Daniel 7 - God Is On The Throne

Main Idea: Allow God’s sovereign control to bring peace to your heart in our troubled world.

• God is in control of the nations.

  • Rulers’ hearts are guided by God.

  • Rulers can be led by God to do good for their people, or to take actions that will bring their nations down.

  • The Church is her own holy nation, with her sovereign King.

• God is in control of salvation.

  • God intentionally orchestrated world events to bring Israel back to the land, to bring Greece’s language for Scripture, & to bring Rome’s roads & peace for the spread of the Gospel.

  • Jesus always intended to die for the sins of the world, killed by its wicked rulers, to reign victorious over them in His resurrection.

• God is in control of your future.

  • God will return to destroy Earth’s kingdoms & set up Christ’s.

  • God will give His Kingdom to His people forever.

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Let's head over to Daniel chapter 7 in your Bibles this morning. Daniel chapter 7. We began Daniel 1 through 6 last October and November, and we walked through the first six chapters, and we are completing the book this July.

And because I don't know about you guys, I always feel like there's not enough time around maybe the Christmas season, and maybe you've heard of Christmas in July. This sermon series is Apocalypse in July.

And I am really, really looking forward to going through this portion of scripture with y'all. I see I got Pastor Ron laughing already, so I'm happy for that. If one person laughs, it's all worth it.

No. So in a recap of what happened in Daniel, I know we've got some people that began attending our church within the last about seven, eight months or so. And so you were not a part of that study.

And I want to give a brief recap for you.

The book of Daniel details the life of a young man from the royal family of Judah, who was kidnapped from Jerusalem, along with many others, in a Babylonian crushing of an uprising that happened at the end of kind of the 600s BC.

And Daniel was taken from his homeland there in Jerusalem, in the southern kingdom of Judah. And he was taken over a thousand miles away to the capital city of Babylon.

He loyally followed God in an evil pagan culture for decades, finding God's faithfulness and his protection over and over again.

Daniel was one that was captured in order to bring the best and brightest of the southern kingdom of Judah into the royal court of Babylon, that as King Nebuchadnezzar there, as he reigned and ruled, he would have the best, the smartest advisors and

the people that were taken. It wasn't just from Judah and from Jerusalem. It would be from all the different nations that Babylon would conquer. They would take these individuals.

They would indoctrinate them into everything Babylon. They'd give them Babylonian names. Daniel's name was Belshazzar.

Belshazzar, he was one that was named after one of the gods of Babylon. And he had some of his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. We know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that were also brought to Babylon.

And they chose to follow the Lord, even in the middle of an incredibly pagan culture, that if you will, their job was working for one of the most evil men of that generation.

And yet, they followed God, even as they were in incredibly difficult circumstances. In Daniel 2, God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar and then to Daniel, Babylon's current supremacy in the world.

God told at first Nebuchadnezzar and then Daniel in a dream, Babylon is the head of it all right now. But Babylon's kingdom is going to come to an end.

And then after it is going to come Medo-Persia, and then Greece, and then another nation, and then a split world until God's kingdom comes to earth and reigns over all others. Really would encourage you go back.

If you have not listened to that sermon series through Daniel, you can go to our church website, and you can find it there, tbcsex.com/daniel.

So our website tbcsex.com/daniel, and you can find all of those sermons there for you, either on YouTube or on YouTube. You do have to go listen to those, because that gives you so much help as we are in the apocalypse in July.

You've got to know Chapter 2, if nothing else. In Daniel 3 and 6, Babylon and then Medo-Persia, they attempt to force God's people to worship their countries and their rulers instead of solely Yahweh.

But God saves the three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace in Daniel 3, and they save Daniel from the lion's den in Daniel 6, showing that God was still caring for and protecting his people, though they were living in exile far away from Israel.

And then in Daniel 4 and 5, God directly confronted the pride of Nebuchadnezzar and his grandson Belshazzar, and forced them to realize their subservience to the true king of kings.

Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God, and he was restored to his throne while Belshazzar persisted in his pride, and he was killed by the invading Medo-Persian forces that very night.

So there was a lot of fun things that we looked at and saw how God protects his people, how he is sovereignly in control of the nations of this world.

But in Daniel 7 through 12, it transitions the book from tracing the life of Daniel and his friends into a bigger, if you will, walkthrough of chapter two.

So the big, amazing dream that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar that detailed, if you will, world history from the viewpoint of God, Daniel 7 through 12 walks through that. Revealing is what God is doing within these chapters.

That's actually what the word apocalypse means. Most of the time we see the word apocalypse, we think end of the world. But to, for something to be in apocalypse is that it is being unveiled.

That God is showing us what our world is really like. What human history entails and what God's view is of all of it.

This July, we're going to see the lasting, enduring truths about world governments, rulers, and God's people and what God wants us to understand about them and about our place in this world.

And beginning today, we're starting off with Daniel 7 and an encouragement to allow God's sovereign control to bring peace to your heart in our troubled world. Allow God's sovereign control to bring peace to your heart in our troubled world.

Let's pray. Let's have another word together. Lord, thank you for today.

God, I pray that if there's someone here that does not know you as Savior, that as we talk about your control, as we talk about Jesus and what he accomplished for us on the cross, purchasing our salvation, Lord, if there's anyone here today that does

not know you as their Savior, they've never given their life to you. God, I ask that today would be the day that they choose you. Lord, I pray that you would be with each of our hearts, that you would speak to us.

God, may we be open to hearing from you. We love you, God, and we pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

So we're going to walk through Daniel 7, and I'm going to give a little bit of an overview of the chapter. I deeply encourage you. This month, your assignment is to read through Daniel 7 through 12.

You are going to find it's an incredibly dense portion of scripture. It's what's called apocryphal in its genre. So it's loaded with symbols, weird looking animals.

We're going to see a couple of those even today that are all trying to communicate, to reveal to us trues about God's word. If you will, Daniel 7 through 12 is not a secret puzzle that God wants you to solve.

It's direct statements that he wants you to understand about how the world works, and about how he sees the world and your place and my place within it.

So, chapter 7 and verse number 1, in the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, so that's Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, Daniel has now been out of Israel for a long time. Daniel had a dream with visions in his mind as he was lying in his bed.

He wrote down the dream, and here is the summary of his account. So, God, especially in the Old Testament, often worked through some different dreams that people would have. He doesn't say that this is necessarily normative for you and I today.

So, if you have a dream about some weird animals even tonight, don't necessarily take that as a sign that God's telling you to, you know, overthrow some kingdom. But here, God himself is communicating with Daniel.

So, Daniel, he sleeps, there's a vision, and he sees the four winds of heaven stirring up the Great Sea. So, the four winds of heaven, you can think north, south, east, and west. This is all across the world, and it stirs up the Great Sea.

You could go back to Genesis 1, and you could see the Holy Spirit of God moving over the face of the deep. It's the great waters. And so, this is often, especially in the prophets, a picture of the world at large, and especially of human kingdoms.

So, there's all across the world, kingdoms are stirred up, and verse number three, four huge beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. So, how many beasts are there? Okay.

First was like a lion, but had eagle's wings. I continued watching until its wings were torn off. It was lifted up from the ground, set on its feet like a man, and given a human mind.

That's a weird set of words. Can you all say weird with me? Weird.

Suddenly, another beast appeared. This is number two. A second one that looked like a bear.

It was raised up on one side with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, get up, gorge yourself on flesh. It's weird again.

Number three. After this, while I was watching, suddenly another beast appeared. It was like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back.

It had four heads and was given dominion. Okay. How many wings did it have?

Okay. How many heads did it have? Okay.

We got repeating numbers. Stuff's happening here. Don't worry.

Daniel's just as concerned about this as you are, and he's going to ask for some conclusions.

After this, while I was watching in the night vision, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, frightening and dreadful, and incredibly strong with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled with its feet, whatever was left.

It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had 10 horns. So while the other ones are like, hey, here's bear, here's lion, here's leopard. This one just says, is too scary.

Like I literally just don't have words to describe to you how terrifying this thing was.

It says, while I was considering the horns, the 10 horns, suddenly another horn, this is an 11th one, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it.

And suddenly in this horn, there were eyes like the eyes of a human and a mouth that was speaking arrogantly. This should not make any sense to you or I, because it doesn't make sense to Daniel as he's encountering all of this.

So if you're like, I'm lost, I'm freaked out, good. We're right where we're supposed to be. As I kept watching, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

Okay, Ancient of Days, this is the Lord, this is God. He is the one that is from everlasting. He had no beginning, he will have no end.

This is God. God is there. It says, thrones were set in place, okay?

We know God is on the throne, that's the title of the message today. There's another throne. Hold on to that, you're going to need that later.

The Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white like snow, and the hair of his head like whitest wool. Some of you need to embrace your gray head, because even God himself has some gray hair.

So don't be ashamed of it, it's a good thing. His throne was flaming fire, its wheels were blazing fire. A river of fire was flowing, coming out of his presence.

Thousands upon thousands served him, 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. It's judgment day for these beasts, because the Ancient of Days is calling them to account.

I watch them because of the sound of the arrogant words of the horn was speaking. As I continued watching, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to the burning fire. Okay, where was all the fire coming from?

Comes from the throne. It comes from the wheels of fire, and out from the presence of the Ancient of Days, there is this fire. It's all coming from the Lord.

He is destroyed by the very presence of God. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but an extension of life was granted to them for a certain period of time.

I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly, one like a, what's those next three words? Son of man. Okay.

You've been with us in John 5 through 10. There's someone that keeps calling himself the Son of Man. He's calling to mind this passage.

One like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was escorted before him. He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. Verse 15, as for me, Daniel, my spirit was deeply distressed within me.

You guys see giants, creatures coming out of the sea, some too terrifying to even name. You see the presence of God himself with fire coming out and the beast being thrown into the fire and being destroyed.

You're going to freak out too, and I should. We serve an awesome, holy, incredible sovereign God. Verse 16, I approached one of those who were standing by.

This is one of those that are within the court. He goes to an angel and asks them to clarify all this. You say, thank you.

I need some of that too. So he let me know the interpretation of these things. These huge beasts, four in number, are four kings who will rise from the earth.

So these four beasts are four what? Kings, they're rulers, kingdoms. But the holy ones of the most high will receive the kingdom and possess it forever.

Yes, forever and ever. So who's going to possess the kingdom forever and ever? It's the holy ones.

It's the saints. Okay. In the vision, there's one like the son of man that comes up.

He's given the kingdom. He's given the dominion. Here, as the explanation is given, it's the people of the holy ones.

So therefore, the son of man must be one of these people, one of these ones. Again, God didn't hide who the Messiah was going to be from the children of Israel. They didn't recognize what their own scriptures were saying.

It's why Jesus kept trying to clue them in the entire time. I am the son of man. God didn't hide it from them.

The plan was always that one, the seed of the woman like God told Eve, and like God told the serpent, the seed of the woman was going to be the one to crush the head of the serpent, and here this son of man would be from the holy people of God.

Verse number 19. Then I wanted to be clear about the fourth beast, the one different from all the others, extremely terrifying with iron teeth and bronze claws, devouring, crushing, and trampling with its feet whatever was left.

I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly and that looked bigger than the others.

This sounds to me and you a lot like how we read the Book of Revelation. Again, the Book of Revelation, that's the final exam, that's the final quiz for those that have read through the prophets of the Old Testament.

John's not taking any of the pictures out of thin air. He's taking everything from the Old Testament and saying, now that we know Jesus, here's how God says this whole thing's coming to an end.

So Daniel is asking about this fourth beast, this fourth king, kingdom, that's different than all the others. Verse 21, as I was watching this horn waged war against the Holy Ones and was prevailing over them.

So there's a victory of this last kingdom over the people of God, the ones that are going to have this kingdom and this dominion that lasts forever and ever.

He says, until, verse 22, the ancient of days arrived and a judgment was given in favor of the Holy Ones of the Most High, for the time had come and the Holy Ones took possession of the kingdom.

This is what he said, The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms. It will devour the whole earth, trample it down and crush it. The ten horns or ten kings will rise from this kingdom.

Another king, different from the previous ones, will rise after them and subdue three kings. He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the Holy Ones of the Most High.

He will intend to change religious festivals and laws and the Holy Ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. So time would be year, times is two years, and half a time is half a year.

So you have three and a half years that is here. That's something that's elaborated later. We won't get into all of that today.

But the court will convene, that is God's heavenly court, and his dominion will be taken away to be completely destroyed forever.

The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Most High.

His kingdom, it doesn't just say their kingdom, his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey him. This is the end of the account.

As for me, Daniel, my thoughts terrified me greatly, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself. Okay, isn't that just a blessing for your week?

You know, tomorrow you can walk out, and if you see a giant, indescribable beast, you can go, okay, he's going to trample the whole earth, and I am on that, and then God's kingdom is coming. Praise the Lord.

He's not talking about a literal, gigantic beast. Again, we take God's word as it says, this is a kingdom.

So this is speaking to us about earthly kingdoms, about God's eternal reign, about Jesus Christ, the son of man, and your future and my future as we believe in Jesus. So what can we learn from this today? Do two things.

Number one, we've already heard about these kingdoms in succession in Daniel 2. First kingdom is Babylon. Second kingdom is Medo-Persia.

Third kingdom is Greece. Fourth kingdom is Rome, that then has some weird stuff happening to it. Again, look back at Daniel 2 and you'll see that.

And then God's kingdom comes along. So you don't have to guess and be like, okay, I bet number one is Germany, number two is like Britain, number three is the United States, and then fourth is like Iran. Okay, I've cracked the code.

And God already directly told us who these kingdoms are. And He will in, once again, in chapters 8 through 12.

The point of human history, the thing that God was most interested in as far as the governments of the world and human history is concerned, is one person, Jesus Christ. That's the point of Daniel 7 through 12.

If you're looking at Daniel 7 through 12 to give you like insights on current Middle East battles or if you're trying to figure out if the Mark of the Beast is a tattoo, a microchip or 5G, you are going to be sadly disappointed because you won't find

any of that. What you will find over and over and over again in these passages is that Jesus is the point of it all. So what can we learn for today from this? First, God is in control.

God is in control of the nations. First there, if you have your hand out for today, rulers hearts are guided by God. Solomon, a king himself, would tell us, a king's heart is like channeled water in the Lord's hand.

He directs it wherever he chooses. God is not looking at either the United States government or any other governments on earth and going, oh man, I really dropped the ball there. Can someone take care of this?

No, no. God is the one that guides rulers into how they lead their nations. Now, that should cause some in you.

We'll get to that in just one second. Three very practical things that that means for your life today and tomorrow. Number one, pray for your rulers.

1st Timothy chapter 2 and verse number 1, Paul tells us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I will therefore that men pray everywhere for kings and for everyone that is in authority so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all

godliness and honesty. Pray for your rulers. Number two, don't speak disrespectfully of your rulers. That is impugning who they are as a person rather than actions.

We would see this even in Paul's interaction with the Sanhedrin. He's on trial for professing Jesus. So it's an unjust trial from the get-go.

And yet he calls what turns out to be the high priest, a whitewashed sepulcher. And they go, how dare you say that to the high priest, this ruler over the children of Israel. And Paul doesn't say, well, yeah, well, he deserves it.

He says, my bad, I didn't know that he was the high priest, because the Bible tells us, he says, scripture says, you should not speak evil of the ruler of your people. Now, read John the Baptist, read Jesus, read through the prophets.

You can absolutely denounce actions and words that are evil, that are against the character and nature of God that our rulers do and say. But don't just impugn who they are.

Who they are is a person made in the image of God that needs to know Jesus and follow him. So don't speak disrespectfully of your rulers. And then thirdly, don't fear your rulers.

There is no ruler on this planet who is outside of the control of our sovereign God. So you can know whatever is coming your way from some ruler is coming from the hand of God and accept it as that. Now, Jesus was killed by rulers.

It's not saying everything is always going to be hunky-dory for you for reasons that we're about to look at in just one second. But those are three things that you and I need to know today. Rulers' hearts are guided by God.

Secondly, rulers can be led by God to do good for their people or to take actions that will bring their nations down. You know, Pharaoh and Egypt, where God's people were continually telling Pharaoh, let my people go. And Pharaoh said, no.

And God eventually hardened Pharaoh's heart. He cemented it. One way that's been helpful for me, as I think about this, is the same sun that melts ice hardens the clay.

God will sometimes cement our decisions when we resist him enough that he says, all right, I'll let you have the results of your own actions.

And you can look even at the life of King Josiah, where he wanted to follow God, and God guided him to correct decisions. But sometimes God does lead rulers to make bad decisions so that that nation suffers judgment for its sin.

Normatively, God's judgment means people and nations face the consequences of their own violent, greedy, immoral actions. You can read the Old Testament prophets, Zephaniah, Obadiah, Nahum, all of those tell you about this.

The God says, what a nation has put out onto others in its cruelty and violence and immorality, it will come right back on top of them. Recognize in your life today, though you're not a nation, that you reap what you sow.

Don't celebrate wickedness perpetrated against your enemies, or you will find that same wickedness turned on you. Solomon tells us that over and over again.

He says, don't rejoice when your enemy suffers calamity, otherwise God might turn that calamity from them and place it towards you. So rulers can be led by God to do good for their people or to take actions that will bring their nations down.

Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a reproach to any people. Lastly, the church is her own holy nation with her sovereign king. We temporarily live in America as exiles and foreigners.

That's what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2. Your ultimate mission is not to exalt America, but to exalt Jesus. So don't put your hope in political leaders because they will sin and fail.

There's not a single perfect politician because there's not a single perfect even Christian. There's only one perfect one who is Jesus. So don't put your hope in political leaders.

They will sin and fail you. Choose to make God's kingdom, not America, what you love and talk about with others. Why would I say that?

Because God's kingdom is the one that is going to last forever. America, incredibly thankful for it. I can preach here.

I can preach about sin. I can preach about what God's word says, and I don't have to worry about anyone breaking down the door. But America is going to crumble into dust when Jesus' kingdom comes to earth.

Maybe before then too, but at least when Jesus' kingdom comes to earth. And so I want to make my life about His kingdom, not my own. Secondly, God is in control of salvation.

He's in control of the nations, and He's in control of salvation. This is what we would read even through these four beasts and then the son of man that comes.

God intentionally orchestrated world events to bring Israel back into the land after they had been taken away by Babylon and Assyria. So, He brought them back to the land through the Medo-Persian Empire. He brought Greece's language for scripture.

So, what we read in the New Testament was all initially written in Greek, and that's how it was passed down to us. Thankfully, we have translations in English, and I'm thankful because it's all Greek to me. Boo!

That's terrible.

God brought Greece through, and Greece conquered Israel, and as a result, we got the Greek language for scripture that was spoken all across the Roman Empire, and then God brought Rome's roads and peace for the spread of the gospel, and as sad as it

is, also brought Roman crucifixion, that the way that Jesus died was even prophesied in Psalm 22, where David prophesying about Jesus said, They pierced my hands and my feet. Every iota of human history was pushed forward so that Jesus would be the

focus, so that Jesus' gospel would be able to be proclaimed all across the Roman Empire, so that the Word of God could be written, so that we could know the mind and the heart of God. None of it was an accident.

Now, you ask a Jew in 300 BC about what God was doing, they don't know about those details. You ask someone in 35 BC in Israel about what's happening, they don't know. But looking back, we can see what God has done miraculously in human history.

Jesus was not a random afterthought to God's plans for the world. He was always the plan for the world. History doesn't exist for the glory of empires or rulers.

It exists for the glory of the son of man who created it, who rescued it in his death and resurrection, and who will rule over it physically when he returns.

If God cares about the location of his son's life, the alphabet, grammar, and vocab of the New Testament language, and the way in which Jesus would die, don't you think that he cares about you and every aspect of your life?

There's not one second of your life that God doesn't care about. So turn it all over to him. Trust in the unknown times that he is working all things together for your good and his glory according to the counsel of his own wisdom.

And secondly, there, Jesus always intended to die for the sins of the world, killed by its wicked rulers to reign victorious over them in his resurrection. Jesus' death by this world's kingdoms was always the plan. Notice their fourth beast comes.

It crushes and demolishes everything that's on the land, that you have mankind being destroyed. And yet, the son of man, one of those people that was crushed and trampled, he rises up in the clouds and is enthroned next to the Ancient of Days.

You might say, well, I don't know, is that kind of a stretch? Jesus quotes this portion of scripture when he's on trial in front of Israel's religious leaders hours before his death.

He said, from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Through death, Jesus was enthroned.

Not through violent takeovers, not through gaining mass appeal, not even through miracles, but through Jesus' voluntary death, his surrendering of his life to the wicked beast of mankind's twisted rule. Jesus was victorious.

He died in our place as a result of our sin and evil, and yet he purchased salvation for us.

He was the son of man crushed and devoured by the beast, but he is the risen son of man, giving an everlasting kingdom, dominion, glory, the worship of all peoples, nations, and languages enthroned beside the ancient of days.

So with you and I, we win in this life, not through trampling over others or amassing goods or wealth for ourselves, but by laying down our lives for others, by embracing mercy, humility, persecution, insults, righteousness, and recognizing that a

day of resurrection is coming, where we will be given crowns and a kingdom and glory from our Savior. Not as a result of us, but as a result of the Lamb. If you're today, have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Have you accepted Jesus as your King? You can and should make that choice today. We'd love to talk with you.

Any of our elders would love to have a conversation with you. If you've got someone sitting in the seat next to you, they would love to tell you about accepting Jesus as your King and your Savior.

Then very last of the day, God is in control of your future. This is what we would read as God is giving this vision, this dream to Daniel. This was all hundreds of years in the future for him.

He wasn't going to be able to experience Jesus' coming. This was just, you can go through your life knowing that God has a plan and that he's in control of your future.

For you, today, don't be afraid of what this life will bring because this life can only bring grief and death. That's all it has to give us. But anticipate what God will do in the next life.

And live your life now like you are in his abundant, kind, godly kingdom. Live today like you are already in the kingdom of heaven. We see two things here from this passage.

Number one, God will return to destroy earth's kingdoms and set up Christ's kingdom. The constant belief of the New Testament writers, given to them by Christ's words, is that Jesus will return bodily to earth to rule and to reign.

Evil, injustice, oppression, and wrong will be crushed, destroyed, and discarded as the king of kings begins his righteous reign. God's kingdom is not any earthly kingdom, and it cannot be created by anyone but Jesus himself.

This is his triumph, not ours. God's not going to be like, man, you guys have done such a great job with America. I don't even know that I need like Jesus to come and start a new kingdom.

Like, I'll just have him come in and you guys can vote him in. No, no, no, no. It's God's kingdom and it will demolish all other earthly kingdoms.

There's not a person on this earth that does right. No, not a single one is what Paul will tell us. So too with our nations.

And so we need a different kingdom, a different form of government entirely. It's not something we set up. It's what Christ himself does.

This will be accomplished at a time that only God himself knows.

As Jesus told us that the angels in heaven don't know when it will take place, and that Christ himself did not know while he was on earth, but were instructed to be prepared for it at any time.

If Jesus were to come back today, would you welcome him as your Savior, King, and your Lord, or would he be an unwelcome interruption to your way of living? What do we do with that? Share your faith with your loved ones.

This world and its loves will not last, and those that build their lives on this world and its kingdoms will only experience death and eternal loss. Turn your eyes to the kingdom of heaven, not here, if you will. Build your life on the rock.

Don't build it on the shifting sands of this world. And then very lastly today, God will give his kingdom to his people forever. Jesus told us, seek the kingdom of God, and these things will be provided for you.

Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. God's not begrudgingly welcoming you into his kingdom. He is glad to give it to you.

And Paul even told us that the saints will judge the world. And we will even judge angels. That's all he gives on that.

That's all I know about it. But what a future, what a kingdom that we are looking forward to. Since you're an heir to a kingdom, don't fret about what you will gain or amass here on earth.

Don't waste your time attempting to enthrone yourself on a crumbling system.

You can waste your days trying to gain money, authority, respect, and your way when you need to spend your days building God's kingdom through evangelism, discipleship, and loving service. Today, God's in control. He's in control of the nations.

He's in control of salvation. He's in control of your future.

Though this world has its beastly kingdoms, ways in which it mistreats people and has for all of human history, but a day is coming when humanity's kingdoms will be judged by the Holy One, the Ancient of Days.

Jesus will set up his kingdom and all those that have turned to him in faith for salvation, that have turned from their sin, from their beastly ways to accepting Jesus in his kingdom, they will experience forgiveness forever and they will be a part

of the kingdom of God. Today, will you allow God's sovereign control to bring peace to your heart in our troubled world?