Audio recording 1 November 1, 2009

Audio recording 2 November 7, 2009

Chapter  2

Most Kings Come and Go.

History shows that all the past kings and kingdoms of this world have been defeated, displaced, and have died.  The present kingdoms of this world that are dominated by Satan are in the process of dying.  Actually, in future history, from God's viewpoint, they are already dead.  All the world's kingdoms fell due to pride.  "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

Daniel's dream.

Beginning at Daniel 7:1 through 7:8 Daniel saw in his dream, in the form of various beasts, the historic and spiritual kingdoms which had ruled the earth.  First he saw the Babylonian Empire as the lion, which was toppled by the Media-Persian Empire represented as the bear.  Then he saw the Grecian Empire, Alexander the Great, represented by a leopard that toppled the Media-Persian empire. They were all actual historic empires, however they also had invisible spiritual foundations.  Each of these kingdoms ultimately failed.  They were all part of the "world system."  The kingdoms that toppled were simply physical manifestations of the spiritual forces behind them.  Therefore, in my opinion, all four spiritual kingdoms exist today as one beast.

Many, but not all, of physical manifestations of all of these kingdoms are gone, but their spiritual manifestations still exist.  However they are subordinate to the Kingdom of God.

Babylonian Empire:            Gold = Lion

Media-Persian Empire:        Silver = Bear

Grecian Empire:                 Bronze = Leopard

Roman Empire:                 Ten Horns, Iron legs and feet mixed with clay.

Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream about these kingdoms in chapter 2.  It was interesting that Nebuchadnezzar did not even remember his dream.  He asked his magicians and astrologers to first tell him what he had dreamed, and then to interpret it.  They could not, but Daniel did both. He told him what he had dreamed and gave him the interpretation of it.

The first three kingdoms were represented by gold, then silver, and then bronze, wherein he described this fourth kingdom as having feet and toes made of both clay and iron, being partly strong and partly brittle. It had iron teeth and devoured ruthlessly.  This fourth kingdom was represented by ten horns (ten standing for world government). He saw this kingdom as being divided.  Remember Jesus said that a kingdom divided couldn't stand.

This final kingdom is very different and "interesting."

The fourth kingdom started with the Roman Empire, which dominated the world and continues today, as a component of the entire beast, under different labels and guises.  However the spiritual foundations of all the  kingdoms still exist, but were rendered subordinate to the Kingdom of God at the Cross and resurrection of Jesus.   That is why its feet are depicted as both iron and clay.  It's natural manifestation was and is like iron, but the truth about its spiritual foundation is that it is as clay.  Daniel said that all the spiritual components of these gold, silver, bronze and iron kingdoms would be destroyed by the Kingdom of God.

The spiritual combining of these four past kingdoms of the earth is shown in Revelation 13:1-2, which says, "Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority" (Revelation 13:1, 2).

In Daniel chapter 7 this fourth and final kingdom is destroyed through a process that can be interpreted as overcoming by God's people.  In Daniel chapter 2, Satan's kingdom, all four of the previous kingdoms combined spiritually, are shown to be divided or weakened by clay mixed with iron at their feet.  It is destroyed by God's Kingdom this time depicted as the Rock or the Stone that was cut out of the mountain not made with human hands.  It was divine; it is Jesus the Rock.

Here is how the destruction of these kingdoms is described in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2.

Daniel 2:31-36, 44, 45.

"31 "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.

32 "This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,

33 "its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

34 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king."

"44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

45 "Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold--the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.""

Here is a description of the destruction of these kingdom from Daniel's dream in chapter 7.

Daniel 7:1-7,19-27

"1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.

2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.

3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.

4 "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

5 "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!'

6 "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

7 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns."

"19 "Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet;

20 "and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows."

"21 "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them,

22 "until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

23 "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces.

24 The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings.

25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

26 'But the court shall be seated, And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever.

27 Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'"

God ordained that these empires destroy one another.

Each time, each empire became weaker; each one being destroyed by another evil empire.  The final kingdom was historical Rome.  However there is a transition here.  The spiritual power holding up the final kingdom is destroyed by God's Kingdom.  Jesus came during the Roman Empire.  His Kingdom was established during it.  Jesus destroyed Satan's kingdom, but we must take His victory and make it real in this world.  We are responsible for working with Him for the final destruction.

Scripture confirms this in Daniel 2:44 which says, "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

Although these historic kingdoms were manifested in the flesh, their ultimate authority came from various demonic forces.  As these demonic forces ruled the humans of their day, the humans took on their personalities.  That included a lack of unity.  Demonic forces, in my opinion have never been unified.  Jesus spoke about the lack of unity in Satan's kingdom in Luke 11.

Luke 11:17 says, "But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.'"

Having just been in Rome while writing this book, I learned that the physical Roman Empire was indeed divided.  Notice that in the dreams this empire had two legs.

The Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western parts; first by emperor Diocletian in 283 A.D., and the division became permanent at the death of emperor Theodosius in 395 A.D.  The two separate empires, the western generally governed from Rome, and the eastern governed from Constantinople, often called the Byzantine Empire.

I was told that it spread so far and wide that two divisions actually had seven leaders in various regions of the world.  These seven leaders became hungry for power and began to assert their own autonomy.  That, I was told, was the beginning of the end for them.

In Daniel chapter 2, Satan's kingdom is shown as destroyed by the Kingdom of God.  In Daniel chapter 7, the Scripture goes into more detail into how that destruction takes place. What is so interesting is just as God describes all of these empires in Daniel 7:1-8, in verse 9 He showed Daniel a courtroom.  Why?  I believe this is how the final kingdom is finally destroyed.  I do not propose to know exactly how and when this final destruction will take place. I cannot explain exactly "how much" of the kingdom of the world our overcoming, before Jesus returns, will destroy.  That is not the important point of this book.  I do know however, that our overcoming destroys those parts of the worldly kingdom that are in our realm of influence.  .  Even Scripture confirms this idea.

Daniel 7:26 (Amplified Bible) says, "But the judgment shall be set [by the court of the Most High], and they shall take away his dominion to consume it [gradually] and to destroy it [suddenly] in the end."

Overcoming is a major task within the Kingdom of God.

The courtroom process depicts the overcoming process that we in the Kingdom of God are responsible for. Daniel's prophetic dreams tell us that overcoming is painful and takes a long time to prevail against the workers of darkness. The final chapters of Daniel confirm this.  The Book of Revelation is a parallel prophetic vision.  For those of you who are not familiar with this term, overcoming, I will cover this in more detail in a later chapter.  Our book Junk To Jewels [1] covers this in detail.

The Rock is revelation knowledge spoken out by you and me.

This is applicable in our lives as well.  Remember in Matthew chapter 16 when Peter received divine revelation on who Jesus was, that Jesus told him that this type of revelation is the foundation of the Church, which has access to the keys to the Kingdom of God.  When we receive divine revelation, and speak it out, it works as a Rock that destroys this final spiritual kingdom.  Jesus the Word is the Rock.  For those of you who may not be familiar with this idea of God speaking directly to a mere human, I will go into more detail in a later chapter.

There is something different about this fourth kingdom of the world.

The Bible tells us that the final kingdom of the world will be different.  There will be a world leader or a group of leaders, who will seem to succeed in bringing peace, financial security and healthcare to the entire world.  I believe that the banking systems of the world will combine and be in control of the world economy.  I believe that this was actually put into action in its infancy in the early 1900s in America with the Federal Reserve System.  Most people believe that the Federal Reserve is a government system, but it is not, neither does it have any significant reserves.  It is a large banking organization owned and operated by an elite group of financial people undercover.  I speculate that this system will eventually bring a socialist form of economics to the United States, the most powerful economic system in the world (presently anyway) and will spread that to a worldwide control of the economy.  With economic control, other powers and goals will be easier to achieve.

People who do not trust in Jesus will be motivated to worship (trust and rely upon) this person or group.  The Scriptures in the Book of Daniel say that even some of the elect will be deceived.  Some will subconsciously claim this to be the messiah.  This new system will appear to work for a period of time, however it will be wiped out by God.  Why?  Because this new system, the New World Order, will by necessity have to effect a compromise between evil and the ignorant.  And for a period of time the evil element will pretend to be at peace.  One major flaw in this proposed system is that it will call upon Israel and America to compromise with the radical religious elements of Islam.  My opinion is that these radical forces will pretend to compromise until the rest of the world is put to sleep by the New World Order, and they feel that their opponents are disarmed and vulnerable.  Then they will attack with a vicious force.  That is when God Himself will intervene.

The new world order will have a form of peace and prosperity.

However the Lord will break up their "party."  God will cause wars to come against Israel in order to fill to the full the wrath that God's enemies are due.

Ezekiel 38:4 says, "I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords."

It will look like peace.

Ezekiel 38:11 says, "You will say, 'I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.'"

Daniel 11:31 says, "And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.

Daniel 12:11-13 says, "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.  But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."

The abomination of desolation, in my opinion, refers to a time when the antichrist spirit, and perhaps the final Antichrist person, will deceive many, perhaps even many believers.

Jesus spoke about this in Mathew 24:6,15-28:

"6 "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."

"15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand),

16 "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

17 "Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

18 "And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

19 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

20 "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

23 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.

24 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

25 "See, I have told you beforehand.

26 "Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it.

27 "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

28 "For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

A wake up call!

Most people, even believers in Jesus, are oblivious to the fact that invisible spiritual governments rule this world.  These governments have no regard for their constituents.  That is why this world is in such a mess and why so many are suffering from disease, hunger, poverty, war and genocide.

Many more are even oblivious to the fact that as believers we can live under the rule of the Kingdom of God now, as ambassadors to this foreign planet.  But we can and should.  Jesus purchased our freedom from the world's system, from Mystery Babylon as it is called in the Book of Revelation.  While the advantages are great for living in the Kingdom of God now, there is a real war and struggle going on between spiritual beings to stop you and I from doing so.  It is not easy, nor is it for the faint in heart. But whoever participates in the displacement of the world's kingdom by God's Kingdom, will reap huge rewards, both in eternity, and in most cases even in this life.

All the kings died, even King Jesus died.

However the difference is that Jesus is the only king that died and rose from the dead through a supernatural resurrection.  He is the only king that ever lived that has a kingdom that will last forever.  He is the only king that ever lived that can guarantee His followers eternal life and a resurrection from their spiritual and physical death.

Isaiah 9:6, 7

"6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

How did Jesus overcome death?

He was born into the human race in a supernatural manner.  He was born of a virgin, by the Word of God spoken by an angel to Mary planting the sperm of God into her.

1 Peter 1:23 says "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."

Jesus was and is God in the flesh.  He existed from eternity with no beginning and no end.  He never did not exist!  His virgin birth caused Him to be born without sin.  He lived as a mere human on earth without sinning.  Therefore He was the "perfect lamb" to take our sin for us.

John 1:1-4,14 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Eternal life.

Eternal life does not merely mean living with God after you die for eternity with no end. It includes that.  However, it also means having the life of God planted into your very being through the Holy Spirit.  This is God's way of returning us to "normal" much like Adam was before he sinned.  God living inside of man,  Man with a free will ruling the world by hearing his King Jesus speak to him and obeying.

How do I obtain this eternal life?

Eternal life is a free gift from God to everyone who believes.  However, the word believes means a lot more than mental believing.  It is an action verb which means to make the Lord Jesus your Lord and master.

Romans 10:8-10 says, "But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Traditional religions put "the cart before the horse."

Most religions teach that if you do enough works to please your god, or even the one and only God, that you will earn your place in Heaven.  Most religions teach that people's works will be evaluated and that evaluation will either get them into Heaven or keep them out.  This keeps a lot of religious people in suspense and even in fear, not knowing where they will go when they die.

True Christianity works different.

When we make Jesus Lord, and give up our independence, we give him the right to direct and control our lives through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit enters our body, He, being God, begins to conform our character to that of God's and Jesus Christ.  We have to cooperate of course, by constantly feeding our spirit with the Word of God and constantly obeying Him.

Here is the difference.

Most religions teach that one must improve in some way to earn favor with God.  Christianity teaches that one cannot earn favor with God, but that God Himself will make the improvements after a person commits his/her life to Jesus as Lord.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Once you have been born again and obtained eternal life, then you are qualified to see and live in the Kingdom of God, now!

Living in the Kingdom of God while you are here on earth is really a very childlike and simple thing.  It does not consist of good works like tithing, going to church, Bible studies and the like, all of which are not only good but needed.  However those works are only the by-product of the real thing.

The real thing is having daily intimate contact with Jesus, and the Father through the Holy Spirit.  Our objective is to become saturated with the mind of God, knowing that hearing and experiencing Him on a regular basis is the key to living in His Kingdom.  Many Christians do good works, but never make intimate contact with Him.  The Kingdom to them is still a mystery.  I will go into more detail about this in later chapters.

The intimacy of His presence is more powerful and valuable than the promise of His answer.

[1] http://www.isob-bible.org