The King Already and Not Yet

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Daniel 6:26-27
• Hymn — Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Romans 6:22-23
• Scripture Reading — Luke 5:1-16
• Hymn — Who Is on the Lord's Side?
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Jesus Shall Reign
• Sermon
• Hymn — We Are God's People
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Gloria Patri

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Sermon Title: The King Already and Not Yet

Scripture: Daniel 7:15-28

I. The Already and Not Yet of the Enemy of the Kingdom

A. Daniel is alarmed by the vision of the fourth beast and seeks its interpretation

1. The fourth beast is most terrifying, with teeth of iron and claws of bronze, devouring and trampling
2. Daniel asks specifically about the ten horns and the little horn that arises among them

B. The fourth beast is best understood as the Roman Empire

1. It is during Rome's reign that the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14) — Jesus Christ — comes, is crucified under Pontius Pilate, rises, and ascends to the Father
2. Jesus' favorite self-designation "Son of Man" would have pointed any Jewish hearer directly to Daniel 7
3. The ten horns represent the all-encompassing nature of Roman rule — governors, the Senate, and regional kings; the Senate was once called an assemblage of kings

C. The little horn points to the rise of the Caesars

1. Julius Caesar defied the Senate, crossed the Rubicon, defeated Pompey, and effectively ended the Roman Republic
2. In 27 BC, Octavian received the title Augustus ("exalted one"), officially beginning the Roman Empire — ironically, the truly exalted one was being born in a manger (Luke 2)
3. The three overthrown kings may reference the First Triumvirate (Caesar, Pompey, Crassus) and Second Triumvirate (Octavian, Mark Antony, Lepidus), each dissolved when one figure destroyed the others
4. The little horn speaks against the Most High: Caesars claimed divine titles — Julius was called Divus Julius (divine ruler); Octavian was called Divi Filius (Son of God); later Caesars such as Domitian and Caligula declared themselves gods

D. The little horn wears out the saints for "a time, times, and half a time" — a short-lived, suddenly halted rule

1. The Diocletianic persecution sought to annihilate Christians within the empire
2. In 311, the dying Emperor Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration, suddenly ending persecution and legalizing Christianity
3. The Edict of Milan followed in 313 under Constantine; the Nicene Creed in 325; the Western Empire fell in 476

E. There is also a not yet reality — the little horn points beyond Caesar to the final Antichrist

1. 1 John 2:18 — "Many antichrists have come; therefore we know it is the last hour"
2. Nothing is more antichrist than literally putting Christ on a cross — the Jewish leaders said, "We have no king but Caesar"
3. Rome's persecution of Christ and his people is a paradigm repeated throughout history until the final Antichrist is revealed and destroyed
4. Whenever the church suffers at the hands of earthly kingdoms, we are reminded we are living in the last hour — no less true in 2026 than in the days of John and Paul
5. Revelation 11:15 — "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever"

II. The Already and Not Yet of the Citizens of the Kingdom

A. The saints of the Most High receive and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever (Daniel 7:18)

1. The doubled "forever and ever" contrasts the beast's temporary "time, times, and half a time" — there is no sudden halt to the kingdom of God
2. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18)

B. The kingdom given to the Son of Man is also given to the saints, showing the tight union between the King and his people

1. The New Testament is filled with this organic solidarity: Christ the head, we the body; bridegroom and bride; vine and branches; shepherd and sheep
2. Acts 9 — Christ says to Saul, "Why are you persecuting me?" — to persecute the kingdom is to persecute the King
3. Ephesians 1:22-23 — God gave Christ as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all

C. The already reality of judgment — the New Testament presents judgment as a present reality, not only a future one

1. John 12:31 — "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out"
2. 1 Peter 3:22 — Christ has gone into heaven, at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him
3. Matthew 16:19 — the keys of the kingdom; binding and loosing is courtroom legal language — judgments rendered by the church in line with the gospel are enacted in heaven
4. Justification is a present legal declaration from the heavenly court that we are righteous before the Judge
5. John 3:18 — not believing is to be condemned already; the dust wiped from feet is a present curse upon the house of unbelief

D. The not yet reality of the kingdom's consummation

1. Matthew 24:14 — "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" — the gospel is either a witness for or against the nations
2. When Christ returns to separate the sheep from the goats, the dividing line will be how they responded to the gospel of the kingdom
3. Inauguration gives way to consummation: faith gives way to sight; the down payment of the Spirit gives way to resurrection bodies; justification gives way to glorification; the church militant becomes the church triumphant
4. Romans 16:20 — "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet"
5. We are right now more than conquerors through him who loved us — what we conquer by faith now, we will conquer fully by sight; God will make his enemies a footstool not only for Christ but for the body, the church, the kingdom of God