Hartland Spring Convocation 2022: Walking in the Light

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Stephen Bohr

History’s Glorious Climax

Before we begin our study this morning, I want to have a special prayer for this project with Final Generation magazine, the special issue.

I believe that now is the time that people need to know what the true issues are.

And the true issue is whether we are going to receive the seal of God or the mark of the beast, and to prepare for that time.

And so I have read actually a couple of the articles in this magazine.

And I looked at the titles and subtitles of the other articles.

And it covers all of the basis in a simple way, not complicated, in a very easy to understand way.

And I want to ask the Lord's blessing upon it.

So I invite you to bow your heads reverently as I pray for the project as well as for our study this morning.

Father in heaven, we come before your awesome throne.

We come boldly because we come in the name of Jesus.

We thank you, Father, for the blessings that we have experienced in the course of this weekend.

We thank you for all of the blessings that you have poured out abundantly upon us.

And Father, as we come before your throne this morning, We place this project before you.

Especially I ask that the 150, 000 copies that still need to be printed, they will be printed soon and the project can move forward.

I ask that you will help these magazines to come into the hands of those who are sincerely seeking for truth and that then you will use them to reach other people with the truth for this time.

And so we ask that you will bless this magazine, that you will bless this project, and that many souls may be saved in your kingdom as a result of this outreach.

Bless all of those who work at Final Generation Magazine that it might be a blessing that you will provide the financial resources for this publication to be extended like the leaves of autumn.

We thank you Father for the privilege of prayer and we ask that as we study your word that your Holy Spirit will be present with us to instruct us and to empower us to let everyone know where everything is leading so that everyone can prepare for the incredible events that soon will explode upon the world scene.

We thank you for the promise of your presence and we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

The development of history is similar to a game of chess.

On 1 side of the board is seated God, on the other side of the board is seated Satan, and the movement of the pawns are the movements of history.

So God tells Satan, okay move, and Satan makes a move in history.

So then God moves and Satan scratches his head and says, oh I wish that I'd known that he was going to do that, but then Satan looks for a way to to make a move to counteract that move.

So Ellen White refers to history as the play and counter play of history.

But you know God has an advantage over Satan, and that is that Satan has to guess how God is going to move, but God already knows all of the moves that Satan is going to make, so there's no possibility that God can lose.

Let's read Isaiah 46 the passage that has basically been the theme of my presentations here this weekend.

Isaiah 46 and verses 9 through 11, God's plan will be fulfilled.

It says there in verse 9, Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

So God's plan will succeed, Even though it might appear that Satan is in control of world events, God is going to have the last word.

Now in our study this morning we're going to look at a prophecy that we've studied many times before.

It's probably the most preached topic in an evangelistic series.

We're going to take another look at Daniel chapter 2.

You say, Oh no, we already know all of that.

Well let's study it and see if maybe we can gain some new insights into this magnificent chapter.

We're going to see in the course of the chapter that God is in control of world events, and sometimes we just go to the image and we talk about the image and we forget that there's half of the chapter that deals with events before the image appears in the story.

So let's go to Daniel Chapter 2 and verse 29 and notice something very interesting there.

So notice chapter 2 and verse 29, Daniel is speaking to the king and he says, as for you O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this.

So Nebuchadnezzar is thinking about the future of his kingdom, And then it says, and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be.

God knew what Nebuchadnezzar was thinking when he went to bed.

So God says I know what you're thinking, now I'm going to give you a dream that will answer your thoughts.

When the king woke up he forgot the dream.

Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.

So they came and stood before the king, and the king said to them, I have had a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

Some people think that Nebuchadnezzar was simply acting like he didn't know his dream to test his magicians and his astrologers but Elowite makes clear in the book The Sanctified life page 35 that God barred Nebuchadnezzar from remembering his dream for a specific purpose.

The king knew that if they could really tell the interpretation they could tell the dream as well.

The Lord had in His providence given Nebuchadnezzar this dream, and had caused the particulars to be forgotten.

Have you ever had a dream where you wake up and you say, man I had that dream and I can't remember what it was.

Well it wasn't Nebuchadnezzar just forgetting the dream, God led him to forget the dream.

And so it says the Lord had in his providence given Nebuchadnezzar this dream, and had caused the particulars to be forgotten, while the fearful impression was left upon his mind.

Now here comes the reason why God barred the dream from his mind.

In order to expose the pretensions of the wise men of Babylon, the monarch was very angry and threatened.

So the purpose for God giving the dream and then leading the king to forget the dream was because God knew that the king was going to call all the experts of Babylon and they were going to be unmasked as charlatans, and that's exactly what happened.

The king according to what we just read he gave a command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.

Now what's interesting is that when these experts so-called came before the king, twice they told Nebuchadnezzar, okay king tell us the dream and we'll give you the interpretation of the dream, twice.

And the king says no, you misunderstand me.

I don't want to know the interpretation of the dream only, I want to know the dream.

Now let's read Daniel chapter 2 and verses 10 and 11 They're going to say to the king what you're asking is totally unreasonable.

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter.

Therefore, no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.

It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.

What they're saying is the gods conceal, the gods they keep secrets.

Now these individuals claimed to have a direct line of communication with the gods, that's why they claim they can interpret dreams, but now they're saying listen the gods keep secrets, their dwelling is not with flesh.

In contrast in the Bible God is not a God who conceals, God is a God who reveals.

This passage that I just read is very similar to John chapter 1 and verse 14 notice the key words.

The word was God it says in the first few verses, and the word became what?

And dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, the gods so-called conceal, but God reveals, In this case by sending Jesus Christ.

You see God knows what the king has been thinking, God gives him a dream to answer his concerns, then God leads him to forget the dream because he wants to unmask the wise men of Babylon, so Satan now says okay you played now it's my turn.

Now Satan had seen that Daniel and his friends were a potential problem for the future, because in chapter 1 they had been faithful to God, and Satan says these individuals are trouble.

And so now Satan influences the king to give a death decree against the wise men of Babylon among whom were Daniel and his friends.

So Satan is saying you unmasked my experts, Well I'm gonna kill your young men.

Notice what it says in Daniel chapter 2 verses 12 and 13.

For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

So Satan says, okay you unmasked my guys but I'm gonna have Daniel and his friends killed along with all of the other experts that were supposed to tell me the dream and its interpretation.

Instead of killing Daniel and his friends, this experience brings Daniel and his friends to prominence in the kingdom, to play a very important role.

Notice Daniel chapter 2 verses 48 and 49, this is after the experience comes to an end.

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History’s Glorious Climax

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