It'll Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Don't you just love to read that kind of title? I mean, seriously, who likes to hear that kind of doomsday dull drums? I don't. What if it gets worse? What will we do?

I'd like to think we still have it better than when Nero was around. Now this world leader was indeed from the pit of hell. He used to impale Christians' heads on stick and light them so that his army could see better coming back from battle. Oh, and he kicked his pregnant wife till she died. He killed his mom and married a young boy. Nice guy. He slaughtered believers. He defied God. It was way worse for them now than it is for us. Well, those of us in America. I assume most of my readers are from here, so I'll refer to what we deal with.

What I'm trying to get at is all the hub-bub I hear about how terrible it's going to get before Christ gets here. It might. It might not. Seems like it's pretty bad now.

There is so much talk about end times and what is going to happen and what isn't going to happen that it could make you want to run to your fraidy hole and stay there with spam and crackers! I want us to take some good, Biblical views and see what Christ says about the end times. But first, let's get back to Daniel.

We're still in chapter 7. We'll finish it up today.

Take a moment to read the interpretation of the dream in verse 15-28.

I like verse 15 because it's so real, "I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me." I bet they did!

He asked for an interpretation and he was granted one. It is of the four kingdoms that we saw yesterday and one final kingdom is the kingdom of the Most High.

"But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever --yes, for ever and ever."

Okay, that is something we don't want to miss in light of all the spiritual shenanigans that we can find ourselves in concerning the end times. We, believers and followers of Christ, possess a kingdom that will be our forever. Forever! Nothing can take that away. No antichrist. No terrorist. No President. No school system. Nothing. Hang on to that.

Daniel inquires about the fourth and final beast in verse 19. There are 10 horns and one loud one. From what I understand, the numbers in this type of writing is not that 10 specific kingdoms will come, but that 10 represents the fullness of kingdoms that will come to pass. From what I understand this kingdom is Rome and all the 10 kingdoms are the ones to follow. This leading up to the final kingdom of God reserved for the saints to possess forever.

Again, we see the promise of God's eternal kingdom on earth for us in the final verses of chapter 7. We have this kingdom, this rule, now, here on earth. What is in heaven can be spilled out here on earth. God's authority is given to us to receive and claim his promises now! He died to get back that which Satan stole and in doing so He, through His Spirit, has given us authority to fight the enemy, subdue him and win! He has done the hard job of dying and resurrecting so that by Him in us, we are victorious!

Our authority has it's limits. I mean, we're not God. It is up to us to find out just what authority we have. This is one truth to hold fast to - our authority is only in and through the Holy Spirit. Just as Daniel was taught, we will "worship and obey him." There can be no other way to living out the rule and authority of Christ here on earth but through worship of who He is and obedience to what He has told us. In that we will be a force to be reckoned with through the power of Jesus Christ!

Do not let your heart be troubled. There will be difficult times. It may get scary. But, you, Child of God, remember this: You belong to an everlasting Kingdom with an everlasting God! And He will always prove faithful. You can bet your life on it. He did.

End times talk coming up soon...