SCRIPTURE: Daniel 12:1-13 (NLT)

DATE: 8-25-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

Can you believe it? We’re finishing our series in the book of Daniel today. And — our verses for today — conclude the final vision that Daniel is given. A vision that began back in chapter ten — is a vision that’s an echo — a repeat, if you will — of two earlier visions Daniel received as well as a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar was given. So let’s finish the book of Daniel and his final vision by turning to our text for today.

We’ll be in Daniel chapter twelve — beginning in verse one.

Daniel 12:1–13 (NLT)

¹ “At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. ² Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. ³ Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.” ⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing on opposite banks of the river. ⁶ One of them asked the man dressed in linen, who was now standing above the river, “How long will it be until these shocking events are over?” 

⁷ The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took a solemn oath by the One who lives forever, saying, “It will go on for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened.” ⁸ I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, “How will all this finally end, my lord?” ⁹ But he said, “Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means. ¹¹ “From the time the daily sacrifice is stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up to be worshiped, there will be 1,290 days. ¹² And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1,335 days! ¹³ “As for you, go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you.”

INTRODUCTION

Though it may not seem like it — the book of Daniel ends with some good news. God has guaranteed the end of his people’s exile — God has guaranteed the end of his people’s exile. This is true — not only for the people in Daniel’s day — but is a promise guaranteed to every generation of God’s people: life in this land of exile is coming to an end. This is what we find in the key verse of our text — which also happens to be the last verse of the book — verse thirteen — where we read…

Daniel 12:13 (NLT)

‌¹³ “As for you, go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you.”

‌“Daniel, keep doing what you’ve been doing during all your days of exile — keep being faithful until your very last breath. For — in the end — on the day when the Son of Man returns — you will rise again and receive your reward.”

‌The last words spoken to Daniel are words meant to inspire him to remain steadfast — to remain faithful and diligent — to not give into despair and hopelessness. For the eternal reward awaiting the people of God far outweighs the difficulties and challenges we face in this land of exile. And I say this knowing the enormity of some of the difficulties you’re facing — I say this knowing that some of you are in the midst of challenges that seem insurmountable. 

But the promise to us — to those whose hope is not in what can be seen with our eyes in this land of exile — or that what we’re going through can be fixed in this life — which is what this land of exile wants us to believe — that everything is fixable — but the reality is not everything is fixable in this life. Thus our hope is in him who sees us in our suffering and pain and who — in love — gave his life for us so that we might have eternal life with him.

EVERLASTING LIFE OR EVERLASTING SHAME WILL BE YOURS

So let’s return to the beginning of our chapter and see the reason for our hope. We’re back in verse one.

Daniel 12:1–4 (NLT)

‌¹ “At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. ² Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. ³ Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”

‌“Daniel, a time of anguish and sorrow is coming that will exceed every other moment in history.” Yet look at the hope found in the words at the end of verse one.

Daniel 12:1b (NLT)

‌¹ But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued.

‌Rescue — a theme found throughout the Bible — is most clearly in the Exodus story — where God rescues his people out of their enslavement in Egypt. A story which points forward to the greatest Rescue Story: God sending his Son to rescue his people from their enslavement to Satan, sin, death, and Hell. Rescue is your guarantee if your hope and trust is in the Rescuer — Jesus Christ.

‌Yet many have died before Jesus’ return to rescue his people. And — most likely — all of us will die before Jesus returns. I say this — not because I know when Jesus will return — I say this based on the fact that nearly every generation before us has thought they were the ones who would not die and would experience the return of Christ — yet death is what they experienced. So — most likely — the same will be true for us. 

So it’s better to prepare for death now but — do so — knowing that even death isn’t an insurmountable opponent for our Rescuer — Jesus Christ. 

Daniel’s also told that…

Daniel 12:2 (NLT)

² Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.

All who die — will rise up on the last day — the day when Christ returns. All — not just Christians — but everyone who’s ever lived will be raised from the dead on the last day. The promise of resurrection is for everyone. However — and this is key — some will be raised to everlasting life while others will be raised to everlasting disgrace. Notice that everlasting is before both words — life and disgrace. There is no everlasting life without there also being everlasting disgrace or death.

We catch a glimpse of what’s being said here at the end of the book of Revelation. This will be a lengthy portion of Scripture — but I hope it brings encouragement to your soul — if you’re a Christian — and awakens you to your eternal reality — if you’re not. The apostle John writes…

Revelation 21:1-8; 21:22–22:17 (NLT)

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 

⁶ And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega — the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷ All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. ⁸ “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars — their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

²² I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. ²⁴ The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. ²⁵ Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. ²⁶ And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. ²⁷ Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty — but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. ¹ Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

² It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. ³ No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. ⁴ And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will be no night there — no need for lamps or sun — for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever. ⁶ Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.” ⁷ “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.” ⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. ⁹ But he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!” 

¹⁰ Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.” ¹² “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. ¹⁵ Outside the city are the dogs — the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. ¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.” ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. – Revelation 21:1-8; 21:22–22:17 (NLT)

HOW LONG UNTIL THE END?

And we can be stirred with hope by these words about our eternal destiny and still cry out, “But how long, O Lord, until the end? How much longer must I experience this pain or that suffering or this trial or that despair — due to living in this land of exile? How long, O Lord? How long?” We’re in verse five.

Daniel 12:5–12 (NLT)

⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing on opposite banks of the river. ⁶ One of them asked the man dressed in linen, who was now standing above the river, “How long will it be until these shocking events are over?” ⁷ The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took a solemn oath by the One who lives forever, saying, “It will go on for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened.” ⁸ I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, “How will all this finally end, my lord?” 

⁹ But he said, “Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means. ¹¹ “From the time the daily sacrifice is stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up to be worshiped, there will be 1,290 days. ¹² And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1,335 days!

Did you notice that the question, “How long” isn’t Daniel’s question? Daniel asks, “How will all this finally end” because he — just like us — thinks “If I can just figure out the details — I’ll be able to interpret the times correctly.” But it’s an angelic figure who asks “How long” and the response to him is “time, times, and half a time.” A phrase that’s brought about much speculation and calculation — but don’t miss a key detail in the reply.

Daniel 12:7b (NLT)

‌⁷ When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened.”

There’s still sorrow to come — there’s still trials ahead for the people of God — there’s still more to endure. But nothing very specific is given as to how much longer — so Daniel asks his question about how this will all finally end. And the messenger — if you noticed — doesn’t answer his question. He gently dismisses Daniel’s question before saying…

Daniel 12:10 (NLT)

¹⁰ Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means.

“Daniel, until this all happens — God’s people will continue to be purified, cleansed, and refined by the trials of living in exile — and — those who are wicked will continue in their ways.” 

And then — sort of out of the blue — the messenger mentions two sets of days — which — if we’ve learned anything about visions and dreams and symbols and numbers and — the complexities of interpreting them — we know to be careful here. But what is clear — is that a time of anguish — much worse than ever seen before — is still to come. And those who are wicked will continue to remain wicked — while those who are faithful will continue to remain faithful. And a blessing is guaranteed to all those who remain faithful as they live in exile.

For just as Daniel is told…

Daniel 12:13 (NLT)

‌¹³ “As for you, go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you.”

‌GO, REST, RISE

Know that — as for you — man or woman of God — young boy or girl who believes in Jesus — single, newly married, widowed, or empty nesters — continue in faithfulness until the end of your days — knowing that rest is coming — eternal rest. Knowing that your day of rescue is certain — for you will rise again when Christ returns. Knowing that an immeasurable reward is yours — for Christ has shared his inheritance with you.

‌So no matter how hard today may be — no matter how much anguish you may experience in the days ahead — without knowing what sorrow you may experience as you live in this land of exile — remain hopeful. Remain faithful. Remain steadfast. For a promise has been made to you and it is guaranteed: Eternal life is yours. Eternal life is yours. Eternal life is yours.

SCOTT MCKEE VIDEO INTERVIEW

To conclude today’s sermon — and our time in Daniel — I recorded a video with a friend of mine who’s a pastor in our denomination. Scott McKee is the pastor of Ward Church in Michigan. 

At the age of fifty — just seven years ago — Scott was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. He had surgery. Went through treatments. And was in remission. Then — about a year ago — his cancer returned. And — this time — the treatment nearly killed him. Yet — he beat cancer again. But he knew something wasn’t right.

Some of Scott’s organs had merged together due to the many surgeries he had to remove the cancer. He wasn’t able to eat or keep anything down so the doctor’s performed another surgery in hopes of separating his organs. However the situation was so bad the doctor’s had to abandon the operation — this was just a few months ago. 

For now — the only way Scott can get nutrients is through an IV which he has to be attached to for fourteen hours a day. He’s lost over fifty pounds in three months and — in one of our last phone calls together Scott said — “Josh, I think I’m comfortable saying that I’m suffering now.” 

Scott’s been married to his wife Angie for thirty-two years. And they have three kids — all college age or older. With that as an introduction to Scott and his situation — here’s my conversation with him about suffering and the hope that is still ours as we live in this land of exile.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available / PRAYING FOR YOU CARDS FOR SCOTT)

We have cards — out in the lobby — if you’d like to write a note to Scott to encourage him. Write him a note, sign it, and drop it in the box/basket that’s in the lobby and we’ll get them mailed to him. Please don’t take them with you otherwise you’ll need to mail it yourself to Ward Church. But let’s be an encouragement to Scott. 

And — now our closing prayer of blessing.

May you continue to live faithfully in this land of exile — and do so with great hope in knowing that your Rescuer is coming — and he is coming soon. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 11:2-45 (NLT)

‌DATE: 8-18-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing  our series in the book of Daniel — and we’re nearing the end — just one more week of looking at what it means to live in exile. And the section of Daniel that we’re in — is a section full of visions, dreams, symbols, prophecies about the future, and so on. And — our verses for today — continue the final vision that Daniel is given — a vision that began back in chapter ten. So let’s turn to our text for today and see what we can learn from Daniel’s final vision. We’ll be in Daniel chapter eleven — beginning in verse two.

Daniel 11:2–45 (NLT)

² “Now then, I will reveal the truth to you. Three more Persian kings will reign, to be succeeded by a fourth, far richer than the others. He will use his wealth to stir up everyone to fight against the kingdom of Greece. ³ “Then a mighty king will rise to power who will rule with great authority and accomplish everything he sets out to do. ⁴ But at the height of his power, his kingdom will be broken apart and divided into four parts. It will not be ruled by the king’s descendants, nor will the kingdom hold the authority it once had. For his empire will be uprooted and given to others. ⁵ “The king of the south will increase in power, but one of his own officials will become more powerful than he and will rule his kingdom with great strength. ⁶ “Some years later an alliance will be formed between the king of the north and the king of the south. The daughter of the king of the south will be given in marriage to the king of the north to secure the alliance, but she will lose her influence over him, and so will her father. She will be abandoned along with her supporters. 

⁷ But when one of her relatives becomes king of the south, he will raise an army and enter the fortress of the king of the north and defeat him. ⁸ When he returns to Egypt, he will carry back their idols with him, along with priceless articles of gold and silver. For some years afterward he will leave the king of the north alone. ⁹ “Later the king of the north will invade the realm of the king of the south but will soon return to his own land. ¹⁰ However, the sons of the king of the north will assemble a mighty army that will advance like a flood and carry the battle as far as the enemy’s fortress. ¹¹ “Then, in a rage, the king of the south will rally against the vast forces assembled by the king of the north and will defeat them. ¹² After the enemy army is swept away, the king of the south will be filled with pride and will execute many thousands of his enemies. But his success will be short lived. ¹³ “A few years later the king of the north will return with a fully equipped army far greater than before. ¹⁴ At that time there will be a general uprising against the king of the south. Violent men among your own people will join them in fulfillment of this vision, but they will not succeed. ¹⁵ Then the king of the north will come and lay siege to a fortified city and capture it. The best troops of the south will not be able to stand in the face of the onslaught. 

¹⁶ “The king of the north will march onward unopposed; none will be able to stop him. He will pause in the glorious land of Israel, intent on destroying it. ¹⁷ He will make plans to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will form an alliance with the king of the south. He will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom from within, but his plan will fail. ¹⁸ “After this, he will turn his attention to the coastland and conquer many cities. But a commander from another land will put an end to his insolence and cause him to retreat in shame. ¹⁹ He will take refuge in his own fortresses but will stumble and fall and be seen no more. ²⁰ “His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. But after a very brief reign, he will die, though not from anger or in battle. ²¹ “The next to come to power will be a despicable man who is not in line for royal succession. He will slip in when least expected and take over the kingdom by flattery and intrigue. ²² Before him great armies will be swept away, including a covenant prince. ²³ With deceitful promises, he will make various alliances. He will become strong despite having only a handful of followers. ²⁴ Without warning he will enter the richest areas of the land. 

Then he will distribute among his followers the plunder and wealth of the rich — something his predecessors had never done. He will plot the overthrow of strongholds, but this will last for only a short while. ²⁵ “Then he will stir up his courage and raise a great army against the king of the south. The king of the south will go to battle with a mighty army, but to no avail, for there will be plots against him. ²⁶ His own household will cause his downfall. His army will be swept away, and many will be killed. ²⁷ Seeking nothing but each other’s harm, these kings will plot against each other at the conference table, attempting to deceive each other. But it will make no difference, for the end will come at the appointed time. ²⁸ “The king of the north will then return home with great riches. On the way he will set himself against the people of the holy covenant, doing much damage before continuing his journey. ²⁹ “Then at the appointed time he will once again invade the south, but this time the result will be different. ³⁰ For warships from western coastlands will scare him off, and he will withdraw and return home. But he will vent his anger against the people of the holy covenant and reward those who forsake the covenant. 

³¹ “His army will take over the Temple fortress, pollute the sanctuary, put a stop to the daily sacrifices, and set up the sacrilegious object that causes desecration. ³² He will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him. ³³ “Wise leaders will give instruction to many, but these teachers will die by fire and sword, or they will be jailed and robbed. ³⁴ During these persecutions, little help will arrive, and many who join them will not be sincere. ³⁵ And some of the wise will fall victim to persecution. In this way, they will be refined and cleansed and made pure until the time of the end, for the appointed time is still to come. ³⁶ “The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every god, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed, but only until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place. ³⁷ He will have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, or for the god loved by women, or for any other god, for he will boast that he is greater than them all. 

³⁸ Instead of these, he will worship the god of fortresses — a god his ancestors never knew — and lavish on him gold, silver, precious stones, and expensive gifts. ³⁹ Claiming this foreign god’s help, he will attack the strongest fortresses. He will honor those who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority and dividing the land among them as their reward. ⁴⁰ “Then at the time of the end, the king of the south will attack the king of the north. The king of the north will storm out with chariots, charioteers, and a vast navy. He will invade various lands and sweep through them like a flood. ⁴¹ He will enter the glorious land of Israel, and many nations will fall, but Moab, Edom, and the best part of Ammon will escape. ⁴² He will conquer many countries, and even Egypt will not escape. ⁴³ He will gain control over the gold, silver, and treasures of Egypt, and the Libyans and Ethiopians will be his servants. ⁴⁴ “But then news from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in great anger to destroy and obliterate many. ⁴⁵ He will stop between the glorious holy mountain and the sea and will pitch his royal tents. But while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, and no one will help him. – Daniel 11:2-45 (NLT)

INTRODUCTION

If you remember — a few times in Daniel I’ve said that there’s a thread uniting the many visions and dreams found in the book. And this current vision — which covers multiple chapters — has much more detail than the previous visions. For example — our sermon that covered Daniel’s vision in chapter eight — was titled “The Author of History.” This is the sermon where we looked at two ways to interpret prophecies that we find in the Bible. 

There’s the way of higher criticism which doesn’t believe that prophecies are possible — thus — visions like these were written down after the historical events had taken place. And the key being that these visions were written down to appear as if they were recorded prior to the events happening. Thus — because prophecy isn’t possible — according to higher critics — the only way there are accurate prophecies like this in the Bible is because they were written after the historical events had taken place.

So that’s door number one — a door I’d recommend you not take. 

The second option is to take God at his Word. Where we use some of the same methods of the higher critics — looking at the dating of the writings, authorship, and so on — but do so without eliminating the possibility that God can have history written down prior to it taking place. Thus — during that sermon on Daniel chapter eight — I strongly encouraged us to take God at his Word — to understand that he is the Author of history. And — being history’s Author — God can have history written down before events happen as easily as he can have it written down after it’s taken place.

With that being said — here’s our big idea for today: Because God is the Author of history, he has authority over history. Notice that the word authority has the word author in it — that’s because the words are related to each other. Thus — because God is the Author of history — he has authority over history.

One example — where we find this idea in our chapter — is in the last half of verse thirty-two — where — having described the influence of an individual known as the “king of the north” — his flattery and winsomeness even though he is absolutely ungodly. 

At the rise of this king — who seems to have no rivals — we read…

Daniel 11:32b (NLT)

^32b But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.

What does this verse tell us? It tells us that there will be a remnant — a group who will remain faithful to God in the midst of this hardship that will take place in the future. There will be people who will not bow their knee to this ungodly king. 

But why will there be a remnant? Our answer reminds me of a theme we find throughout Scripture. For example, when the prophet Elijah was on the run from the wicked King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, at one point…

1 Kings 19:9b–10 (NLT)

⁹ There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

Eventually God again asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” And — again — Elijah replies with…

1 Kings 19:14 (NLT)

¹⁴ “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

Elijah was certain that he was all alone — that he was the last faithful person left on the planet. And — in response — God tells Elijah that he will be protected from the wicked people who are trying to kill him. And then God says this to Elijah.

1 Kings 19:18 (NLT)

¹⁸ Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”

Elijah thought he was all alone — yet there were seven thousand others who also remained faithful. But — if you remember — our question is: Why will they remain faithful? God’s Word tells us that they will remain faithful because he — God — will preserve them. He’ll keep the seven thousand from worshiping a false god. God — because he’s the Author of history — has authority over all of history — including preserving seven thousand who will remain faithful to him in a time full of hardship and uncertainty.

Now — back to the people of Daniel’s vision who will “know their God, who will be strong, and who will resist the king of the north” — why will they do so? Because God is the Author of history and — being the Author of history — he has authority over all of history — including giving these individuals the strength and perseverance they’ll need to resist a wicked king in the future. God will preserve them — and his preservation guarantees their perseverance.

This idea is also found in the New Testament when Paul — writing about the Jewish people’s rejection of Jesus as the Messiah — refers back to Elijah’s situation and says…

Romans 11:1–6 (NLT)

¹ I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ² No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? 

Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” ⁴ And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!” ⁵ It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful BECAUSE OF GOD’S GRACE — his undeserved kindness IN CHOOSING THEM. ⁶ And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is — free and undeserved.

Why — according to Paul — did some of the Jews remain faithful and not reject Jesus as the promised Messiah — when so many of their peers did reject him? Paul says these Jews remained faithful “because of God’s grace — his undeserved kindness in choosing them.” Choosing them for what? To be faithful — to not reject Jesus as God’s Messiah. For God is the Author of history — thus he has authority over all of history — including preserving for himself a faithful people throughout all of history.

And — to be clear — God is not the Recorder of history. He’s not the Archivist of history or the one who keeps a diary of history. This isn’t about God’s ability to look into the future and see the decisions humanity will make and then write down our decisions ahead of time. That’s not authorship — that’s recording the history others are writing. And this is so critical for our view of God — for your view of God: Is he the Author of history or has he simply recorded the history others are writing? 

God — who gives prophetic visions to his people — as recorded in Scripture — is the One authoring history — he’s the One writing history — he’s not giving visions of events that he has no control of and no authority over — no — the certainty of the events — like the preservation of seven thousand who refused to worship a false god in Elijah’s day or the Jews who worshiped Jesus in Paul’s day — the certainty of events is due the authority of our God who is authoring all of history.

And this is meant to give God’s people great comfort as they live in this land of exile. For the future is not up to chance — or us — or whoever has the most power — or nature — or whatever else others consider to be the ultimate authority over history. The future — our future — your future — the future of everyone and everything — is in the powerful, loving, and just hands of the only wise God. May this give you comfort — if your future right now — is causing you anxiety, fear, or worry.

GOD HAS DETERMINED THE BIG PICTURE OF HISTORY

Now — there are two angles of this truth — that God — in being the Author of history — has authority over all of history — there are two angles we’re going to briefly look at. The first angle is this: Since God is the Author of history and has authority over all of history — he has determined the big picture of history. God has determined the big picture of history.

If we take a step back and look at this prophetic vision — in our chapter — we see that we’re covering hundreds of years of history — history still to come from Daniel’s point of view. 

But this is history that’s certain to come — history that we know has come — as both Christian and non-Christian scholars agree on the historical events that have fulfilled what’s written in the book of Daniel — we looked at all of that during the sermon on Daniel chapter eight.

Thus — from kings and presidents, to wars and peace treaties — God is over and above all of history — orchestrating history so that his will is done. For the Christian — this is the hope of our faith — because Jesus Christ came to earth to live, die, and rise from the dead — which is the culmination of God’s plan for all of history. And if he lacks authority over other events in history — how could we not conclude that God lacked authority over his plan of salvation for his people? 

Or — to state it positively — since we believe that God had authority to execute his plan of salvation for his people — an event culminating in the events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection — we believe that he has authority over all of the rest of history as well. 

For God’s authority is not limited just to our salvation — he’s working out all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. As one person has said, “It is because Christ has suffered and died and risen again that history has meaning and purpose.” (Duguid)

And this is true even for the history that’s yet to come — from our point in history — and this is true even when that history — that is yet to come — will bring trials and tribulations, persecution and pain, or even death for God’s people. We can trust God’s Word when it tells us that there are great battles ahead of us — and yet face them with confidence because we trust in the One who has authority over all of history — the One who empowers his people to stand firm — to remain faithful — to not bow down to the false gods of our day but remain committed to the One who’s called us according to his good purpose.

For our God — your God, if you believe in Jesus — is the One who said…

Revelation 22:13 (NLT)

¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Alpha and Omega — as you may know — are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — they’re the beginning and the end. And — here — Jesus tells us that he is beginning and the end — that he’s eternal — which means that he existed before history and will exist after history — and that’s what it means to be the Author of history. And he’s given us his Word to testify about things that are still to come so that we — his people — will hold fast to his promise that he is coming soon — as we persevere in this land of exile.

This is why Daniel received his vision — so that he and God’s people would hold fast to the promise that God’s Messiah was coming. And this is why we have Scripture to tell us of Jesus’ promised return — so we’ll hold fast — as we live in this land of exile — remembering all of God’s promises to us. Promises that are guaranteed because he is the Author of history and has authority over all of history. And no one and no thing can stop his plan from coming to pass.

GOD HAS DETERMINED THE DETAILS OF HISTORY

That’s the big picture when it comes to God’s Authorship and authority over history. Now — let’s explore the second angle of this truth: Since God is the Author of history and has authority over all of history — he has determined the details of history. God has determined the details of history.

Here’s why this matters to you. As one pastor has said, “If the Lord cares only about the big picture, individuals could fear that they would get lost or used in the grand schemes of empires and kingdoms. So with the sweeping revelations of eons and empires, the Lord also reveals his attention to particulars.” (Chapell)

God’s authority over the details of history — includes your history — and this is where intimacy with him is experienced. For — if God can give Daniel such specific details about the future of individuals — people like Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus, and Alexander the Great, and Antiochus Epiphanes — and new details in our chapter fulfilled by Egyptian rulers, or a Syrian king who — in an effort to gain power — had his daughter seduce an Egyptian ruler’s young son — which didn’t work — if all of these people fulfill details of Daniel’s vision — showing us that God is the Author who has authority over the details of their lives — why would we question his Authorship and authority over the details of our lives?

Here’s one reason why: We experience pain and suffering. Daniel’s vision of the future isn’t going to be pain free for God’s people, right? This vision includes much suffering. Yet we — Christians here in the US — have bought into a lie that God’s will for his people is a life without difficulty, pain, or suffering. And I’ve tried to figure out why we’ve bought into this lie. 

I mean — it can’t be from knowing our Bible — I know that much — because it’s not an easy task to find someone in the Bible who doesn’t experience suffering, pain, and difficulty as they follow God.

• From the first two people mentioned in the Bible who experienced the murder of their son — a murder committed by their other son.
• To Noah who experienced the destruction of the world through a flood.
• To Abraham and Sarah who experienced decades of infertility — the consequences of taking God’s promise to them in their own hands — and the conflict — still going on today — between the offspring of their two sons.
• Whether it be Moses who had to flee for his life and experienced leading a grumbling, distrusting, and disgruntled people in the wilderness for forty years — only to forfeit his right to enter the Promised Land.
• Or David who was on the run for quite a bit of his life — only to become a king who experienced the consequences of his sins of adultery and murder.
• To people who — as far as we know — did nothing to deserve their pain, suffering, and hardship. 
• The woman with constant bleeding — who’d spent all the money she had trying to find a cure. 
• Timothy who suffered from stomach pains. 
• And the many women who experienced the murder of their young sons because Herod was trying to kill the newborn baby Jesus.

Again — how could anyone read the Bible and conclude, “God’s will for his people is a pain free — no suffering — life”?

And — how much less — if we turn to Jesus does this lie make any sense to believe? Jesus is called the Innocent Sufferer. The Sinless One who…

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

²¹ For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The One who…

1 Peter 2:22–25 (NLT)

²² …never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. ²³ He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. ²⁴ He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. ²⁵ Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.

The One who is the Author of history — who has authority over all of history — has written every detail of your life. 

• Yet he wrote suffering into his story so that — know matter the suffering or pain or horror you experience — you have assurance in knowing that you too can leave your case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. 
• That — because Jesus carried your sins in his body on the cross — you are now dead to sin and alive to righteousness. 
• So that you know — by his wounds — you’ve been promised healing — full restoration of life — just as the Author of history has promised it will be. A life of no suffering. No pain. No sorrow. No death. 
• Promises that are guaranteed because the Author of history entered into history to suffer and die for his people.

CONCLUSION

So I can’t tell you specifically why God has allowed you to suffer — to experience the pain you’ve experienced — to go through that season of darkness or depression or disappointment. I’m not the Author — he is. But what I can do is point you to his Word — to his promises — to the future that’s sure to come because the Author of history has determined it will be. For he has said…

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Remember — earlier — Daniel was reading from the prophet Jeremiah when he was given a vision — a vision connected to the one in our chapter. This promise could very well have been on his mind during all of this. For years, Daniel may have been wrestling with, “God, how will this promise and this vision come to pass — for both are from you — the Author of history?” Yet — despite the vision — God’s promises to his people is what Daniel holds on to. Despite the vision of future pain and suffering — there’s a promise of hope. And despite the pain and suffering you have — or are experiencing — there’s hope for you too. 

Do you believe God’s promises of hope to you? For example — this promise — which we reminded ourselves of last week.

Romans 8:28 (NLT)

²⁸ And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Everything means everything. This is a promise of hope for us — God’s people. He is causing everything to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. This is the hope we have. Hope that we haven’t earned — but hope that is guaranteed. For — if the Author of history says there will be a remnant of seven thousand who will remain faithful — there will be a remnant of seven thousand who remain faithful. And — if the Author of history says that everything will work together for the good of his people — then everything is working together for our good.

May who God is — the Author of history — and all that he has and will do — because he has authority over the big picture of history and authority over the details of your story — may this be the reason for your hope today, tomorrow, and all your days as you live in this land of exile. Let’s pray together.

PRAYER

Father of all history, what comfort and hope in knowing that history is not random — it’s not up to chaos or chance or nature — but is under your Authority. This gives us confidence in promises like, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord” and that you have claimed us as your “possession since we were predestined according to your purpose” — and that you are the “One who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of your will.” Your Authorship and authority are not threats — they are comforts for your people — guarantee of the promises you’ve made to us. 

Spirit of God, would you so imprint these promises into our hearts so that our confidence in your — not in ourselves — but in your faithfulness increases. For it’s so easy to relate to Elijah — feeling like we’re all alone — when there are seven thousand others you’ve kept from straying — a remnant of faithful, persevering, Word and Spirit Christians who are generous, and Kingdom-minded, and focused on making disciples to be welcomed into your faith family. Increase our trust in the truth that you are Authoring the best story — even the best story for us — for this is how we’ll endure with hope and joy.

And — Jesus — you endured suffering and abandonment and betrayal and death because of the joy set before you. You lived trusting that your life was in your Father’s hands — the same hands our lives are in because you suffered and died for our sins. 

This is the grandest display of love: suffering and death for us. 

And the grandest display of God’s authority over all of history is you rising from the grave three days later — ensuring that the plans your Father has for us — plans for good and not for disaster — plans of a future full of hope — and where everything is working together for our good — your defeat of death guarantees that the plans you have for us will come to pass. May we keep our hope anchored on your wonderful promises to us all our days as we live in this land of exile. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May who God is — the One who has authority over all of history — be the reason for your hope as you live in this land of exile. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 10:1-11:1 (NLT)

DATE: 8-11-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing  our series in the book of Daniel — looking at what it means to live in exile. And we’re in the last half of Daniel — a section full of dreams, visions, symbols, prophecies about the future, and so on. And — in our verses — we’ll begin the final vision that Daniel is given — a vision that will take us through the end of the book and the end of this series. So let’s read our text for today. We’ll be in Daniel chapter ten — starting in verse one.

Daniel 10:1–11:1 (NLT)

¹ In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future — times of war and great hardship. ² When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. ³ All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed. ⁴ On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, ⁵ I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. ⁶ His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people. ⁷ Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. ⁸ So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. ⁹ Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. 

¹⁰ Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. ¹¹ And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling. ¹² Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. ¹³ But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.” ¹⁵ While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. ¹⁶ Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me, “I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen, my lord, and I am very weak. ¹⁷ How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.” 

¹⁸ Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. ¹⁹ “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!” As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.” ²⁰ He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. ²¹ Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince. ¹ I have been standing beside Michael to support and strengthen him since the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede.)

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever showed up to a party or an event and realized that you were not dressed appropriately?‌ Once a year I travel to Orlando to meet with some pastors who all lead similar size churches. We always go out for dinner on our first night together. Well the first time I went to this meeting I had no idea that the restaurant was super fancy — like — “guys wear a sports coat” fancy. And I didn’t have a sports coat with me. 

Do you want to know what a group of about twenty pastors did to remedy the situation? As we walked in — they put me in the middle of the group so nobody could see that I wasn’t wearing a sports coat. We were in a private room and they knew if they got me to the room we’d be good to go — after all — they all took their coats off once we sat down anyway.

By the way — last year — I arrived in Florida and realized that we were going back to that same restaurant and I didn’t have a sports coat. So I stopped by a store and bought one for the dinner because I didn’t want to be that guy again. And would you believe that the restaurant changed its policy and guys no longer have to wear a sports coat? I wore it anyway.

What does this have to do with Daniel? Well our verses in Daniel remind us of a truth that’s found throughout the Bible. The truth that — behind all that our eyes can see — there’s a spiritual war going on. An unseen battle between good and evil — between light and darkness — between restaurants that require sports coats and ones that don’t — just kidding — a war between God’s angelic army and the devil and his demonic army. 

But this is not an even fight — these two forces are not equals. For Jesus has secured the victory of this war on our behalf — yet we experience the consequences of this spiritual war as we live in this land of exile. And — here’s the connection to my sports coat dilemma: are you dressed appropriately — are you dressed for this spiritual war?

Meaning — are we prepared — not necessarily to wage war ourselves against the devil and his army — but are we prepared for life in this land of exile which can be hard, challenging, exhausting, and trying? 

Do we know the tactics of our enemy and do we trust that God will provide all that we need as we live in this land of exile — for example his promise to clothe us in the strength we need to live faithfully — to endure — to not live in fear — but to live with peace and encouragement in knowing that we — because of what Christ has accomplished — are very precious to God. Are you dressed appropriately — clothed in God’s promises — as you live in this land of exile?

We find one of God’s promises in verse nineteen — where we read…

Daniel 10:19 (NLT)

¹⁹ “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!” As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”

Are you dressed in — clothed in — trusting in — the promised strength from your God — strength that will keep you steadfast and faithful until you experience rescue from this land of exile? No other strength will do — the only strength that will lead us to eternal victory is the strength God provides as we clothe ourselves in his great promises to us.

STRENGTH TO STAND

Let’s return to verse one and remind ourselves of the strength God has promised to his people.

Daniel 10:1–11 (NLT)

¹ In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future — times of war and great hardship. ² When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. ³ All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed. ⁴ On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, ⁵ I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. ⁶ His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people. ⁷ Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. ⁸ So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. ⁹ Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. ¹⁰ Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. ¹¹ And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

So we understand where we are in history — the third year of King Cyrus’s reign is the year 536 BC. This is a couple of years — or so — after the vision Daniel had in chapter nine — when he prayed after reading from the book of Jeremiah. Now — a few years have passed since Cyrus issued the decree allowing the Jews to return to their homeland. And it’s important for us to remember what those returning exiles experienced upon arriving in Jerusalem and what they’ll continue to experience for years to come.

If you were here with us when we looked at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah — during our Finding Jesus series — you may remember the opposition and conflict the Jews experienced upon returning to Jerusalem. They experienced mocking and ridicule from those who’d been living in the area while they were in exile. The locals opposed the exiles and their attempt to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Eventually — because of the threats from the opposition — the Jews had to hold a sword in one hand while they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with their other hand. 

And much of this conflict and opposition was coming from their distant relatives who were allowed to stay in the land — people who didn’t experience the seventy years of exile. Yet — after seventy years — those who stayed behind had intermarried with foreigners. They adopted and meshed other religions with their Jewish faith — creating a new religion — these folks become the Samaritans in the New Testament.

Well — all of this news was making its way back to Babylon and Daniel’s hearing about it — and it troubled him. In fact — commentaries mention that Daniel’s period of mourning, fasting, and prayer is his way of “identifying with the difficulties and trials that faced God’s people who had returned to their homeland.” (Duguid)

‌

A reminder to us that — though we’re a local expression of God’s church — we’re a small piece of God’s global family. Which is why — as a church — we strive to make disciples of Jesus who are Kingdom-minded — who — like Daniel — have an awareness of what’s happening to our faith family around the world — in places like Lebanon and Bangladesh where we have partners living in great uncertainty right now. It’s impossible for any one of us to keep up with everything going on in the world — but it is possible for each of us to keep up with what’s going on somewhere in the world.

• Some ways to do this would be signing up to receive newsletters from our ministry partners working all around the world. You can do so on our website’s ministry partners page — gatewayepc.org/ministry-partners. 
• Or you can download the Operation World app and spend a few minutes each day praying for a nation in our world. 
• Or the Unreached of the Day app to pray for a group of people who have little or no access to the gospel. 
• Or sign up for a missions trip or commit to support financially and with prayer those who are going. 

There are many ways where — like Daniel — we can expand our awareness and connection to God’s family — our faith family — all around the world.

So all of this is on Daniel’s mind when he has this final vision — a vision which speaks of “times of war and great hardship.” We want to know what war and what great hardship this is referring to — but — as one Bible commentator says — “the conflicts we experience here on earth are the counterpart of a great spiritual conflict that is presently ongoing in the heavenly realm.” (Duguid)

Meaning — what we normally focus on — worldly conflicts — like what’s been going on between Russia and Ukraine — or between Israel and Palestine — worldly conflicts grab our attention — but these are merely reflections of a spiritual war that our eyes don’t see. 

And these wars — especially in areas where there always seems to be conflict — like the Middle East — these wars can become exhausting to our ears, right? Which means — we can all relate to what Daniel must be experiencing when — as the seventy years of exile comes to an end — he receives another vision — this one of even greater hardships that are to come in the future. Daniel’s gotta be thinking, “When is this gonna end?”

For some of us — when we think of the great hardship that the book of Daniel has shown us time and time again — we’re unsettled — because we expect life to be easy. Others of us — though — aren’t surprised because we expect life to be hard. For both groups — we must remember that — what Daniel’s been teaching us is that life in this land of exile is hard — but it’s not hopeless. Hard and hopeless are very different — don’t ever forget that. Life in exile is hard — but — because of Christ — life in exile is also hopeful.

May hope be something you clothe yourself in as you go about life in this land of exile. For — if we don’t — we’ll go about life dressed with expectations that don’t prepare us for the reality of living in exile. We’ll either view this world as heaven — and what a poor substitute this world is compared to the vision of heaven we find in Scripture — or we’ll view this world as hell and — though I don’t want to down play either the joys or sorrows we experience in life — this world — as hellish as it can be — doesn’t compare to what awaits those who don’t know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Yet — even in knowing this — many people — Christian or not — put on clothes of expectation where they anticipate every day to be like the weekend with blue skies and a high in the mid-70s. While others — again Christian or not — put on clothes expecting it to be a day of gray skies, with an inbox full of demanding emails, an empty roll of TP at a very inconvenient time, and — to top the day off — your dog said hello to a skunk — again — just before bedtime.

What kind of clothes of expectation are you wearing in this land of exile? What’s your response to his visions about the future — your future — your present even — as you live in exile? Daniel’s story is meant to help us come to biblical grips with the truth that life is hard in exile. And our verses tell us why life is hard — while also reminding us of our reason to cling to hope — for we’re not left to defend ourselves — but have One — who is all powerful — fighting on our behalf.

STRENGTH TO SPEAK

And this leads us to the strength that Daniel’s given. We’re in verse twelve.

Daniel 10:12–17 (NLT)

¹² Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. ¹³ But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. 

Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.” ¹⁵ While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. ¹⁶ Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me, “I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen, my lord, and I am very weak. ¹⁷ How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.”

At first — Daniel was left all alone. Those who were with him — though they saw nothing — ran away in fear. And his aloneness had to contribute to Daniel lacking strength. And what did God do for Daniel? What grace, right? God sent a messenger to go to Daniel — to be present with him — and this angelic-like companion restored Daniel’s strength.

This reminds me of what we read in the book of Hebrews when the author writes…

Hebrews 1:14 (NLT)

¹⁴ Therefore, angels are only servants — spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

Here’s a wonderful truth for you — if you believe in Jesus Christ — you will inherit salvation. And here’s another wonderful truth for you: God is still in the business of sending his angels to care for his people when they’re in need. Especially when — like Daniel — you’re alone. Abandoned. And weak.

I wasn’t sure if I should share what I’m about to — one — because — if you’re a guest or newer to Gateway — I don’t want you to think we’re a “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” kind of church and — two — because I hesitate to share stories where you might think “Well of course Josh experienced that…he’s a pastor” as if you and I are in two separate categories. I’m just like all of you — I’ve just been called to pastor and preach. But here goes.

Years ago I began to study the supernatural — the unseen world of angels and demons — spiritual powers of light and darkness and how God — at times — uses his people in the spiritual conflict going on. Well — a few folks knew that I was studying this topic which led to me getting a desperate phone call due to a young lady who was acting out of her mind and was out of control. Her friends — who’d never experienced anything like this before — wondered if what was going on was demonic — so I got a call asking if I’d come and help.

Though I’d never met the girl who was in trouble — I had a strong impression that she would try and attack me. So I called a couple of people and asked them to be in the room at the church where we were going to meet — I wanted some help in case things turned violent. And I also began to pray. I was desperate for God’s help. I’d only been studying the supernatural for a few months — I wasn’t an expert — I’d never experienced the demonic or anything close to it before — yet — here I was getting a call because I was the only person someone else knew who had any familiarity with the topic.

I felt weak. Incompetent. Powerless. So I prayed. Then I got in my car — a Ford Focus — and drove to the church. And — as I was driving — I had this vision of three, big, warrior-like angelic beings sitting in the car with me. The picture I saw was of what Roman soldiers looked like in biblical times — except these angels were like ten feet tall and had muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bodybuilding days — and they were in my tiny Ford Focus! I remember thinking, “Well this is different.”

So I get to the church — and I tell two guys — who’d be in the room with me — “If she turns violent — stop her from attacking me.” I didn’t want to get wailed on by a twenty-something year old female. 

Well she got violent. At one point, she started to come at me from across the room and — time seemed to stand still as I evaluated the situation and realized that no one was going to stop her — they weren’t even moving. So here I am about to get attacked by this demonized girl — so I did something that — looking back — I have no idea where my response came from. 

I quickly stood up. Lifted my hand towards her and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to stop.” And she stopped. But she didn’t just stop in place — she was still struggling to get to me — but she was being held back. Her arms were in a position where it looked like she was being held — being kept from getting to me — like she’d been grabbed by some very powerful beings — and was being held in place. 

The situation was intense — so I did the next thing that came to mind: I commanded her — in the name of Jesus — to sit back down on the couch. And imagine someone who doesn’t want to sit down being forced to sit down — that’s what I — and everyone else in the room — saw. Our eyes could only see the physical — but there was a spiritual battle going on in the room that day. 

Now — because I’ll probably get asked this — I wasn’t able to free her from the demonic. At that point in her life she wasn’t willing to give up whatever the demonic was promising her — but I share the story because it illustrates what one of my study Bibles says about our verses. 

It says, “Daniel’s world, and ours, is populated by more than meets the human eye. Daniel is shown the great events of history enacted against the background of a real spiritual world where spiritual beings support or hinder God’s people, where the conflicts of the ages are also carried out. Behind all of this, the Ancient One sovereignly guides all things and sits in judgment upon the process and its conclusion.” (NLT Study Bible, note for Daniel 10:13, 1506)

STRENGTH TO ENDURE

Behind the world that we see is a spiritual world where spiritual beings — angels and demons — are either supporting or hindering God’s people. And our Enemy delights in how — especially here in the US — God’s people are naive to this spiritual war — so often going about life as if there is no spiritual reality behind the conflicts and hardships we experience.

And — yet — despite all of this — we’re to have hope. Because our God is sovereign — in control of all things — including the hardships his people experience. And we know this to be true — and trust that this is true — because our God is the One who provides us with the strength we need to endure — and not only to endure — but to be victorious. We’re in verse eighteen.

Daniel 10:18–11:1 (NLT)

¹⁸ Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. ¹⁹ “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!” 

As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.” ²⁰ He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. ²¹ Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince. ¹ I have been standing beside Michael to support and strengthen him since the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede.)

Do you need some strength — some hope — some Good News today? Know that — like Daniel — if you believe in Jesus Christ — you are very precious to God. Please don’t dismiss these words — for they are clothes meant to adorn you with strength and hope. You are loved by God and — he so loves you — that he’s fighting on behalf of his people — including you.

“But — Josh — what about the horrible things I’ve experienced? Where was God’s angelic protection then?” 

I have no idea why God didn’t protect you from whatever it is that you’ve experienced — but I do know how easy it is for me to focus on the bad things — horrible things — evil and wicked things — I and those I love have had to endure. And yet I wonder how many times God’s protected me — and those I love — without me even knowing. 

Additionally, I have promises to clothe myself in — specifically about these moments in life when I don’t understand why God allowed something to happen. There’s the promise from God that…

Romans 8:28 (NET)

²⁸ All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

And “all things” means “all things.” There are no exceptions — no matter how hellish or painful or “God I don’t know how this will work together for my good” it may seem. Either I clothe myself in this promise or I reject a beautiful gift from my Father in heaven. To be clear — not him — once he’s your Heavenly Father he’s always your Heavenly Father — but as his children we can either receive or reject his gifts. What gifts has your Heavenly Father offered to you that you’ve yet to receive?

One final thought before we pray. Some of you may have noticed that I included the first verse of chapter eleven in this sermon. Why did I do that? The reason why verse one is included — is because it tells us that this spiritual battle had been going on for three years — for it was during the first year of Darius’s reign that the Jews began returning to Jerusalem — and that happened three years earlier in Daniel’s life.

Three years is a long time, isn’t it? 

Think of the conflict — the hardships experienced — the pain and sorrow and wondering how all of this is going to turn out for good. Think of what kind of strength you’d need in order to faithfully endure — with hope — if what you’re currently facing goes on for another three years — or ten years — or thirty years. Nearly all of Daniel’s life was lived in exile — a land where he experiences again and again the physical echoes of the spiritual conflict he’s caught up in. And what we’ve seen today — is that even Daniel wasn’t strong enough on his own. So an angel was sent to strengthen him and to clothe him in power from on high.

So we’ll end today’s sermon on…

Ephesians 6:10–18 (NLT)

¹⁰ A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. ¹² For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶ In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Let’s pray together.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, your Word tells us that you are the Giver of every good gift. You offer wonderful gifts to us — your children — promises that are guaranteed: Hope. Joy. Strength. Courage. Angelic care. Unseen protection. Healing. Salvation — among many others. May your gifts be received by many today — some receiving a gift from you for the first time. And may we all clothe ourselves in your promises and gifts — especially the gift of your love for us.

Holy Spirit, thank you for the times you’ve protected us without our knowing. Comforted us unexpectedly. Led us away from a foolish decision. Revealed to us what is true and what is not. Your Word tells us that you live in all who believe in Jesus and that you are not a Spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Fill us with your power. Fill us with your love. Fill us with self-control as we live in this land of exile.

And — Jesus — to our strong and loving Savior — you clothed yourself in flesh in order to be our representative. You clothed yourself in flesh so that you could be our substitute in your life, death, and resurrection. You clothed yourself — not only in flesh — but in our sins — as you hung on the cross — and you did so in love for us. And now we are clothed in your righteousness and have been given a hope-increasing gift: all of God’s promises are ours — not because we’ve earned or deserve them — but because you have. Help us — we ask — to receive more and more of the gifts you earned on our behalf — good gifts from your — and our — Heavenly Father. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you clothe yourselves in all of God’s promises — being strengthened by his power — as you live in this land of exile. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 9:20-27 (NLT)

‌DATE: 7-28-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing our series in the book of Daniel — looking at what it means to live in exile. And we’re in the last half of the book — a section full of visions, dreams, symbols, angels, beasts, and other confusing sorts of details. And the last half of chapter nine — which we’ll be in today — is a transitional section that takes place while Daniel is praying. We looked at most of Daniel’s prayer last week — and now we come to an angelic answer to his prayer.

We’re in Daniel chapter nine — beginning in verse twenty.

Daniel 9:20–27 (NLT)

²⁰ I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain. ²¹ As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²² He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. ²³ The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision. ²⁴ “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. ²⁵ Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler — the Anointed One — comes. 

Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times. ²⁶ “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. ²⁷ The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

INTRODUCTION

As a pastor and preacher, I have the privilege where much of my work is focused on studying God’s Word. Part of my study includes reading commentaries — scholarly works on books of the Bible. I bring this up because — when you read what commentaries have to say about the last few verses of Daniel chapter nine — you enter into — what one scholar has called, “a bewildering maze.” (Sidney Greidanus)

Another Bible scholar calls the history of the exegesis — or interpretation — of the seventy weeks — in our verses — a “dismal swamp of Old Testament criticism.” (James Montgomery) While another calls the last four verses of our chapter, “the most difficult text in the book [of Daniel].” (Joyce Baldwin)

For example, back in the year 400 AD, Jerome — an early church historian — mentions nine conflicting interpretations of our verses by “the great teachers of the church” of his day and left it up to the reader to decide which interpretation was best. That’s way back in 400 AD. Long before dispensationalism, higher criticism, and other interpretative lenses were thrown into the mix adding their own paths to the “bewildering maze.”

With that said — there’s something in our verses that isn’t bewildering — isn’t confusing — but is something all followers of Jesus agree on. Our verses tell us that — from this point in history when Daniel is praying — the future death of God’s Anointed One will appear to accomplish nothing. 

Yet — from our point in history — we know that the death of God’s Anointed One — which did happen — accomplished salvation for his people. What looked like a failure — the death of Jesus Christ — was the ultimate victory.

The key verse of our text is verse twenty-six which states…

Daniel 9:26 (NLT)

²⁶ “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.

Again — in the bewildering maze — which is our verses — one thing can be agreed upon: Jesus Christ is the Anointed One mentioned in verse twenty-six. He is God’s Anointed One who will be killed and his death will appear to have accomplished nothing. Yet — as we discover in the New Testament — the death of Jesus Christ was the means by which God secured salvation for his people. 

For the death of God’s Anointed One has guaranteed our victory over Satan, sin, death, and Hell. And his sacrificial death assures us that — all who turn to him in faith — have eternal life. A life which — for one glorious eternal day — will no longer be lived in exile — but will be lived in the presence of our God and Savior in the New Heavens and New Earth — the eternal Promised Land.

So — though we may encounter many twists and turns in this bewildering maze of verses — we know where we’re headed — we know our final destination — and we have confidence that we will arrive at the end of this maze of living in exile: eternal life will be ours and will be the outcome for all who believe in Jesus Christ — God’s Anointed One — who did die — but his death was not in vain — for his death accomplished our salvation.

ANSWERED PRAYER

So let’s return to our verses and begin by looking at the end of Daniel’s prayer and some encouragement we find in the angel’s words to him. We’re back in verse twenty.

Daniel 9:20–23 (NLT)

²⁰ I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain. ²¹ As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²² He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. ²³ The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.

Daniel finishes his prayer that we looked at last week. A prayer confessing both his personal sin and the corporate sin of his people. And the angel Gabriel visits Daniel — again — to give him additional insight and understanding because — if you remember from chapter eight — when Gabriel had explained to Daniel the meaning of his second vision…

Daniel 8:27 (NLT)

²⁷ Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.

Even with Gabriel’s help — there was still much that Daniel didn’t understand about his vision of the end. So — as he’s praying — God commands Gabriel to go back to Daniel to help him better understand all that’s to come in the future. And Gabriel says something to Daniel that I don’t want us to miss or quickly pass by. Before he further explains the vision — Gabriel tells Daniel, “Daniel, you are very precious to God.”

Other Bible translations say, “You are greatly loved.” (ESV)

“You are of great value in God’s sight.” (NET)

“You are a previous treasure.” (KJV)

“You are highly esteemed.” (NIV)

“You are much loved.” (MSG)

So as we turn to the angel’s words about the future — may we all keep this in mind. For there’s hope being offered to us as we live in this land of exile — hope when we understand what it means to be…

“Greatly loved by God. To be of great value in his sight. To be his precious treasure. To know that we are highly esteemed by him. And much loved.” Don’t get so lost in this bewildering maze of verses that you lose sight of these words of life and hope — which are yours — if you believe in God’s Anointed One — Jesus Christ. 

THE DEATH OF GOD’S ANOINTED ONE AND THE BEGINNING OF THE END

‌Now let’s turn to Gabriel’s explanation. We’re in verse twenty-four.

Daniel 9:24–27 (NLT)

²⁴ “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. ²⁵ Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler — the Anointed One — comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times. ²⁶ “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. ²⁷ The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

It’s important to remember that Daniel’s prayer began because he was reading the words of the prophet Jeremiah. And — while he was reading — he realized the seventy years of captivity and exile were nearing its end. So the promised return to their homeland is approaching — but here’s the problem: Returning to their homeland isn’t going to fix what caused God’s people to be sent into exile in the first place. 

Why were they sent into exile? 

Because of their rebellion, sin, and disobedience towards God and his commands. They thought they knew better than him — so they did their own thing. They mistook God’s patience with them as approval of their sinful ways. Yet God so loves his people that — like a good parent — he disciplines those he loves — thus into exile they were sent.

So their real issue — is their rebellious hearts. And — from what we’ve seen in Daniel — and what we know due to the rest of the Bible — living in exile hasn’t changed their hearts. You see — for their — and our — sinful, rebellious hearts to be changed — something other than a return from exile is needed. An act of God much more awesome and powerful in demonstrating his grace and love towards his people — as well as his anger and judgment of sin — was needed. And this — this much more awesome and powerful act of God — would be accomplished in the death of his Anointed One.

And this truth tells us what these four verses of Daniel chapter nine are meant to do. They’re not in our Bible to create end times debates among Christians — but are recorded to inspire faithful perseverance among God’s people as we live in exile. A faithful perseverance fueled by the encouragement found in the promise that God’s Anointed One will die — but his death will not be in vain. Instead — it will be the most glorious act in all of history. And this assures us — and encourages us — and ignites our faithfulness while we live in exile because — these words shout to us that God’s plan of salvation and rescue of his people is far greater than anything this land of exile can throw at us. 

And I say this knowing that some of us have had experiences that seem to have come straight from hell while in this land of exile. But even these experiences — as painful as they are — are nothing compared to our promised rescue — a rescue leading to eternal life with the One who loves us and gave his life for us.

And we know that this is the point of our verses. For — as one commentator states — “While the precise timing of [the] rescue is the subject of much debate, the nature of the rescue is not. If we will start with trying to understand “what” is predicted before we debate “when” each detail will occur, then we will gain the hope that this passage is really designed to impart.” (Bryan Chapell)

And what does the angel say will happen? He tells us that the event to come — the death of God’s Anointed One — will result in the “end of the rebellion of God’s people” and it will “put an end to sin.” The death of God’s Anointed One will “atone for iniquity” and “bring in everlasting righteousness.” His death will “confirm the prophetic vision” and “anoint a most holy place or — as in some Bible translations — “anoint God’s Most Holy One.” 

This is what we’re told will happen.

Thus — while we may not understand all that Gabriel says to Daniel — especially some of the details as to when some of these events will take place — what is clear — what isn’t debatable — what is meant to have our attention — is that there’s much in our verses that point forward to the ministry of Jesus — God’s Anointed One — who came to live and to die as the atoning sacrifice for God’s people.

YEAH, BUT WHEN?

Now — at this point — I assume that some of you are still thinking, “But — Josh — can’t you say something about when this will all happen? What about the seventy weeks?” This takes us back to something I said a few weeks ago about the literal interpretation of Scripture. If we take the seventy weeks literally — well — then what does seventy weeks mean? 

It means seventy weeks. Seventy weeks of Sunday through Saturday — seventy sets of seven days — which equals four hundred and ninety days. That would be the literal interpretation of the seventy weeks.

But here’s a rather boggling — not so secret — secret: No one takes the seventy weeks literally! Meaning — regardless of your view of the end times — these seventy weeks are interpreted to mean something other than seventy literal weeks — thus the “bewildering maze” description because — the issue now becomes how to interpret the seventy weeks and — if this was clear — we’d only have one interpretation — but we don’t. 

So what are some ways of interpreting the seventy weeks? And — let me reiterate — this is why the what of our verses is so much more important than the when. The what we’re certain of — the when — not so much.

One option is to interpret each week as seven years — so a day equals one year. What’s the grounds for this non-literal interpretation? There are none — at least not biblically. 

Some appeal to Daniel having just read from Jeremiah about seventy years of captivity and use that to go from weeks to years — though it doesn’t justify making each day of the week equal to one year. 

Others appeal to the book of Leviticus where — in verse eight of chapter twenty-five we read…

Leviticus 25:8 (ESV)

⁸ “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.

The context of this verse is about the year of Jubilee. A recurring calendar event given to the Israelites where property is restored to those who had sold it. This was a year of no planting or harvesting — no selling what the land produces. Instead — this year of Jubilee — was a year to be set aside as holy to the Lord. 

Now — this is a beautiful event the Israelites were to remember and practice — but is this verse in Leviticus meant to teach us how to interpret the seventy weeks mentioned in our verses in Daniel? It doesn’t seem likely.

But — for those who interpret the days as years — resulting in four hundred and ninety years — now they have a new maze to solve: When did these four hundred and ninety years take place? How do these years — and all that’s predicted to happen in Daniel’s vision — overlap with actual history?

For example, we know that the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70AD — so that’s an anchor point in history and of Gabriel’s explanation to Daniel. We also have Jesus’ words about this specific historical event before it happened. For instance, Jesus said to his disciples…

Luke 21:20 (ESV)

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.

Additionally, one day…

Matthew 24:1–2 (NLT)

¹ As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various Temple buildings. ² But he responded, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

So Jesus makes it clear that the destruction of the Temple is going to happen and it’s going to be a significant sign for his followers — a prophetic maker of sorts. Also, Jesus’ use of the word desolation is meant to remind us of what’s said in the book of Daniel in these visions. 

That being said, scholars have tried to place the four hundred and ninety year timeline — using the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70AD as an anchor — with no success of other events — like Jesus’ death or the return of the exiles from Babylon — lining up with when they actually happened in history. How events played out in history just doesn’t line up with the four hundred and ninety year timeline.

Now — some — because of this timeline dilemma — say there’s a “parentheses” between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week. This is a hidden — if we take the angel at his word — and definitely non-literal amount of time — that goes on for who knows how long — until the seventieth week begins. And this is quite the way to solve the timeline dilemma. “Since we can’t get any of these historical events to line up with our timeline — here’s what we’re gonna do — let’s just say there’s a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week — that’ll fix our problem.” 

I’ll leave it up to you to decide if the parentheses is a justified way to interpret Gabriel’s words.

Now — all of these bewildering twists and turns and hidden years leads one scholar to write, “One wonders why so many commentators use such literalistic interpretations and are at such pains to make the dates exactly fit known history. That’s not the nature of prophecy, let alone the nature of apocalyptic literature. One of the characteristics of apocalyptic literature is that it frequently uses numbers as symbols. The number 70 × 7 consists of standard symbolic numbers. The number 7 in the Old Testament is the number of completion [or] perfection. The symbolic use of the number 7 goes back to God creating the cosmos in 7 days, “and indeed, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Daniel has already used this symbolic number (Daniel 3:19 and 4:16). The number 10 is the number of fullness: think of the 10 plagues God showered on Egypt and the 10 commandments he gave Israel at Mount Sinai. Now 70 weeks is 7 × 10 × 7 (days), which is a complete, full period of time. How long is this? Long enough, according to verse 24, “to finish the transgression …, to bring in everlasting righteousness.…” In other words, long enough to bring in the perfect kingdom of God.” (Sidney Greidanus)

CONCLUSION

So — with all of that — let me repeat something I said earlier to help us get out of the bewildering maze: While we may not understand all that Gabriel says to Daniel — especially regarding the details as to when some of these events will take place — what is clear — what isn’t debatable — is that there’s much in our verses that point us to the ministry of Jesus — God’s Anointed One — who came to earth to live — and give his life — as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of God’s people.

This is the Good News — what’s called the gospel. This is the story behind all of the other stories and visions and prophecies and timelines in the Bible. Jesus came to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins. Or — as the author of Hebrews puts it.

Hebrews 9:11–15 (NLT)

¹¹ So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. ¹² With his own blood — not the blood of goats and calves — he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. ¹³ Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. ¹⁴ Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. ¹⁵ That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

The first covenant was a covenant of works — but the new covenant is a covenant of grace. A covenant where Christ — God’s Anointed One — fulfilled the covenant of works on our behalf — for he perfectly obeyed God’s law as our substitute. Yet — he also died in our place — as the substitute for our sins — for we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yet his death — as you’ve heard me say again and again today — was not in vain. For his death was the seal of his victory over Satan, sin, death, and hell. A victory Jesus joyfully gives to all who turn to him in faith and receive his sacrifice as the payment for their sin.

And — to all who receive this Good News — all who respond to Jesus in faith are promised eternal life. A life where we will forever praise God’s Anointed One. A life of praise and gratefulness captured in these words.

Revelation 5:9–10 (NLT)

⁹ And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. ¹⁰ And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

May the death of God’s Anointed One — on your behalf — make these words sweet to your ears, assuring to your mind, comforting to your soul, and the reason for your gratefulness to your God. 

And may Jesus’ death remind you that…“You are greatly loved.” (ESV)

May his sacrifice assure you that…“You are of great value in God’s sight.” (NET)

May God’s love for you — in sending his Anointed One to live and die in your place — make sweet to your soul his words to you.

“You are my precious treasure.” (KJV)

“You are highly esteemed.” (NIV)

And “I love you very much.” (MSG)

Let’s pray together.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for greatly loving us. For considering us to be of great value in your sight. For calling us your precious treasure. What undeserved honor. What privileges we’ve done nothing to earn. Yet what assurance and hope that is ours.

Holy Spirit, may you make these words of promise more real to us — more comforting to us — more of our focus so that we live faithfully in this land of exile because we know that we are loved and considered of great value by our God. Our belief is often so weak and fragile — we need your strength so these words of hope sink deep down into our souls.

And — Jesus — these words of life are ours because of your sacrifice as God’s Anointed One on a cross nearly two thousand years ago. A death that was viewed by many as your defeat — was not only your victory — but our victory as well. It was a sacrifice of love planned long before any of us ever existed. It was an act guaranteeing that every word you’ve promised to your people will come true — including the promise of your glorious and victorious return.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — forgive us for being more interested in when these things will take place than we are about who you are and what’s been accomplished on our behalf in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And may you draw many to faith today — drawing them away from their sin and rebellion — drawing them away from the hopelessness of this land of exile — as you draw them into your love and forgiveness — into your family — into a saving relationship with you. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available / I Believe Now What? resource)

May the life and death of God’s Anointed One — on your behalf — assure you that you are greatly loved. Are of great value in God’s sight. That you are his precious treasure. Highly esteemed. And are much loved. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 9:1-19 (NLT)

‌DATE: 7-21-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing our series in the book of Daniel today — looking at what it means to live in exile. And we’re in the last half of the book — a section full of visions, dreams, symbols, angels, beasts, and other confusing sorts of details. 

And — after a few weeks looking at the end times — the theological term is eschatology — we’re going to turn to a topic that — for many of us — may be less exciting than how everything’s going to come to an end but — though less exciting — today’s topic — I believe — will have a more immediate practical application in our lives.

So let’s begin by reading our text for today. We’re in Daniel chapter nine — beginning in verse one.

Daniel 9:1–19 (NLT)

¹ It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of A-ha-swoo-arus, who became king of the Babylonians. ² During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! 

You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. ⁵ But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. ⁶ We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land. ⁷ “Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. ⁸ O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. ⁹ But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has disobeyed your instruction and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice. “So now the solemn curses and judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down on us because of our sin. 

¹² You have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned. Never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem. ¹³ Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true. Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth. ¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord has brought upon us the disaster he prepared. The Lord our God was right to do all of these things, for we did not obey him. ¹⁵ “O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. But we have sinned and are full of wickedness. ¹⁶ In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors. ¹⁷ “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ “O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city — the city that bears your name — lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. 

¹⁹ “O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.” – Daniel 9:1-19 (NLT)

INTRODUCTION

Here’s the key idea for us from our verses: In reading God’s Word, Daniel turned to God in prayer. In reading God’s Word, Daniel turned to God in prayer — and specifically — a prayer of confession. And it’s Daniel’s posture — as he prays — that’s important for us to remember. This is found at the end of verse eighteen where Daniel prays…

Daniel 9:18b (NLT)

¹⁸ “We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.”

God’s people have been conquered, they’ve been taken from their homeland, forced to integrate into a new culture with new social norms and religions and values, they’ve had everything that was familiar replaced with the unfamiliar — and this was all because of their sin and rebellion against God. God had lovingly warned them — “If you keep heading in this direction you will suffer the consequences” — and the people — acting like a two year old who tells their mom and dad no all the time — they thought they knew better than God.

And — for this reason — though we may hate all that Daniel’s experiencing — we can’t allow ourselves to believe that God is being unjust or unfair. He wasn’t obligated to warn the people — but he did. And may we never forget that — even in exile — they’re still alive — though God could’ve rightfully brought their lives to an end. Even exile is the mercy of God — if we’re open to responding to his Word and his Spirit who desire to lead and guide us in the wilderness.

Daniel knew all of this — which is why he prays with such honesty. “We don’t deserve your help, God. But because I believe that you are merciful — I’ve made these requests to you in prayer.” 

What a posture — what humility — what right thinking about who God is and who they are — of what God is right to do and what they deserve — and don’t deserve — to experience. Only when we have a right view of God and ourselves will we pray this way — confessing who he is and who we are — giving ourselves over completely to the mercy of God.

PRAYER AND GOD’S WORD

So — let’s discover what we can learn from Daniel’s prayer for our own prayer lives. For this is the practical topic I was referring to earlier — prayer. An activity you may already do — Christian or not — is something I find many are uncertain about. So let’s grow in our understanding of prayer so we leave here with a more robust and vibrant prayer life.

But — first — let’s return to our text — we’re back in verse one.

Daniel 9:1–3 (NLT)

¹ It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of A-ha-swoo-arus, who became king of the Babylonians. ² During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes. – Daniel 9:1–3 (NLT)

So we all have our bearings — we’ve gone back in time — again. We’re somewhere between the end of chapter five and the beginning of chapter six. I couldn’t find an exact date for us — maybe 539 or 538 BC — but Darius is first mentioned in the last verse of chapter five. 

At first — I thought this was the prayer Daniel prayed that got him thrown into the lion’s den — but I couldn’t find a Bible commentary that agreed with me. By the way — when that happens — I know that I’m wrong. If I’m the only one who’s come up with an idea — it’s a good bet there’s a reason why — so I go with the scholars and not my super cool idea. Maybe someone else needed to hear that.

Anyway — Daniel — we learn — is reading God’s Word. And — specifically — he’s reading the book of Jeremiah — where Jeremiah prophesies that Jerusalem will remain in ruins for seventy years. We’ll get to Daniel’s response in a moment but — for now — can we appreciate something that I think is really incredible? Daniel’s reading the book of Jeremiah! How cool is that?

When you read your Bible — do you ever think, “I’m reading something that Daniel read”? Or “I wonder what Paul thought when he read this?” In my sermon preparation — one of the  reminders I have for myself is to imagine Jesus reading the text over my shoulder. How did Jesus understand this text? What would he have pointed out to me? Where would he say, “Hey Josh, right there. That’s where you find me in these verses.” The next time you read your Bible — which I hope is today — or tomorrow at the latest — imagine Jesus reading with you — what does he see in the text that you don’t?

So that’s our first observation — we’re not the first group of people to read the Bible. In fact — people in the Bible — read the Bible. This faith in Jesus — and being readers, hearers, and doers of God’s Word — has been going on long before us — and will continue long after us.

Most likely — Daniel was reading this section of Jeremiah — which is found in chapter twenty five.

Jeremiah 25:8–14 (NLT)

⁸ And now the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me, ⁹ I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever. ¹⁰ I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your millstones will fall silent, and the lights in your homes will go out. 

¹¹ This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. ¹² “Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the Lord. “I will make the country of the Babylonians a wasteland forever. ¹³ I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book — all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations. ¹⁴ Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people.”

And — in reading this passage from Jeremiah — Daniel stopped and prayed. He pleaded with God in prayer. And he fasted — which means he went without food in order to draw closer to God. 

Fasting’s a great way to practice our dependence upon God for our daily bread — as Jesus taught us to pray. For we often are self-sufficient in meeting our daily food needs. Fasting — not eating a meal — or multiple meals for a day or longer — will remind us of our dependency upon food. And — if done with the right intent — will draw us closer to God as we allow our hunger pains to remind us of our dependence upon him for all things. 

Daniel prays, he fasts, and he wears rough burlap and puts ashes on himself to demonstrate humility, sorrow, mourning, and repentance in response to what he’s read in God’s Word. How do you respond when you read God’s Word — especially when it points out sin in your life?

PRAYERS OF ADORATION AND CONFESSION

For now — remember our key idea: In reading God’s Word, Daniel turned to God in prayer and — specifically — a prayer of confession. Let’s see how his prayer unfolds as we turn to verse four.

Daniel 9:4 (NLT)

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.”  – Daniel 9:4 (NLT)

Daniel begins his prayer by praising God for who he is. He declares that God is great and awesome. He’s faithful in fulfilling his covenant promises to his people. His love is unfailing towards those who love and obey him. Daniel begins by adoring God — by praising him — by worshiping him. 

When you pray — how much time do you give to praising God for who he is as he’s revealed himself to be in scripture? Remember — Daniel was reading God’s Word — which led to his prayer. So let’s not separate these two practices — where reading God’s Word influences how you pray.

Here are some examples of what this could look like for you. Say you’re reading this passage.

1 Samuel 16:1 (NLT)

¹ Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”

What does this verse teach us about God? How about that God is the one who selects those who serve in authority. This is called God’s sovereignty — that he reigns and rules over all of his creation — including those who are in authority.

So you’re reading this verse and — if like Daniel you want your Bible reading to influence how and what you pray — you might pray something like, “God, I praise you for being sovereign over all who are in authority. From kings, to prime ministers, to presidents, to CEOs — none rise to leadership outside of your control. Though I don’t fully understand your ways — I trust you in choosing whether it is Saul or David who is in authority over me.”

Here’s another example.

1 Timothy 1:3 (NLT)

³ When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth.

Here’s a prayer based on this verse. “God, thank you for putting godly teachers in your church who protect your people from those who want to lead us astray. What a God you are — who cares for your people in this way.”

One last example.

Micah 4:11–12 (NLT)

¹¹ Now many nations have gathered against you. “Let her be desecrated,” they say. “Let us see the destruction of Jerusalem.” ¹² But they do not know the Lord’s thoughts or understand his plan. These nations don’t know that he is gathering them together to be beaten and trampled like sheaves of grain on a threshing floor.

“God, how assuring it is to know that those who plot against you and your people do not know your thoughts or understand your plan. What they intend for evil — you use for our good and your glory. I praise you because of your wisdom and strength and justice — I praise you because you are the God who protects me.”

You can do this with any passage you’re reading in the Bible. I know this because I literally flipped to three different passages for the examples we just looked at. I didn’t pick out easy verses to make a point — I opened my Bible and — whatever page it opened to — I picked the first words my eyes landed on — and those are the verses we just looked at. Let your reading of God’s Word cause you to praise him in your prayers.

Now — you may be thinking — “That doesn’t sound very much like confession to me?” So a definition of confession may be helpful. One of my Bible dictionaries defines confession this way: To ‘confess’ is to acknowledge by either word or deed the existence and authority of a divine power, or the sins and offenses of which one has been guilty. (A Dictionary of the Bible)

We’ve just practiced the first half of confession — acknowledging in word — through prayer — the existence and authority of God. Next — Daniel turns to the second half of our definition of confession — where we acknowledge our sins and offenses of which we are guilty before God. We’re in verse five.

Daniel 9:5–15 (NLT)

⁵ But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. ⁶ We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land. 

⁷ “Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. ⁸ O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. ⁹ But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has disobeyed your instruction and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice. “So now the solemn curses and judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down on us because of our sin. ¹² You have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned. Never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem. ¹³ Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true. Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth. ¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord has brought upon us the disaster he prepared. 

The Lord our God was right to do all of these things, for we did not obey him. ¹⁵ “O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. But we have sinned and are full of wickedness.

I appreciate what one pastor says about this second aspect of confession. He writes, “We cannot truly honor (God’s) worth without sensing our unworthiness. We cannot really see who he is and fail to bow.” (Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship, 88)

Daniel — in reading Scripture — praised God in prayer. And then he confessed the sins of his people that had led to their exile. Again — Scripture guided him in both praise and confession — and this is a practice we can all use in our prayer lives.

Let me show you how this works. We’re going to reuse the passages we just looked at to praise God in prayer — but now we’ll see how they might help us confess our sins as we pray. Here’s the passage from First Samuel again.

1 Samuel 16:1 (NLT)

¹ Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”

Here’s a prayer of confession based on this verse. “God, I confess that there have been times in my life where — because I’ve been captured by the charisma, leadership, and ideas of an individual — I held on to my loyalty to them even when it was clear that you had rejected them. In our land of exile — this is so easy to do with political leaders, celebrities, and others who live ungodly lives and yet have my devotion. For this, I ask for your forgiveness.”

Here’s the passage from First Timothy again.

1 Timothy 1:3 (NLT)

³ When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth.

And here’s a prayer of confession based on it. “God, I confess that there have been times when I’ve believed ideas and doctrines that were not true. I even passed on these lies to others. God help me — and help us, your people — to know your Word so well that we recognize the deceitfulness of those who teach contrary to your truth.”

Last example.

Micah 4:11–12 (NLT)

¹¹ Now many nations have gathered against you. “Let her be desecrated,” they say. “Let us see the destruction of Jerusalem.” ¹² But they do not know the Lord’s thoughts or understand his plan. These nations don’t know that he is gathering them together to be beaten and trampled like sheaves of grain on a threshing floor.

And a prayer of confession. “God, I confess that — like the nations mentioned in these verses — there have been many times in my life where I’ve allowed my desire for a certain outcome to drive my decisions — and I did so without first seeking your wisdom and plan. For this, I ask for your forgiveness.”

WORDS OF ASSURANCE

Now — let’s finish Daniel’s prayer. And — here — we arrive at something marvelous — something unexpected after having recognized who God is and who we are through adoration and confession. What do we come to? Assurance. We’re in verse sixteen.

Daniel 9:16–19 (NLT)

¹⁶ In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors. ¹⁷ “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ “O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city — the city that bears your name — lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. ¹⁹ “O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.”

Having praised God and confessed the sins of he and his people — Daniel returns to who God is. For who God is — and what he’s promised to his people — is where assurance is found. Obviously, Daniel’s prayer is specific to the situation he finds himself in — but what we see is that — as he nears the end of his prayer — he remembers “all of God’s faithful mercies.”

As it’s been said, “The heart that cries out to God for mercy needs the assurance of his grace, or else there is no “good news” in the gospel. (Chapell, 90)

Assurance is a state of certainty — a confidence and security concerning one’s salvation and relationship with God. But — remember — we’ve just confessed how we’ve royally messed things up — rebelled against God — known what to do and chose to do something else instead. We’ve just confessed this — so how in the world do we have assurance? We remember the faithful mercies of God. And — we remember his mercies — by knowing his Word.

Lamentations 3:22–23 (NLT)

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. ²³ Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Why are his mercies new every morning? Because God has told us that he is…

Exodus 34:6 (ESV)

⁶ “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…

Thus we can pray to God — remembering his mercies towards us — leading to our assurance — a confidence in who he is — which leads us to pray…

Psalm 25:6–7 (NLT)

⁶ Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. ⁷ Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord.

And…

Psalm 51:1–2 (NLT)

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. ² Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

Where we can pray without needing to hide our guilt and shame — because of the things we’ve done — but can confess them knowing that our God is gracious and kind — that he’s loving and merciful towards his children.

Which leads us to the pinnacle example in Scripture that reveals to us who our merciful God is: Jesus. 

Jesus came to earth — to fulfill the plan that he, the Father, and the Spirit made before time began so that we might experience the mercy of God. For we all have sinned. Now — you may not view what you’ve done as something that’s “really bad” — you may view your sin as small compared to others. That’s OK. God can forgive your tiny sin as easily as he can forgive someone else’s whopper of a sin. 

But I know that — for others — it’s not your view of your sin that’s lacking — but your view of God’s mercy and love towards you. May this reminder — from a preacher who lived in the seventeenth century — give you assurance today.

“If your child becomes very sick, you don’t scold him and push him away. You weep with that child and tend to his needs. So Christ responds to us with compassion despite his hatred of our sins.” (Thomas Goodwin)

Christ doesn’t punish those who come to him confessing their sins and need of his mercy — he blankets them in his compassion and mercy. This is who Jesus is: compassionate, kind, loving, merciful, faithful.

OUR PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Now — to close this sermon — I thought we’d try something different — and potentially confusing for the worship team. So — worship teams — wherever you are — here at County Road 9 — at our North Main Campus — or in Bucyrus — go ahead and take your places. Yup — you heard me right — start making your way to wherever you need to be when I’m done. 

Speaking of worship — and this is bonus material to give the worship team folks time to get in place — but it’s related to what we’ve looked at today — here at Gateway — our worship services follow this pattern of adoration, confession, and assurance. I know that it’s easy to think of worship as nothing more than just “singing a few songs” — but know that the worship leaders follow this pattern of adoring God for who he is, before leading us to a time of confession and assurance. Just thought I’d throw that out there so you can try and spot these elements during our worship services in the future.

Now — onto the “something different” to close our time. 

Instead of me praying on our behalf — we’re going to end this sermon by praying a prayer of confession together. As Daniel has shown us — confession isn’t just something we do individually — he confessed on behalf of the sins of his people — including the history of his people — which tells us that confession is something done both individually and corporately. And — given the individualistic nature of our land of exile — it’d be good for us to practice corporate confession.

And — we’re going to do this by looking at a passage of Scripture — I’ll read it to you. Then we’ll pray a prayer of adoration together. We’ll continue in the passage. Pray a prayer of confession together. And then I’ll finish the passage and close with some words of assurance. 

Our text will be Mark chapter six — verses one through six. If you’re able — wherever you are — please stand.

Mark 6:1–2 (NLT)

¹ Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. ² The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?”

Please pray out loud with me this prayer of adoration.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit // we are amazed by your wisdom and power. // We’re in awe of the words you’ve given to us // words of truth // words of hope // words of life. // We praise you for you are the only wise God // — the One who is all-powerful. // Amen.

Continuing in the gospel of Mark — I’ll read this for us…

Mark 6:3–4 (NLT)

³ Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. ⁴ Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.”

Pray out loud with me this prayer of confession.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit // far too often we’ve scoffed at your wisdom. // We’ve rejected the words you’ve spoken to us. // We’ve refused to believe in you. // We’ve failed to honor you. // Forgive us of these sins. // Forgive me of these sins. // Amen.

Mark 6:5–6 (NLT)

⁵ And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶ And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people.

Now — receive these words of assurance. 

Though many in the crowd refused to believe in him — which amazed Jesus — he still placed his hands on some who were sick — and healed them. And that is amazing — for this is a display of Jesus’s mercy. May you thus be assured that — no matter how many times you’ve rejected him, scoffed at his wisdom, refused to believe in him, or failed to honor him — Jesus is still willing to reach out and place his hands on you — to heal you — to wash you — to cleanse you of all of your sins. This is God’s love and mercy towards you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you go using God’s Word to help you pray — always being assured of his mercy towards you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 8:27 (NLT)

‌DATE: 7-14-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re returning to our series in the book of Daniel today — looking at what it means to live in exile. And today’s sermon is the one I’ve been anticipating most — in an anxious sort of way — for a few reasons. 

First, instead of a lengthy text — we’ve got one verse that’s going to be our springboard for the sermon. Now — to be clear — that’s one verse in Daniel — but we’re going to be exploring a lot of different texts today due to my second reason — and the main reason why this week’s sermon’s been anxiously on my mind. 

Today we’re going to talk about eschatology — a fancy theological word that means “the end times.” With angst I’ve hinted that we’d eventually get to this — and I use the word “angst” because I don’t want this topic to divide us — rather — and as the apostle Paul says — eschatology is supposed to unite God’s people together. But I also use the word “angst” because I didn’t know if I’d be able to actually write a sermon on this topic. Could I write a lecture? Yes. Could I teach a Saturday seminar on this topic? Yes. But a sermon? I didn’t know. 

You see — sermons are meant to not just speak to our heads — but to our hearts and wills as well. Thus my challenge in this sermon: to guide us as we look at the topic of eschatology — the study of the end times — so it speaks not only to our heads, but also to our hearts and wills. 

So let’s jump in and read our one verse from Daniel for today — and then we’ll explore this weighty topic of eschatology — the study of the end times. We’re in Daniel chapter eight — looking at verse twenty-seven — where — after his vision of the future and the angel’s explanation of the vision — we read…

Daniel 8:27 (NLT)

²⁷ Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.

INTRODUCTION

As we look at the end times today — the key idea I want us to keep in mind is this: Though we may not understand all that God has said to us about the end — and though there may be much that disturbs or frightens us about what is to come — what God expects of his people is for us to be faithful while we wait for Christ to return.

Let me say that again.

Though we may not understand all that God has said to us about the end — and though there may be much that disturbs or frightens us about what is to come — what God expects of his people is for us to be faithful while we wait for Christ to return.

This comes from Daniel’s words describing his response to his vision.

Daniel 8:27 (NLT)

²⁷ Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.

Daniel admits that he couldn’t understand the vision he had — not even with the angel’s help. And — he was troubled by the vision — disturbed by it. And what did he do in response? He got up and went about performing his duties for the king — he continued to be faithful — while he waited for the vision to be fulfilled.

So — for the rest of this sermon — I’m going to do my best to take us into the deep waters of eschatology. And we’re going to use Daniel’s response to his vision as our outline. We’re going to look at what we understand about the end — looking at some of the agreed upon truths of eschatology that all Bible-believing Christians hold to — and have believed — for centuries.

Then we’ll explore some verses about the end times that might disturb or even frighten us about the end. Finally, we’ll wrap things up by looking at what it means for us to be faithful until the end comes. 

What we understand and agree upon about the end. What disturbs or may frighten us about the end. And what it means to be faithful until the end comes.

WHAT WE UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE END

So what do we understand about the end? What are some beliefs that all Christians agree on? Often we focus on what we disagree about — especially when it comes to our views of eschatology — so let’s look at where we have unity — where we have agreement. 

Bryan Chapell — who we hope to have with us early next year — recently wrote a book titled Are We Living in the Last Days? Four Views of the Hope We Share about Revelation and Christ’s Return. If he’s able to join us, we’ll ask him to do a Saturday seminar on the end times.

There’s much in his book that’s helpful — but his final few chapters were the most informative for me as they focused on what all Christians agree on about the end times — which is what we’re covering right now. I just want to give credit where credit is due — as this part of my sermon is inspired by the final few chapters of his book.

But — before we get to specific beliefs about eschatology — I want to make it clear that — someone’s view of the rapture or the millennium or the nation of Israel cannot be the litmus test we use to determine if someone is a Christian or not. As Chapell says, “people aren’t saved from hell and secured for heaven because they have a correct view of the millennium. No one ceases to be our brother or sister in Christ simply because they have a different millennial view. We’re only saved from the consequences of our sin through faith in the grace of God that’s provided by the perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection victory of Jesus Christ.” 

May we all walk in — and practice — humility as we discuss eschatology today — and any other day for that matter — remembering faith in Jesus Christ is where salvation is found — not specific details we believe about the end.

Additionally — and still before we get to our beliefs about the end — but these are important ideas for us to remember:

Regardless of an individual Christian’s view of the end times — all Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God — that it is without error, that it teaches only what is true, and that God’s Word should be interpreted as he intended it to be interpreted. This means that — here at Gateway — all followers of Jesus believe that the Bible should be interpreted literally — regardless of their specific view of the end times. Yet — we also acknowledge that God has chosen to use different literary genres in his Word — thus a literal interpretation of Scripture requires that we take these genres into account.

Since this is often a divisive point among Christians and their eschatology — an example will help. Let’s look at two different passages in God’s Word and see what it means to interpret them literally. In Psalm ninety-one we read…

Psalm 91:2–4 (NLT)

² This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. ³ For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. ⁴ He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

And in First Corinthians fifteen we read…

1 Corinthians 15:3–5 (NLT)

³ I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. ⁴ He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. ⁵ He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.

If we take Psalm ninety-one “literally” we would conclude that God is a bird because — verse four says — “he will cover us with his feathers and shelter us with his wings.” And concluding that God is a bird would be to literally miss the point of what the psalm is telling us.

However, when Paul tells us — in First Corinthians fifteen — that Jesus was buried and was raised from the dead on the third day — to take him literally means we take Paul to mean just what he’s said. Jesus died. He was buried in a tomb. And he was alive three days later.

To interpret the psalm literally we must take into account its literary genre — poetry. To interpret Paul’s words literally we must take into account its literary genre — a different literary genre than the psalm — for Paul is writing a statement of history. 

Now — for all of you non-English lit majors — trust me — all of this plays a big part in how we come to our conclusions about the end times. For our differences in understanding the end times is not as simple as “some Christians take the Bible literally while others don’t” — which is often what’s said, taught, and believed in the church. We must take into account the literary genre of what we’re reading in the Bible in order to interpret it correctly.

On to other beliefs all Christians hold to — and this connects to what we just read in Paul’s words: All Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that he rose from the dead three days later, that he ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father, and that the Holy Spirit has been sent to indwell — or to live in — all true followers of Jesus. 

I won’t read them all now — but if you haven’t read our Essentials of the Faith recently — I want to encourage you to go to our website — gatewayepc.org — and click on the “Who We Are” page where you’ll find our Essentials of the Faith statement. These are beliefs that all Christians — here at Gateway — agree on — regardless of our end times view.

Though I won’t read all of them — I do want to read the sixth statement in our Essentials of the Faith — as it will transition us to beliefs about the end times that all Christians hold to. Statement number six says…

6. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth personally, visibly, and bodily — to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Regardless of a Christian’s specific view of the end times, we all agree that Jesus is coming again. He will do so personally, his return will be visible, and he will return in his physical body. His return will mean the time for his right and perfect judgment of all who live — and who have ever lived — is at hand. And his return will mark the end to this chapter of history and begin the next chapter of God’s plan — which was determined before time began — God’s plan of either our eternal presence with him in the New Heavens and New Earth or our eternal separation from him in Hell.

Why do we all believe this? Because we take God at his Word. For example — when the disciples were staring up into the sky — just after Jesus had ascended into Heaven — the angels said to them…

Acts 1:11 (NLT)

¹¹ “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

The angels tell us that Jesus is going to return from heaven in the same way he departed for heaven. And how did he depart? Visibly — and in a physical body. Which is why we believe that Jesus will return visibly and in a physical body. 

Why do we believe that — when Jesus returns — he will judge the living and the dead? Because we take God at his Word. For example — in the book of Revelation the apostle John records…

Revelation 20:11–14 (NLT)

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. ¹² I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. 

And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.

There’s a judgment coming for all of us — and for all who ever have lived. But what will we be judged by? Many believe we’ll be judged based on the good works we do — which will be weighed against the bad things we do. And the hope is that the scale leans towards the good. Maybe you’re not a Christian and this is what you believe. Well Jesus said…

Matthew 7:22–23 (NLT)

²² On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³ But I will reply, (this is Jesus speaking by the way…) ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

If good works — like prophesying, casting out demons, and performing miracles in the name of Jesus — don’t weigh the scales in one’s favor — what good works have you done that you think will tip the scales in your favor? Which means something other than what we do is what ultimately matters most — and Jesus says that what matters most is that he knows us. 

To not be known by Jesus — means to not be associated with him — to be estranged from him. Thus to be known by Jesus — to be associated with him — comes by having what’s called faith — or belief — or a trust in him alone for your salvation and not your works that you think are good. To be known by Jesus means to be reconciled to him — where your relationship with God — which has been broken due to your sin — is restored through your faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf.

And — for those who are reconciled to God through their faith in Jesus — in store for them for all eternity is fellowship with God and his people in the New Heavens and New Earth. Again — the apostle John describes this for us when he writes…

Revelation 21:1–7 (NLT)

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 

⁶ And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega — the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷ All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

But for those who reject Christ — who trust in their works or philosophy or their ideas about what God must be like — instead of Jesus’s sacrifice to save them — for those who — as John describes — are…

Revelation 21:8 (NLT)

⁸ “Cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars — their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

This is the fulfillment of Jesus’s words, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” 

Again — universal agreement among followers of Jesus regarding the end times: eternal life or eternal death — no other options. And there’s only one way of salvation that results in eternal life: faith alone in Christ alone for our salvation.

About the end — Christians also all agree that — those who believe in Jesus — will be transformed and given new bodies. This is related to what we just read in John’s words about the New Heavens and New Earth. If — for all who believe in Jesus — death will be no more — something will have to be done to these dying bodies of ours. And here’s what will happen according to Paul.

1 Corinthians 15:50–55 (NLT)

⁵⁰ What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. ⁵¹ But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! ⁵² It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. 

And we who are living will also be transformed. ⁵³ For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. ⁵⁴ Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Our mortal — dying — bodies will be transformed into immortal bodies that will never experience decay. How incredible is that? Do you know what this means — if we take God at his Word? It means that the goal for many people — regardless of what they believe about Jesus — immortality — is the guaranteed promise to all who believe in Jesus. The defeat of death itself — is the future for all who put their hope in Christ alone. What wonderful words! What promises to all who believe in Jesus! What an encouragement the topic of the end times can give if we allow God’s Word to be our guide!

Now — our last text — the passage from First Corinthians — leads us to something else all Christians agree on about the end times. And this one may surprise you — depending on what you’ve been taught. All Christians agree that there will be a rapture. 

The rapture is the moment when God’s people — those who believe in Jesus — are transported — or carried away to meet Jesus. The apostle Paul describes it this way…

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 (NLT)

¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. ¹⁷ Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words.

Now — the rapture — rather than being a subject that Christians have used to encourage one another — as Paul says it should in verse eighteen — the rapture — like many of our beliefs about the end times — has been used as material for debating, arguing, and belittling fellow Christians who we disagree with. Where — instead of focusing on what we agree on — we focus on areas of disagreement and make these the litmus test of whether or not someone’s theology or ministry can be trusted. 

So a reminder: Eschatology — your beliefs about the end times — even if you’re right and someone else is wrong — if you don’t leave them encouraged — you’re wrong.

Back to the rapture. All sincere Bible believing Christians — like us at Gateway who strive to be disciples of Jesus who live under the authority of God’s Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit — all disciples of Jesus believe that Paul’s words in First Thessalonians chapter four are true — are to be believed — and speak of a future event that is guaranteed to come.

MARVEL AT OUR UNITY

So with all that we’ve just looked at — can we take a moment to marvel at all that’s agreed upon — all that we do understand — when it comes to the last things — to the end times — to this area of theology known as eschatology? By far these agreed upon truths should unite followers of Jesus — and should be used to encourage one another — instead of allowing a few differences to be cause for division among us. What wonderful truths all Christians believe about the end!

WHAT MAY DISTURB OR FRIGHTEN US ABOUT THE END

But — now — and I warned you we’d be going here — we’re going to turn to an aspect of the end that — understandably so — may disturb or frighten us. And know that — similar to the ideas we’ve just explored — though there are various opinions as to how what we’re going to look at will play out — something all Christians agree on is that there will be an increase in suffering and persecution in the last days. 

Why does this truth about the end times disturb or frighten us? Because none of us want to suffer. No one among us desires to experience persecution. We all would rather avoid pain — and I get it — I’m right there with you. Yet — even this agreed upon truth about the end — is meant to give comfort to God’s people. For Jesus said…

John 16:33 (NLT)

³³ I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Jesus says, “You’ll have many trials and sorrows.” Trials and sorrows can also be translated as tribulations — a word often associated with the end. 

But sandwiching his words about tribulations that will be experienced — Jesus tells his followers that they will have peace — a comfort in their spirit — because he has overcome — and secured victory — over the world on their behalf. And here — the world — means “all that is in opposition to Jesus’s reign and rule as King of kings.”

John uses the word tribulation in his letter to the church in Smyrna where — writing on behalf of Jesus — John says…

Revelation 2:9–11 (ESV)

⁹ “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

Don’t miss the comfort and hope in that last sentence — “the one who conquers” — “conquers” is the same word Jesus used back in John’s gospel when he said “I have overcome — or conquered — the world.” Here in Revelation we have the fulfillment of the promise that our Savior gave to his followers: Peace — and a comfort in our spirit — even while we experience tribulation — because we know that we will be victorious. And how do we know this? Because Jesus has been victorious on our behalf.

For as the apostle Peter tells us.

1 Peter 2:19–21 (NLT)

¹⁹ For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. ²⁰ Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. ²¹ For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.

Later he writes…

1 Peter 3:14–17 (NLT)

¹⁴ But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. ¹⁵ Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. ¹⁶ But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. ¹⁷ Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

BEING FAITHFUL UNTIL THE END

Christian or not — none of us want to suffer. Yet the hope of the Christian faith — what makes it unique compared to all other religions and philosophies — even distinct from the values this land of exile wants us to believe — is the promise that suffering is not the end — pain is not the end — trials, tribulations, not even death in this life is the end for those who believe in Jesus Christ. Victory is our end.

And trust in this promise is how we patiently endure unjust treatment — think of all the unjust treatment Daniel’s experienced — this promise is how we endure because we know that God is pleased with us — but never forget why he is pleased with you. God is pleased with those who’ve put their faith in his Son who suffered on our behalf — his Son — whose footsteps we’re following. For his Son is our Christ — who we worship as the Lord of our life even as we live in these last days — the end times — in a land of exile. And his Son is the reason for the hope that we have — for Jesus is the One who’s told us how to live while we wait for the end to come.

I mentioned our Essentials of the Faith earlier. I want to read its final statement — for it ties directly to what it means for us to be faithful while we wait for the end to come. Statement number seven says…

7. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “him who loved us and gave himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Gateway Church exists to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ. Disciples who are Word and Spirit Christians. Who are generous. Who are family. Who are Kingdom-minded. And who are disciples who make disciples. 

This is what we’re called to do while we wait for the end to come. We’re called to live a life of self-denying love and service. A life lived focused on the good works that we were created to accomplish — as individuals and as a church. Good works that do not save us — but are works that point to the Good Work that Jesus accomplished on our behalf. 

I hope you’ll join us in accomplishing this good work while we wait for the end to come. I hope you’ll engage yourself — even more so than you are right now — in helping us to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ — while we wait in these last days. That you’ll unite with us — and our desire — to live faithfully as followers of Jesus in this land of exile. And that we’d all do so until the day when Jesus returns. Where we wake up every single day with this as our purpose — with this being what we commit our lives to — both individually and as a church. For as Jesus said — in speaking of the end…

Mark 13:32–36 (NLT)

³² “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. ³³ And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert! ³⁴ “The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return. ³⁵ You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return — in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak. ³⁶ Don’t let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning.

Something I hope we’ll all commit to is not getting caught off guard — that we who make up Gateway Church — won’t get caught sleeping if Jesus returns on our watch. That we’ll commit — together — to be a church of people who will be found faithful as we patiently wait for our Savior’s return. Let’s pray together.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we begin by thanking you for what you’ve made clear to us about the end of this world of exile. The end of what is now — and the beginning of what will forever be. Again — we thank you for making so much clear — in your Word to us — about the end. And — we do so — while — like Daniel — we admit that there’s much we don’t understand.

Holy Spirit, you are the Teacher who Jesus said would be sent to instruct us in all things — including our beliefs about the end. Refine what we believe according to your Word. Chip away at anything untrue that we believe. Forgive us, we ask, for using our beliefs about the end times to be divisive instead of a means of encouraging our fellow Christians — for that — encouragement — is what your Word tells us should be our goal when we talk about and discuss eschatology.

And — Jesus — to you — our Savior who will return — visibly and physically — who will come to judge the living and the dead and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God — with the words of the apostle John we say, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Come.”

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — until the day when Jesus returns — may you use us to make disciples of all nations. To live lives of self-denying love and service. To do the good work that — before the beginning of time — you’ve prepared for us to do — both as individuals — and as a church. May we not be found asleep or caught off guard on the day when our Lord returns — instead — may we be found faithful — patiently waiting for our Savior’s return. And — Jesus — to you — the only One who saves — may you save many who hear my voice today. May they respond by believing in you. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

While you wait for your Savior to return — may you go and do the good works which he has called you — and us together — to do. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 8:1-26 (NLT)

‌DATE: 6-30-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And — if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus — or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing our series in the book of Daniel today — looking at what it means to live in exile. And — today — we finally get to something that I’ve promised we’d eventually get to — the interpretation of the dreams and visions that have come up in our book. And — my goal — is that as we look at these visions — and their interpretation — that our focus will be on something that will encourage and give hope to all of us who follow Jesus — as we live in exile — in these last days.

But — before we get to this encouragement — let’s read our text for today. We’re in Daniel chapter eight — beginning in verse one.

Daniel 8:1–26 (NLT)

¹ During the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, saw another vision, following the one that had already appeared to me. ² In this vision I was at the fortress of Susa, in the province of E-lum, standing beside the You-lie River. ³ As I looked up, I saw a ram with two long horns standing beside the river. One of the horns was longer than the other, even though it had grown later than the other one. ⁴ The ram butted everything out of his way to the west, to the north, and to the south, and no one could stand against him or help his victims. He did as he pleased and became very great. ⁵ While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. 

This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes, ⁶ headed toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the river, rushing at him in a rage. ⁷ The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and the goat knocked him down and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power. ⁸ The goat became very powerful. But at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off. In the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth. ⁹ Then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great. It extended toward the south and the east and toward the glorious land of Israel. ¹⁰ Its power reached to the heavens, where it attacked the heavenly army, throwing some of the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and trampling them. ¹¹ It even challenged the Commander of heaven’s army by canceling the daily sacrifices offered to him and by destroying his Temple. ¹² The army of heaven was restrained from responding to this rebellion. So the daily sacrifice was halted, and truth was overthrown. The horn succeeded in everything it did. ¹³ Then I heard two holy ones talking to each other. 

One of them asked, “How long will the events of this vision last? How long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the daily sacrifices? How long will the Temple and heaven’s army be trampled on?” ¹⁴ The other replied, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the Temple will be made right again.” ¹⁵ As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me. ¹⁶ And I heard a human voice calling out from the You-lai River, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of his vision.” ¹⁷ As Gabriel approached the place where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my face to the ground. “Son of man,” he said, “you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end.” ¹⁸ While he was speaking, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. But Gabriel roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet. ¹⁹ Then he said, “I am here to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath. What you have seen pertains to the very end of time. ²⁰ The two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire. 

²² The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as great as the first. ²³ “At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power. ²⁴ He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people. ²⁵ He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant; he will destroy many without warning. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle, but he will be broken, though not by human power. ²⁶ “This vision about the 2,300 evenings and mornings is true. But none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep this vision a secret.”

INTRODUCTION

Daniel’s given a vision of the future and — incredibly helpful for us — the angel Gabriel gives him an interpretation of his vision. And good biblical interpretation requires that we allow the angel to be our guide in understanding — not only the vision of this chapter — but — as I’ve mentioned in previous sermons — our guide in interpreting the other dreams and visions we’ve come across in the book of Daniel — as they’re all related to one another.

The key verse — of our chapter — is verse fifteen — which states…

Daniel 8:15 (NLT)

¹⁵ As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me.

At the moment when Daniel was trying to understand the vision he’d been given — an angelic messenger arrived to help him understand what he wasn’t able to comprehend on his own. 

This is the key to understanding our chapter — we too must allow the angelic messenger to be our guide in understanding Daniel’s vision. So let’s return to Daniel’s vision — then the angel’s interpretation — before we arrive at the reason why this chapter is to give God’s people hope and assurance as we live in exile.

A PROPHETIC VISION

We’re back in verse one.

Daniel 8:1–14 (NLT)

¹ During the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, saw another vision, following the one that had already appeared to me. ² In this vision I was at the fortress of Susa, in the province of E-lum, standing beside the You-lai River. ³ As I looked up, I saw a ram with two long horns standing beside the river. One of the horns was longer than the other, even though it had grown later than the other one. 

⁴ The ram butted everything out of his way to the west, to the north, and to the south, and no one could stand against him or help his victims. He did as he pleased and became very great. ⁵ While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes, ⁶ headed toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the river, rushing at him in a rage. ⁷ The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and the goat knocked him down and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power. ⁸ The goat became very powerful. But at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off. In the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth. ⁹ Then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great. It extended toward the south and the east and toward the glorious land of Israel. ¹⁰ Its power reached to the heavens, where it attacked the heavenly army, throwing some of the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and trampling them. 

¹¹ It even challenged the Commander of heaven’s army by canceling the daily sacrifices offered to him and by destroying his Temple. ¹² The army of heaven was restrained from responding to this rebellion. So the daily sacrifice was halted, and truth was overthrown. The horn succeeded in everything it did. ¹³ Then I heard two holy ones talking to each other. One of them asked, “How long will the events of this vision last? How long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the daily sacrifices? How long will the Temple and heaven’s army be trampled on?” ¹⁴ The other replied, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the Temple will be made right again.”

Chapter seven — what we looked at last week — took place two years earlier. And — if you recall — all of this takes place during chapter five as we jumped back in time between chapters six and seven. But here’s what I want us to consider as we look at this prophetic vision, its interpretation, and what it means for us today.

At the turn of the twentieth century — an interpretation of the Bible — called higher criticism — began to make the rounds. 

One dictionary defines higher criticism as, “A method of biblical interpretation that seeks to determine the authorship and date of books, the literary documents underlying them, and their historical dependability.” (The Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology)

That’s not bad stuff to want to determine. Authorship of biblical books is a good topic of study — as is the dating of when the books were originally written. So too is the study of the documents — often called manuscripts — which helps us know that the words — in our Bible today — are what was originally written. Lots of wonderful, helpful information in this area of biblical study and interpretation. 

However, many proponents of higher criticism were more committed to their method of study than they were to the actual content of Scripture. Many were dismissive of the miraculous and their theology became more and more humanistic in nature. For example, take Jesus feeding the five thousand. If you’re not familiar with the event — here’s how the gospel of John describes it.

John 6:4–13 (NLT)

⁴ (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) ⁵ Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” ⁶ He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” ⁸ Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. ⁹ “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” ¹⁰ “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. ¹² After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³ So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

Instead of interpreting this as a miracle — where Jesus literally took five loaves of bread and two fish and fed over five thousand people by miraculously multiplying the bread and fish — proponents of higher criticism suggested that the “real miracle” was the young boy’s generosity. For — the higher critics say — his generosity inspired generosity in others who did have food to eat — they were just hiding it. But — because of the miracle of this young boy’s generosity — eventually everyone in the crowd started sharing food they’d brought with them — which is how the boy’s five loaves of bread and two fish “multiplied” to feed everyone with some leftovers. Higher critics would say there was no miracle — as we think of it — the miracle was the generosity of the people.

These same higher criticism folks would say Jesus didn’t miraculously heal people — they’d say he used medicine. And some would go so far to say that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross. For — if he had died — there’s no way his disciples would’ve seen him alive a few days later. Because — you know — miracles like the dead coming back to life don’t happen.

I bring this up because higher criticism also went after prophecies in the Bible. Where — a text like ours — a vision of the future — a future that — at the very least — has an incredible near term fulfillment — couldn’t have been written down before the events of fulfillment occurred. Instead — what higher critics say happened is that someone wrote this part of the book of Daniel after the events fulfilling the vision took place. 

Remember — they’re big on authorship and manuscripts and important stuff — but their interpretive filter — which doesn’t allow for the miraculous or prophecies — require them to have non-supernatural answers as to how a vision — and it’s prophetic fulfillment — were fulfilled just like it’s written down in Daniel. Again — their solution? All of this was written down after the events took place. Meaning — someone other than Daniel wrote this part of the book and inserted it after the fact to make it look like it was recorded before it all happened. 

Back to the turn of the twentieth century. In response to higher criticism the fundamentalist emerged. 

Now — I know that fundamentalists have a “they took the fun out of fundamentalism” rep these days — but know that these fore-fathers and mothers in the faith fought for our — Gateway’s — view of God’s Word. Where we take God at his Word. If the event is miraculous — a miracle took place. The miracle was five pieces of bread and two fish being enough to feed over five thousand people. The miracle was healing without medicine. The miracle was a death on a cross and a resurrection three days later.

All that to say — regardless of where we may end up landing in our interpretation of the vision in Daniel chapter eight — what we all agree on is that this is a prophetic vision. It’s not a recording of history after the fact — but is a recording of historical events that had yet to come. And — the God who gave Daniel this vision — is the God who is sovereign — in control — over all of history. 

This truth is what gave God’s people — living in exile in Daniel’s day — assurance. And this truth is what will give God’s people — living in exile today — assurance, hope, and confidence. 

For our God is the Author of history. He is in control of all things. When he says something will happen — it will happen. When he makes promises — they’re sure to be fulfilled. Thus — we have confidence because we take God at his Word — which leads us to the angel’s interpretation of Daniel’s vision.

AN ANGELIC INTERPRETATION

We’re in verse fifteen.

Daniel 8:15–26 (NLT)

¹⁵ As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me. ¹⁶ And I heard a human voice calling out from the You-lai River, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of his vision.” 

¹⁷ As Gabriel approached the place where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my face to the ground. “Son of man,” he said, “you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end.” ¹⁸ While he was speaking, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. But Gabriel roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet. ¹⁹ Then he said, “I am here to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath. What you have seen pertains to the very end of time. ²⁰ The two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire. ²² The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as great as the first. ²³ “At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power. ²⁴ He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people. ²⁵ He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant; he will destroy many without warning. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle, but he will be broken, though not by human power. ²⁶ “This vision about the 2,300 evenings and mornings is true. But none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep this vision a secret.”

You may have wondered why I didn’t say much about Daniel’s vision. My reason for not saying much is because the angel Gabriel says all that needs to be said. You see, interpreting Daniel’s vision isn’t that difficult — Gabriel does that for us — and he does a fine, superb, “couldn’t have done it better myself” — job. The trouble for us is not understanding Gabriel’s explanation of the vision — the trouble is accepting the angel’s interpretation.

Here’s what Gabriel tells us — and notice — Gabriel was told to tell Daniel “the meaning of his vision.” 

So there’s no secret hidden meaning in the angel’s interpretation. In fact — his explanation of Daniel’s vision is so clear — that it led to the higher criticism folks believing this must have been written after the events took place. 

But let’s start with something the angel doesn’t mention — but this has come up previously in the book of Daniel. 

If we go back to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream — in chapter two — we’ll remember that there was a statue. And the…

Daniel 2:32–33 (NLT)

³² The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, ³³ its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay.

Later — when interpreting the king’s dream — Daniel says…

Daniel 2:37–45 (NLT)‌

³⁷ Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. ³⁸ He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold. ³⁹ “But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world. ⁴⁰ Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. ⁴¹ The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay, showing that this kingdom will be divided. Like iron mixed with clay, it will have some of the strength of iron. ⁴² But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay. ⁴³ This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix. 

⁴⁴ “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. ⁴⁵ That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.”

Nebuchadnezzar is the statue’s head of gold — making Babylon the first kingdom of the dreams and visions. In Daniel’s vision — in chapter seven — Babylon is represented by a lion. So — King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon — represent this first kingdom. 

Now we come to Gabriel’s explanation that the two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. Back in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream — this was the chest and arms of silver — and a bear in Daniel’s vision of chapter seven. This is the second kingdom of the dreams and visions. 

If you think back to a month ago — when we first met Belshazzar — he was throwing an elaborate party having no idea that he would be killed that evening. Do you remember what brought about his death? The Persian army had been camped just outside the city walls for over two years and had finally found a way to infiltrate the city walls. 

Because we’re jumping around in time — know that the night of Belshazzar’s death is still in the future at this point in history when Daniel has his second vision. And — though this is Daniel’s second vision — this is the third time in the book of Daniel that Babylon — being conquered by the Medes and Persians — has been prophesied.

Then we come to the third kingdom — the bronze belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue — a leopard in Daniel’s first vision — a shaggy goat in his second vision — which Gabriel tells us is Greece. And — you may have noticed — how the angel tells Daniel that there will be an important king of the Greek Empire. And how the empire will be split into four kingdoms — none of them being as great as the original one.

‌Alexander the Great — king of the Greek empire — defeated the Persians in the late fourth century BC. He led Greece to being the dominant world power — having conquered the known world by the age of thirty-two — only to die one year later — one might say, “At the height of his power” — like verse eight says. 

After his death — the Greek empire was split into four — just like Daniel sees in his vision — each smaller kingdom ruled by one of Alexander’s former generals. One of these generals — Antiochus Epiphanes — expanded his kingdom south and east towards what land? The land the nation of Israel used to occupy — again — just as Daniel sees in his vision in verse nine.

In Daniel’s vision — this horn — one of the four — is a horn of power — and it will commit a variety of abominations in the land once occupied by Israel. Well guess what happened under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes? Thousands of Israelites were killed — including infants and children. He had a pig — an unclean animal to the Jews — sacrificed on the altar of the Jewish Temple. He had a statue of Zeus placed in the Temple. And he had the scrolls — containing the words of God — words in our Bible today — cut up and destroyed.

How long did all of this go on for? Just over six years — or the twenty three hundred evenings as prophesied in Daniel’s vision in verse fourteen. That’s when Antiochus caved to Roman power which was growing in the region — and the fourth kingdom of the visions rose to power.

Back to something I’ve said a few times already. 

There are two ways to view what we’ve read in Daniel chapter eight and how it all played out in history. Either you agree with the higher critics and — though there’s no evidence to support your conclusion — you just can’t accept that these kinds of details could possibly have been prophesied — or predicted — before they happened. Where you believe that — the only way Daniel chapter eight could contain such accurate historic detail — is to conclude that it was written after the events took place. 

Again — you have no evidence to support your conclusion — in fact — the evidence available goes against your conclusion — you’re just unwilling to accept that the future can be given in such detail by the God who is the Author of history.

The other way to read and understand Daniel chapter eight is the exact opposite of the previous conclusion. Where — in believing that God is the Author of history — you — though you don’t know how it all works — believe that God can give prophetic dreams and visions — and send angelic messengers to interpret it all — even about specific events still to come in history. 

Both of these views are based on faith and — as I’ve said — the second conclusion actually has more evidence to back it up — if you take an honest assessment of the dating of manuscripts and other such proof. But what I’m about to say next may surprise you. 

Both views have their obstacles.

If you hold the first view — your biggest obstacle will be that you’ve eliminated an important — if not the most important — aspect of the Christian faith: That God is sovereign and is the Author of history. 

I’m not even sure you can call yourself a Christian and hold this view — maybe you’re OK with that. I hope you’re at least willing to explore the evidence — before you blindly hold to your beliefs about who God is and what he can or can’t do.

But — for those of us who hold the second view — that God is the Author of history — and that he’s sovereign over all things — what may surprise you is that — the obstacle we face — regardless of what view of the end times you hold — fancy words like dispensational pre-millennialism, historic pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, or a-millennialism — words I don’t have time to define right now — regardless of what view of the end times you hold — something all views hold in common is that we’re living — as Daniel is told in his vision — in “the time of the end.” 

Listen to how the apostle Paul describes the “time of the end” to a young pastor. He writes…

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (NLT)

¹ You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. ² For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. ³ They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. ⁴ They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. ⁵ They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

Can there be any doubt that we’re living in the last days — in “the time of the end” — when we read Paul’s words? Words written nearly two-thousand years ago. Words — like Daniel chapter eight — containing striking detail of what it’s like to live in our land of exile. Words that describe “very difficult times” — disturbing times — a time full of obstacles for those who follow Jesus. 

CONCLUSION

But how about we end with a bit of hope? Some encouragement because our God — who is the Author of history — and is in control of all things — is still in charge of the details of history. 

One day — when Jesus was in Jerusalem — he visited the Temple — the Temple that had been restored just like Daniel saw in his vision. And — though the Temple had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes — Jesus was angered by the desecration he saw happening in his day. For…

John 2:13–22 (NLT)

‌

¹³ It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. ¹⁵ Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. ¹⁶ Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” ¹⁷ Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” ¹⁸ But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” ¹⁹ “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” ²¹ But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.

The Temple of God being desecrated — whether by an evil general or by those acting religious in Jesus’s day — is an abomination — a disgrace — an atrocity. But the Son of God — Jesus Christ — being crucified on the cross — being mocked, spit on, beaten, stripped naked, and jeered at — Jesus Christ who was and is the true Temple — the Temple the Jewish Temple foreshadowed — well — Jesus being murdered wasn’t just an abomination — Jesus being crucified is also the most vivid display of God’s Authorship of history — combined with his love. For the death of Christ — and his resurrection — was an act of love planned before the beginning of time — a plan found written throughout the Bible — a plan which concludes with these words which point forward to eternity.

Revelation 21:22 (NLT)

²² I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

He who was murdered on the cross — is our Savior — Jesus Christ — the Lamb of God — the eternal Temple of God. And he has promised us a brilliant and glorious future. An eternity in the presence of the One who loved us and gave his life for us. An eternity guaranteed by the God who is the Author of history. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Father, you are the Author of history — the sovereign God in control of all things — down to the smallest details in human history. From those who rise to power — and nations conquering nations — to the number of our days. None of this is meant to be a threat — but a great comfort. For you — the One in control of all things — loves us. And you’ve proven your love in sending your Son to accomplish your plan of salvation.

Holy Spirit, open our minds, hearts, and wills to receive and believe the truths we’ve heard today. Where — instead of interpreting your Word in a way that makes sense to our limited understanding — to take you at your Word. For the God who created all things, who knows the beginning and the end, who created the stars in the farthest galaxies of the universe and knows the number of grains of sand on the shores of the coasts of our world — is the God who — in love — says to your people, “Satan, sin, death, and Hell shall not win. Misery shall not be the victor. Hope, love, joy, peace, and life shall prevail — for my plan of rescue will not be stopped.”

And — Jesus — you did not allow false accusations spoken against you to stop your Father’s plan. Nor being beaten. Or flogged. Or being stripped naked. The mockery and jeering and shame did not stop you from accomplishing your Father’s plan. For — in love for us — you received all of this desecration and acts of defilement so that we might be forgiven. For it’s by your sacrifice — your loving sacrifice — that we are made right with God and have been promised rescue from this land of exile.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, help us — we ask — to live in these last days — in this “time of the end” — with our eyes, minds, hearts, and lives fixed on you — the Author of our faith — the Author of our story — the Author of history. Jesus — in your name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you go with assurance — knowing that the Author of history — is the God who loves you. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 7:1-28 (NLT)

‌DATE: 6-23-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing our series in the book of Daniel today — looking at what it means to live in exile. However — today we come to a transitional point in the book. The first six chapters of Daniel are historical narrative and — the stories we’re familiar with — the fiery furnace, the lion’s den — come from the first half of the book. 

The second half — which we’re beginning today — is a different literary genre. We’ll encounter prophetic sections — stuff about the future — and apocalyptic sections of Daniel — a genre full of symbolism. And — for many people — the second half of Daniel is pretty confusing. So hopefully our time in Daniel will help these important sections of the book be a little less confusing for us — though we won’t be able to clear up all of the confusion.

But — before we get ahead of ourselves — let’s read our text for today. If you have your Bible — please turn with me to Daniel chapter seven. We’ll be in Daniel chapter seven — beginning in verse one.

Daniel 7:1–28 (NLT)

¹ Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw. ² In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction. 

³ Then four huge beasts came up out of the water, each different from the others. ⁴ The first beast was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off, and it was left standing with its two hind feet on the ground, like a human being. And it was given a human mind. ⁵ Then I saw a second beast, and it looked like a bear. It was rearing up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And I heard a voice saying to it, “Get up! Devour the flesh of many people!” ⁶ Then the third of these strange beasts appeared, and it looked like a leopard. It had four bird’s wings on its back, and it had four heads. Great authority was given to this beast. ⁷ Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast — terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. ⁸ As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. ⁹ I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient One sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like purest wool. 

He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, ¹⁰ and a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to him; many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened. ¹¹ I continued to watch because I could hear the little horn’s boastful speech. I kept watching until the fourth beast was killed and its body was destroyed by fire. ¹² The other three beasts had their authority taken from them, but they were allowed to live a while longer. ¹³ As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal — it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. ¹⁵ I, Daniel, was troubled by all I had seen, and my visions terrified me. ¹⁶ So I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant. He explained it to me like this: ¹⁷ “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. ¹⁸ But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.” 

¹⁹ Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet. ²⁰ I also asked about the ten horns on the fourth beast’s head and the little horn that came up afterward and destroyed three of the other horns. This horn had seemed greater than the others, and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. ²¹ As I watched, this horn was waging war against God’s holy people and was defeating them, ²² until the Ancient One — the Most High — came and judged in favor of his holy people. Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom. ²³ Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path. ²⁴ Its ten horns are ten kings who will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them. ²⁵ He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time. 

²⁶ “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed. ²⁷ Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.” ²⁸ That was the end of the vision. I, Daniel, was terrified by my thoughts and my face was pale with fear, but I kept these things to myself. – Daniel 7:1–28 (NLT)

INTRODUCTION

The end of the world. Makes for decent — and not so decent — movies. Lots of folks seem to enjoy an “it’s all gonna end” plot line. Despite humanity’s length of time here on earth — how things will end is still a popular topic. All it takes is another war in the Middle East to start up and we all start to wonder if this is it. Or — if wars in the Middle East aren’t your go to — maybe it’s some ancient prediction that makes the social media rounds that gets you to wonder — “Are we all gonna be here tomorrow?” 

And — with all this interest in the end of the world — what better place to turn to than the Bible — a book given to us by the God who is the Author of — and controls — all of history? 

For the Christian, I hope the Bible is your first place to go to when wanting to learn more about the end. But even if you’re not a Christian — have you explored what the Bible has to say about the end? In a culture that demands inclusivity — why exclude the Bible from being a source on the topic of the end of the world — or on any topic — for that matter? 

• I mean — if you dismiss the Bible — especially without exploring what it has to say — maybe you’re not as inclusive as you claim to be. 
• Maybe you have more in common with the people you consider to be close-minded or bigots or exclusive than you’d like to admit. 
• And — if me saying this bothers you — all you have to do is include the Bible in your sources — treating it as fairly as you do other sources you go to for information. You do that — and you’ll show others just how committed you are to inclusivity.

But — for those of us who do follow Jesus — the reason why we turn to God’s Word first — when wanting to better understand how things will end — is because our hope is in the One whose rule is eternal and whose Kingdom will never be destroyed. Not even when the sun goes out — or an asteroid hits the earth — or pick your favorite apocalyptic movie’s great dilemma.

The key verses — in our chapter — which remind us of this hope — are verses thirteen and fourteen — where Daniel writes…

Daniel 7:13–14 (NLT)

¹³ As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal — it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

Now — what makes a chapter like ours so challenging — is that often we focus on the obscure instead of focusing on what’s clear. But — as one author has said — “If we understand the central purpose of these passages and focus our attention on what is clear and straightforward — rather than on what is complicated and obscure — then we will find blessing and encouragement in the apocalyptic portions of the Bible. So there’s our goal for the second half of Daniel — that our time in these chapters will be a blessing and encouragement to all of us as we live in this land of exile. 

BEASTS, HORNS, AND CHAOS

But — before we get to the clear and straightforward part of the chapter — we jump right into the complicated and obscure. We’re back in verse one.

Daniel 7:1–8 (NLT)

¹ Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw. ² In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction. ³ Then four huge beasts came up out of the water, each different from the others. ⁴ The first beast was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off, and it was left standing with its two hind feet on the ground, like a human being. And it was given a human mind. ⁵ Then I saw a second beast, and it looked like a bear. It was rearing up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And I heard a voice saying to it, “Get up! Devour the flesh of many people!” ⁶ Then the third of these strange beasts appeared, and it looked like a leopard. It had four bird’s wings on its back, and it had four heads. Great authority was given to this beast. ⁷ Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast — terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. ⁸ As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. 

Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. – Daniel 7:1–8 (NLT)

So — the first detail to notice — is that we’ve jumped backwards in time. In terms of sermons — we’ve jumped back a month — when we met Belshazzar as he was partying on the edge of his grave. In terms of history — we’ve gone back in time at least fourteen years — for that’s the amount of time between Daniel and the angel’s den and when Belshazzar was king. 

Second — and this takes us back even further in our time in Daniel — back to our third week in the book when king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a statue — the statue that had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, a bronze belly and thighs, and feet made of clay and iron — back in that sermon I said, “To understand what’s going on in this dream — we need to understand something about the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel helps us interpret the book of Daniel…” 

Here’s what that means. Back in chapter two — Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and Daniel interpreted it. Later in the book — Daniel will have a vision and the angel Gabriel will interpret it. And here in our chapter Daniel has a dream and visions which are interpreted. And most conservative Bible scholars agree that all of these dreams, visions, and their interpretations are connected. They’re related. They are a repeated dream and interpretation to show the original readers — and us — the certainty of what will take place. 

And here’s what’s really helpful about Gabriel’s interpretation of Daniel’s dream — which again — happens later in the book: Gabriel will tell us who the actual kingdoms are of these dreams.

Thus — in allowing the book of Daniel to help us interpret the book of Daniel — we learn that Nebuchadnezzar is the statue’s head of gold — making Babylon the first kingdom. In our chapter — chapter seven — this first kingdom is represented by a lion — but it’s still referring to Babylon. The second kingdom — the statue’s chest and arms of silver — a bear in our chapter — as well as a two-horned ram later in the book — is the kingdom of Media-Persia. 

The third kingdom — the bronze belly and thighs of the statue — a leopard in our chapter — and a shaggy goat later in the book — is Greece. And the fourth kingdom — the statue’s legs of iron and clay — the fourth beast in verse seven our chapter — isn’t explicitly named — but is Rome — and I explained why in my sermon from chapter two.

All that to say — we’re following a thread that connects all of these dreams and visions that are found in the book of Daniel. And the dreams and visions are repeated in the book — to show us something about the future from this point in history — meaning — not where we are in history — not 2024 — but from where Daniel is in history.

Earlier I mentioned that we’re in the prophetic and apocalyptic portion of Daniel. And — as one Bible scholar has said — “We first need to understand what [this literary genre] is, and what it is trying to do to us and for us. In simple terms, biblical apocalyptic can be defined…[as] a revelation of the ending of this present age — which is an age characterized by conflict — and its replacement by the final age of peace. It shows us ahead of time the end of the kingdoms of this world and their replacement by the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. 

This revelation is unfolded in complex and mysterious imagery, and has the purpose of comforting and exhorting the faithful. Apocalyptic literature thus proclaims a theology of hope to those whom the world has marginalized: it reminds us that God is presently on the throne and that he will ultimately triumph. In the meantime, whatever the present cost may be in terms of suffering — obedience to God is the only way.”

Though we may suffer — as we live in this land of exile — obedience is the only way. And these chapters of Daniel help us to keep our hope in what is guaranteed to come for those who believe in Jesus. Thus — even with all of this imagery and — admittedly — confusing symbolic language — know that the purpose of our text is to show us that the kingdoms of this world will come to an end and will be replaced by the kingdom of God. And this is meant to bring comfort and hope to God’s people — especially as we live in exile — a foreign land where following Jesus is becoming more and more marginalized.

COURT IS IN ORDER

We’ll return to these four kingdoms in a future sermon but — for now — let’s turn to the clearer part of our chapter. We’re in verse nine — and to set up what we’re about to read — you need to have a courtroom in mind — as this will help you understand what’s going on.

Daniel 7:9–14 (NLT)

⁹ I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient One sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like purest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, ¹⁰ and a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to him; many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened. ¹¹ I continued to watch because I could hear the little horn’s boastful speech. I kept watching until the fourth beast was killed and its body was destroyed by fire. ¹² The other three beasts had their authority taken from them, but they were allowed to live a while longer. ¹³ As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal — it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. – Daniel 7:9–14 (NLT)

Now we’re to the crux of our chapter. As I’ve mentioned — we tend to focus on the beasts — the monster-like creatures of our nightmares — but these verses aren’t meant to scare us — they’re meant to comfort us. Thus the beasts are not to be our focus — rather God is to have our focus. 

When we focus on the beasts of the world — whether figurative or literal — we live in fear, in powerlessness, in defeat. But when we keep our eyes fixed on our God — who comes down on the clouds of heaven — who has authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world — whose rule is eternal — whose kingdom will never be destroyed — well — when our eyes are fixed on him — instead of fear — we have confidence — instead of powerlessness — we tap into a strength that’s not our own — and instead of defeat — we realize that we’re the victors because our God has won the war on our behalf.

This is what the angel explains to Daniel when the visions troubled him. We’re in verse fifteen.

Daniel 7:15–28 (NLT)

¹⁵ I, Daniel, was troubled by all I had seen, and my visions terrified me. ¹⁶ So I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant. He explained it to me like this: ¹⁷ “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. ¹⁸ But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.” ¹⁹ Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet. ²⁰ I also asked about the ten horns on the fourth beast’s head and the little horn that came up afterward and destroyed three of the other horns. This horn had seemed greater than the others, and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. ²¹ As I watched, this horn was waging war against God’s holy people and was defeating them, ²² until the Ancient One — the Most High — came and judged in favor of his holy people. Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom. ²³ Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. 

It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path. ²⁴ Its ten horns are ten kings who will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them. ²⁵ He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time. ²⁶ “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed. ²⁷ Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.” ²⁸ That was the end of the vision. I, Daniel, was terrified by my thoughts and my face was pale with fear, but I kept these things to myself. – Daniel 7:15–28 (NLT)

I love the angel’s explanation to Daniel — the angel just gets to the point. Even though Daniel keeps looking at the beasts — responding in fear — not once but twice — the angel redirects Daniel’s gaze.

Daniel 7:17–18 (NLT)

¹⁷ “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. ¹⁸ But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.”

Later — after Daniel focuses again on the beasts — especially the fourth beast — the angel says…

Daniel 7:26–27 (NLT)

²⁶ “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed. ²⁷ Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”

May this sermon — and God — we’re even open to you sending an angel to help us — but may God’s Word redirect your gaze from the beasts you may be facing — beasts that are causing you to fear — that are bringing terror into your life — may God redirect your gaze so that you focus on him and his promises to you. Whatever is causing fear in your life — or disorientation — or anxiety — whatever the beast may be for you — may your eyes be redirected to the One who’s promised to welcome you into his eternal Kingdom.

TRIUMPH FOR GOD’S PEOPLE

There’s much I don’t understand in this chapter — I’m guessing the same is true for you as well. But the one thing that’s clear and certain — is that — “in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever.” For “our Most High and sovereign God has a kingdom that will last forever.” 

I hope — that these words of truth — give you some confidence today. A reason to rejoice. To look to the future with hope. Because — though we live in a land of exile — a land of beasts at war with God and his people — our victory is secure — your victor is secure — if you believe in Jesus. A victory described this way — in another prophetic and apocalyptic book in the Bible — the book of Revelation — where John writes…

Revelation 20:11–15 (NLT)

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. ¹² I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 

¹⁵ And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. – Revelation 20:11–15 (NLT)

And a few verses later he adds…

Revelation 21:1 (NLT)

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.

“And the sea was also gone.” A short sentence whose point can easily be missed. Do you remember where the four beasts in Daniel’s vision came from? Here’s a reminder.

Daniel 7:2–3 (NLT)

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² In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction. ³ Then four huge beasts came up out of the water, each different from the others.

Thus the hope promised to us is that — in eternity — the sea where the beasts come up from — is no more. For God’s enemies are forever defeated in our hope-filled and hopeful future. And — this promised future is secure because the Victor — Jesus Christ — defeated all of his enemies — and ours — through his life, death, and resurrection. 

In Daniel’s vision, he describes an individual as “a son of man” — the figure who comes down on the clouds of heaven. Do you know that — in the gospels — Jesus’ favorite title for himself is the Son of Man? For — as one of my Bible dictionaries explains — “The phrase “one like a son of man,” denotes a human-looking figure who is given privileges normally reserved for God: authority, glory, sovereign power, the worship of men of every language, and an eternal kingdom.” (Lexham Bible Dictionary)

Jesus professes to be the Son of Man. He defends his authority and ministry by claiming to be the Son of Man. He explains his sacrifice — and what it will accomplish — as he describes himself as the Son of Man. And — when pointing to the future — Jesus portrays himself as the Son of Man who will be seen seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64)

And — as Stephen was being killed — because of his faith in Jesus — he looked up…

Acts 7:56 (NLT)

⁵⁶ And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”

Jesus — the Son of Man — was aware of all that was happening to his servant — Stephen. The one who is suffering — being stoned — is seen by the One who suffered and was vindicated by the Most High. The One who stands between God and us — mediating — vindicating — advocating to his holy Father that this man — Stephen — is worthy of being welcomed into his eternal Kingdom.

And — the amazing truth and promise is that Jesus — the Son of Man — says the same words to his Father about all who put their faith in him — including you — if you believe in him — and are living for him. Jesus will one day stand up to welcome all who put their trust in him as they live in this land of exile — and they will enter into his eternal land of hope, joy, life, and peace. A Kingdom of no more suffering. No more pain. And no more sorrow. For the beasts that we face in this land of exile — will be no more. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Sovereign, reigning, and ruling Father, there’s much we don’t understand from this vision that Daniel was given. But one thing is clear and certain: In the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever. For you — our Most High and sovereign God — has a kingdom that will last forever.

Spirit of God, make you take this word of promise and hope — and use it to give confidence to those who need it. May you take this word of promise and hope and give someone else a reason to rejoice. May this word of promise and hope give someone else optimism about their future. Because — though we live in a land of exile — of suffering — of beasts — our victory is secure.

And — Jesus — our victory is secure because you — the Son of Man — defeated our enemies of Satan, sin, death, and hell. You did so in your life, in your death, and in your defeat of the grave when you rose again and ascended into heaven where you are now seated — and are interceding for your people — until the day of your return. A day which will be the final defeat of your enemies — and a day of eternal hope for your people. May we keep our eyes on you — Jesus — so we live in this land of exile — with great hope. In your name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you go with your eyes fixed on Jesus — the Son of Man — filled with great hope as you live in this land of exile. Amen.

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God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 6:1-28 (NLT)

‌DATE: 6-16-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re here with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

We’re continuing our series in the book of Daniel today — looking at what it means to live in exile. And we’re returning to a section of the book that we didn’t have time to finish last week — a section that contains a familiar story for many of us — Christian or not — for this is possibly the moment Daniel’s life in exile is known for. We covered much of the chapter last week — but let’s read it in its entirety — so we’re all caught up. We’re in Daniel chapter six — beginning in verse one.

Daniel 6:1–28 (NLT)

¹ Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. ² The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. ³ Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. ⁴ Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. ⁵ So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.” ⁶ So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! ⁷ We are all in agreement — we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors — that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. 

Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to you, Your Majesty — will be thrown into the den of lions. ⁸ And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” ⁹ So King Darius signed the law. ¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. ¹¹ Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. ¹² So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to you, Your Majesty — will be thrown into the den of lions?” “Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” ¹³ Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.” ¹⁴ Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. 

He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. ¹⁵ In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.” ¹⁶ So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.” ¹⁷ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. ¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. ¹⁹ Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. ²⁰ When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” ²¹ Daniel answered, “Long live the king! ²² My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” ²³ The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. 

Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. ²⁴ Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. ²⁵ Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world: “Peace and prosperity to you! ²⁶ “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. ²⁷ He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” ²⁸ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

INTRODUCTION

Last week I mentioned how I think we’ve made a mistake in the title we give this story — Daniel and the Lion’s Den. I like Daniel and the Angel’s Den better — as the angel — not the lions — plays a more significant role in the story. And — even though I’m sure that one sermon won’t change our minds on what we call this story — for today — we’re calling it Daniel and the Angel’s Den.

Something important we learned last week is how — in this land of exile — we’ll experience opposition from those who disagree with our faith. And this will happen even when we’re good citizens, productive employees, and kind to our neighbors — for this world is not our home — this nation is not where our primary citizenship lies — thus we should not be surprised when we experience opposition. 

We also talked about the various ways Christians have responded to this opposition: adapting, adopting, or resisting. And we saw that resistance — which is what we see in Daniel’s life — resistance requires us being committed to God and how he’s told us to live — while we go about life in this land of exile. 

And this idea of resistance — because of our commitment to our God — comes from the key verse in our chapter — verse ten — which states…

Daniel 6:10 (NLT)

¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

THE DEN AND THE CROSS

Daniel knew both what the land of exile demanded of him and what his commitment to God required of him — and he chose commitment to his God regardless of the consequences. And — what may have surprised you the most — if you were with us last week — is that Daniel does all of this while being somewhere around the age of ninety years old! 

He’s lived in Babylon for about seventy years — he’s been a faithful servant to multiple kings — he’s done what’s only been best for this foreign land while being faithful to his God — and what kind of thanks has he received? Multiple threats against his life which we’ve previously encountered in the book.

Yet the opposition he’s faced has not caused him to waver in his commitment to his God. Even when his opponents knew the only way to trap him was by creating a law that would force him to compromise his faith — Daniel would rather break the law — and suffer the consequences for doing so — rather than compromise his faith. An example — for us who follow Jesus today in this land of exile — of the commitment required of us if we want to be faithful to our God and Savior. 

A commitment we can’t live up to — on our own — for our commitment to our God and Savior must find its strength in our belief that he first demonstrated his commitment to us. And — his commitment to us — includes going with us — even into the pit of death. 

We’re in verse fourteen and — for some context — the king’s just been informed by Daniel’s opponents that Daniel has continued to pray to his God three times a day in spite of the law.

Daniel 6:14–28 (NLT)

¹⁴ Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. ¹⁵ In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.” ¹⁶ So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.” ¹⁷ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. ¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. 

¹⁹ Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. ²⁰ When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” ²¹ Daniel answered, “Long live the king! ²² My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” ²³ The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. ²⁴ Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. ²⁵ Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world: “Peace and prosperity to you! ²⁶ “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. ²⁷ He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. 

He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” ²⁸ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Daniel’s commitment to his God results in him being put in a den — a pit — essentially he’s buried alive to be torn to shreds by the lions. His opponents meant for this to be his death. And all of this is happening to him because he refused to compromise his faith. I appreciate what one pastor says about this moment in Daniel’s life. He writes, “The Lord allows the aged Daniel to face his greatest challenge in a lion’s den to say to his people then and to us now: Trust me.” (Bryan Chapell)

“Trust me.”

As we’ve previously learned — faith and trust are synonymous. To trust God is to have faith in him. We never age out of faith — Daniel’s in his nineties. We never educate out of faith. We never “life experience” out of faith. 

We’re created to be men and women of faith — who trust our God always — in all situations — especially during the incredibly hard ones we experience in this land of exile. Daniel went into the pit trusting in his God. 

Now — at this point — what I find interesting is the difference we see between Daniel and Darius. Daniel — as far as we can tell — calmly — trustingly — with peace — goes into the den. Meanwhile Darius — who personally has nothing to worry about — can’t enjoy any of his usual forms of entertainment. One man’s at peace — the other isn’t — and the one who’s at peace is not who you’d expect to be at peace! Daniel’s trust in his God gave him a peace that surpassed his understanding of the situation. 

“Trust me.”

Again, another author is helpful in stretching our imagination of all that’s happening. He writes, “Daniel actually spent a far more comfortable night in the stinking pit than Darius did in his royal luxury. 

We may almost imagine the prophet leaning back on a warm, furry lion, conversing for hours with the angel about heavenly things, until he was so rudely interrupted by Darius’s question [the next morning].” (Iain Duguid)

I don’t know about you — but I’ve never considered the king’s question — early the next morning — to be an interruption for Daniel — but it’s a glorious thought, isn’t it? For Daniel to be at such peace in the presence of God’s angel — that he would’ve been just fine spending more time in a pit full of lions — in no rush to leave. Regardless of what’s going on in your life right now — what kind of peace do you have because of God’s presence with you?

The peace offered to you — is a peace made possible because Jesus went down into another pit — the pit of death and hell — when he gave his life — in love — for the sins of the world — including your sins. His death was a sacrifice needed in order to bring peace between us and God — for our relationship with him had been broken because of our rebellion and sin. 

That’s what the biblical theme of exile is meant to remind us — this world is not the way it should be — it’s not the home we were created for — something terrible has happened resulting in us wandering in a spiritual, relational, emotional, and physical wasteland. We’re all searching for home and can’t seem to find it. Yet — the promise for those who follow Jesus — is that our time here in exile is leading us to our spiritual home — a spiritual oasis — a beautiful garden in the center of a new heavens and earth.

However — and this is incredible news — instead of an angel of God being sent to protect and comfort us — Jesus — God in the flesh — came to earth to protect us from our enemy — Satan — by freeing us from our enslavement to him. And — in rising from the grave and ascending to Heaven — Jesus sent us the promised Comforter — the Holy Spirit — to live in us. Thus — we have something far better than what Daniel had in the lion’s den. An angel is great — but God the Son and God the Spirit being with us is infinitely better! And as we live — depending on the Spirit of God who is in us — we can fulfill the apostle Paul’s words — when he tells us…

Philippians 4:6–7 (NLT)

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Here we are — brought back to prayer again. Daniel was committed to prayer — even when it meant breaking the king’s new law. And his commitment to prayer led to him experiencing peace even while being lowered into a pit of death. 

On the night he was betrayed — Jesus prayed. And — at the end of his prayer we see that he trusts in his Father’s plan. A plan of salvation and peace — though it would require Jesus entering a different pit of death. And Paul tells us that we too can experience peace — no matter the circumstances we face — a peace that comes through prayer — through knowing and trusting in our God. 

For our God — who defeated Satan — our enemy who prowls around like a lion — is the God who shut the mouths of lions for Daniel. And it is this God — who offers you peace — in any and all circumstances you might find yourself in — as you live in this land of exile.

FIGHTING THE DEVIL WITH PRAYER

In a book I was recently reading, I was introduced to a late fourth century monk named Evagrius Ponticus. History tells us that Evagrius went out into the Egyptian desert to fight the devil — I bet that got your attention. Well rumors began to spread that there was a monk — out in the middle of the desert — at war with the devil — and the word on the street was that he was winning. Folks started to brave the desert to find Evagrius and ask him his secret to fighting against the devil. Someone even asked him to write down his strategy, which became a book titled Talking Back: A Monastic Handbook for Combating Demons.

Now — our land of exile tells us that there is no devil — a lie the devil would love for us to believe. As a reminder — Jesus believed the devil was both real and an enemy. Even if you don’t believe that Jesus is divine — maybe you just think he was a remarkable teacher — don’t be quick to dismiss what he has to say about the devil.

The author of the book I was reading said this: “If Jesus’s anthem is ‘On earth as it is in heaven,’ the devil’s anthem is ‘On earth as it is in hell.” Which explains why this land of exile is full of hate, greed, murder, lust, and — well — hell. So — if you don’t take Jesus’ words about the devil at face value — just look around — evidence of his existence is all around us.

Here’s why I bring this up. I want to give us all some hope as I know we’ve been traveling in some challenging waters in this series. Living in exile isn’t easy. Remaining faithful to God in exile is like waking up in a war every single day. 

Add to this that — for some of us — maybe even for many of us — the devil’s goal of “on earth as it is in hell” has been all too real — whether due to the death of someone we love, a broken relationship, the inability to get pregnant, depression, anxiety, spiritual apathy, cancer — you name it — this land of exile can really dish it out.

So — I want to end on some hope — with some good news. Let’s talk about fighting the devil in prayer — or — as Evagrius put it — talking back and combating demons — something all followers of Jesus can do because we have God’s Word and God’s Spirit to lead, guide, empower, and direct us.

The enemy we face is the father of lies. We see his lies in this land of exile — where God’s truth is constantly being exchanged for lies. But I want to talk — not about the lies out there — in culture — but how these lies show up daily in our lives and how we can fight back against them and — thus — defeat the devil by the power of God’s Word and Spirit. 

None of us are above believing these lies. None of us are immune to this — you don’t outgrow this with age — thus we’re all in desperate need of freedom from believing the lies of our enemy and trusting in the truth of God’s Word and his promises to us.

What are some examples of the lies I’m talking about? Again — let’s take a step back from the ideological lies of this land of exile — and face the messiness of real, everyday life.

It’s the lie believed by the teenage girl who constantly compares herself to what she sees on social media — the lie that says “Since I don’t look like that — I’m ugly and unworthy of being loved.”

It’s the man or woman working, doing their best, doing a good job — who’s constantly passed over for the promotion — the lie that says “Everything I do is a failure — I’m a failure — why bother.”

It’s the Christian living with chronic pain and doesn’t feel God’s presence — the lie that says “God doesn’t care about you — he’s abandoned you.”

It could be the middle-aged woman who was raised by a perfectionist mother — who believes the lie, “I have to be perfect or others will be angry with me.”

Or the lie many men believe who had an emotionally distant father — “My value is determined by my success.”

Let’s talk about these kinds of lies — the lies we’re constantly bombarded with. These lies — that we so easily believe — are cruel, painful, can paralyze us, cause us to doubt, make us ineffective, and keep us from experiencing the blessings that have been promised to us. These lies can make life hellish. They tempt us to compromise our faith in order to avoid a den of lions. This land of exile makes it easy to make a person or a group out to be our enemy — but the real war we’re in isn’t against flesh and blood. God’s Word tells us that our enemy isn’t each other — our enemy is the father of lies — the one who’s like a lion ready to pounce.

So how do we fight the devil and his lies?

You’re going to see how this all connects to Daniel’s story in a moment but — for now — and as a warning — this will take intentionality and work on your part. The Spirit of God is willing to help you — but this is a work you must choose to do — it won’t be forced on you. Something I learned a long time ago is that God allows his people to be as miserable as we choose to be. He’s made freedom and joy and hope available — but he gives us a choice in the matter. And — far too many Christians never grasp the freedom, joy, and hope that is theirs — because grasping it requires that they fight against the devil and his lies and — instead of fighting — many Christians just live a miserable, hopeless, defeated life. 

But not us — not any more — let’s choose to fight against the devil…with prayer — this is our Daniel connection — prayer. Here’s how we fight.

First, we must be aware of our thoughts. 

Those examples of lies — that I mentioned earlier — are just a handful of thousands of lies each of us think on a regular basis. Most of us have a few lies that are on repeat in our minds. Like a broken record — they keep replaying over and over again. So — to fight — we must be aware of our thoughts and what lies we’re believing. 

Here’s an example from the book I was reading — imagine this thought being on repeat in your mind: 

“What if I lose my job and can’t make my car payment? I really love my car — I’d hate to lose it.”

Again — this may not be something you think about — but imagine that you do. What’s the lie beneath this thought?

One possible lie is this: My safety and security are in my job — and owning newer, nicer things will make me happy. 

“Man, Josh. That takes some reflection.” You’re right! So often we live in the surface level world of our thoughts without doing the work of examining if what we’re thinking is based on God’s truth or the father of lies. And — for far too many of us — our thoughts are more influenced by the father of lies — and this land of exile — than they are by the truth of God’s Word. Which leads us to the next step in how we fight now that we’ve discovered the lie we’re believing.

Again — the repetitive thought is: “What if I lose my job and can’t make my car payment? I really love my car — I’d hate to lose it.” The lie beneath the thought is: “My safety and security are in my job — and owning newer, nicer things will make me happy.” 

The truth from God’s Word is this:

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)

⁵ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

If this land of exile wants us to exchange the truth of God for a lie — the way we fight the devil — and live with hope — is by exchanging his lies with God’s truth — which means — we must know God’s Word if we’re going to use it to fight against the lies of our enemy in prayer. 

Take your pick of any recent research on Bible reading in the US and you’ll find that it…is…dismal. Most researchers don’t even bother to ask about daily Bible reading anymore because so few of us read our Bibles daily. Instead, they ask about reading your Bible “once a week or more” in order to get decent data. Once a week is now the gold star standard for Bible reading in our land of exile.

Folks, we’re bombarded with lies from our enemy all day long. Do we want freedom, do we want hope, do we want joy, and life? Do you want freedom, do you want hope, do you want joy, and life? You’re not going to find it without being a man or woman of God’s Word. 

For — without being men and women of God’s Word — the best we can hope for is to be men and women who’ve been set free by Christ — only to live defeated lives because we have no way to fight against the devil and his lies. Who wants to live that kind of life?

To fight the devil and his lies we must be aware of the thoughts we have — especially the ones that are on repeat. Then we must recognize the lie that’s behind these thoughts. And then we must replace the lie with truth from God’s Word.

If you’re not sure where to begin, get a copy of Talking Back: A Monastic Handbook for Combating Demons and see what Evagrius has to say about fighting the devil. 

Or grab a copy of John Mark Comer’s book Live No Lies for a modern take on the topic. 

Or — if you prefer — I’ve written this booklet on how to make the most of your devotional time — an overview of what I do — both in God’s Word and in prayer — on a daily basis. You can grab a physical copy for free at the resource center at your campus and digital copies are available on our website — gatewayepc.org/booklets.

CONCLUSION

Back to Daniel.

About this moment in his life — it’s been said, “The message to Daniel’s people and to us is that our hope in God is not misplaced. Though we may have to wait to see the results of our faithfulness — and may never see them until we are with him — our God will accomplish his purposes. So we trust him and live for him.” (Bryan Chapell)

Ultimately, whether it’s fighting the devil or being willing to be thrown into a pit of lions — it all comes down to our trust in our God. What we’re to learn from Daniel’s life is that our hope in God isn’t misplaced — your trust in God isn’t a waste — in fact trusting God is the only thing that makes sense in this world. 

And the reason why it makes sense is because we’re the people who trust in what Christ has first done for us in coming to this world of exile — to be thrown into a pit of death — only to rise again as the conqueror of the grave and the one who defeated our lion-like enemy. And you believing in Jesus — and what he’s done — is trust that’s never misplaced. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Holy Father, as we come to you in prayer, we begin by thanking and praising you for giving us your Word. Your Word is truth. Your Word is what we’re to believe. It’s what we’re to live by. It’s where life, hope, joy, and peace are found. For it’s by believing your Word — the gospel — that we experience Christ’s defeat of our enemy.

Holy Spirit, you take the truth of the Word and apply it to our hearts and lives. But there’s a freedom we have — a freedom that all who believe in Christ are given — a freedom to now live holy, committed, obedient lives for the glory of our God and Savior. A freedom to live according to your truth — or to live according to the lies of our enemy. Lies we’ve been set free from — are lies we so easily return to — for often it’s easier to believe a lie than it is to be men and women who are committed to living according to your truth.

But — Jesus — you’ve told us that you are the truth. And when the devil tempted you to believe his lies you rejected him — not once — not twice — but three times in the wilderness you rejected the lies of your and our enemy — and lived according to the truth — and you did so to purchase our freedom. For our freedom cost you your perfect life of obedience to your Father’s will and Word. And — in believing you — we now have the opportunity — and privilege — to live a life of obedience for your glory and for the good of those who live in this land of exile with us.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you’ve given us the truth of your Word, the power we need to reject the lies of our enemy, and the wisdom to replace his lies with your truth. Help us — we pray — to demonstrate our love for you by not giving in — but by fighting the devil and his lies — as we trust you and your Word of truth. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available / BOOKLET AVAILABLE AT RESOURCE CENTER)

May you go exchanging the lies of our enemy with the truth of God’s Word — trusting your God and Savior as you live in this land of exile. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 6:1-28 (NLT)

‌DATE: 6-9-24

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

After a week off — we’re returning to our series in the book of Daniel today— looking at what it means to live in exile. And — we have quite a bit to cover — so let’s turn to our text, read it, and see what we can learn from a moment in Daniel’s life that I’m guessing — Christian or not — you’re probably familiar with. We’ll be in Daniel chapter six — beginning in verse one.

Daniel 6:1–28 (NLT)

¹ Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. ² The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. ³ Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. ⁴ Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. ⁵ So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.” ⁶ So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! ⁷ We are all in agreement — we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors — that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. 

Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to you, Your Majesty — will be thrown into the den of lions. ⁸ And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” ⁹ So King Darius signed the law. ¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. ¹¹ Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. ¹² So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to you, Your Majesty — will be thrown into the den of lions?” “Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” ¹³ Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.” ¹⁴ Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. 

He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. ¹⁵ In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.” ¹⁶ So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.” ¹⁷ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. ¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. ¹⁹ Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. ²⁰ When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” ²¹ Daniel answered, “Long live the king! ²² My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” ²³ The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. 

Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. ²⁴ Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. ²⁵ Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world: “Peace and prosperity to you! ²⁶ “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. ²⁷ He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” ²⁸ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

INTRODUCTION

As I said — a familiar moment in Daniel’s life — but I do wonder if we’ve made a mistake in the title we give this story — Daniel and the Lion’s Den. I like Daniel and the Angel’s Den better — as the angel — not the lions — plays a more significant role in Daniel’s story. But I’m guessing that tradition will keep all of us — including me — calling this moment Daniel and the Lion’s Den.

Now — if you experienced a bit of deja vu — if this story felt eerily familiar to you — even if you wouldn’t consider yourself to be a Bible scholar — the reason is most likely due to how similar this moment in Daniel’s life is to what his three friends experienced back in chapter three with the fiery furnace. Daniel’s friends were forced to bow down to a statue or be thrown into a furnace — and they refused. Here — a decree’s been issued where only prayers to the king can be made or you’ll be thrown into a different pit — not a furnace — but a lion’s den — and this time it’s Daniel who refuses.

Let this remind us — we who follow Jesus — that in exile — we’ll experience opposition from those who disagree with our faith — and this shouldn’t surprise us. Not even when this happens to us as we’re good citizens, productive employees, and kind to our neighbors. For this world is not our home — this nation is not where our primary citizenship lies — thus we should not be surprised when we experience opposition.

There are a few ways we can respond to this idea — of knowing that our faith in Jesus will result in us facing opposition. First, we can try to hide our faith — attempt to fly under the cultural radar. Adapting to culture as a means of avoiding opposition — even if it means compromising what you believe. And this is much easier to do than most of us are willing to admit. This is where you don’t agree with culture — like, for instance — the many different events that will happen to celebrate Pride month. 

But — it’s easier to throw a dollar in the donation bucket being passed around the office than it is to face the reaction if you don’t. It’s easier to say yes to the invitation rather than suffer the loss of a friendship. You don’t agree — but you go along anyway — often out of fear — hiding what you really believe — or maybe hiding what you wished you really believed.

Another option is to adopt the values of this land of exile — something many self-identified Christians have done. I’m an equal opportunity offender — and since I just used Pride month as an example — let’s consider something else this land of exile uses to get us to compromise our faith. Let’s talk about how we’ve adopted this land of exile’s addiction to our phones. 

We say that “phones are neutral tools that can be used for good or ill” and other noble sounding statements — but then we — I’m talking to Christians, but this is a universal behavior that all of us are caught up in — we all say we’re not addicted to our phones while we sit at the dinner table with our family or friends and can’t stop staring at our screens. Or we come to church or go to our Life Group — and while the preacher’s preaching — or while the someone in our small group is sharing — we’re “multitasking” — supposedly listening but — in reality — we’re completely checked out because we’re scrolling on our phones.

A couple of months ago I decided to try something radical — and no — I didn’t get rid of my phone — I just deleted all of the fun and distracting apps off of it. No YouTube. No internet browser. And — you know what I discovered? You can only look at the weather app so many times before you’re bored with your phone — it’s amazing — and — there’s a constant temptation to put those apps back on my phone. I dare you to prove what you’re thinking right now — which is — “I’m not addicted to my phone like you are, Josh.” OK. Delete all the fun stuff off of it then. “Well, I don’t want to be extreme or anything. I can manage my phone usage just fine.”

‌Ask your family. Or the person who sits behind you at church and sees you scrolling on your phone during the sermon. Or the people in your Life Group — ask them if they feel like you care more about your phone than you do about them. Show someone your screen time — or whatever it’s called on an Android. I’m not asking you to share your bank account — just how much you look at your phone — why is that so offensive? And why would some of us rather show others our bank account than our screen time? Maybe because we’ve adopted a habit of this land of exile that isn’t good — that isn’t holy?

We can adapt, we can adopt, or we can resist. Some of what I just brought up is how we practice resistance in this land of exile. Again — I’m not anti-phone — I’m just against it being more important in our lives than our faith, family, and friends. And it’s way too common to hear Christians say, “I don’t have time to read my Bible” when their screen time would say otherwise.

But resistance requires us being committed to God and how he’s told us to live — even while we live in this land of exile. And this idea of resistance — through our commitment — comes from the key verse in our chapter — verse ten — which states…

Daniel 6:10 (NLT)

¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

Daniel knew both what the land of exile demanded of him and what his commitment to God required of him — and he chose commitment to God regardless of the consequences. 

COMMITTED CITIZENS

Now — before we dismiss this as being an example of a “spiritual superhero” — something us regular followers of Jesus aren’t capable of doing — let’s remind ourselves of the situation Daniel found himself in. We’re back in verse one — where we see — according to one pastor — “for all his wisdom, integrity, and faithfulness Daniel reaped the jealousy of peers, the hatred of the ungodly, a plot against his life, and a death sentence in a lions’ den.” (Rodney Stortz)

Daniel 6:1–5 (NLT)

¹ Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. ² The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. ³ Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. ⁴ Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. 

He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. ⁵ So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”

Now — and this will be hard to fathom — but Daniel is somewhere around ninety years old at this point in his life. He’s been serving the kings of Babylon around seventy years. His homeland was conquered because of the sin of his people, he was brought in to serve the kings, his life has been under threat multiple times, and — now — after nothing but decades of faithful service — he’s still facing opposition. I don’t know about you — but it’s easy for me to think, “Doesn’t Daniel deserve a break? A little ‘R and R’ in his twilight years.” In many ways — all of Daniel’s life has been lived in a lion’s den — just now — the danger is a literal one.

Did you know there’s no retiring out of being used by God? As one pastor has said about Daniel, “Age apparently is no barrier to spiritual usefulness.” (Bryan Chapell)

Though he’s faithfully served God and the kings of Babylon for decades — Daniel hasn’t allowed his age to excuse him from continuing to serve both God and the current king of his land of exile. From the early years of his life until the end — for we have no record that Daniel ever returns to his homeland — he faithfully serves in the land where God has placed him while recognizing that his primary commitment was always to God.

Since we’re nearing the end of Daniel’s life — I want you to consider what you might’ve thought — if you were him — about the meaning of success. Has Daniel’s life been successful? Here he is again — with his life being threatened — would you say that his commitment to God — while being a faithful citizen in this land of exile — would you say that his life has mattered — has it made a difference — has it been a success?

I bring this up because it’s common for people today — Christian or not — to want to make a difference. And — often — we want the difference we’ve made to be measurable in some tangible way. Here’s one way this often plays out in the life of a Christian. 

We come to faith in Christ, are on fire for him, want to make a difference, want our unbelieving family and friends to come to know and believe in Jesus, want there to be less injustice in the world, want to see orphans cared for, for love to spread, for peace to reign. And we start off believing that God will use us to make a difference. Individual Christians think this — churches think this — denominations think this. Making a difference becomes a measurement — if not the measurement — of success.

But then some years go by. Your family and friends still don’t believe. Injustice still goes on. Hate continues to spread. New wars begin. And — it’s common to start to wonder — “Am I making any difference?” Churches start to ask, “If our doors closed would our community even notice?” Denominations start to change the definition of success so they can still tell a story that encourages their members.

But here’s Daniel nearing the end of his life. His opponents even admit that he’s lived a life safe from criticism and condemnation. 

According to their view — his opponent’s view — he was faithful, responsible, and trustworthy. He’s a model Babylonian citizen AND a committed follower of Yahweh. He’s willing to follow his God even if it costs him his life. But the harder lesson that the end of Daniel’s life teaches us is the lesson of following God — even when doing so — seems to change nothing.

Something I’ve learned as a pastor — and this is something I try to bring up often when I mentor younger pastors — is the need for them to develop the characteristic of faithfully shepherding God’s church — and sticking with it — even sticking with a local congregation — when it seems like the net gain will be nothing. This land of exile calls this failure — and I want to acknowledge that it could very well be failure — on the pastor, on the local church, there may be many who contribute to it being a failure. 

But faithfulness as a pastor is no guarantee that anyone will come to faith in Christ, it’s no guarantee that anyone will be baptized, that anyone will become a new member of the church, that anyone will be reading their Bibles or praying more, or serving or giving or showing up on Sundays. 

Yet these are the kinds of measurements of success that have our pastoral hearts. When the numbers go up — pastors get excited. When the numbers go down — pastors get depressed.

When the numbers go up — the congregation thinks the pastor’s doing a great job. When the numbers go down — the congregation wonders what’s wrong.

Again — if you were Daniel — around ninety years old — and have been nothing but faithful to God and a committed citizen of the land in which you live — would you interpret this moment in your life — another group of folks out to get you — as a sign that your life has been a success?

I think the reason why this question is so hard to answer is because — though Daniel is no “superhero saint” — we realize that our commitment to God — compared to his — well — it doesn’t compare. I mean his opponents only have good things to say about him. 

There’s no, “Why is Daniel so judgmental of all of us who don’t believe in his God?” There’s no accusation against him — they don’t even try to make something up because they know his reputation is solid. So the only thing they can go after is his commitment to his God.

What would have to change in your life so that the only thing someone could bring up against you is your commitment to Jesus? 

Maybe that’s a bit overwhelming of a question for you — I know it is for me — so let’s make it a bit simpler.

If you claim to be a disciple of Jesus — someone who believes in him — what’s one thing in your life — right now — that needs to change so that it’s no longer an accusation used against you? Where — instead of it — you can start to sharpen your commitment to Jesus?

For example, maybe for your whole life people have brought up your anger or your pessimism or your neediness or overspending or overworking or cussing or — whatever it is that — in your mind — “people just need to get over” — when — in reality — and according to God’s Word — it’s actually an ungodly habit that needs to be replaced with a greater commitment to Jesus.

Daniel’s commitment to God was the reason why others were out to get him — and they knew that his commitment to God was the only way to get him. What a statement about Daniel by those who opposed him! What a statement this would be about us by those who oppose us — “it’s their commitment to their God — that’s the only way we’ll ever be able to stop them — we’ll have to go after their commitment to Jesus.”

COMMITTED WORSHIPERS

And now we turn to their plan and Daniel’s response. We’re in verse six.

Daniel 6:6–13 (NLT)

⁶ So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! ⁷ We are all in agreement — we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors — that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to you, Your Majesty — will be thrown into the den of lions. ⁸ And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” ⁹ So King Darius signed the law. ¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. ¹¹ Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. ¹² So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to you, Your Majesty — will be thrown into the den of lions?” “Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 

¹³ Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.”

What a conniving plan they come up with — to force the citizens of the land to pray only to the king. Again — deja vu of the golden statue and the citizens being forced to bow down and worship it. There was resistance then and Daniel resists now. 

Resistance to authority can be warranted — but the examples we have in Scripture show us that resistance is warranted only when what’s being resisted is an action that will force us to compromise our faith. And — to be clear — not our opinion or personal preferences about the faith — but — like what we’ve seen in Daniel — forced worship or forced prayer to something or someone other than our God.

I’m sure there was much in the nation of Babylon that Daniel disagreed with and — yet — he found a way to live committed to his God without living in constant resistance against the authority of the land. And this is something we Christians can learn from him — as we often get all out of sorts in our relationship with the governing authority of our nation — especially when that other political party is in charge. 

When to resist the government — and when not to — is something we usually don’t give much thought to until the government makes a decision we don’t like. Yet Daniel and his friends resisted only when the government forced them to worship or pray to something other than their God — they didn’t resist against every decision they didn’t like — only when the decision forced them to worship or pray to something other than their God — when it was a matter of compromising their faith. 

So — how about a little homework for the week? I’m going to give some examples that I’d love for you to think through this week — discuss these with your Life Group if you’re not on summer break. 

Some of these examples will be times when to resist the government — but not all of them will be — only some. And make sure you discuss these with your Bibles open and with a willingness to submit to God’s Word on the matter and not simply allow your opinion — political or otherwise — to dictate when you resist and when you don’t. 

And — no responses right now — please — just some scenarios for you to consider when to resist or when not to. If the government…

Required churches to display an American flag on stage and say the pledge of allegiance during our worship services. Resist or not?

If the government required churches to worship at specific times (like Sundays at 9am and 11am). Resist or not?

If the government required churches to say the Lord’s Prayer during each service.

Or required churches to help people register to vote.

What if the government required churches to perform same-sex marriages?

Or required churches to only use the King James Version of the Bible.

Or required churches to have a seminary trained pastor.

That’s enough to liven up your life group or water cooler discussions this week — the point is that we need to really think through — biblically — when resistance to authority is warranted and when it’s sinful rebellion. 

Back to Daniel and his response to this government enforced prayer regulation. Daniel’s opponents knew that his commitment to God would trump this law of the land. They were certain that he’d rather face a den of lions than violate his commitment to his God. Again — what a reputation Daniel had even among those who wanted him dead. God help us — your people — to grow in our commitment to you.

CONCLUSION

And how does Daniel respond to the new law? When he heard the law had been signed by the king — he went home — and I love how the New Living Translation puts it — knelt down as usual in his upstairs room and prayed…just as he’d always done. And did you notice the first word used to describe his prayer? It was there in verse ten. He gave thanks to God. 

Wow. He gives thanks even in the midst of another chaotic moment in exile. Yes — in the next verse — we discover that he also asks God for help — but the first words used to describe his prayer — in this moment — is thanksgiving.

What words would describe your prayers when life — in this land of exile — is chaotic for you? Crying out to God for help is completely understandable — but are you thankful to God as well? Complaining to God in prayer — I get it. Complaining isn’t only the easiest form of conversation — it’s also the easiest form of prayer — but complaining isn’t meant to be the only characteristic of our prayer life.

And while Daniel continues to do what he’s always done — his opponents catch him praying. Have you ever wondered why — if God could shut the mouths of the lions — why he didn’t close the eyes of Daniel’s opponents? Seems like if one’s possible — the other is too. 

As one Bible commentary explains, “Certainly, [God] could have done that, but his purpose was not to save Daniel from trials but to save Daniel through trials…there were lessons that Daniel and those around him would learn, that could be learned only by Daniel going into the den of lions…God is not committed to our comfort. He is not committed to making our path through life smooth. He is committed to sanctifying us and demonstrating his own glory in and through us; and, very often, that commitment means he will subject [us] to pressures that would certainly shatter us, were his grace not sufficient. (Reformed Bible Commentary)

How open are you to God’s sanctifying work in your life — his commitment to making you more holy, more like Jesus, more committed to him? 

How open are you to your life being a lesson for others to learn from — even if the lesson is how to suffer well? 

I know these aren’t lessons any of us would volunteer for — thank God he doesn’t ask for volunteers because we’re often not nearly as committed to our spiritual growth as he is and — for that reason — these are situation he’ll put us in — not only for our spiritual benefit — but for the benefit of others as well.

Now — I know what you’re thinking — “we haven’t even gotten to the lion’s den part of the story.” You’re right — we’ll get there next time. For now — let’s pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, this was said earlier — and now we make it our prayer: help us — your people — to grow in our commitment to you. We need your power, vision, and desire for us to be our desire for us — so that we live in this land of exile committed to you.

Holy Spirit, you are the fulfillment of a promise given to us by Jesus. You live in all who believe in Christ — and you are not a Spirit of fear — but are a Spirit of power, love, and self-control. Strengthen us by your power as we look to the love of our Savior and his commitment to us — so we live committed to him.

And — Jesus — to you we say thank you. For you faced temptations while here on earth — and they were not pretend — the temptations were real. And yet you were so committed to your Father and accomplishing his will that — even at the cost of your life — you refused to bow down to the expectations of this land of exile. And — you did so — for our salvation — and also as our example of what it means to now live faithfully committed to following you.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — for any who feel the pressure to conform to the values of this land of exile — to compromise their faith — may you give them a taste of your never-ending love for them, a glimpse of your promised presence with them, and a touch of your power — so they — and all of us — remain committed to you. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you go committed to your God and Savior — Jesus Christ — while you live in this land of exile. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.