Editor’s Note: Below is a transcript of a message, posted to You Tube on May 15, from president of the Adventist Church, Ted N.C. Wilson. Elder Wilson will release a new video each week, during the Coronavirus pandemic, which you can view here.
It's good to be with you again—an opportunity to focus on God's Word. Take courage in God's Holy Word, in the prophetic understanding of God's Word. God will make you a witness during this pandemic and beyond as you dig into the prophetic understanding of where we are in time. Now, questions are asked, “Well, is this the final crisis?” “Is this one of the seven last plagues?” No, it's not that situation. But what does the Bible say about last days and prophecy?
Well, let's turn for a few moments to Daniel 2. Daniel 2 is that magnificent chapter of prophetic understanding, taking us from one kingdom all the way down into our time. It starts out, of course, with that dream that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had. He couldn't remember it even or understand it. Then finally, Daniel is brought in through the power of God, God's direct intervention, he explained it to the King. He explained about the head of gold representing Babylon, the chest of silver representing Medo-Persia, and then the thighs, or the middle part of bronze, representing Greece, and the legs of iron representing the Roman empire—a long-lasting empire—and then the feet of iron and clay that would not mix, representing the 10 kingdoms that eventually came out of the Roman empire. And, it was an attempt to try and mix those kingdoms, but the Bible says they will not mix. And you see, in verse 36 of Daniel 2, it says, “This is the dream,” Daniel speaking. “Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the King.” So each one of those successive kingdoms was a time in which there was a transition, and those metals reduced in their precious value, but finally, the iron legs of strength—the Roman empire—and then finally those 10 kingdoms. Now, what happened after that? Well, it says that there was a dramatic situation where a stone was cut out without man's hands,—that came and smashed the statue. And in verse 45 it says, “Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”
And, of course, that stone which came out of the air, essentially, and came and smashed the statue, was the significant, wonderful event of Jesus' Second Coming. And next week, we're going to be talking about Matthew Chapter 24, about a prophetic understanding of Jesus' Second Coming. The point tonight, though, is from Daniel 2 we see all the way from Babylon to our very time. We are living in the tips of the toes of the statue of Daniel 2. And how did King Nebuchadnezzar respond?
Well, in this beautiful book, Prophets and Kings, it says on page 499 that “The king was convinced of the truth of the interpretation, and in humility and awe he ‘fell upon his face and worshiped,’ saying, ‘Of a truth, it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.’”
God will reveal to all of us these wonderful secrets as we dig into the Word of God. What an opportunity to understand we are living in the tips of those toes and the next great event that will happen after a number of things, just before Christ's coming, will be that stone representing Jesus’ soon return.
We are living in the end of time. God has placed you in your position in order to be a witness for Him. God be with each of you as you witness and tell others of Christ, His righteousness, His Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14, and His soon Second Coming.
Let me pray with you. Father in heaven, we ask now that you will guide each of us as we dig into the Word of God—Your Word—to understand the prophetic understanding of where we are in time; that we are living in the tips of those toes of the statue of Daniel 2. Thank you for allowing us to be alive at this time, and for fortifying us with the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim to all around us that Jesus is supreme and that He is coming back to take us home. We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.
