In the midst of the vision of the
sweep of human history, he sees the coming Christ.Lions, bear, leopard, nondescript with great iron teeth.Final 10 kingdoms, then the great
intervention, interposition: the coming of Christ.Revealed here in several dramatic, vivid concepts.
I. Judgmental:
7:10
John 5:22
1. Time
surely coming when whole world will be judged.All of us shall stand before God someday.Our proximity as near as the day of our death.
Everything moving toward the great
final consummation.The rendezvous with
God.The great Assize.Our universe moving through space.
History, destiny ineffably
moving.Our lives enmeshed.However diverse our paths, all converge at
that one common center.
Child in cradle, reaching up its
tiny arms is reaching up to the great judgment of God.
Youth with elastic thread is moving
to the great judgment of Almighty God.
Old man with crutches or canes,
falling toward the judgment of Almighty God.
Rich man driving by with splendid
equipment is driving to the judgment day of Almighty God.
Poor man in rags, barefoot, is
walking to the great judgment of Almighty God.
Christian, with songs on his lips
and praises in his heart, is pilgrim aging to the great assize.
Lost man, doing despite to the
spirit of grace, treading underfoot the blood of the covenant wherewith Christ
was sanctified, is moving to the great judgment day of Almighty God.
2. Judgment
of Israel.Ezek. 20:37
Judgment of Gentiles.Matt. 25:31
Judgment of Christians. II Cor. 5:10
Judgment of the lost, wicked.Rev. 20:11-15; II Thes.1:7-10
3. Books opened.
Three alone, to last forever.
(1) Bible.Isa. 40:8; Matt. 24:35
(2) Book
of rewards
(3) Lamb’s
Book of life.“On the page bright and
fair,
Are our names written there?
The judgment is set and the books
will be opened.
II. The
Coming of Christ is Pre millennial
Not the kingdom set up, then Christ
comes.But always, Christ comes and
then the kingdom is set up.
The millennial rule not just the
dawn that ushers in Christ, but Christ the rising sun whose unshaded glory
shall out glow the whole earth.
We are not to look for a great
tribulation, or for the battle of Armageddon, or for the development of the
social fabric of national life, or for some system whereby men are ameliorated
in their pain or suffering or desire in prayer for peace.Rather, we are to look for the great God and
Savior the Lord Jesus.Even as Paul
wrote in Phil. 3:20.
Dan. 7:9 “thrones were cast down.”
First, there is the coming of
Ancient of Days, then the thousands of thousands who gather to minister before
Him.
Dan. 2:34 “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. 7:13,14 Christ cometh, then the
kingdom given Him.
III. The Coming of Christ is Interventional
1. The
great lesson of the prophecy: the restoration of humanity is never found in
itself, but in a power beyond itself, outside itself, above itself.
7:17,18 Four kings.But the saints of the most High shall take
the kingdom.
How the rule transferred from beast
nations (from terrestrial to celestial?)
How the focus of the Gentiles
changed into the peaceful possession of the saints.
How changed from terrestrial to
celestial?
Only by the Coming of Christ.
The kingdom comes only through the
intervention from God’s power.
The second coming of our Lord which
begins the rule of God on earth.
The achievement must come from an
intervention of heaven.We are helpless
on our own.
Compare: (1) Death.So final, if any
resurrection, outside ourselves.
Abraham, Sarah, bury my dead out of
my sight.
Compare: (2) Dead in trespasses and sin.So final.If only new birth,
outside ourselves.Ez. 2:1,2.
Compare: (3) World system of violence, greed.If any new order without intervention.
2. The
intervention of Christ.7:13
Matt. 24:27 suddenly as a flash of
lightening.
Mark 14:61,62
Rev. 1:7
At a moment when men are
asking.II Peter 3:4
He was despised and rejected of men,
crucified between two thieves.Shall be
seen coming in clouds of glory.“they
also who pierced him” Rev. 1:7.
IV.The Coming of Christ is
Triumphal
Dan. 7:18,22,27 for the saints,
church old covenant, new.
The marvelous complexities that
compose this empire of peace and joy.
Compare: the glories of the present
fallen creatures.Color, dimensions,
seasons, sky, day, night not all drab, colorless.There are not two leaves alike.
1. Angels
and humans.7:10; Rev. 5:8-14
The myriad's upon myriad's of
angelic spirits who stand before God.
But not with us.However we may be poor, humble, degraded yet
these blessed angels do not disdain fellowshiping with us as fellow-servants in
the eternal kingdom, glory and city of our Savior.Rev. 22:8,9
2. National
and international.
(a) People.Individuals.You are you.I am I.If that is not true, resurrection and
glorification mean nothing at all.
(b) Nations.Flowers will still differ from flowers.
Stars will still differ from other stars.
Country and Nation will differ from country and
nation.
(c) Language.A part of the curse of sin was the breaking
up of the one common language.But the
reversal of that curse in eternity does not mean that we shall have just one
tongue with which to speak.Rather it
means that each nation possessing its own language and own tongue can
understand every other nation.
What the language of heaven?Italian?Spanish?Jesus spoke to Saul in
the Hebrew tongue.In the days of His
flesh, He spoke the Aramaic language.
Many people, one sentiment.
Many nations, one kingdom rule.One Lord.
Many languages, one harmonious
understanding.
Like music, one glorious
contribution from each instrument.
3. Diversified,
but nondestructive.
Isa. 11:6-9Not hurt, destroy.
The hate, rape, rob, destroy, and
overrun other nations..so often the diversities in the human family bring
sorrow and conflict.But in the kingdom
of God the diversity is nondestructive.
No pity.
No more national strife.Micah 4:3
No more internal strife. Isa. 11:13
No more hopelessness, darkness,
shadow of death.Rev. 22:5; 21:23
