Kings and Kingdoms

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

1 John 4:1–3.

One of the biggest themes of Daniel 7 revolves around the coming antichrist, it is important to know that the spirit of the antichrist is alive and well in this world. As Paul writes in Ephesians 6 “11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Our war is waging and the influence of deception is conquering quickly. It seems that every day, the darkness gains ground, and the number of those being deceived grows. How does this arm us with compassion for the deceived and oppressed? Spiritually influenced Earthly Kingdoms of destruction will rise, fall, and eventually end at the feet of Christ. No matter how dark this world gets, there will be a righteous judgment against evil, and God’s people will receive the kingdom! 

Read Daniel 7. Discuss the imagery and what sticks out to you. How does this compare with Mark 13?