the declaration of the prophecy. The immediate antecedent, and the only grammatical antecedent of the expression, "these kings," are the ten kings which are represented by the feet and toes of the image. And this view is verified by the prophecy in its description of the kingdom of Heaven. It must be evident to every reader that, as Babylon was represented by the head of gold, and Medo-Persia by the breast and arms of silver, and Grecia by the body of brass, and Rome by the legs of iron, and the ten kings by the feet and toes of the image, so the kingdom to be set up by the God of Heaven is represented by the stone. Every point in the image or in the dream, has a corresponding fact in the fulfillment. The stone was cut out without hands; and the kingdom was to be set up by the God of Heaven--not by human agency. The stone broke in pieces and destroyed the image in all its parts; so the kingdom was to break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms of the earth. The stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth; so the kingdom was to succeed all kingdoms under the whole heaven. Dan. 7:13, 14, 27.
The history of the image is a history of the successive powers of the whole earth. Persia succeeded Babylon; Grecia succeeded Persia; Rome succeeded Grecia; the ten kings succeeded the Roman empire; and the kingdom of the God of Heaven succeeds the ten kings. It utterly destroys all the kingdoms of the earth. To show more clearly the proof that lies in this order of succession, we will examine the several parts of the image as they are presented in the successive kingdoms, in the order of their time.
To be continued…
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