THE ANCIENT OF DAYS DID SIT IN JUDGMENT
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS DID SIT IN JUDGMENT
Daniel 7:9:22; 26-27
SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom, a Preacher
This week the Supreme Court of the United States made a judgment opposing the natural laws of our Creator and the Word of God. Of course, they do not have that authority, and each one of them will be accountable to God for their judgments.
The Spirit of anti-Christ whether personified in a man or a people does not change.
Daniel 7:9: I, beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit…”
Daniel 7:25-27: “He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. So far is the end of the matter.”
“The judgment shall sit” is the judgment of the Ancient of days in verse 22. “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
From the horror of the horned beast, Daniel turned to the solemn splendor of the heavenly court. There sat one Ancient of Days, venerable, entirely pure purging and consuming wrong. Knowing all that had passed in history, and all that He has ordained for the future, He is qualified to judge the latest upstart as He had judged others before. Judicial authority was displayed in the river of fire, and the requisite power in the innumerable thousands at His call. Beside the Judge were various thrones set in place.
Before this court the books recording the deeds of the accused were opened. (Heavenly records of human activities are alluded to by many ancient writings). The accused is this one man in who is embodied all the evil of the devil manifest in the spirit of anti-Christ. “Then I was watching from the sound of the great words…I was watching until the beast was slain…Nothing could distract the seer until the dream ended with the presumptions punished in the fire of justice. Three beasts remained powerless for a set time.
The Heavenly Court has been convened to judge this one man. I would also conclude that it will include his followers who have a like mind.
Christians have always been persecuted by unbelievers. We have all endured scorn, mocking, ridicule, persecution, and rejection because of our faith. The spirit behind this has and is the spirit of Satan in opposition to the Christ, the Son of the Living God. However, the Kingdom of God is an everlasting Kingdom and will prevail over all evil judgments of men.
On Tuesday mornings, I have been preaching on the last seven years of the life of the Apostle Paul. Nero was the ruler of Rome. Rome was the ruler and conqueror of most of the known world. Nero’s persecution of Christians has been almost unparalleled.
The infamous ruler who ruled much of the known world was the personification of all that is monstrous in iniquity and evil. Most believe that Nero purposely started the great fire which broke out in Rome in the year 64. He blamed the Christians. The emperor’s gardens were used as a circus for killing games. Victims were enclosed in skins of beasts that they might be torn in pieces by dogs, or covered with pitch or other inflammable material, that they might serve as human torches.
7: 7, 8:“After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possess eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts.”
This beast refers to the Roman Empire,
History/legend report it was during the year 64-65 A.D/ when Peter and Paul returned to Rome the second time and were imprisoned in the dungeon.
Who would consider that in that palace of riot, there would be Christians? Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christianity was impacting every rank and station of people in Rome. But from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, those who were staunchest in their faith and deepest in their sympathies were those of Nero’s Palace.
This would surely be a startling report for the Philippians, who were also under Roman oppression. While “all the Saints” of Rome saluted them, it was “chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household
The individuals of Caesar’s household would be those who occupied the highest social position in the proud capital; whether among the Praetorian Guards, or the civil officer or servants of the Imperial household.
(Among these, the Roman Martyrology mentions Torpes, an office of high rank in Nero’s palace, and afterward a martyr for the faith. Paul has already mentioned, Clemens, Pudens, Claudia and the households of Narcissus and Aristobulus. The philosopher, Burrhus, who was a tutor to Nero and at the time of Paul’s imprisonment, was the commander of the Praetorian Guards. Also, the philosopher Seneca was a known visitor to the house of Paul)
Philippians 4:22: “Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household”.
The Lord entered the palace gates of Rome in the reign of her most evil emperor, and during the lawlessness of her most licentious court. The Lord can enter the court known as Supreme and the house known as White and His judgment will sit.
Those days in Rome were absolutely a sovereign move of a mighty outpouring and visitation of the Holy Spirit.
“Caesar’s household” became pillars in the Christian church there. God’s saving power overcame every obstacle and redeemed His elect to own a mightier scepter and more enduring diadem than the scepter of Caesar.
We do know there were Saints there. The gospel had been proclaimed. The Holy Spirit had moved by grace. The iron heart of the Romans had been melted. Souls were saved.
When Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans, he charged them to be not only conquerors, but “more than conquerors.” By the exploits of their armies, the Romans were the conquerors of the known world. In the wake of the Roman armies, civilization was often reduced to ashes.
Amid the pollutions of that tainted atmosphere, haughtiness, scoffs, ridicule, corrupt and corrupting, these Roman saints were “more than conquerors”. Yes, their “calling” is a testimony of the sovereignty of divine grace. It is further a testimony of God’s sanctifying, sustaining and quickening grace. They added to their faith virtue (constancy)” (2 Pet. 1:5). In the face of the severest tribulation, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the sovereignty
In the midst of the tyrant’s chant, “We have no king but Caesar”, Caesar’s household proclaimed Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
To them the horrors of the emperor’s gardens and amphitheater with the rush and rage of lions was a familiar sight. They know the Emperor’s unnatural and barbarous past-time of killing the hated Nazarenes.
This was a boldness and courage which was given as a super natural grace for their times. They had the fear of God and no other fear. They were advancing, militant believers, growing in faith, love and holiness. They were not afraid in the midst of this to openly send a message to their brethren in Philippi.
God proportions grace to trial. “As your days, so shall your strength be”. When the storm rages loudest, the everlasting arms are most firmly round about.
When the battle is hottest, there is new armor provided and new strength given.
“Yet not I; but the grace of God which was with me”---for he is faithful who promised “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
By a supernatural visitation of God’s grace the believers in the Imperial residence of Nero were made strong in faith, giving glory to God. The hour of trial comes, and grace to bear comes along with it.
In “Caesar’s household” ---how can one hold out against the cold indifference, cruel sneers, open ridicules and imminent danger. “Fear not for I am with thee.” He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. “He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increases strength” (Isa. 40:29). “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.”
Christian graces will rise out of severe trials. It will make of us hardier pilgrims and better soldiers. We will be driven from the creature to the Creator; from the shivered reed to the living Rock.
The Christian Church has been “waxing cold” in the 21st Century. I suppose in many circles of Christianity, there is a separation due to social and financial status. However, Satan has infiltrated the church of the 21st century with another false-god, prestigious status based on gifts, callings and presumed titles. “To whom much is given, much is required.”
Will the church of the 21st century stand strong in the face of having our faith and the Word of God trampled on? The Ancient of Days will sit in judgment! Many voices cry for revival, but their motive is self-glorification and self-promotion for pre-eminence.
Daniel 12:2-3: “At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. They that shall be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
Nero’s Christian Senator was not ashamed to own the prisoner Apostle as a brother. The Christian matron remembered the humble Lydia as a sister in the faith. Both of them have their names burned in fame for all eternity in the Holy Word of God.
The supernatural visitation of the Holy Spirit in glory and power passes from the lodging of Paul to the Palace of the world’s metropolis. From there it travels through intervening countries to Philippi and continually circulates and gladdens wherever a Christian church is planted and a Christian name is known.
The lofty looks of man are abased.
The true cause as to why the salutation of Caesar’s houses was the chief, and their love for the distant brethren in Christ strongest, is that the nearer believers live in the presence of their Lord as their great center, the nearer they are to one another. Where the stone falls heaviest, the circles in the quiet lake or pool extend the widest. The love of God fell deepest on the hearts in the halls of Caesar,
Where the love of Christ is lukewarm, and the pulse of love beats faintly, there is ever the likelihood of distance and estrangement of individual Christians crossing and re-crossing one another in life’s path.
The church of the 21st Century needs a mighty wave of a new spring-tide of a Pentecostal baptism of love.
Christians were also bound together by suffering. The church in the United States of America is not much on the doctrine of suffering. This past week five people who were never elected to a public office brought our nation into grief and shame. “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29).
There is no rank in the graduating scale of society and no position in the varying phases of human relationship, which forbids us to be a follower of Jesus. Daniel the prime minister of Babylon, and Onesimus the runaway slave; David the minstrel king of Judah and blind Bartimeus on the wayside begging; Anna the prophetess in the Temple, and Lydia the seller of purple; Paul and polished philosophers of Athens, Paul amid rude sailors buffeting a wintry sea; “Paul the aged” and Timothy the young man; the household of the Philippian jailer, and the household of Imperial Caesar; all take up the cross and follow the Lord Jesus.
However, if you cannot be in Caesar’s household, or the federal government without being a partaker in Caesar’s sins, then “come out”, that you be not partakers in their plagues. But at the same time, it is the highest achievement of the Christian when one strong in the grace of God and resolute can bear his religion along with him in the daily walk, where he knows that religion is slighted and even rejected.
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ”. We are called to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand---to stand in the hottest of the battle, faithful to convictions, true to our God.
“This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”
The Supreme Court of the United States has brought war to our nation. Those of us who love Christ will die before we submit to evil laws which are in opposition to our faith.
In the early years of the Eastgate church in Texas, Prophet Stanley Rankin stood in Little White Church and prophesied that one day we would drive across North America and there would be one small nation after the other instead of the United States. Shortly after we moved to Texas, the Lord spoke to me that Texas would be the first state to succeed from the Union. This is all very grievous and heart breaking to those of us who love this nation. However, the things that divide us are the faith has always divided Christians from the world, and yet catapulted Christianity to the known world.
May the church again be fired with the volcanic fire of grace which down pours the lava-stream of burning love, fervid pity, virtue and consistency. As we have been given shelter in a palace by the willowed streams, seemingly longing for our treasured place of worship, let us never forget that it is Divine Providence who has sent us here and given us the grace to stay. Let us fulfill our destiny with grace and love.
The warmth of Christian grace the fire of Christian love can burn and glow in the midst of all that is cold, cheerless and repelling.
Let us be strong and of a good courage. Though trouble rise, our faith is being trampled on by the government which was set in place to protect our faith, and terrors threaten our nation, we the church of the 21st century can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Let us not bemoan or come into agreement that some peculiarity or hardship has come to us; but let us confidently apprehend the present remembering that even in Caesar’s household grace was given and religion maintained.
Jesus came to this world in the age of Rome. The past 2015 years is the age of the Gospel Church (the establishing of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven), the period in which all humankind can be delivered by the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ Kingdom is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and has broken to pieces all of the other kingdoms. (Daniel 2:44-45) “And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
Daniel 7:22: “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 7:27” The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him”
“Remember, every word of Daniel’s prophecies has come true regarding the four great Gentile kingdoms---Babylon, Media and Persia, Greece and Rome. The revived feet and toes kingdom prophesied by Daniel is growing here on earth today, aggressively seeking to extend its authority over more and more of the nations of the earth”
The antichrist will try to change the set times and the laws. He will dislike the present name of our era, A.D. or “Anno domini,” which means “The year of the Lord.” Thus he will loath to hear words like A.D. 2015 because is means “the year of the Lord 2015”, a year in the era whose beginning is Jesus Christ. He will also change laws in order to place himself at the center of law, and he will institute a new era.
We have consistently seen this manifestation in the Jaguar, who has the spirit of antichrist.
He said that “In God we trust is no longer our national motto”. He tried to declare that “E Pluribus Unum” (e pluri bu su num) which means “from many one”, is now our national motto. When congress wrote a resolution confirming “In God we Trust”, he mocked congress.
He is now charged before the Court of Heaven of the sin of changing God’s law of creating male and female in His image to reveal God’s glory.
Daniel 12:37: “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.”
He has consistently tried to change times and laws---God’s laws.
Carolyn Sissom, a Preacher
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V.
Message from sermons preached by Carolyn Sissom – The Fourth Beast, 11/20/11, the Year of Our Lord; Saint’s From Caesar’s Household 6/23/15 –see bibliography.