Daniel in Revelation

As we get rolling into the second half of the Tribulation, it’s important we see how intricately the Book of Daniel is woven into the Book of Revelation. All good scholars agree we must have a good understanding of Daniel in order to understand the End-Times prophecies of the Book of Revelation. So, today, I just want to connect Daniel to Revelation for you, to lay the foundation for some really cool messages that come in the future, and to give you some of the shock and awe that is the Book of Daniel.

I’m going to be reading so much scripture today that (for a large part) the scripture itself is going to do the teaching, and I promise, and I am trying hard to not make this a college class.

For “time’s sake,” we can only hit a few of the high points of Daniel today. So, I can’t go back and give you all the background, the cross-references, and the whys for these connections. I’m just going to put it out there. But it’s okay because I just want you to see the connection between Daniel and Revelation, and I just want the prophetic Word of God to blow your mind.

So, let’s start in Daniel Chapter 2. This vision in Daniel 2 is about the biblical world-ruling empires of history. The world ruling empires of history, as far as the Bible is concerned, because the Bible is focused on where things started and where World War Three is about to erupt, and the Ezekeil 38 war is one decision away right now in the Middle East. There are four major world-ruling empires. These world-ruling empires started with Babylon and ended with the reign of Jesus Christ and his eternal Empire. The King, Nebuchadnezzar, has this vision in Chapter 2, and it is the statue of a man – that is the timeline of biblical empires of history. And this history goes down from the head to the feet. So, the King had this dream; no one could interpret it, and Daniel says, “Neither can I, but my God can!!” And in Daniel 2, verse 31, God interprets the dream through Daniel.

Daniel 2:31–35 (talking to the King) (NLT)
31 “In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight.
(this statue represents - the Biblical World-Ruling Kingdoms)
32 The head of the statue was made of fine gold. (1st kingdom) Its chest and arms were silver (2nd kingdom), its belly and thighs were bronze (3rd kingdom),
33 its legs were iron (4th kingdom), and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay (that is not a fifth kingdom, it is a revived & pieced-together 4th kingdom, still the iron, but now mixed with fragile clay).
34 As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands (a Heavenly kingdom). It struck the feet of iron and clay (the last world kingdom), smashing them to bits.
35 The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold (all kingdoms of the world crushed). Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor (all kingdoms of the world disappear). But the rock that knocked the statue down (heavenly kingdom) became a great mountain that covered the whole earth (Kingdom of Christ on earth).

Now, let’s connect that to some world history. There have only been four kingdoms considered “biblical world-ruling kingdoms.” The United States is not one of them and will never be. The first of these kingdoms was Babylon, where Daniel was writing during the exile when he wrote the Book of Daniel. Babylon was the first major world-ruling Empire.

After the Babylonian Kingdom came the Medo-Persian Kingdom. The Medes and the Persians joined together and over through Babylon, a fun story. After the Medo-Persian Kingdom came Greece under Alexander the Great. I’m giving you world history right now, extra-biblical (meaning outside the Bible) – this is world history. After the Empire of Greece came the fierce Empire of Rome. And Rome was the last true biblical world-ruling Empire. But – the Roman Empire was never actually conquered. Instead, Rome fell from within, and the Roman Empire was absorbed into the Nations we know today as the European and Mediterranean Nations.

That is actual world history. And it is also perfectly documented IN the Book of Daniel, written in 500’s BC. And don’t let anyone tell you, “Well, the prophecies of Daniel are so exact there is no way it could have been ahead of time. It had to be written after all of this occurred.” When you’re committed to rejecting God, you’ll believe anything. People are crazy about Daniel because the prophecies are so exact that they say it can’t be written beforehand. So, now Daniel is going to lay out the history of the world from 586 BC TO the Reign of Jesus Christ.

In verses 36-38 Daniel is still talking, speaking to Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 2:36–38 (NLT)
36 “That was the dream. Now we will tell the King what it means.
37 Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings (King of Babylon). The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.
38 He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.

The first world-ruling kingdom – Babylon.

Daniel 2:39(a) (NLT)
39 “But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. . .

That’s the chest and arms of silver – the Medo-Persian Empire.

Daniel 2:39(b) (NLT)
39 . . . After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world.

That’s the Empire of Greece known for their bronze armor, under Alexander the Great.

Daniel 2:40 (NLT)
40 Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes.

That is the ruthless Roman Empire.

Daniel 2:41-43 (NLT)
41 The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay, showing that this kingdom will be divided. (exactly what happened to Rome) Like iron mixed with clay, it will have some of the strength of iron. (If you look at the European Union right now you can see how easily this connects)
42 But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay.
43 This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. (that was then, but now we call it the E.U.) But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix.

This is exactly what happened in ancient history, AND it is exactly what is still happening today, in this European Union, in this fragmented Rome Union of Nations.

Daniel 2:44-45(a) (NLT)
44 “During the reigns of those kings (the Revived Mixture of Rome with other Nations – again, pointing at the E.U.), the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.
45 That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. . .

That is an incredible set of prophecies, all of which have come to pass and are coming to pass.

At least fourteen times in scripture, Jesus is referred to as The Rock, and this Rock – not made by human hands – will crush all previous world-ruling empires. His Kingdom will cover the earth, and it will never end.

Isn’t that a great piece of history right out of the Book of Daniel, written in the 500’s BC? Not AD. Some guy wrote a book in 600 AD, and now he’s got one point nine million followers that just want to kill the Jews. He didn’t even write his book until 600 AD, and if you just look at it, it’s a perverted version of the Bible. He just rewrote the Bible and added the “kill all the Jews” part.

Satan is not a creator. You know that, right? He can’t create. He wasn’t created as a creator. He can only pervert what God has created. That’s why if you put the Koran and the Bible side-by-side, you would say, wow. They are really similar, except opposite. Almost like God wrote one, and Satan is not the opposite of God, but the dark side wrote one. I am not implying anything that’s going on in our world – today! Yikes!

I’m just waiting. I just wake up every morning and say, is today the day? You’re watching Yemen attack all the Israeli ships in the Red Sea. We have aircraft carriers in the Red Sea. And at some point, someone’s going to have the courage to send the signal, and then it’s going to go bad, but ultimately, it will go good after it goes bad.

Daniel 2:45(b) (NLT)
45 . . .The great God was showing the King what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.”

Guys, that is a perfectly exact history of the ancient world-ruling Empires. In fact, the prophecies in Daniel are so exact; not only is it ignored by what we call “liberal scholars” (which only can get jobs in seminaries because they want to do that to the minds of college-age kids) that also the Rabbinical schools in Jerusalem won’t allow Rabbi’s in training to study the Book of Daniel. They pull it out of the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, and just say yeah, yeah. That one is not important; let’s move on because it is so incredible. It’s so perfectly awesome. The critics of the Bible routinely say. . . “Daniel had to be written after the fact because no man could write prophecies that accurate.” And actually, they’re right. No man could do it – but God DID do it!

And so, what does that all mean for our study of Revelation? It means a lot. Our world has already seen these four ruling Empires perfectly follow the Book of Daniel. the world has already seen the rise and fall of the four major biblical world-ruling Empires. It’s all happened already. And the last world Empire (the combination of iron and clay at the feet of the statue, in Daniel 2) that will usher IN the return of Jesus Christ and will get crushed by Jesus Christ, and it will be the revived Roman Empire that will be intermixed with other nations of the world.

And without a doubt, the Antichrist will come through the Revived Roman Empire (who we will meet in the next message). There’s too much scripture confirming that. The Revived Roman Empire IS the E.U. (I’m going to do a whole message on the E.U. for you because Americans don’t seem to know what this E.U. is. And they are a group of nations [and when I go through the E.U. message with you, you will say – no way! That can’t be true! – it’s true] from whom the Antichrist will come out of, almost for sure.)

This revived Roman Empire is the Empire that will bring us the Antichrist symbolized by the feet and toes of this statue (verse 41). And it’s so interesting God would have Daniel specifically mention toes because the number ten (as in ten toes) gets very important.

Over in Daniel Chapter 7, we see this same prophecy – from another perspective.

Some say Chapter 2 is this prophecy from Man’s perspective.
And Chapter 7 is this same prophecy from God’s perspective.

In Daniel Chapter 7, we see the groundwork for the rising of the Antichrist that we’ll see next message in Revelation Chapter 13.

Speaking of his own vision now – instead of the King’s vision – Daniel says this.

Daniel 7:2-3 (NLT)
2 In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction.
3 Then four huge beasts came up out of the water, each different from the others.

And so, instead of four parts of a statue of a man (that’s Man’s perspective) God sees these ruling Empires of the world as four huge beasts coming out of the sea of humanity.

For time’s sake, I have to summarize the next three verses.

The first beast was like a Lion (Babylon)
The second beast was like a Bear (Persia)
The third beast was like a Leopard (Greece)

And then we pick it back up with the fourth beast – Rome.

Daniel 7:7 (NLT)
7 Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast (Rome) - terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth (again, a common reference to the Roman army) and trampled their remains beneath its feet. . .

Which is exactly what the original Roman Empire did. But then, the end of verse 7 refers to this same Empire “revived” in the last days.

7 . . . It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns.

In the King’s vision, the “revived” Roman Empire had ten toes. Here, the same Roman Empire has ten horns because the horn always represents authority and ruling power.

Daniel 7:8 (NLT)
8 As I was looking at the horns (10 Revived Roman Nations), suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it (to make room for the small horn – leaving 7). This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.

In our last Revelation message, in Revelation 12:3, we saw a picture of Satan with seven heads and ten horns, and scholars agree that is a symbolic reference to the Satanic control of this ten-nation revived Roman Federation. And out of this ten-nation federation, three nations are removed to make room for another horn – a small horn. That is the Antichrist. The Antichrist will (in some way) remove three of these nations and so there are seven nations left with the Antichrist wielding the power and influence over them all.

(We have a nineteen-part series in Daniel. Nineteen messages in Daniel, and I am trying to survey half of it in forty-five minutes.)

Here’s an interesting thing. When the European Union was formed, it didn’t have a president. And they fought to have a president. They didn’t want to have a single person who represented the European Union. Until 1991, which you might think was a long time ago, but historically it wasn’t. They installed a president. So now, there’s one person who has authority over the E.U., which right now has twenty-seven countries (they come and go). Ultimately, it will be ten major and a bunch of small countries.

Now, over the past forty years or so, the countries of Europe have been working hard to “join together” as a European Union and revive the world power Rome once had, but with multiple nations. That’s why the iron and clay mix in the toes.

The first step in this reviving of European world power was started in 1958, just ten years after the rebirth of Israel as a nation. And this initial “joining together” of the first nations that became the European Union – what was called the European Common Market, now called the European Union – the treaty that formed them was actually first called The Treaty of Rome, which was the beginning of what we call today – “The European Union.”

And since the Treaty of Rome was signed, incredible prophetic events have been developing in what is called today the European Union (the E.U.). The Revived Roman Empire is alive and well today and their actions have fulfilled (or paved the way) for so much biblical prophecy that it is absolutely staggering.

And so now, in Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel’s vision continues from verse 9 to verse 14, which we have to skip over for today. And then, in Daniel 7:15, Daniel is troubled by the vision, so he asks for an explanation and gets one, starting in verse 17. (This is a huge read)

Daniel 7:17–27 (NLT)
17 “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. (same 4 we’ve been talking about)
18 But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.” (YAY!!)
19 Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast (Rome), the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet.
20 I also asked about the ten horns (10 nations) on the fourth beast’s head and the little horn (the Antichrist) that came up afterward and destroyed three of the other horns. This horn had seemed greater than the others, and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. (that’s the Antichrist)
21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against God’s holy people and was defeating them, (that’s the Tribulation)
22 until the Ancient One—the Most High—came and judged in favor of his holy people. (that’s the return of Jesus Christ we’ll see in Rev Ch 19) Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom. (the Millennium)
23 Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth (Rome). It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path.
24 (then, moving on to the Revived Roman Empire) Its ten horns are ten kings who will rule that Empire. (The E.U.) Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them.
25 He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. (Can you imagine the European people oppressing the people of the Most High – like they are today, every minute of every day? This is not just going to happen – it IS happening) He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time. (3 1/2 years) (the control of the Antichrist – 2nd half of the Tribulation)
26 “But then the court (heavenly court) will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed.
27 Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.” (Jesus wins in the end and rules this world from Jerusalem for the 1,000 year Millennium)

That is a huge read and it is a very huge deal!! Because it explains how the Antichrist comes to power and how he will be defeated by Jesus Christ!

Skip over to Daniel Chapter 9 – which contains one of the most significant prophetic scriptures in the Old Testament. A lot of people say THE most significant.

Daniel is praying at the beginning of Chapter 9. He’s crying out for the people of Israel. In verse 21, the Angel Gabriel shows up, and this time, he gives Daniel the timeline for the first and second coming of Jesus Christ. It’s a timeline. It’s a calendar.

Daniel 9:23–24 (NLT)
23 (Gabriel talking to Daniel) The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.
24  (this is the timeline for both the first coming and second coming of Jesus Christ, written in the 500’s BC) “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city . . .

I don’t have time to go into the background, but this seventy sets of seven (your Bible might say seventy weeks, but it is way more literal to say seventy sets of seven) is speaking of seventy sets of seven years. And our messages in Daniel explain all the background of that.

Sixty-nine sets of those sets of seven have already happened exactly as Daniel prophesied they would, and the one final set of seven years has not yet happened.

And so, what is the purpose of these seventy sets of seven years? Again, verse 24. Here’s the reason why God has ordained these seventy sets of seven years.

Daniel 9:24 (NLT)
24 “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city (1) to finish their rebellion, (2) to put an end to their sin, (3) to atone for their guilt, (4) to bring in everlasting righteousness, (5) to confirm the prophetic vision, and (6) to anoint the Most Holy Place. (6 very HUGE things)

That is God’s purpose and his plan for these seventy sets of seven years.

And how have the first sixty-nine sets of seven already occurred? Here they are in the next verse.

Daniel 9:25 (NLT)
25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven (69 Sets of 7) will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. (that’s the Messiah) Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.

When Daniel is writing, Israel is in captivity in Babylon and the Temple has been destroyed. And verse 25 says there will be a total of sixty-nine sets of seven between the command given to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah – the Anointed One. (before the return of the Messiah) God told Israel exactly when the Messiah was to come. He gave them all the signs (even gave them prophecies, gave them dates – in a sense – gave them number of years) they needed to NOT miss it. But they did miss it, which is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem in his final days before the Cross. He was coming down the Palm Sunday road, he wept for Jerusalem, and he said, the prophets have spoken, but you’ve missed the coming of the Messiah.

The math is so exact here. There are Jewish Rabbi schools that don’t allow “rabbis in training” to study this book because it is so easy for them to figure out that this prophecy is talking about Jesus. But, if you take sixty-nine sets of seven years on the Hebrew calendar (which is thirty day months and no leap years), you’ll get to a date. So, all we need to know is when the command to rebuild Jerusalem was given.

In Nehemiah Chapter 2, we are given the date that King Artaxerxes gave the decree to allow Nehemiah to go and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, which was the beginning of the real rebuilding of the city. It was in the spring of 445 BC (we know that historically). And if we add sixty-nine sets of seven years (Hebrew calendar) to that date, we arrive at the spring of 32 AD. What significant event happened in the spring of 32 AD? Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem in the Triumphal Entry exactly when and exactly how God prophesied he would.

But Israel missed it, and instead of receiving the Messiah, they crucified him, which Daniel also prophesied.

Daniel 9:26(a) (NLT)
26 “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven (plus the orig 7 in v.25, equaling 69 sets of 7) , the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, . . .

Exactly when Daniel said Jesus would arrive – he arrived
Exactly when Daniel said Jesus would be killed – he was killed – appearing to have accomplished nothing.

And then Daniel prophesied the very next historical event. Let me read the second half of Daniel 9:26 out of the ESV to clearly point out one thing.

Daniel 9:26(b) (ESV)
26 . . . And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The prince who is to come is the Antichrist. His people are Rome, and Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, exactly as Daniel predicted it over 500 years earlier. In 70 AD, Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple on behalf of Rome, just like Daniel prophesied it.

All of that is to ask you this question. If Daniel perfectly prophesied the first sixty-nine sets of seven and the four major world-ruling empires – biblically, of the world – what’s the chance that he is going to get the seventieth week right? I’ll tell you, it’s 98 ½ percent because I did the math. So, it’s a 98 ½ percent chance that if the first sixty-nine were right the seventieth is going to be right. But really, honestly, it’s a one hundred percent chance. Can we trust him for the one set of seven that has not yet happened?

You have to see this. Guys, we are living in what’s called the pause between the first sixty-nine sets of seven and the final set of seven. This pause is called The Church Age. It began at the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of Acts Chapter 2, Pentecost, and it ends at the beginning of the Tribulation, at the beginning of the final set of seven. And in verse 27, we have that final set of seven spelled out for us.

Daniel 9:27 (NLT)
27 The ruler (the antichrist) will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven (the tribulation period), but after half this time (3 1/2 yrs), he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration (we call that the Abomination of Desolation), until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

 That’s Daniel writing the Tribulation, in really two verses, in the 500’s BC.

This is called - The Abomination of Desolation, where the Antichrist comes into the Temple at the mid-way point of the Tribulation . . . He desecrates the Temple, and he sets himself up to be worshipped. And that is the time Jesus says in Matthew 24 that all Jews left on earth need to RUN for the hills – because it gets super bad from that point on.

 That was a lot, wasn’t it? Listen, I just went through the History of the World for you, written in the 500’s BC. And every single prophecy that has been written, that has been fulfilled, has been fulfilled perfectly. The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy (which you should get) says there are 1800 primary prophecies written in the Bible (not small ones). Every one that has been fulfilled has been fulfilled perfectly. Again, we have to get real with ourselves and say what’s the chance that the rest of them will be.

 You can go to Word By Mail. If you’re new around here, our Bible teaching ministry is called Word By Mail. You can get it from the Calvary Chapel Nuevo phone app or at wordbymail.com. You guys online are primarily Word By Mail family, so you know where to get it. We have a full 19-part series on Daniel that you can get on the Word By Mail website: wordbymail.com

 But our goal today has been:
1). To show the awesome accuracy of the prophetic Word of God. – Have you seen it??
2). To give you some background on how we know WHERE the Antichrist comes from and HOW he manages to take over the world.

 I know there are still so many more questions you have. But here is how we have to end today. God’s prophecies written in the Bible are absolutely without comparison to ANY other document – religious or otherwise. There are over 1800 specific prophecies in the Bible, and every one HAS been fulfilled perfectly.

 Sixty-nine of the seventy sets of seven prophesied in Daniel (in the 500’s BC) have occurred exactly as Daniel predicted they would. There is one set of seven years left to unfold as God brings his good and final plan to pass on this earth.

 And so, here is my prayer for each of us as we close.

 1). I pray we would be amazed and believe the supernatural prophecies in God’s Word.
2). I pray we would be in awe at God’s plan for this world and for us.
3). I pray that we would be on the right side of God’s plan by receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.