Alright, well good morning everybody. Welcome back to Sunday School. I'm glad to see that we still have a good strong showing for Old Testament Survey. Y'all have hung through there almost to the end, so congratulations. But this morning we are returning to our study of the book of Daniel. So if you missed last week or weren't here last week, I would encourage you to go back and find that lesson. It is on Sermon Audio. So you're only getting half of a lesson today. So hopefully you feel like you got your money's worth. But if you want the full amount, make sure to listen to last week. And I did check and that is available even now. I also have some extra handouts up here. We had the same handout from last week, so if you don't have one, come grab one. That'll help us as we walk through the book, help you follow along. But I think it'd be helpful for us, after we pray, to really spend a little time reviewing last week. So let's go and pray, and then we'll do that. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for this day. I'm grateful for this church, grateful for the people who are here to study your word this morning, and Father, to see your glory, to see your power, to see the way, Lord, that you raise up kingdoms and put down kings and all of this, Lord, knowing that you are very much on your throne and ordering all things according to the counsel of your will unto the glory of your son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, it's in his name we pray these things. Amen. So as I said, we are going to begin our time with a little bit of review. And last week, if you remember, we spent a lot of time talking about how the book of Daniel is structured and why that really matters and why that helps us to interpret it. If you remember, this is on the back of that handout, there's an outline. This might help you follow along. So chapters one through nine form really the narrative portion of the book. Now there's some dreams and some things folded in that are a bit more prophetic or apocalyptic, but it's mostly narrative. Now you may have noticed as you read through the book of Daniel that these chapters are not in chronological order, but instead are ordered as a chiasm. which as a chiasm, it points us to the main idea of the book. So a chiasm is a way of ordering an argument where the first point and the last point mirror each other, and then they step in all the way to a main point. So it kind of points you to the direction of what the main point of the argument is. So it starts here, it works in, and then it works out. kind of following the same pattern. If you look at your outline, you can see the corresponding A's, the corresponding B's, the corresponding C's in that outline that show you how the book is structured. So as we think about the main idea of the book, who remembers, and who could briefly summarize using your own words, what is the main point of the book of Daniel? See if y'all remembered, or if I did a good job explaining it. How'd she do, everybody? I think she did good. Jacob gave you the thumbs up, so good job, thank you. And we can see that laid out. If you go ahead and turn to chapter 4, verse 34 through 35. We read this last time, I'll read it again. 4, 34 and 35, it says this, and this is Nebuchadnezzar right after he's been humiliated by being made to wander the earth like a beast. This is what Nebuchadnezzar says, and it really does kind of form that focal point of the book of Daniel. 34, at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes towards heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever. Here it is, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will, according to his will in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And no one can ward off his hand, or say to him, What have you done?" Okay, so remember this is Nebuchadnezzar, who is, is he a Jewish king? No, he's Babylonian, right? Babylonian king who is offering this praise, essentially, to the Lord who has very much put him in his place, right? And what's God's response to Nebuchadnezzar? He lets him live and finish out his reign, essentially. So very interesting there. But that, I think, forms kind of the heart of the book and the main theme. So from there, from that kind of center point, we started working our way backwards out of the chiasm by taking chapters 4 and 5 together, which is the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar. And in chapter 5, Belshazzar, very different outcome with Belshazzar. You should read it. Okay? Chapters 3 and 6 were taken together, and this is the salvation of Daniel's friends from the furnace, and the salvation of Daniel from the lion's den. So hopefully you can see how these stories, they reflect one another in the structuring. And that's going to continue. Today we're going to take a few steps further out in the chiasm. by considering the next two sections, and then briefly we'll look at chapters 10 through 12, which makes up the more prophetic portion of the book and the ending of the book. So let's look at Daniel chapter 2 and chapters 7 and 8, which form that second half of the chiasm. So chapters 2 and 7 and 8. All right. In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. This time a large statue, the meaning of which only Daniel is able to interpret. Okay, you remember that they turned all the different, you know, holy teachers, you know, Babylonian soothsayers and everybody else, and no one could figure it out. And Daniel comes in. And the statue that Daniel sees, it's not really even told Daniel what the dream was, he just kind of seems to know it. The statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw had a head made of gold, and a chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, and feet of iron and clay mixed together. Go ahead and turn to chapter 2, verses 31 through 33, just so we can briefly look over that. Daniel chapter 2, verses 31 through 33, it says this, You, O King, were looking, and behold, there was a single great statue. That statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and his appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partially of iron and partially of clay. So there's the description, there's what Daniel said and what he saw, and then obviously he goes on to give a bit of an interpretation, but he finishes with the vision. It says, what he sees is that this statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in this dream is destroyed by a rock. A rock that's thrown, as it seems, from heaven. And a rock that grows to fill the whole earth. Go ahead and read verses 34 and 35. It says this, you continue looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron and clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them so that not a trace of them was found. but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." So Daniel explains the meaning of a dream that God had told him. He says in the following verses that each section of the statue represents four successive kingdoms. Now when a lot of people look at the book of Daniel they think there's no earthly way that Daniel could have written this because it's so specific And so prophetic is, of course, an appropriate way to use it. But some people just can't bring themselves to believe that this was written before a lot of these events actually happened. It's a stumbling stone for many. But what we see is that Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom is the golden head, right? But the Babylonians, they're going to be succeeded by three other kingdoms, the last of which is going to be as strong as iron. yet at the same time as fragile as clay because it's going to be divided. Okay, we were actually talking about this, me and Daryl and I were talking about this this morning, but if you think about the Roman Empire, okay, there's a lot of reasons why it failed. It's really large, a lot of different types of people kind of held together. Eventually it would divide into the East and the West. There were all these things that made it, on the one hand, very strong, but on the other hand, extremely weak. So I think that's what we see. That's how history worked itself out. So what about that rock that smashed the statue and in itself grew into a mountain? Remember what verse 44 said. It says this. In those days, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it itself will endure forever. So this is God's own kingdom that the rock which smashes the four kingdoms is establishing. It's the kingdom of God. So let's ask, and this is where probably there's going to be some different interpretations of these texts, depending on what you studied and some other commitments that you might have. But how does this get fulfilled? I've already made some references to some historical events that happened. What are some of those historical events that point to how this got fulfilled? Some of it's included in the Book of Daniel. Yeah, the who? The Persians. Yeah, the Medo-Persian Empire would come in and take over, so that's one thing, that's a more immediate fulfillment of what Nebuchadnezzar saw. Alexander the Great, leading the Greeks, comes in, takes over, okay. Yep, that's exactly right. Yep, y'all are on it. So there's all these historical events that will unfold, some of which are included in the book of Daniel, that are going to be fulfilled right here. But others are going to stretch, you know, all the way into the time after Christ. That's good. So let's review some of that. Yes, ma'am. Right. My, yes, I think absolutely yes. I think the question will be, depending on how y'all wanna think about that, the question will be, is that rock coming and crushing these kingdoms? Does that happen at Christ's first coming? Or does that happen at his second coming? So there's gonna be maybe some differences there. But yes, I think that the rock is Christ that smashes these earthly kingdoms and that then becomes a mountain which fills the whole earth. That's exactly right. So that's a good connection point there. About the what? About Nebuchadnezzar? Yeah, I didn't bring that up. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, very interesting. So as you read Daniel's interpretation, it is a little cloudy because it does pertain to events that he did not witness firsthand, right? But for us, who are further along in history, we see more precisely what's going on here. As was already said, the Babylonian Empire was taken over by the Medo-Persian Empire of 539 BC. That empire is the silver chest and arms. Then, in around 332 BC, the kingdom of Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great. The Grecian Empire is represented by the legs of bronze. Then they give way to the feet of iron and clay, the Roman Empire, in the first and second centuries BC. But what we're most interested in, as Denise pointed out, is that rock that's cut without hands. That, of course, is the kingdom of heaven, and its ruler is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now his conquest, as we think about it, if we think about his first coming, okay, this conquest didn't come through military might, which is how all these other kingdoms ended up being taken down, but through the preaching of the gospel, right? Over time, though he conquered the hearts and minds of many in the Roman Empire, and at last we read that this mountain would fill the whole earth. And in verse 35, Christ's kingdom, by the time we get to verse 35, Christ's kingdom is spread throughout the entire world. And as we read in verse 44, this kingdom is forever. So what Daniel sees here is the victory of the preaching of Christ and the spread of his church to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. So that'd be a way to read that if you think that this is referring to the first coming of Christ. If it's the second coming of Christ, probably some of your study Bibles would say that this is pointing to the second coming of Christ. There's a different way to parse some of those things. Big idea, Christ is the rock who would come and subdue all the earthly kingdoms and this kingdom will be forever. Okay, so that's the big idea with this vision. Now, just another point, I don't want us to miss some of these things. I think it's important for us to stop and reflect on the fact that God is Lord of history. So what was he doing in the setting up and the tearing down of all these kingdoms? What do y'all think he was doing? To show his sovereignty, to demonstrate his sovereignty. I think that's true. Show his power over them, the hubris that they had, to show that they are nothing. Anything they have, they've received from him. Absolutely true. Anything else? Okay. Cush the head of the... Yeah, that's true too. Right. Yes, that's good. That's good. Subduing them. That's good. Yeah. Subduing the seat of the serpent. Good. Yes, sir. Yes. That's right. Giving people a sense of hope. That's good. All these things are absolutely true. Yes, sir. Yes. Rejected. Yes, that's good. And that's kind of getting a little bit where my mind was going as we think about this. But think about, you know, the Lord setting up and tearing down these kingdoms. And think about the context that the Son of God would enter into. Think about what was going on politically. Think about what was going on technologically. You know, if we think about that, He was preparing the world for the Son to come. He was preparing the world for the Son to come. And I think whenever we read in the New Testament that He, that speaks of Jesus coming in the fullness of time, I think this is part of that. It doesn't explain all of it, but it's part of it. So think about the state of the world at the time of Jesus' coming. You have the Roman Empire, which was in power at the time, with the strength of it, and also, what came with the Roman Empire? What technological advance? Roads, infrastructure, like a tremendous amount of, you know, the ability for people to travel from place to place. Yes, ma'am. Everybody spoke the same language, so there's this common language going on because of Alexander the Great. That's a great connection. But you have infrastructure, you have this shared language, you have this homogenous kind of culture. It's a mix of Hellenism and all these other cultures kind of coming together. You have the Greek with their philosophy, right, which we would see Paul in the book of Acts interact with, which would really essentially serve as a kind of a bridge between the Gentile and the Hebrew God. Jesus came at the most opportune time that could have been imagined. It's almost like all this was planned, right? Because when the gospel, almost, when the gospel finally was able to be preached and to be spread, guess what was already there? Language was there. The infrastructure for people to travel to and fro was there. There was a measure of freedom. Within Rome, yeah. Yeah. Right. So just remarkable, just to pause and not miss that, that what the Lord is doing is preparing the world through the raising up and the tearing down of all these kingdoms for that when Christ would come, He would come in the fullness of time, right? When He would then be able to accomplish exactly what He set out to accomplish. So just hope that moves you to just appreciate the Lord and to worship Him, that He is truly the Lord of history. Yeah. Consummate. It's going to be the final showdown, right? That's right. That's good. Alright, so that's chapter 2. Now let's jump ahead to chapter 7. So again, this is that parallel chapter with chapter 2 and it's really 7 and 8 that we're taking together. Here Daniel has a dream of four beasts. Again, you should see the similarities. The first resembles a lion with eagle's wings, the second a bear devouring bones, the third a leopard with four wings and four heads, and the fourth is so terrible that no animal may compare to it." Now, again, there's going to be different interpretations of this, but many interpreters view these four beasts as corresponding to the kingdoms on the statue. And that makes sense, especially if it's parallel. But I think what we have to recognize... Let's read it before I say much else. Daniel has a vision of God, whom he calls the Ancient of Days. This is in chapter 7, verses 9 through 12. And let's see what happens. So after the vision comes, this is what Daniel sees. 9 through 12. As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out before him. A thousand thousands served him, and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I looked in, because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And I looked, and the beast was killed, and its body destroyed, and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, the dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." So God destroys these beasts, who takes the power and dominion that that once was, who's the one who takes the power and dominion that once belonged to them? Who was it who took it? It was the Lord, right? Verse 13 through 14, let's look at that and we'll see who it was who took the power and dominion from these great powers. Verse 13, I saw in the night vision and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like the Son of Man and He came to the ancient of days and He was presented before Him. unto him was given all dominion, and all glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed." Who is this referring to? Who is this Son of Man, this great Son of Man? Christ! Christ Jesus, right? So who is this one like the Son of Man who will rule forever with power given to him by God? It's Christ Jesus. When Jesus is on trial, actually, think about the New Testament, and they asked him who he was, what passage did he quote? He quoted this one. Okay, listen to Mark 14, 61 through 62. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Okay? So there's Jesus quoting the book of Daniel to indicate that He is the one that Daniel prophesied of. Jesus alone approached the living God and reigns with Him. and He will return on the clouds of heaven to publicly take what is rightfully His. Now we know by faith that He currently reigns, but soon all will see it, right? Now verse 17 tells us that these four great beasts are also four kingdoms. That's what it says in verse 17 of chapter, I think, probably seven. So do you see how chapters two and seven help interpret each other? Chapter 2 is referring to current events in Daniel's day, and it's much more narrative, whereas what we see in chapter 7 is a little more apocalyptic. four earthly kingdoms that today we can call by name, that's the more early part. Chapter 7 we might miss the main point about the rock that fills the whole earth. Without chapter 7 we might miss the point about the rock that fills the whole earth. Chapter 7 shows that this immediate chapter 2 view of the future points ahead to a still greater fulfillment. That's what Bo was talking about, this moment whenever Christ will return and will finally clean house, so to speak, right? This greater fulfillment that's coming. And I think chapters 2 and 7 kind of give us both of those things. Now the four beasts, I made a point that many interpreters view those four beasts as the same four kingdoms, and there's a way to read that that that's likely true, but when we enter into the realm of apocalyptic language, I think we're more talking about these kind of recurring evil forces in the world that are going to always be at war with the Lord and with his anointed. So I think that by the use of the apocalyptic language where, yes, you can say it refers to those four kingdoms, but I think there's something more something apocalyptic, something that makes you want to think about the book of Revelation, right, kind of going on with this. So I think it'd be overly simplistic to say they just refer to those four kingdoms, but I think it'd also be simplistic to say they only refer to something future. I think there's a measure of kind of both and going on with this. All right. And then we get to the culmination, which is maybe even more specific, more amazing, when the kingdom of the Son of Man is finally and firmly established, a fulfillment toward which we are all still very much yearning. So for chapter 8, something very similar is going on. If you read it, it's going to repeat a lot of the same things that you see in chapter 7. So I'll leave that to you to study on your own. Any questions at this point? Has to be an easy one, because I'm incapable of answering hard ones. All right. So let's move on to chapters 1 and 9. OK. So we finally made it to chapter 1 of the book. Welcome to chapter 1 of the book of Daniel. We'll pair it with chapter 9. Chapter 1, and this is so encouraging to me, the people of God go into exile. That part's not encouraging, but you get what I'm saying. This whole section is encouraging to me. Okay, chapter 1, the people of God go into exile. And what we see in chapter 9 is that the people of God are ready to come out. So you can look at chapter 1, verse 2, and then read 9, verse 2 and see kind of the two differences. But you see the parallel, going into exile, coming out of exile. That's the connection. Chapter 1, We see all four of the Jewish boys, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I was listening to Michael Reeves read this. And he says, how does he say Shadrach? It's not Shadrach. He says something really different. I was going to try it on you, but I can't remember actually how he said it. So disregard. But there may be a better way or more British way to pronounce it. It's like She-rack or something. Never mind. But they're essentially placed in a kind of Babylonian prep school of sorts. They're put there because they've shown potential to someday serve the king. Well, while there, they bravely ask to be exempt from eating foods outside of their religious dietary laws, and as a result, God's blessing on them. Even in exile, God blesses his people, and he gives them wisdom. You see that in verse 17, which is another, you know, great theme of the book. So even in exile, God is still blessing his people in various ways. So that's chapter 1, being in exile. You see that with Daniel and his friends. Then we look at the wonderfully encouraging chapter 9 and look at verse 2. Okay, let's go ahead and read verse 2 of chapter 9. Okay, in the first year of this reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet, for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. So how did Daniel know that the exile was almost over? He read Jeremiah, he read the Bible, right? He was reading Scripture and he saw like, hey, you know, the end of 70 years is nigh. What a novel concept, right? Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. We'll get to Chronicles in a few weeks, so I'll make sure I bring that up. So, for encouragement, for an understanding of what Daniel was walking through, Daniel reads his Bible. And you'll remember from Jeremiah that no one was really listening to Jeremiah at the time. Jeremiah was prophesying and it was all falling on deaf ears. Well, we see that Daniel was listening. And that prayer that follows, beginning in verse 3, is one of the most eloquent and moving prayers in all of Scripture. So please read that today. Spend some time reading this prayer in Daniel chapter 9. You can tell from reading it that Daniel truly knows his God, and it's a good challenge for all of us to adopt this kind of language in our own prayers. In fact, I'd encourage you to read it. Meditate on this chapter this week. And as I said before, it's particularly exciting in the context of Daniel, because Daniel again refers to God as Yahweh, our God. You'll remember last week I made the point that never in the book of Daniel except this one time is the Lord referred to as His covenant name. And the point of that is, I think the author of Daniel wants us to know that the God of heaven is the God of all people, not just the God of the Jews. But here, when He's talking about exiting exile, when they're talking about the Lord being faithful to His people, He refers to Him by the covenant name Yahweh our God. The end of the exile is here. So, but again, the parallel with chapter 1 is helpful. Remember that in chapter 1, the exile wasn't just a physical exile. The physical exile merely reflected an ongoing spiritual exile. The people had rejected their God. Nebuchadnezzar was trying to assimilate these Israelites into pagan culture. That's what you see happening in Daniel chapter 1. They were trying to be assimilated, to begin adopting and worshiping the gods of the Babylonians. So we expect in chapter 9 to see something about really an end to both physical and spiritual exile that Israel had been placed under. And that's exactly what we see. The physical exile is about to end, as we saw in verse 2, but the real exile, the exile that began when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden, the Garden of Eden, the exile from God that we all experience because of our sins, will not simply, will not end simply with the Jews return to Jerusalem. That exile the exile that the Jewish people merely points to And it ends only when Christ makes atonement for our sins. Sorry, my language was really jumbled up there. But hopefully you get the point. Okay, there are these two exiles. One of them spiritual that has in a sense been going on since the fall of man into sin. And there's also this physical exile that the Jews are actually under. And we actually see a glimpse of both of those things being reversed in this chapter. So really remarkable. Let's look at verses 24 through 25 of chapter 9. It says this, 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word, to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks." So what do we see here in this text? What's the focus? It's an end to sin, right? Let me see verse 25. The text I put in my Bible is a little different than what I have here, but hopefully it followed with what you were reading. But yeah, what we see here is an end to sin. After 70 weeks, an anointed one, a prince, who in verse 26 says this, he shall be cut off and shall have nothing. Well, what's going on here? Well, the 70 years of physical exile have finished, but these 70 weeks, or as you see in Daniel frequently, the 77s, and we're not really sure what that means. The 77s are just beginning. But that their end will be God's final answer to his people's sin in the atoning death and the triumphant return of Jesus Christ. So that's really what we see in verses 1 through 9. You see them entering into exile, being spiritually oppressed while they were there. And then in chapter 9, you see the people finally, as prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah, them being given a way out of exile. And tied with that is this promise of a spiritual exit from a kind of spiritual exile that will be revealed and that will be made possible through the death of the Son of God. Any questions about that? And that's why people read this and like there's no way this was written before these events actually happened. Because it's just, yeah, it's too on the nose, right? Well, that's exactly right. And that's why we opened this study by looking at that verse in 1 Peter, where Peter's addressing his audience and calls them aliens and strangers, right? There is an ethical component to the book of Daniel, ethical referring to how shall we live as exiles. And I think that's really appropriate for us in many ways. So thank you for bringing those things up. Anything else? Amen. Well, that's good. Well, thank you all for sharing that. I don't have a whole lot to add for chapters 10 through 12, but I want to say just a few things about it. So chapters 10 through 12, they don't sit in that mirroring structure with the first nine chapters that we've talked about, but they're obviously just as important, right? What they contain is more predictive prophecies about the future for the people of God And like what we've seen so far, the fulfillment of these prophecies is both near term, okay, I think referring to the first coming of Christ, but also making plenty of reference to the last days, His second coming. So here's a simple note from the ESV Study Bible explaining what you can expect from these chapters as you read them. It says this, "...conflicts on earth reflect conflicts in heaven, and this will continue to the end when God ultimately triumphs." So relate that statement to the main point of the book and you can see that there's this coherent message that the book of Daniel is really giving us, which is the Lord reigns over the nations of men. He raises up kings and He puts them down according to the counsel of His own holy, divine will. So what can man do, ultimately? Right? Exactly. And that should be an encouragement. Yes? And of course, we honor authorities as they are rightly in place. But there may come a day, as we saw in Daniel, where he did honor authorities on many occasions. But there were times whenever the authorities were commanding him or instructing him to do something that was contrary to God's will, as you brought up. And he resisted that. And consequences came. And even in that, we see the Lord delivering him. Does it happen that way every time? maybe not quite the same way, but we know that those will be celebrated in heaven for their faithfulness as they stood firm. So I'll leave really chapters 10 and 12 for you all to read today. And you know, Daniel's one of those books that's really helped by a good study Bible. So find one that you like, find one that you trust, and just pay attention to the outlines, the notes. Just a really helpful way to make sure you're tracking with the overall message of the book. But a really wonderful book, fun to study, fun to teach, and I hope it's encouraging you to know that our God is truly the God of history, and He As he turns, as it says, the hearts of the kings in the palm of his hand, right, according to his will. Something like that. That's a very rough paraphrase. Something like that. All right, so to conclude, how does Daniel speak of our life as exiles in this world? Well, it reminds us in chapters four and five that those who set themselves up against the Most High will indeed be humbled. whether to their everlasting benefit or their everlasting regret. It shows us in chapters 3 and 6 what it looks like to be a faithful servant of a sovereign Lord, even when we suffer persecution and opposition for our faith. And it helps us to see chapters two and seven and eight, how the great powers around us are all passing away and that God's kingdom on earth is indeed coming. And it shines light on the hope that Daniel had, that we can now see clearly of the end of our own spiritual exile that has come in the person of Jesus Christ. And it looks forward to chapters 10 and 12 to the eternal reward that's waiting when we finally arrive home. Let's pray and then we'll be done. Father, we thank You for Your Word, thank You for the book of Daniel, and all the things that You have revealed to us about Your work, about the unfolding of history, Lord, which as we see so clearly in this book, is happening in order to prepare the world for the first coming of Your Son, But then ultimately, Lord, for His second coming, when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the praise of your glory. So thank you for this. Thank you for helping us to see, Lord, how to live faithfully in exile. Help us to honor authorities rightly as they execute their duties in a way that is well-ordered. But also, Lord, help us to have courage when they must be resisted. And help us to resist for the right reasons. So we thank you for this book. Thank you for the Son of Man who came, the stone which struck the kingdoms, and Lord is even now filling the whole earth unto your glory. We thank you for Him, and it's in His name we pray. Amen. Next week we'll be in the book of Esther, so if you want to read it beforehand, I believe Mr. Scott will be taking us through that book, which I'm excited about, and then following that we'll be in Ezra and Nehemiah, and then 1st and 2nd Chronicles, and then we're done. So, thank you all very much, and we'll see you next week.