Daniel 7:13-14

Are you longing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?
Let me tell you about the Word of God concerning this, in 2nd Timothy 4:1-8: 

"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry"

"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing"

Hallelujah!

Jesus is coming soon!

Hallelujah! 

There are several revelations about Jesus' Second Coming here:

  1.  Timothy's work as an evangelist is encouraged "in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom". That Second Coming and the coming kingdom should be a fuel that would keep burning his faith. 
  2. All people were called to receive "sound doctrine", waiting for Jesus' glorious coming, but some of them should "turn their ears away from the truth". 
  3. Paul expected to receive a "crown of righteousness" on that day when he should come to heaven. But not as a reward because of his labors, only because he "longed for his appearing". 
Are you longing for Jesus Christ's Second Coming?

There is a crown which is reserved for those who keep the HOPE. It doesn't matter how many your accomplishments are, how many souls have you lead to Christ, how many lives have you helped, how many sick have you healed, how many unclean spirits have you rebuked... The only thing which matters is your HOPE, if you "long for His appearing". 

Are you longing for Jesus Christ's Second Coming?

Or have you "turned your ear away from the truth"?

Before you answer those questions - not to me, but to God - let me explain about what is it that we mean with "turning our ear away from the truth" and forgetting our hope. In order to answer any question it is important to know what is it about, and if our acts or thoughts are involved in the question, to remember those acts and thoughts, in order to evaluate them in light of the question.   

God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed for their life. He gave them even instructions about what to do and what to avoid. But we don't read about some "hope" to them, until that day they fell in sin. There is a reason: they had not "turned their ears away from the truth" until that day. Their first promise about salvation and restoration, the first word of hope, came to them when they sinned. God talked to them in their shame, He confronted them with the commandment He had given them and which they had violated, and prophesied their punishment and redemption, the "offspring of the woman" that would "crush the head" to the "offspring of the serpent". 

The children of Adam and Eve were raised and instructed in God's knowledge, and they knew they should fear God. How do we know? Because they took a portion from the product of their work to present offerings to the Lord. You bring an offering to God when you know that you need forgiveness for your sins, and you know that it is the way you'll reconciliate with Him. But God was pleased with Abel's offering, and not with Cain's. There is a simple reason: Abel's offering was about killing an animal, "portions from some of the firstborn of his flock", and Cain's wasn't. He had "turned his ear away from the truth", and presented an offering without blood. The Word says clearly that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness". Cain had his hope in something that didn't fill God's requirements. 

Nevertheless, Cain's sin had a solution: to repent. Then the only thing he had to do would be to get an animal, trading some vegetables for it, and sacrifice the animal to God, as Abel did. Why didn't he do it? The Bible says that he "was very angry, and his face was downcast". His frustration had a single cause, his offering was deficient. And he had a solution to this. But he became angry against God and his brother, he blamed them for his own failing. He didn't give heed to God's warning about sin. The end of the story is a tragedy. Cain killed his brother and get condemned by God. He despised the hope of salvation that God gave him.  

Unfortunately, this case is not the only one about somebody who has lost all hope. The Word shows us also the story of king Saul. Because of his disobedience, Saul was rejected as a king, and Samuel the prophet anointed the young David as Israel's future king. But it didn't mean that David should depose Saul from the throne. David showed total respect to Saul's authority through all his life, and he pardoned him twice, even when the king was persecuting him to kill him, because he saw in Saul "the anointed of the Lord". Saul's attitude caused him to lose his faith in Israel's God, to consult a medium - which was forbidden by law for the Jews - and finally to commit suicide because he was defeated in a battle against the Philistines. Saul lost his hope of being "the Lord's anointed". 

One of the most tragical stories about somebody who lost his hope is that of Judas, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He received the same instructions than the rest of the disciples, he evangelised together with them, he healed the sick, rebuked unclean spirits and ministered as all the other ones. He had seemingly  the same faith. But he let his spirit to become corrupt, he stole from the money bag, confronted Mary when she anointed the Lord's feet with perfume, and betrayed his Master at the end. He lost his hope twice. In the first place, he lost his faith in the Messiah, his Master, Who was certainly able to fulfill all prophecies about Israel's salvation. It can be seen in his betrayal. And secondly, he lost his faith in God's love. He failed to remember that God is not interested in comdemning us, but in saving us, because God is love. When Judas saw the terrible consequences of his treason, instead of repenting and seeking God's forgiveness, he committed suicide.    

We have hope in God. It keeps us from doing wrong, and gives us endurance in our trials. Even when we see there are no results coming from something good we are doing, we hope it will. This hope is a very important thing. It is so vital that the apostle Paul puts it in a special category together with faith and love. And when he is talking about the Second Coming of Jesus, the apostle reminds us that this event is linked to the resurrection from the dead and to the transformation of the ones who will be alive on that day, from mortal to immortal, from perishable to imperishable. Paul speaks about these things so that we will "not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope". 

Maybe you have not killed your brother, as Cain did. Maybe you're not persecuting him to death, as king Saul, or have betrayed him like Judas. But these terrible actions are the results of a process which begins with something unseen, subtle, invisible: to "turn your ear away from the truth". Observe the truth that we can read in the book of Daniel about our hope: 

Daniel 7:13-14

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed"

The original Aramaic text sounds like this: 

Khazé havét vekhezvé lelyá, 
vaarú im anané shemayá kebár enásh atá havá
Vead atík yomayá metá ukodamóhi hakrebúhi

Velá yehíb shaltán, vikár, umalkú, 
vekol amemayá, umayá velishanayá le yiflehún 
shaltané shaltán alám, di la yeedé
umalkhuté di la titkhabál 

Let's pray:

Almighty God, we give You thanks 
Because of this amazing prophecy
You gave to Daniel about Your Son
We give You thanks because You have prepared
A better eternity for us
And we give You thanks because 
There is more in those prophecies than we can see now
Open our eyes oh Lord, to receive from You
The marvellous things hidden in this treasure 
Which is Your Word
In Jesus Holy Name

Amen

The translation we read in NIV is a very literal one. But when we read that all nations "worshipped him", this comes from Aramaic "le yiflehún", where the verb "pelá" means to worship, to revere or to serve. In a purely idiomatic sense, all translations are right. But many Bible versions translate "to serve" because of the degree of revelation that Daniel had. Nobody knew the concept of "Trinity" in the Old Testament, and Daniel saw just a human king coming before God, which means that the nations will "serve" him, not "adore" him. Otherwise, the version to English is perfect. This passage of Daniel's vision reminds us our hope, the eternal kingdom that Jesus will receive in His coming and where we will live on eternity. 

Do you have that hope in a kingdom of eternal justice?

Or maybe have you lost your hope?

Or have you been living up to now wihout this hope?

There are many messages in the Word of God about hope. Let's talk about a very special one we can find in Ezekiel 37. 

Like Daniel, Ezekiel was a prophet, younger than Jeremiah, who was also taken as a captive to Babylonia. But unlike Daniel, who prophesied to Babylonian and Persian kings, Ezekiel prophesied for his countrymen in the Babylonian captivity. We can see how God calls them "rebellious people" twelve times from Ezekiel 2 to 24, and gives them prophecies of destruction, death and conquest. Those prophecies should be fulfilled at the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. 

Nevertheless, Ezekiel prophesies not only punishment against Israel. His book is filled with prophecies of restoration, including the return to Israel's land, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Jews, a new partition of the land for the twelve tribes - now with the Jordan river as the eastern border - and a third temple, which is not constructed yet, but which shall be, according to the prophecy. 

Many of these prophecies can be seen in Ezekiel 37, both in the vision of the valley of the dry bones and in the sign of the two sticks of wood. There are several promises about Israel's hope: 

  1. The "bones" themselves are "the people of Israel" (Ez 37:11) saying that "their hope was gone" because of the Babylonian captivity. This verse shows us the meaning of the vision, what is God talking about, and who are the original addressees of the prophecy. 
  2. God promises to give them a new life, to "open their graves and bring them up from them", in order to "bring them back to the land of Israel" (Ez 37:12-13) Even when the vision is now about bones within the graves, the idea is the same one of the splittered ones: the Jews had lost their hope and God is giving them hope
  3. God promises to fill them with the Holy Spirit (Ez 37:14)
  4. The division between Judah and Israel should end, and God should unite them as one people in Israel forever (Ez 37:20-22)
  5. The Messiah, the Son of David, should reign upon them forever (Ez 37:24-25) When we read "David" in this passage it is an antonomasia, a figure of speech that means "David's  offspring". 
  6. The temple (God's "dwelling place" or "sanctuary" in Ez 37:27-28) should be built again. 

The prophecies of punishment in Ezekiel, as those in the book of Jeremiah, show us that the Babylonian captivity was the right judgement of God upon a rebellious and apostate people, as it had happened before with the northern kingdom when it was conquered by Assyria. But the punishment didn't mean the end of Israel. After that period under God's discipline, there would be a total restoration of the Jewish nation. 

When would this restoration take place?

Daniel received another prophecy about this time, that we can read about in Daniel 9:24 and forward: 

"Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy One"

It's crucial that we note the addressees of this prophecy: "your people" (Daniel's people, Israel, because Daniel is praying for them in this chapter and this prophecy comes to him as an answer to his prayer) and "your holy city" (Jerusalem, which was also in the prayer of the prophet) The end of sin and wickedness, the anointing of the Messiah as eternal King and the act of "sealing up" (confirm, fulfil) the words of the prophets about this unique event, all of these components are referring to the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. There's no other point in history when mankind leaves sin behind forever, and begins to live in eternal justice, in the Kingdom of God with the Messiah as the eternal King.  

This Kingdom has been seen by many prophets: 

  1. Daniel prophesied that it would never be destroyed, neither given to other people, and that all other kingdoms would be defeated by it (Dn 2:44-45)
  2. Isaiah prophesied the end of wars, and all nations following the law of the God of Israel, that would go out from Jerusalem (Is 2:1-5)
  3. Jeremiah prophesied that the Word of God should be written in people's minds and hearts, nobody would sin and nobody should need correction (Jer 31:31-34) 
  4. Ezekiel prophesied the same as Jeremiah in the previous passage, but he was even more specific: this work should be the work of the Spirit of God, and the Jews should abide in Israel forever (Ez 36:24-28)
  5. Zechariah prophesied a universal kingdom of peace, brought by a king who would "come to Jerusalem lowly and riding on a donkey" (Zec 9:9-10)

These are only five examples (there are many more) about the eternal Kingdom with universal peace, when the eternal King will govern from Jerusalem with the law of God. Other prophecies in the Old Testament corroborate the eternal Kingdom of God and bring even more details. 

But there's no way to think that this is a "Jewish idea" only from the Old Testament and that the New Testament brought a different event at the end of times. Observe CAREFULLY the idea in the New Testament:  

  • "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel". In the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to His apostles, in Matthew 10:5-6, we can see that He came to fulfil prophecies of salvation for the Jews in first place. 
  • "And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel". In this prophecy in Luke 22:29-30 Our Lord is talking about that same Kingdom we read about in Daniel; He is saying to the disciples that they will reign with Him upon the twelve tribes of Israel. He saw Himself as the King of the Jews, the Messiah promised TO ISRAEL who would reign OVER ISRAEL in the eternal kingdom. 
  • "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth". In the words of Jesus about the Roman centurion who asked Him for a miracle we can see that the Kingdom of God is that one from the Old Testament, where saved believers will meet Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He says that many Gentiles "from the east and the west" should be admitted because of their faith, and that some Jews, the real "subjects of the kingdom", should be excluded because of their lack of faith. For the Lord Jesus, the Jews were the "subjects of the kingdom". 
  • "He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors". This is Mary the mother of Jesus speaking in Luke 1:54-55. She prophesies about Israel and the promises of God to Abraham, about his offspring, the Jewish people. She saw these promises fulfilled in bringing the Messiah to this world. 
  • In Luke chapter two we read about Simeon, a "righteous and devout" man who "was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him". This man, who had a personal prophecy - he wouldn't die before he had seen the Messiah - went to the temple at the time of Jesus' presentation, to prophesy. He called Him "God's salvation", "light for revelation to the Gentiles", and "the glory of God's people, Israel". The Messiah was the light and glory from Israel to the Gentiles, not viceversa. Simeon prophesied also that Jesus would "cause the falling and rising of many in Israel". The "risen" ones believed in Him, and the "fallen" ones persecuted them even to death (the apostle Paul was in the beginning a fierce persecutor of the new sect) As Simeon prophesied, the ministry of Our Lord Jesus Christ was among Jews. 
  • "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel". These are the words of John the Baptist in John chapter one. He is talking about the reasons of his ministry, the mission God gave him: to reveal Jesus Christ as the Messiah... TO ISRAEL! Because He came to fulfil prophecies to Israel. There was no church when Jesus came. 
  • In John 12:12-15 we read, "The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!'. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 'Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;     see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt'". Jesus' entry in Jerusalem fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy about the Kingdom of God. The Jews waiting for this Kingdom knew that prophecy very well, that's why they called Him "the King of Israel" when they saw the prophet riding a donkey. In Luke 19:39 we read about some Pharisees who were offended by that time and said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" because the Lord wasn't the Messiah in their eyes, and for them it was an outrage that the crowd should believe that a messianic prophecy was being fulfilled by Him. Jesus' answer was, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out". 
  • "I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!". This is the beginning of Romans chapter eleven, where the apostle Paul is talking about the ETERNITY OF GOD'S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL. In this chapter, the people of God is called "cultivated olive tree", in verse 24. The ungodly Jews are called "branches from that olive tree that were broken off" and the Gentiles who believe in the God of Israel, "branches from the wild olive tree that were grafted in the cultivated tree". Calling the Gentiles "branches from a wild olive tree" is clearly pointing to the fact that they were living without an owner's care, and it makes a difference with the Jews, because "theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised" (Romans 9:4-5) The Jews, by having sonship, covenants and God's laws, were living under God's care, as a cultivated tree is attended by its owner. Through Romans eleven Paul is establishing that even when some Jews are rejected because they don't believe, when God would work among the Gentiles, "all Israel should be saved". Because "God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable". The Jews' adoption to sonship is irrevocable, God's law is irrevocable, promises are irrevocable, God's covenant is irrevocable. And that's why the promised Kingdom of God that the Messiah should bring is confirmed by the New Testament as well. 
As we see, the testimony of the words of Our Lord, John the Baptist, Simeon, Mary and the apostle Paul, shows us that the Kingdom of God coming with the Messiah is the same one that was announced by the prophets of the Old Testament for Israel, and that it was intended as a promise for the Jews and will never change. In the book of Revelation it is extensively prophesied, as we will see with God's help. The Kingdom of God will change mankind's history, and will take away wars, pandemics, hunger and sin. This is the kingdom that the prophet saw in Daniel 7:13-14, the one God is giving to the Messiah, "the kingdom that will never be destroyed". 

How does the Kingdom come?

The same prophets speaking about the Kingdom prophesied the coming of the Messiah as well, the one who would bring that kingdom. We have seen before in Zechariah that the one who entered Jerusalem "lowly and riding on a donkey" would receive a kingdom "from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth". Daniel links also the kingdom that "will never be destroyed" with the coming of the "Son of Man". And we have more examples in other prophets about the Messiah's coming. 

In Isaiah 9:6-7 we read, "... to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever". This powerful prophecy shows many titles of the Messiah and proclaims that His Kingdom is an eternal one, on David's throne - meaning from Jerusalem - bringing peace upon this world. 

Jeremiah saw the same person when he prophesied, "David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel" (Jer 33:17) and he called Him "righteous Branch" (Jer 33:15) He calls the Messiah "David", as Ezekiel does, when we read in Jeremiah 30:9 about Israel, "they will serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them". We have seen the Messiah also in Ezekiel 37, and the prophet speaks about him also in Ezekiel 34:23-24, where we read, "I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken". The prophecies of Israel's restoration are always linked to the coming of the Messiah, the descendant of David who will reign upon them forever.  

When is this Kingdom coming?

The simplest answer should be, "when the Messiah comes". But if we don't know when the Messiah will come, this answer is not especially satisfactory. Then we need to ask, when is the Messiah coming?

God gave Daniel a prophecy about this time. In Daniel 12:7 we read, 

"And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished"

(American Standard Version) 

That "man clothed in linen" is prophesying for Daniel from chapter ten and has given him an impressive prophecy from the times of the Persian Empire to the end of times. This "end of times" includes the restoration of Israel and is about to come "when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people". We've chosen ASV because it renders the original Hebrew in the proper way. Now this end of the subjugation of the holy people can be also seen in Luke 21:24: 

"They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled"

In this chapter of Luke, Our Lord is answering a question from the disciples, about the time when the temple should be destroyed. The answer of the Lord begins with a prophecy, talking about the terrible persecutions of the Jews under the Roman Empire, the same one that destroyed the temple. In Luke 21:24 we can see the diaspora as a great tragedy of the Jewish people, which lost its land, the city of Jerusalem, and was scattered among all nations. Now note the period of time when it happens in Our Lord's prophecy: the "times of the Gentiles". At the end of these "times of the Gentiles", Jerusalem should not longer be trampled on by the Gentiles, the Jews would no longer be taken as prisoners to all the nations, and the Messiah should come (the coming of the Messiah is the event of verses 25 to 27, following the end of the "times of the Gentiles" in verse 24)

Now these "times of the Gentiles" in Luke and the time of "breaking in pieces the power of the holy people" in Daniel ARE THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME. This time is determined in another prophecy of the book of Daniel, the "seventy weeks prophecy", and it's found between the weeks 69 and 70. Remember that those are "weeks" of years, it means periods of seven years. After "week" nr. 69, the Messiah should die - it was fulfilled by Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross exactly when Daniel prophesied - and "the people of the ruler who would come would destroy the city and the sanctuary" - it was fulfilled by the Roman Empire. Daniel 9:27 is about the last week, when the Antichrist will cut a deal with Israel for 3 1/2 years and will betray them in the second half of the week, and then shall the Messiah come. The "times of the Gentiles" in Luke and the time of "breaking in pieces the power of the holy people" in Daniel is the period between the death of the Messiah and His Second Coming, the one between the weeks 69 and 70 in Daniel's prophecy. 

This is why the return of the Jews to their land, the retaking of Jerusalem and the resurrection of the State of Israel are powerful signs showing that the Coming of the Messiah is imminent. Even when Israel has not included yet all the land which is promised in Ezekiel, even when Jerusalem itself is in dispute, even when the Muslim world rejects the existence of the Jewish state and wages jihad and terrorism to destroy it, Israel's resurrection is the fulfilment of the biblical prophecies for God's people, and a powerful reminder that the rest of the prophecies will be fulfilled as well, precisely as the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem's manger, his life, His death on the cross and His resurrection fulfilled several prophecies about the Messiah, and His Second Coming will fulfil the rest of them. 

Hallelujah! 

Are you longing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?

At the Lord's Coming all powers of darkness will be destroyed. A terrible dictatorship, where everyone who doesn't worship the dictator is executed, will fall. All wars causing death to millions on earth will end. Pandemics and the scourge of sickness will end. Sin will end. The apostate religion with its leader, the "666" beast, will end. The Kingdom of God, announced by the prophets and confirmed by Our Lord and the apostles, will finally come to this world. The New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven, "prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband". Death will end, and all believers will rise from the dead, to be with the Messiah forever. 

Is this your hope?

Or have you "turned your ear away from the truth"?

If your hope is not in Jesus Christ and in His coming, let me tell you that there's time yet, to repent and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. He died on the cross for our sins, the same sins that would send us to eternal condemnation if not for His sacrifice, and He will come back to the earth not to bear sin again, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Those who have received Him as Lord and Savior, and who are waiting for His Coming, will be saved. The ones living without Him will be condemned. 

Do you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Pray with me: 

Thank You Jesus, for Your sacrifice on the cross
Thank You for making a way for me
To set me free from my sins
Forgive me, oh Lord
You Who have taken upon Your body my sins on the cross
Pardon me
Give me Your life, Your Spirit, 
Give me the hope of Your coming
Give me the hope of the eternal Kingdom
Where we will see no more miseries
But eternal peace and justice
Lead me in Your ways,
Be my Lord and Savior

Thank You Father for listening to my prayer
In Jesus Holy Name

Amen

JESUS IS COMING SOON!

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