Prophecy fulfilled
IS our HISTORY. Prophecy unfulfilled is our future. There has to come a time
when ALL prophecy is fulfilled. There is ALWAYS a time when people are living
in the time of prophecy being fulfilled but they don't always recognize it as
such- only being able to look back as the prophetic puzzle pieces fit together.
This isn't ALWAYS the case though, sometimes when a prophecy is being fulfilled
people recognize it. For instance- Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's prophetic dream
of the seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine. When the years of
plenty began it was noticeable that the harvests were exceptional--
Gen 41:47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth
brought forth by handfuls.
Gen 41:48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven
years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the
food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.
Gen 41:49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the
sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
With such
exceptional harvests the thoughts of the horrific famine to come was probably
far from most people's minds. You can bet though that many in the pharaoh's
inner circle who knew all about this prophetic interpretation of the pharaoh's
dream were watching the years go by and waiting to see if what Joseph had said
would come true. When the famine began
right on time with Joseph's interpretation those people KNEW after the first
few months, and definitely after the first year that this prophecy of Joseph's
was being fulfilled. There WOULD be seven years of famine. They were living
during a prophecy fulfillment and recognized it as such.
Not all prophecy
interpretation is readily understood though.
Read these words in
the book of Daniel--
Dan 12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said
I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Dan 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the
words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Daniel who had been
given many prophecies and had seen the fulfillment of many of them, could not
know the interpretation of all the prophecies given to him. A lot of Daniel's prophecies would not be
understood until the time of the end.
'The time of the end' - a period of undefined time that would bring an
end to the world of sin and usher in the second coming of a Messiah that hadn't
even been born at the time of the prophecy.
Now if Joseph could
interpret a dream depicting seven ears of corn equaling seven years it is
hardly farfetched for us to use a day for a year when the Bible itself actually
explains that this is a real prophetic possibility. This isn't something we can discount out of
hand because we don't want to believe in the real possibility that every
prophetic time interpretation isn't literal time- a day isn't always a day- but
rather a day can equal a years worth of time,
and a year isn't always a literal year but 360 days equaling 360 years
and so on. Yes, it sounds terribly confusing, but prophecy wasn't meant to be
easily understood, prophecy served and serves a purpose by being crouched it
obscurity. Isn't faith itself the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen?
When we go to the
book of Daniel we can find a fascinating prophetic scene unfolding history from
their present time to the world's end. I'd call it an overview with little
detail in this particular prophetic presentation. Let's look at it--
Dan 2:1 And in the second year of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was
troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
*Here we have a king
dreaming something that upset him so that he couldn't sleep.
Dan 2:2 Then the king commanded to call the
magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to
shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
*This particular
king- not a king of Israel but of Babylon- believed readily in magicians,
astrologers, sorcerers and such, all those things which were an abomination to
God.
Dan 2:3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a
dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Dan 2:4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in
Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew
the interpretation.
*So here we have the
king summoning all these supposedly special type of people- those not ordinary
but special in their fields of the supernatural and the king tells them he had
a troubling dream and wants to know what it is.
Of course this would be easy for the kings many supernatural
interpreters, they would be told the dream and then make up any sort of meaning
for that dream that they wanted to, something the king would reward them for of
course so they're eager to know what the dream was about so they can give their
interpretation.
Dan 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans,
The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with
the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be
made a dunghill.
Dan 2:6 But if ye shew the dream, and the
interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great
honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
*Ah ha! The king was
going to foil that sort of supposed ability to interpret dreams because the
king himself DID NOT know what the dream was that he dreamed! He couldn't
recall the dream but only knew that it was a dream he needed to recall and
understand. Surely we call can relate to this experience in the sense we've all
had dreams that leave our memory and in doing so trouble us a bit as we strive
to no avail to recall what the dream was. This isn't an uncommon experience
really, dreaming is something we are told we do every time we sleep, we just
don't remember them all. Not being a king and not having magicians, astrologers
and such at our fingertips to open the unknown to us we don't demand other
people tell us what our dream was, we just live with the unsettling feeling
until it disappears and we simply forget all about it. So here we have a king demanding his special
people tell him what he dreamed and do so on the penalty of death, horrible,
painful, torturous death for them and their entire house. Talk about a
seemingly petulant, demanding, possibly deranged king wanting the impossible
can you even imagine being among those hearing this ultimatum? Of course while
their ears were ringing with the knowledge that imminent death was at their
doorstep the king also countered it by telling them that if they did tell him
his dream and what it meant they'd be rewarded richly. Now how is that for inspiring your subjects to
do as you command? Some king, uhn?
Dan 2:7 They answered again and said, Let the king
tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
*Of course these men
weren't stupid and immediately they replied… tell us the dreams and we'll
interpret, that's how it's done, we don't do it any other way, we've never done
it any other way, there is no other way to interpret a dream- you have to know the
dream first. No, they didn't say all
that, at least it wasn't related to us that they did, but you can be sure it
was some of what they were thinking. They had to remind the king of how it was
done because he seemed to have forgotten that you just didn't ask for someone
to tell you what the dream is- it wasn't done, it wasn't the way of things!
Dan 2:8 The king answered and said, I know of
certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from
me.
Dan 2:9 But if ye will not make known unto me the
dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt
words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the
dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
*The king wasn't
completely stupid, he knew what the men were doing, they were stalling for
time. Who wouldn't be stalling for time when they were asked for the seemingly
impossible on the penalty of death. The king wasn't having any of it though, he
outright told them if they wouldn't tell him his dream they were just a bunch
of lying, corrupt people who wanted him to just forget about it all and he
wasn't going to fall for their lies and corrupting, he wanted to be told the
dream and then he would believe the interpretation. Why should he believe an
interpretation when the interpreter didn't even have the supernatural power to
tell him what the dream itself was. Surely if they were all they claimed to be-
special people having special powers to understand things others could not-
they'd be able to use those powers now when their lives depended upon it. Just
imagine… well we don't have to just imagine because this was their response--
Dan 2:10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and
said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter:
therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any
magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
Dan 2:11 And it is a rare thing that the king
requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the
gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
*No one, not a
single man on earth can do what you're asking! And because you're asking the
impossible no king, no lord, no ruler has EVER asked us to do such an
impossible thing! The king wants something only the gods - not man- can do and
the gods don't dwell among men in flesh. The king has to ask this thing of his
gods not of his men who claim to be able to understand godly inexplicable
things when it suits them. How convenient are these practices - astrology,
magic, sorcery and such. Now I'm not saying they're all bogus- but I am saying
they're all ungodly whether we want to believe it or not. God has pronounced
them such and they are! People have been brought up to believe they are
harmless pastimes and nothing more, but in truth they are under the control of
Satan and as such even the best astrological prediction, the greatest trickery
of telling the future with sorcery or magic is of the devil and evil. Harmless?
Hardly! Being under the control of a being that can work his own seeming
miracles and appear as an angel of light is a deadly deception way too many
have fallen victim to. Here a God-less king wanted all his supernaturally
controlled, his satanic controlled people, to tell him his dream and NONE dared
to even believe they could because they knew their source of power wasn't
directly from any that would dare commune with them in such a manner. Satan
didn't know the dream so his followers couldn't know the dream, all their false
gods they prayed to and worshipped could not tell them this dream and they knew
it- they didn't have to think about it really because it was an impossibility
and they told the king so. They wanted the king to wise up to the fact he was
asking the impossible of them, but the king didn't want a bunch of powerless
wise men surrounding him pretending to be special and able to use their special
powers to serve him.
Dan 2:12 For this cause the king was angry and very
furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
*Did the fact he was
asking what all his wise men thought was impossible deter the king from wanting
to destroy them? Nope. Just picture it, these poor deluded men who up until
then felt secure in their professions were now filled with terror, they were going
to be murdered by an insane king who wanted the impossible!
Dan 2:13 And the decree went forth that the wise men
should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
Dan 2:14 Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom
to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the
wise men of Babylon:
Dan 2:15 He answered and said to Arioch the king's
captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing
known to Daniel.
Dan 2:16 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king
that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the
interpretation.
*Daniel- one of the
captured slaves of Israel- was among those considered especially wise and he
fell into this category of victims. He would be killed. However, Daniel wanted
to at least know what he was being killed for because he obviously hadn't been
among those in the king's presence when the decree went forth. Told everything
that happened, Daniel went to the king and told him if he had time he could do
as the king wanted. Imagine it, here
comes an Israeli slave daring to actually tell the king he could do the
impossible! All those others didn't dare
even try to make up something, didn't dare pretend they could do what they
claimed was impossible - because it was impossible for them and it would mean
death either way for them. The only hope they probably thought they had was in
all of them sticking to the fact the king wanted the impossible. Then here
comes a captive from another kingdom, a slave, and he tells the king he can do
this thing!
Dan 2:17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the
thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
Dan 2:18 That they would desire mercies of the God of
heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish
with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
*Obviously the king
didn't have a problem with giving Daniel a little time just on the offhand
chance this troubling dream could really be told to him. The king had nothing
to lose by waiting a bit- either way the deaths would come- now or later if the
dream was not told to him. So Daniel - wanting to save the lives of himself and
his friends- fellow captives from Israel- was going to do this impossible
thing. He went to his fellow captives and told them they had to desire the
mercy of THE GOD OF HEAVEN. Daniel
believed in the TRUE God and as such believed that if God wanted him and his
companions to live that He would reveal the secret that none other could
reveal.
Dan 2:19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a
night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
*Then Daniel had a
vision in the night! God gave Daniel a vision! God blessed Daniel with the
secret!
Dan 2:20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name
of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
Dan 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he
removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and
knowledge to them that know understanding:
Dan 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he
knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
Dan 2:23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of
my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now
what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's
matter.
*Amazing! Daniel
praised God mightily! Such praise is wonderful!
Daniel thanked God because Daniel knew it wasn't of himself that he
understood things, it wasn't of him that he suddenly knew the dream it was all
because of God! Daniel had no power of his own and he knew it! God reveals the
deep and secret things! God knows the things in the dark because light dwells
with God! All the wisdom, all the might of Daniel came directly from God and
nowhere else! God revealed to Daniel and
his companions the king's dream and interpretation doing what NO other could do
even with the pain of death hanging over their heads. Our wondrous God! His will is done and He
will use those who look to Him for all things!
Dan 2:24 Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom
the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus
unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and
I will shew unto the king the interpretation.
Dan 2:25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king
in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah,
that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
*Ha! Arioch the
captain of the king's guard told the king HE FOUND a man to tell the
interpretation. Interesting. Daniel had
already gone in to ask the king for time and was granted the time and now
Arioch brings Daniel back to the king quickly and tells the king HE found one
who could do as the king wanted. Just interesting to note this little fact.
People don't hesitate to take credit for good things do they? Even when it's
undeserved credit.
Dan 2:26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose
name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I
have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
*Of course the king
wanted to know if this man could do as he'd asked of all his wise men, he
wasn't particularly interested in the fact the guard captain had found him- he
wanted to know if what Daniel claimed he could do was in fact true.
Dan 2:27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king,
and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the
astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
*Oh yeah! Daniel
isn't going to give the interpretation to the king without letting the king
know where this knowledge came from and it wasn't from any of the pagan,
heathen, God-less supposed wise men
filling his kingdom.
Dan 2:28 But 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 the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
*GOD in heaven HE
reveals secrets! He is going to reveal to the king what will be in the latter
days! God in heaven, no where else, no
other god, no other idol, no other has revealed the dream, only the God in
heaven!
Dan 2:29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into
thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that
revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
Dan 2:30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to
me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that
shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know
the thoughts of thy heart.
*King you had a
prophetic dream, this is what Daniel is telling Him. God in heaven was
revealing the secrets of the future in that dream. The secrets weren't for
Daniel's wisdom, the secrets weren't being revealed so Daniel could become
greater than any other person. The secrets are being revealed to save lives not
to exalt Daniel.
Dan 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great
image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and
the form thereof was terrible.
Dan 2:32 This image's head was of fine gold, his
breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
Dan 2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and
part of clay.
Dan 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out
without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay,
and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of
the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was
found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and
filled the whole earth.
*Here it is… here is
the dream you couldn't recall-
A great image!
A very bright great
image standing in front of the king, an image whose form, whose appearance
induces fear!
The image had a head
of fine gold.
The image had a
breast and arms of silver.
The image had a
belly and thighs of brass.
The image had legs
of iron.
The image had feet
of iron and clay.
What an amazing
conglomeration of minerals! Gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay. It's obvious
from the first reading that the minerals are ordered in value- Gold being much
more precious and desire, much more valuable than silver, and so on down the
line ending with clay being the least valuable. There is a distinct degradation
in the value of this image. If the image were all of gold it would be
magnificent. That this image is such a mixture it is no wonder it's a fearful
sight. No one at that time would make up such an image and expect anyone to
want to purchase it and you can be sure that there were many images of many
things in a culture that valued worshipping images of their gods and such. Is
it any wonder it is considered horrifying.
We might just call it abstract art and not take a second glance at
something like this, but the time period then was far from appreciating such
abstract art. No artist would dare put together a statue with such things, it
just wasn't done.
There it was a
terrifying image made up of five different minerals standing there when a stone
was being cut from a mountain or quarry it doesn't say here but no hands cut it, no person cut this stone
from rock, no stonemason was there but the stone was being cut and after it was
cut the stone was thrown at the feet of the image and the feet broke into
little pieces. With the feet broken to
pieces there was nothing left to hold up the image and the rest of the image
broke into pieces, into such small pieces the wind carried them all away. Then
that stone which broke up the feet, destroying the entire image began to grow
and it fill the entire earth!
What a dream! No
wonder it was troubling the king not to remember something so incredible. Just
picture it being out of the reach of recall, right there on the edges of his
memory but unable to bring it out to the forefront. It was a prophetic dream
holding great meaning not only for the king but for all of future mankind. This
was a God-given dream of future events - an overall view of things to happen
here on in, and no wonder it commanded such great attention. You can bet this
dream had the attention of everyone in the kingdom by this time. When a king is
ready to murder his entire entourage of wise men, astrologers, soothsayers,
magicians, Chaldeans it wasn't some small insignificant happenstance- this was
a huge deal!
Now the
interpretation!
Dan 2:36 This is the dream; and we will tell the
interpretation thereof before the king.
Dan 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the
God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Dan 2:38 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. Thou art this head of gold.
*The king himself
was the golden head of the image! God
had made the king prosper it wasn't just by happenstance, it wasn't by chance
that the king of Babylon had such good fortune. He was this head of gold.
Dan 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom
inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule
over all the earth.
*But like that
image, things change. After the head of gold there came a breast and arms of
silver - an inferior kingdom. Then another kingdom after the silver one, this
kingdom of brass and obviously inferior to the first and second kingdoms. These
kingdoms were great kingdoms- not tiny kingdoms but kingdoms whose rule
effected all the earth in some manner.
Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as
iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron
that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
*Then in the image
the legs were of iron, yet another very great kingdom.
Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes,
part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but
there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the
iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of
iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly
broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry
clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not
cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
*Then the feet- iron
and clay- a mixture. Mankind would never
again have a kingdom as whole as that of the fourth kingdom but it would become
a mixture- the kingdoms would be divided even though through mingling (marriage)
they would try to bring it together it wouldn't happen.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God
of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
*God sets up a
kingdom that will never be destroy. We know that Jesus came preaching the
kingdom and His kingdom will NEVER be destroyed! God's kingdom will stand forever!
Dan 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was
cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron,
the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to
the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the
interpretation thereof sure.
*This is the dream,
this is the interpretation that the king wanted, that the king demanded from
all his wise men but could not get it. None but Daniel a man who looked to the
true God, could bring this knowledge to the king.
Isn't it amazing?!
Truly amazing this marvelous vision. You know why it's so amazing? It's OUR
history! From the time of the king of Babylon until the end when God's kingdom
is all that's left. This is a tremendous overview of history but people don't
want to believe it could be so. People want to pick things apart and warp them
in a way God never intended. People say the Bible isn't even real and then pick
up a book containing the many failed prophecies of Nostradamus and that they
believe! People say the Bible is a bunch of fairy tales and fables, fiction and
no more, and then they'll pick up a book by Darwin and say this man spoke
truth. This prophecy alone- written
thousands of years ago can prove to the spiritually discerning that what was
predicated has come to pass and what's left to be revealed will happen just as
all that was predicted happened- it's TRUTH!
So many don't want to believe that God has a real kingdom and that they
will one day either be in that kingdom or destroyed as though they never
existed. People would rather grasp as some vague afterlife as their future
rather than repent and be converted to Christ. People would rather indulge
their ego than admit they have no right whatsoever to indulge something so
perverted by sin that its worth is ONLY found in Jesus Christ our Lord and
Savior. People will believe lies and fairy tales alright but they won't be of
God.
It is proven-
Babylon was followed
by Medes and Persia who were followed by the Greeks, who were followed by the
Romans who were then followed by divided kingdoms never to be brought together
to any great one world kingdom and never will be brought together again into
such a kingdom. We live in the time of
the divided kingdoms- we live in the time of the toes of iron and clay- we live
in time as that stone is being cut without hands and soon will break the feet
of the image ushering in God's kingdom forever!
We have the ability
to look back and see history fulfilled, only those who wish to be blind will
remain so. Only those who wish to have delusions will have them. Those who
would much rather believe lies will do
just that, they'll believe the lies as if they were truth not caring at all
that they are deceived.
There is so much to
prophecy and I'd like to study more of it. There is a lot unfulfilled and a lot
filled and only by the grace of God may we truly understand as He would have us
understand. We are to watch and pray- let us watch-let us pray because we live
in the very end of time.
Being such a
volatile subject I'm aware that not everyone will agree with my view and I
wouldn't dream of asking anyone to believe me. I just hope and pray that as we
study your Bibles will be open and you'll pray as never before to have
discernment and understanding as the Holy Spirit guides into all truth, I know
I'll be praying the exact same thing.
In His Grace! In His
Love! By His Mercy!
Amen.
