Hope for the future

Editor's Notes

• #2: A question about the future has disturbed bright minds and many are perplexed by the facts of not knowing what will happen even 5 minutes from now None of us knows what will happen in the future But right from the beginning of our presentation tonight I want to assure you --NEXT
• #3: And the God has revealed the future in the Bible The Bible is full of God’s promises That we can walk bravely in this life with assurance of our future The bible is a collection of 66 books  NEXT
• #4: Note some of these men who contributed to writing of the bible This book is written over a period of 1500 years
• #5: While written 2000 years before the age of science  NEXT
• #6: Let’s look at some of the scientific proofs
• #7: but scientists now agree that light existed before the sun, The book of Genesis written 3500 years ago Had already told us that light existed existed before the sun
• #8: but scientists now agree that light existed before the sun, The book of Genesis written 3500 years ago Had already told us that light existed existed before the sun
• #9: As we peruse the pages of the bible we can see the future as clear as a day As we walk in the unquestionable authority of the word of God we can have confidence in this life that God knows the future and He cares about ours Jeremiah 29 : 11
• #11: in the book of Daniel God had writen the future of the world in advance This book was written in the 6th Century BC That is 600 years before Christ was born At that time when this book was written Right in the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates there dwelt a kingdom called Babylon
• #12: And Babylon became the superpower of the world Babylon was built by a man called Nimrod
• #13: Nimrod was the first king of Babylon In fact history tells us he was the first king in the history of the world He was also the first name man to ever organize an army And they worshiped him as a god
• #14: After his death,,they said his spirit went to the sun and they instituted sun worship Since Nimrod was “a god” and the first king Every other king of Babylon became a high priest of the sun god
• #15: In the 6th Century when the book of Daniel was written Nebuchadnezzer was the king in Babylon
• #16: he too became the high priest of the sun god Which is knows by the title “Pontifex Maximus” And Babylon became the world’s superpower he ruled the entire world He was a successful king
• #17: He had conquered nation after nations In fact history tells us he had conquered 40 other nations and finally he conquered Jerusalem NEXT
• #18: And he took captive the Jews to Babylon Among the Jews who were taken to Babylon were Daniel , Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah King Nebuchadnezzar had in his palace a team of advisers on his payroll These were known as wisemen of Babylon He had scientists, scholars, magicians, sorcerers, chaldians, astrologers And their task was to alert the king of any approaching danger NEXT
• #20: One night King Nebuchadnezer went to sleep and he had a dream he couldn’t remember the dream but he also couldn’t forget that he dreamed The dream troubled him Daniel 2 : 1
• #22: The Babylonians attached great importance to dreams, especially those given to a king, for the king was also the chief priest, or Pontifex Maximus, of the gods of Babylon, to whom he owed his position, and a dream was supposed to be a revelation of the will of the gods. So the king quickly called the wisemen of Babylon But he didn’t call the four Hebrew boys with the rest of wisemen in Babylon He only called the Babylonian wisemen And he told them--NEXT
• #23: But I have forgotten it You tell me what I dreamed about and the meaning of the dream And they answered the king and said V. 4---NEXT
• #24: But the king couldn’t remember the dream After a long discussion The the wisement told the King in V. 10--NEXT
• #25: these men couldn’t tell the dream neither the meaning of it The king was left frustrated and angry NEXT
• #26: And he ordered all wisemen in Babylon to be executed Remember Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azaria were not called in this meeting But the decree went forth that all wisement of Babylon should be executed The bible says in V. 13
• #27: When they came to capture Daniel and his friends Daniel said that’s not fair When other wisemen were called in we were not called in Give us time to pray about this matter The king was so desperate to know the meaning of the dream so he gave them time to pray
• #28: There’s a song that says “Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right” When you don’t know what to do “pray” When sickness creeps in “pray” Even when you feel like you have reached rock-bottom of your life “Pray” God is still hears and answers prayers And he answered their prayer And he showed them exactly the King’s dream and the meaning of the dream NEXT
• #29: Without delay Daniel stood before King Nebuchadnezzar And he said ,,,the wisemen of Babylon could not help you The doctors couldn’t help you The Scientists couldn’t help you The magicians couldn’t help you The astrologers couldn’t help you V. 28 --NEXT
• #30: There is a God in heaven ,,, There are times when nobody will be able to help you But always remember there is a God in heaven And He still answers prayers Daniel tells the king, Listen King Nebuchadnezer ,,this dream is not only for you and now but also for many years to come ,,,,this dream is also for the people of Winschoten Now from V. 31 – 36 Daniel tells the dream  NEXT
• #38: Daniel tells the king this is the image that you saw in your dream I can imagine the king is looking at Daniel and saying that’s it That’s the dream Daniel tells the king ,,God has also shown me the meaning of it And now King listen to the meaning of it V. 37 & 38
• #39: This was a huge surprise to King Nebuchadnezzer He thought Babylon would rule the world forever But God showed that Babylon would only be the head of gold NEXT
• #40: The kingdom of Babylon ruled the world from 605 – 539 BC NEXT
• #41: Babylon was a magnificent kingdom It was truly a golden kingdom It had one of the 7 wonders of the world—the hanging gardens The dream continued: V. 39
• #42: Nobody would think that Babylon would ever come to an end NEXT
• #43: Babylon was very well secured And had the river Euphrates surrounding the kingdom To conquer Babylon you first had to cross river Euphrates And after that you’d meet a 200 feet wall But God had prophesied that Babylon would be conquered And God had said Cyrus would conquer Babylon 150 years before Cyrus was born God said Cyrus will be born and he will overthrow Babylon The Greek historian Herodotus writes about Cyrus
• #44: He said as Cyrus was crossing the river with His army one of his loved white horse died Cyrus was so “angry at the river” and made his army dig 360 ditches to drain it! All the waters of the river Euphrates were drained that his army just walked on the river bed And as they marched towards Babylon they founds the gates of the city open Because that night the king and his guards were drunk and they left the gates of the city open And this was written in the bible 150 years before Cyrus was born Isiah 45 : 1 -2 NEXT
• #46: That night the gates were not shut before the king and his guards were drunk That night Babylon fell and The Medo-Persian became the superpower
• #47: This great Medo-Persian empire was not to last forever either It was quickly conquered by Alexander the great at the battle of Arbela in 331 BC And the Medo-Persian empire came to an end and Greece became the superpower Daniel 2 : 39--NEXT
• #48: Greece became the superpower Under the leadership of Alexander the great NEXT
• #49: At the age of 25 Alexander had conquered the world He was so full of success that he died at the age of 33 drunk And the Greek empire came to an end NEXT
• #50: Greece ruled the world from 331 – 168 BC The dream continues ---NEXT
• #51: The Greek empire came to an end in 168 BC When they were defeated by the Romans at the battle of Pydna
• #52: After defeating Greece, Rome became the superpower And every reader of the history knows that this is exactly how the succession of the kingdoms are Just the way the bible said in advance Rome ,,,though known as the iron kingdom was also not to last forever In 476 AD Rome fell to Barbarian tribes NEXT
• #53: The Babarian tribes bit up on the Romans until the Romans gave up NEXT
• #54: Just like the 10 toes of the image these tribes were also 10 After defeating the Romans,,,,,they became what we know as Europe today Allamanni  The German Anglo-Saxons  The English Burgundians  Switzerland Franks  The French Lombards  The Italians Suevi  The Portuguese Visigoths  The Spanish Heruli Ostrogoths Vandals --NEXT
• #55: And Europe is represented by the toes of iron and clay Represented as a mix of iron and clay The dream continues ---V. 41
• #56: These barbarian tribes which is Europe today never succeeded to become one empire For years Europe has desperately tried to unite But the bible says in V. 3 --NEXT
• #57: Emperor Charlemagne tried to unite Europe --NEXT
• #58: But he failed Charles V—tried to unite Europe NEXT
• #59: but he failed NEXT
• #60: He divorced his French wife and married Austrian-Hungarian hairess Maria Louisa Also built an army of 450,000 soldiers! everyone expected him to be the European emperor This is what Napoleon said --NEXT
• #61: And it didn’t happen NEXT
• #62: In fact he met the English at the battle of Waterloo after the defeat at the waterloo Napoleon said--NEXT
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• #64: Wilhelm II—in world war I he tried He actually Called his army “sons of destiny.” But he failed NEXT
• #65: Adolf Hitler tried but he also failed Europe is still dividing today NEXT
• #66: Daniel 2 : 43
• #67: Next
• #68: The dream continues— V. 34 NEXT
• #69: King Nebuchadnezer might have jumped and said I saw that rock ,,that stone that broke the image What is that Rock ? Tell me about that rock Then Daniel gives him the answer in V. 44
• #70: That rock is the kingdom of God Rock of ages cleft for me ,,,,let me hide myself in thee This rock is the kingdom of God Daniel tells the king in V. 45
• #71: What God wrote through prophet Daniel in the 6th Century happened just the way God said it The dream is true and the meaning is sure V. 45 ---NEXT
• #72: In the days of what is known as Europe today - God will set up a kingdom Babylon came and gone Medo – Persia came and gone Greece came and gone Rome came and gone While we still have Europe - God will set up his kingdom The next superpower is the kingdom of God Jesus is coming soon I personally want Jesus to come ,,,what about you ? I want to see the end of sin Rev 21 : 4
• #73: NEXT
• #74: I want to see Jesus don’t you ?