Daniel 12 River

         Let’s start with verse 19. [ Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth;Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation:It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.”(Dan 4:19-27)

       King Nebuchadnezzar said to Daniel, “Don’t be afraid of me when you interpret dreams, don’t be troubled,” and we can see that he was so afraid of dreams that he was lowered to that extent. He knew that if he heard the interpretation clearly, he would be upset. He knew it all. He knew what’s going to happen to him. I’m asking you to interpret it though. This is how people feel. God gave people a premonition. Most of our hunches are correct. We know what’s going to happen to us, and we know what’s going to happen. we know it, but we keep trying to erase it from our mind. Those who are born again, no matter how hard they try to erase it,

Eventually, we go and endure it later, and we can’t stand it, so we confess it to the Lord. These are our foolish people. It’s the same with being born again. Even when we are born again, there are so many times when we are foolish like this. Now, this tree was a picture of Nebuchadnezzar. You can see how much the nation of Babylon flourished at that time. So church is filled with the remnants of Babylon until the end of time. It’s full in the church. The roots of the Babylonian religion still plunge even Protestantism into darkness through that Catholicism. That is why they are uniting religions through this Babylonian religion. Once upon a time, Caesar, the great Constantine the Great, mixed the Babylonian religion and Christianity in order to rule the whole world, and pretended that he became a Christian, and after the Nicene religion, he ended up like this, and he did this for almost 2,000 years now, so there are many remnants of Babylon in the world, even in the Christian world. The Easter bunnies, the candles, the rosary, all these things, all the religions are in Babylon. Just change the name, well, Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, but the truth is that the real Christians went underground after the Nicene religion. Their group is now Bible Believers. There are a handful of groups. People don’t know this. That’s why they live this kind of life, believing only in God’s Word and obeying it absolutely. Most people don’t live that way. Once upon a time, when Clara Larkins drew a picture, the people who will be raptured at the coming of the Lord are not visible Christians, nor visible Catholics, but invisible Christians. They are born-again Christian. People don’t know this. As long as there are a lot of people, they think it’s all good enough. Therefore, after the rapture, Babylon will appear again during the Great Tribulation, and it is said to be Babylon the Great (Rev 17, 18). Rome eventually came under the rule of Babylon, and spiritually it eventually became Roman Catholicism, and now after the rapture, the religious unity is done, and after the rapture, Babylon the Great appears again. The very head of Babylon the Great rides on the beast like a woman. Riding on a scarlet beast. The head of the Babylon ride on the beast that is the Antichrist as a false prophet, and the false prophet makes an idol for the Antichrist. Folks, don’t get confused with this. Don’t confuse the mark of the beast with 666. 666 is the number of a man. The number of antichrists. Then 666 is the number of the antichrist and the mark of the beast , so that the false prophet make all men. The Mark of the Beast and 666 are different. Not reading the Bible carefully, so you got confused, but they said that 666 is the number of one person. But there’s a connection. Now, here you see that Nebuchadnezzar was compared to a tree. Because it was so big, there were a lot of birds nestled there. The country of Babylon has tremendous gods. The gods of the world, not our Lord Jesus Christ, but the gods of the world, have something to offer to people. It is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. What does it take to do those three things? You need money. You need money, right? So, when the Apostle John says in 1 John 2 , “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” .]

       Therefore, this Satan has received the whole earth. When Jesus said that all things under Adam were given to the devil according to God’s law of justice, and that all things under Adam were given to the devil according to the law of God’s justice, and that the devil went to Jesus and said, “All the things under the world have been given to me.” Jesus said nothing upon hearing from the devil. Jesus might say in his heart, Wait only 2,000 years. I will fulfill all my will on this earth, I will cast you out of heaven, and then I will fulfill my will on this earth, and I will endure until many of my brothers and sisters on this earth are born, and then I will destroy you at the end. Remember the words in the Garden of Eden that the seed of the woman will bruise your head, and you will bruise my feet. God is long-suffering. The Holy Spirit is long-suffering. Those who receive the Holy Spirit and are born again are long-suffering. Whoever says anything, but it’s long-suffering. Why?. He was patient. We are to forgive everyone. Before He died on the cross, He asked for forgiveness for their sins. He said they didn’t know what they were doing. It’s the same today. When spiritually young children talk about against one another in the church, they don’t know that is sin. They don’t know how much sin that is murmuring, so we need to pray for them and forgive them. In the Bible, an example of comparing a man to a tree is found in Psalm 37.Let’s take a look. Psalm 37 is something we know well. Verse 35 says, “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.]

The wicked in Psalm 37 is the Antichrist who will appear in the Great Tribulation. Through David, God talked about the Lord’s return and the great tribulation. So, again, the word Selah is the word Selah Petra. When they pleaded with God to send them to Petra, the Lord lift them up on the wings of an eagle What are the wings of an eagle? He will put them in a plane and lead them there. David was chased by Saul. Saul is a type of the Antichrist, and David is the type of Jesus Christ.

Just as Saul persecuted David, in the coming Tribulation, the Antichrist like Saul will kill David’s descendants, the Israelites, in great numbers. He is going to throw them in hell. They are not allowed to eat, and they are forced to flee because they do not receive the mark of the beast. Their law, Leviticus, says not to put anything in their body. That’s why they run away without ever taking it. They shall be beheaded. Most of the people who are beheaded are Jews. No one who goes to church now is to be beheaded. Oh, how can those who go to church now betray God for a few pennies, and who complain and complain become martyrs who are beheaded? That ‘s ridiculous. Think of it as mostly Jewish. They say this is in the law. You need to know this. They don’t even know this, and they say that they go through the tribulation to be raptured. They are very bold people. I don’t know how I’m going to get through. Even if it’s a little difficult right now, how do you get through these terrible thing? There’s an earthquake right now, and it’s like New York. Then saying, I’m going to die, I’m going to die. During the Great Tribulation, when there are great earthquakes, they shall point their fingers at God, not repenting at all, but blaiming God resisting against Him. They still do, but what if that shall be then? Ah, the human heart is so evil. Through Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17 says, ” The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? When the lake is calm, it looks very clean. Blowing the wind. Everything inside comes up. A lake is stagnant water. It’s not running water. There’s always something underneath. When the wind blows, it all comes up. So it will be sour. This is the human mind. That’s why God sometimes makes the wind blow and shakes us. It refreshes everything in us. Yes, he makes them vomit and repent. If you don’t know this, and people complain and complain, how will you meet the Lord, .Now, you know, Jesus healed the blind man. When he healed the blind man, his eyes widened bit by bit. It’s in Mark 8. So what does the Lord say, what do you see? So he saw people walking around like trees. What do you call the genealogy of man? It’s called a family tree. Trees. He compared a person to a tree. And when you go to a person’s ancestors, you go to the roots. What are the roots? Isn’t it the root of a tree? The roots of the tree. When we study the book of Ezekiel, in chapter 31, Sennacherib of Assyria was a type of the Antichrist, right? What kind of tree did you compare him to? I likened it to a cedar. What a wonderful tree the cedar is.

There’s a lot of it in Lebanon right now, right? It’s short and hard to grow, but it’s a tremendous building material, and because of its fragrance, the palace was built out of cedar wood during the reign of King Solomon. How nice it would be to smell like a Korean juniper. Then look at the pharaoh. Pharaoh is also a type of the Antichrist. He persecuted Israel, right? Earlier, in Psalm 37, he compared it to grass. From section 37, verse 1, we read, ” Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. ³ Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

In the future, evildoers on earth will disappear altogether. As in the days of Noah, all people are wiped out. Except for the people in the ark, they are gone. There is no one but the one who is in the ark of Christ. So in verse 9 [ For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth..] They inherit the land and rule over it. You have to be a soldier of Christ. We shall come down with Christ when he returns, right? There shall be not a wicked man at that time. When Noah came out of the ark, there was no one there except his family. So the same things shall happen, and so we look at verse 10 [ For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.] Oh, what a promise this is. As for the Psalms, testified it up to Psalm 119, right? I taught a few years ago and it’s on the church site. The book of Daniel has already gone uploaded to 8th lesson, and people are very interested in it. We need to hear this properly again. You have to listen to it properly and understand it well along with the book of Revelation. You have to study the Bible in detail. Not a little here, a little there. There are a lot of people who listen to whom they listen to know some information. Information cannot give you life. You have to eat all the words of God .Jesus told us to search the scriptures. the Bible thoroughly. That’s the way it is.Not only do you read the Bible from Genesis 1:1 to the last verse of Revelation 22, but if you read it alone, you don’t know much about it, so you have to understand what was given to us through the shepherd who is established in the church. That’s why we have pastor. The pastor is not a smart person. He has to be like a fool. Smart person used to say everything as he wants to say. That’s why he only read the words of the Bible.

That’s what he is doing. Those who have studied a lot of theology teach theology, not the Words of God.

In 1 Peter, he quotes from the book of Isaiah, “ For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:²⁵ But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.”

It’s also in the book of James. Look at chapter 1, verse 11. People are fragile. They know they’re very strong. Some people do. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in religion. He doesn’t believe in God, but he does believe in the real God. He himself is God. So atheist people who are God, people who are religious, people who are religious. I know they are very strong in themselves, especially when they young.

Verse 11 says, ” For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways..] Rich people usually believe in themselves. Saying, even if I don’t believe in Jesus, I’m going to live well. As I mentioned last time, an astronautical engineer went to space. He is a university professor in Minnesota. He went to preach the gospel to an American. He said, “I live well without Jesus, I am healthy without Jesus, I am good in business without Jesus, I am good without Jesus, I don’t need Jesus.” The message of the church these days is that they don’t preach about sin, they don’t talk about being sinners, they don’t talk about hell, they just talk about things going well, so they’ think himself better than Chrisitans. That’s not normal but abnormal. Because preachers of prosperity these days. They are leading church members into the hell..

       Now, in verse 23, it says, “ Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass.] A watchman and a holy one came down from heaven, didn’t they? Yes, I have to give the command. I’ve got the safeguards in place. Safeguards. God’s will. This is what Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to understand. And that’s what the politicians who hear this today need to realize. The Lord’s servants are told to understand. Don’t be arrogant. That’s why I used Nebuchadnezzar for a while. So in the end, the king was thrown out. So they chase them out, and they stay like wild beasts, and they eat grass like cattle. But it must be seven hours. Eats grass like cows. We saw it in the book of Ezekiel, right? There were five cherubs in heaven. There were four Chrubs on the right and left, and on all sides. But Lucifer, the Devil, who was the covering Cherub, was the covering Cherub, and he was cast out. But what did the covering Cherub look like? It was in the shape of a ox. The covering Cherub, the appearance of the ox. That’s why he was going to graze like cattle here. Like a cow. These days, you see the people in Californians who put bull horns in a fire place.

Cowboys are all like them spiritually. That’s how you need to know. And then when you go to places like India, they see cows as gods. They don’t eat it. They make themselves hungry. If they only the cows were eaten, they would live well. It’s so stupid. Why? The devil is his image, so they can’t eat it. This is what we need to know spiritually. If you look at the book of Ezekiel, that’s all there is. We don’t know who drove them out, but we have no way of knowing whether the watchmen and the holy one who came down from heaven drove them out, or whether they were driven out by their servants. But after all, it was not until seven hours later , so what was the purpose of doing so? Verse 26 says: [  thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.” And [the Most High gives to whom He wills.] This is what he was saying. You didn’t get it because you wanted to, you didn’t get it because you wanted to, you didn’t get it because you volunteered. Talking about this, you have to realize it in about seven years, or about seven years, before you can realize it. This is what the Antichrist reigns for about 7 years, but at the end he realizes it’s too late. It falls into the lake of fire. Now, the heavens rule here, and when I say heavens, I’m actually referring to the God who created them. Because God is the ultimate ruler of the kingdom. But heaven is not God. Heaven is not God, heaven is heaven, right? God is God, isn’t it? By the way, many people are serving heaven. Korea’s Cheondo religion serves Heaven. Jehovah’s Witnesses also say they believe in God. To say God is not God, but to say Heaven. Catholicism is heaven, too. Listen up, folks. The old national anthem was protected by God, but someone changed it to heaven. Who would have done this? The devil must have done it. The devil does not make us serve God but serving creation. Why? Because he has taken possession of this earth. He makes people serve the sun, the moon, and the stars. Israelites worshipped the Sun , the Moon and stars, God became angry and gave them up to Babylon. That’s one of the biggest reasons. Babylon was completely ruined. That’s how it went. That is why the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are different each other. The Kingdom of heaven is heaven. The kingdom of heaven has come to this earth. John the Baptist preached six months before Jesus was born. He preached saying, Repent, Kingdom of heaven is near. So when Jesus came to the Jordan River and was baptized, that’s what John said. Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Heaven has come. Now that the king has come, isn’t that what he was saying? By the way, they killed the king. Who killed him? The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the religious men urged the people to kill him.

The Kingdom of God is the kingdom of God. This has not yet been done on this earth. It is being fulfilled in those who have accepted Jesus. However, when the Lord returns to this earth, all the wicked and sinners will disappear, and the kingdom of God will be established on this earth. That’s why in the King James version, there’ s kingdom of heaven and there’s kingdom of God. That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. Here’s what Daniel said, he was not talking about God. If you look at the letter ‘Lord’, it’s in small lowercase. The capital letters LORD refer to Jehovah God, God the Father. Then, only in front of the letter L in capital letter Lord refers to His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And then there’s the lowercase letter, and some of the people have their owners. Sarah looked at Abraham and said, lord, she did. That’s why we’re talking about the lord of men, not the Lord. It’s supposed to be a good distinction, but it’s not differentiated, and people get confused. So the rulers of all the nations on earth are actually referring to God, the supreme ruler who dwells in the heavens. There are powers entrusted to God to dwell in the heavens. So, if there are nations in the world, there are principalities, and there are principalities in heaven that govern them. You need to know this. There are also powers. Now, for example, if you go to Daniel 12, go ahead and see it. [ And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Michael is the archangel, the ruler of the Israelites. He is the one who has been given authority from heaven to rule over Israel, and he needs to know this. And then Daniel, if you look at the future, he fasted and prayed for three weeks, right? Right? Come forward. Then Michael came. Gabriel came. Gabriel is an archangel, isn’t he? Messenger. It’s a messenger who preaches the word of God. What does Gabriel say? [ Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days:”] Before the fall of the demons of old, all principalities were obedient under God. But in the end, when the devil fell, Satan took control of the principalities, the powers, the dark rulers of this world, and the evil spirits. That’s why angels like Michael and Gabriel end up fighting against them. So Daniel prays, and the answer to his prayer comes down.

Gabriel comes down with the answer to prayer, but oh, in the end, the army that is in charge of the ruler of Persia above who represents the dictator of the country, the ruler of Persia will not let me come for 21 days, so after all, Michael, isn’t he the minister of the army? Michael fought and won, so I was able to come in 21 days. That’s why the Apostle Paul said, “ ¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.^”For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

In the end, what? When we pray, at the moment of prayer, great things happen in heaven. There is Gabriel, who comes down with an answer to prayer, and the crowds that stand in the way of it. These are principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, and evil spirits. That’s why we have to put on the full armor of God. You must put on the full armor and take up the sword of the Holy Spirit. And we should always pray in the Holy Spirit. With perseverance. What we prayed for is not right in front of our eyes. But what happens when you believe to the end? Finally, Gabriel comes down. When we pray, an angel goes up in the bowl of gold, right? That’s how it comes down when it comes down with an answer. Therefore, we can trust and wait, even if our prayers are delayed answered. Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days until the answer came. We don’t know how he knew his prayer to be answered in 21 days/ We don’t know that. Verse 27 says, “ Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.] Truly, Daniel is a wonderful man. A young man. He is so bold. Why? Because there is the Spirit of God within him. Even today, no one who has the Spirit of God fears. He is never afraid of people. That’s what Jesus said. [Do not be afraid of the one who kills the body but cannot kill the soul, but fear the one who throws both body and soul into hell at once.] Man dies without breath in the noses. Not a big deal .Even if man runs out of money, he becomes unyielding, and if he loses fame, he will be unyielding also, and he don’t know when it will happen. When a chairman of big corporation fails, it quickly becomes humiliating. He can’t do without this. They’re just looking at the ground. Once upon a time, when I was a preacher, there was a person who was the director of advertising at the JoongAng daily news, he said to me. Some of his employees are pastors. They often asked me raise their salary. He said to himself, no, if they work hard, they shall naturally be raised for them. But they call him as deacon to ask for raise their salary How the name of the Lord is blasphemed among the Gentiles. Now, Daniel could be beaten to death if he did something wrong, right? But he said the king to stop sinning.

He who is born of God does not sin. What it is? I mean, they don’t sin on purpose. Before I became a child of God, it was easy to sin. When I become a child of God, if I make a mistake and sin, I don’t sin on purpose, even though I have to repent. Do righteousness and show mercy to the poor. At that time, the king couldn’t believe in Jesus, so he could only say this. It’s the Age of Law. So, doctrinally, it’s a law age where work is required. But now we are not saved by works. We are not saved by works, but by grace. But there’s an act inside. Whose work is it? It’s the work of Jesus Christ. Because of the works of Jesus Christ, we are saved by grace. But those who say we lose our salvation through our works are those who don’t know the grace of Jesus. They don’t really know. Does Jesus have to die again? It’s not. It’s a one-time thing, a one-time thing. Why? In the old days, every time they sinned, the beasts should be kept dying, but what did Jesus say when He gave it to us only once? He sanctified us by lifting up His body on the cross. I mean, he took all our sins. Then he made perfect the one who sanctified him PERFECT forever. Jesus said to the Jews to be perfect like their Father in heaven, right? How we are made whole. We are made whole because of the Lord’s perfect work of death. Because it is God’s righteousness, we have nothing to boast about. When it comes to works, it’s no longer grace. Now he said to love now because we have his Spirit, we can love. If you have the Holy Spirit, you can love. No matter how long you go to church, you can’t love without the Holy Spirit. You can only love if you have love. We humans are incapable of loving. You need to be aware of this. That’s why like Daniel, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these people are God’s people. Think about it. The Spirit of the Creator is inside, and it’s completely 180 degrees different. How is it the same. So that’s what Pastor Paul Washer said. People who say they are born again and are saved, but they don’t change, are fake. Young people listen to the sermon and say Amen, but he tell them not to say Amen. they just go back and forth to church, but I’m talking to you guys. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s changing. Right? Some people go a little slower and some people go a little faster, and there’s a difference. That’s why you really shouldn’t be fooled. Satan deceives. To those who follow him, he says, you are saved. You have to be born again. [If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old things have passed away, and behold, they have become new.] Behold me, I am made new. It is made new. You should be able to do this.

Let’s pray.

God the Father, indeed, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are the types of true Christians today. Jesus really asked if he would look for faith in this world when he come again. There are many religious people who say that they serve God while serving the world, but how many of them really follow the Lord completely, denying themselves, taking up their cross, and follow the Lord completely? How many testify of the Lord’s death? If the Lord is within, we can bear witness to the Lord? Only those who have seen the Lord will testify of the Lord, but people say that evangelism is difficult. It ‘s not that evangelism is difficult, it’s that we haven’t met the Lord, we haven’t seen the Lord in the Holy Spirit. Father, what shall we do? Lord, have mercy on us. May those who hear this, those who are here, and the millions of people who listen to our website, be blessed to be born again and become children of God and the bride of Christ when they are truly converted, who are not deceived by Satan before you come, who are truly converted, who realize themselves to be serving the world, who are converted, when they receive you with all their hearts, when they receive you with all their hearts. Therefore, grant the blessing of all to meet you in joy, to meet you in glory, to live together in the New Jerusalem, to all the saints in this church, and to all who hear the Word. Thank you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.