[0:00] Please take your Bibles and open them up one more time to the book of Daniel. We've come to the end of the book of Daniel this morning. This is part two of this last long vision in Daniel chapter 10 through Daniel chapter 12.
[0:17] And so if it feels, as we begin to read here in just a moment, if it feels like we're jumping in in the middle of a conversation, we are. This is part two of this last extended vision from 10 to 12.
[0:28] But last week we saw from chapter 10 through 11 verse 35, prophecies of events that were future for Daniel but history for us.
[0:39] And now verse 36 of chapter 11 marks a turning point. And from here forward it's events that are future for Daniel and future for us.
[0:50] So if you would, let's stand once more in honor of the reading of God's word. Daniel chapter 11 verse 36 through the end of the book. And the king shall do as he wills.
[1:09] He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak astonishing things against the god of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished for what is decreed shall be done.
[1:23] He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these.
[1:38] A god whom his fathers did not know, he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god.
[1:49] Those who acknowledge him, he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and with many ships.
[2:06] And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land and tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand, Edom and Moab and the main parts of the Ammonites.
[2:20] He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and silver and all of the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Kushites shall follow in his train.
[2:34] But news from the east and the north shall alarm him and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain.
[2:46] Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him. At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation until that time.
[3:02] But at that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
[3:17] And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end.
[3:31] Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the stream, how long shall it be till the end of these wonders?
[3:50] And I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the stream. He raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time.
[4:03] And that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things would be finished. I heard, but I did not understand. And then I said, Oh my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?
[4:16] He said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly.
[4:29] And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.
[4:43] Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end and you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.
[4:57] This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray once more. Father, we thank you for this glorious book. We thank you for the wisdom and the truth that's contained here.
[5:08] And we pray, Lord, would you give us understanding as we finish out the book of Daniel this morning. Would you show us Christ and enlarge our hearts that we might love him more as we study this morning.
[5:19] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I gotta tell you, I was stirred hearing all of us sing that song this morning.
[5:31] I hope you were as well. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know who holds the future.
[5:44] Life is worth the living just because he lives. Somebody remarked this morning as the musicians were practicing that that was a funeral song. He liked to sing that at funerals and it is.
[5:54] He's right. It's an excellent, excellent funeral song but I would argue it's an excellent song for every single moment of the Christian life. We live each day in the confident assurance that we know who holds the future.
[6:10] And we live each day in the light of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's an appropriate song for us to sing this morning because that's exactly what we find as we come here to the end of the book of Daniel.
[6:23] God has been showing Daniel this vision of the future. And again, here in verse 36 of chapter 11 through the end of the book he shifts the attention, shifts the scene to things and events that are still future for us.
[6:36] And as we think about the future it might be tempting for us to worry and to be fearful and to be anxious. What kind of world will my children grow up in? What kind of world will my grandchildren grow up in?
[6:48] What kind of future do we have to look forward to? And I think humans by default are naturally curious about the future because by and large none of us know what the future holds.
[7:01] We're all finding out in real time together but did you know that for Christians that's not entirely true. God's people, Christians, know with certainty what the future holds.
[7:14] Maybe not specifically every little detail but big picture we know exactly what God has revealed about the future. And here in our passage this morning we see two events, two answers to the question what does the future hold?
[7:31] Two answers to the question what does the future hold? This will be our outline this morning and as has been the case with much of the back half of Daniel it's easy to get lost in the weeds here and so I want to just very clearly tell you the main idea, the big idea here, the big idea is that God's people face great danger with greater hope.
[7:53] God's people face great danger with greater hope. So two answers this morning to the question what does the future hold? The future holds great danger but the future holds greater hope.
[8:08] Let's look at each part. First, first we see the future it does hold great danger and that may sound like cause for alarm and cause for worry but I would remind you again this morning that this is the same sort of danger that we have seen all through the book of Daniel.
[8:26] It's the same sort of danger that characterizes all of this present evil age. In fact, church, we are in the middle of this sort of danger right now. It's heightened and intensified in the future, yes, but it is nothing new.
[8:42] You remember last week what did we see? We saw this vision of these wars and these nations clashing against each other, this vision of human history that's filled with conflict but underneath all of that visible external conflict, what was there?
[8:57] It was a spiritual battle. Underneath all of what we can see with our eyes is a raging spiritual conflict that is here right now, very present here right now, and will last until the return of Christ.
[9:14] We are in a spiritual battle. That was last week. And so how do we prepare ourselves for this spiritual battle? Well, the Chinese military general, Sun Tzu, in his book, The Art of War, has anybody ever read that book, The Art of War?
[9:31] He had the right idea. He said, one of the keys to winning in battle is, anybody know? Is know thy enemy. Have you heard that? Know thy enemy. So here, starting in verse 36, God reveals to Daniel and to us some information, some key information about our enemy.
[9:49] Now again, verse 36 marks a shift in the vision. It's a new scene. It's a new character. But it uses the same terminology which makes it a little bit confusing for us.
[10:01] But most understand this section, verses 36 through the end of chapter 11, to be speaking about the Antichrist. It's the great end times enemy of God's people.
[10:12] So what can we know about the Antichrist? Well first, first, God says we can know his character. We can know his character.
[10:23] What will he be like? Well, he'll be just like all the other little a Antichrist that have come before him. He'll be the last in a long line of Antichrist. Again, none of this is new.
[10:34] Look there to verse 36. It says, he will do as he pleases. Verse 36, the king, that's the Antichrist, shall do according to his will. Not the Lord's will, his will.
[10:46] Not the Lord's command, not the Lord's way. It's his way. This is the essence of sin. He will embody this sinful self-determination and rebelliousness against the will of the Lord.
[11:00] He will exalt himself. He will magnify himself. He will not magnify the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's our mission, by the way.
[11:10] He will exalt himself. He will blaspheme the Lord. It says, he will speak astonishing things against the God of gods. Again, Jesus tells us in Matthew that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
[11:26] We see his heart on full display here. His heart is set against the Lord to tear him down. And what's his main weapon? It's his words. He will speak and blaspheme the Lord.
[11:38] He will care only about strength and power. He will care only about authority, exercising authority. Verse 38 says, the God that he'll serve, the idol that he'll serve is one of military strength.
[11:53] He shall honor the God of fortresses. He's power hungry and so proud that he thinks he will never be defeated. Verse 39, says he will honor those who serve him.
[12:06] Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. This is incredibly seductive, isn't it? This is tempting. You can think of Satan taking the Lord Jesus up on the mountaintop and showing him all the kingdoms of the world and what does he say?
[12:24] If you will bow down and serve me, all of this can be yours. We would be wise to ask ourselves right now, what could somebody give me that might draw my heart away from the Lord?
[12:37] Your answer to that question is his bullseye. That's his target. This is who he is and God shows it here to Daniel again for our sake that we might recognize these characteristics as anti-Christ.
[12:53] We can know his character. Not only this, it says we can know his strategy. We can know his strategy. I've been on a kick lately where I've been playing a lot of chess.
[13:04] I enjoy playing chess. Chess is a strategy game and there's certain openings, certain tactics that you can do and over time you start to recognize patterns and the sooner you can recognize what the enemy is planning on doing, the better off you are.
[13:19] The same is true here in this spiritual battle. Verses 41 through 45 they show us a picture of a battle. This is a great final battle, this conflict but what kind of battle is it?
[13:37] What sort of attack should we be prepared for? What is his strategy? Again, he's painting this picture with terms and images that we've already seen.
[13:50] He's giving Daniel a picture that he can understand and relate to. This is how prophecy often works. The pictures that we're given are in terms that the audience can relate to and understand but that does not mean that we have to take this to mean that this end times, end battle is a military conflict.
[14:10] So in verse 40 it says the king of the south shall attack him but the king of the north will come upon him with chariots and horsemen and many ships. Well that doesn't mean that this final conflict is actually fought with swords and spears and horses and chariots.
[14:27] I don't think that's the best way for us to understand it. This is a physical picture of a spiritual battle. We are in a spiritual battle.
[14:40] And what does Paul say in Ephesians chapter 6? We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[14:57] Our battle is spiritual. Our enemy is spiritual. His tactics and strategy are spiritual. And we've already seen, haven't we, that his main weapons against us are his words.
[15:12] It's not a physical battle. It's spiritual. We don't have to be on guard against tanks and Apache helicopters. We need to take guard and protect our doctrine.
[15:24] We need to guard our ears. We need to guard our hearts. What we allow our hearts to embrace. What we allow to come into our ears and what we think about the Lord.
[15:36] His strategy isn't to do you physical harm. It's to deceive you. Of course, he may use physical suffering to get you there, to wear you down, but his aim, his strategy, his ambition is to destroy you spiritually.
[15:52] And the sooner we recognize this attack, the better. This is a physical picture of a spiritual battle. The king of the north, that's the Antichrist, comes in. Verse 41.
[16:04] It says, he sets up residence in the glorious land. The Antichrist takes up residence within the community of God's people.
[16:16] It says, tens of thousands shall fall. This looks like a, apparently, a hopeless situation, doesn't it? Well, this looks grim.
[16:29] As I read and as I studied, I thought, if this were a movie, this would be the big, last, climactic battle. It would probably, the whole movie would build up to this moment.
[16:41] I've seen about a million movies with this exact storyline played out. I'm sure you have as well. The whole thing builds up to this final conflict and then this battle would last for maybe a third of the movie at least.
[16:52] This would be the most exciting part. And a good writer, a good director, that would put in a little bit of tension here where it feels like all hope is lost. There's no way the good guys are going to come out on top.
[17:04] But at the last moment, what happens? Somehow, some way, hope breaks through in the darkest moment and there is victory. That's exactly what we see happening here, isn't it?
[17:17] Except, except, this final battle doesn't have this big, dramatic clash of power, does it? This final battle, it just sort of, it just sort of ends.
[17:30] There's no hour-long fight scene. There's no epic clash of powers. We go from this dark moment of apparent hopelessness all the way to verse 45. What does it say? Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him.
[17:47] This is the final, third truth that we can know about this great enemy. We can know his end. We can know his end.
[17:58] Something will happen that will crush this enemy instantly. I want you to flip over with me to the New Testament if you would. Just briefly to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
[18:13] 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. We learn a little bit about this great end of this great enemy here from Paul in 2 Thessalonians. Listen to what he says. He says, Let no one deceive you in any way for that day, the coming day of the Lord, will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed.
[18:34] That's the Antichrist. The son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God.
[18:49] Does that sound familiar? This is Antichrist behavior. Boasting, deceiving, magnifying himself, taking up residence within the community of the people of God.
[19:01] This is him. Verse 8. And then the lawless one will be revealed. And how does this great final battle go? The Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
[19:18] He will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring him to nothing by the appearance of his coming. This final great clash is poof, is over when Christ appears on the scene.
[19:33] The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing. Why? Because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
[19:47] Church, at our most desperate hour, here's what the future holds. An enemy far too powerful for us will rise up, will persecute the church, will deceive many, all hope will look like it is lost, but the Lord will return and he will kill him instantly with the breath of his mouth.
[20:07] We should know, Church, that the future holds danger for the people of God. We are in that danger right now. He wants to lead you away from the truth and so how do we persevere?
[20:21] Know your enemy. Yes. But more than that, Church, love the truth and so be saved. Love the truth.
[20:33] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength. Love the truth and so be saved.
[20:44] And what truth are we to love specifically? What truth are we to love? Love the truth of the gospel, Church. Love the truth that all who know Jesus, the risen and returning Lord, have this incredible, unshakable hope ahead of us no matter what happens here and now.
[21:07] The future holds great danger, but second, the future holds greater hope. Now, let's turn and look back to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12.
[21:18] Chapter 12 here is the final chapter of this great book and it ends at the end, Church. It ends at the end with this great hope ahead of us and while some may focus on the danger ahead and be filled with worry and anxiety, it may be a stressful thing for you to think about the future.
[21:39] I want us to focus in here on this glorious hope that Christ has purchased for us in the gospel. This glorious hope that lies ahead of Daniel and us.
[21:50] God gives us a three-fold hope here in verses 1-4. A three-fold hope here in verses 1-4. Look there with me and just try to wrap your minds around this with me for a minute.
[22:02] that no matter what comes tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that as much uncertainty as there is in the future no matter what happens no matter what you might lose no matter what might come against you no matter what the enemy might throw against you if you are united to Jesus Christ by faith you are protected you will be resurrected and you will be perfected.
[22:35] This is our three-part hope this morning. All of God's people will be protected resurrected and perfected. Look there with me.
[22:46] God comforts Daniel that despite this great danger all of God's people will be protected. He says at that time shall arise Michael the great prince who has charge over your people if ever there was a verse that supported the notion the idea of guardian angels this is it.
[23:08] This is it. Apparently just like how chapter 11 showed us that there are spiritual beings assigned to darken some territories of the world do you remember that from last week?
[23:20] Here we see Michael he is assigned as the great prince the angel over God's people over Israel. He is an angel that is watching over and caring over and protecting God's people.
[23:35] Some of you know that my grandmother died about this time last year and she was one of the most godly women that I have ever known and before she died for Christmas one year she gave each of her grandchildren this little handcrafted angel and with it had a card and on the card she simply said remember God's angels are always watching over you.
[24:01] It's true. Now there's a lot that we don't know about angels a lot that we don't know about the spiritual dimension that we spoke about last week but we do know Hebrews 11 4 it tells us that these angels they are ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.
[24:26] God he gives us an honest picture of what's to come he says there shall be a time of trouble such as has never been since there was a nation until that time but he also with it gives us incredible assurance doesn't he?
[24:41] At that time your people shall be delivered who? Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. It was interesting I don't know if you realize this or not but Jesus he takes this same passage here from Daniel chapter 12 and he borrows the wording he adapts it here from Daniel and he applies it in Matthew 24 to the events of AD 70 and the fall of Jerusalem.
[25:11] Listen to this and tell me if it sounds familiar you don't have to turn there right now but I'll read starting in Matthew 24 verse 19 he says woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days pray for your flight that your flight may not be in the winter or on a Sabbath and verse 21 listen to this then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor shall ever be does that sound familiar?
[25:40] Terrible trouble terrible danger but what assurance does he give? he says for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short for the sake of the elect those whose names are written in the book for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation those whom the angels minister to here's our assurance church that all of God's elect in Christ will be brought safely home amen all of God's elect in Christ every one of us whose name is written in the book of life all of us who have come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we will be brought through the fires of persecution into the safety of the arms of Jesus we will be preserved protected through the lion's den and brought safely home into the arms of Jesus we will be brought safely out of our exile here in the kingdom of man into the kingdom of God to meet Jesus face to face you realize don't you that all of these stories that we've seen through the book of Daniel are micro images of this protection of God over his elect
[27:01] God will save his people God will protect you in Christ our response when the world is losing its ever loving mind church our response when there's wars rumors of wars our response when there's conflict left and right and God's people are right there in the middle isn't worry or panic what is it it's calm assurance that we know who holds the future calm assurance that we know in Christ Jesus we are protected we can say with David in Psalm 56 11 in God I trust I shall not be afraid what can man do to me we can say with Paul in Romans 8 if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things we can be sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
[28:19] Jesus our Lord if we are in Christ we are protected not only this somehow it gets better all of God's people will be resurrected look there with me to verse 2 chapter 12 he says many of those who slept in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt you know this is this is the first text in the entire Old Testament in the entire Bible that teaches the doctrine what we call the general resurrection that all will be raised at the end it's also it's also the first time in the Bible that we see this phrase eternal life that's a key phrase isn't it it's the first time we see that phrase eternal life or everlasting life but this doctrine of the general resurrection it teaches us that all will be raised everybody man woman boy girl
[29:22] Christian Muslim Jew Gentile there is coming a day when all people who have ever lived every soul will be raised up from the dead and then there will be a separation the sheep will be separated from the goats the tares will be separated from the wheat the kingdom of man will be separated from the kingdom of God and there will be a time of judgment you know this is this is absolutely key for us isn't it to understand this knowledge this certain knowledge of what's to come in the future our life does not end in the grave now so many people live as if as if it did live as if this was all there was that life ends in the grave you only live once so you might as well might as well eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die that's it let me share with you this morning if that's how you view your life
[30:24] God says something different God says we live we die and then we rise and an eternal separation will take place on the one hand some to everlasting life and on the other hand some to everlasting contempt we would be wise to ask ourselves if this is coming if someone's warning me that this is ahead in the future if God is telling me that this is coming if I'm going to be raised up and I'm going to have to stand before a holy God and I'm going to have to answer for my life and you are how can I be absolutely certain that I'm going to be on the side of eternal life how can I be sure that I'm one of these elect that are protected and resurrected and brought to eternal life how can I be certain that my name is in this book of life because not everybody gets it that's clear isn't it this is a look at the future and God says in the future not everybody is going to wind up with me this is black and white it is an absolute dagger for the false doctrine of universalism that everyone will be saved it is a dagger for the false doctrine of annihilationism where they tell you that in the end those who don't know the
[31:50] Lord will just be wiped out annihilated they don't endure and live forever there is everlasting contempt for those who don't know the Lord hell is very real it's far more terrible than we could possibly imagine how can I be certain that when that day comes the Lord will welcome me into glory to be with him forever and we know the answer don't we we know the answer don't we put your faith in Jesus Christ put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus came to take away your sin and with it your contempt and with it your shame Jesus rose from the grave so that he could earn eternal life and share it with any who come to him in faith put your faith in
[32:50] King Jesus now we spent over a year in the gospel of John and John loved that phrase eternal life didn't he John 3 16 say it with me for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have what eternal life John 3 36 whoever believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the wrath of God remains on him John 5 24 truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life already the verdict is in how can you be certain church you hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ you hear and believe that
[33:53] Christ Jesus has paid for your sin by his own blood you hear and rejoice that he has been raised for you so that you will be raised up with him to be with him forever the only way for that future coming day to be a day of joy and hope and celebration mourning and a day of terror and a day to be feared is to know the Lord Jesus by faith right now this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent John 17 verse 3 we can't move past this without me asking you church do you know the Lord do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are you certain that you have eternal life now and will have it for the rest of eternity in the presence of God do you know the
[34:54] Lord it's a glorious hope somehow there's there's still even more there's a third part of this glorious hope all God's people will be protected all of God's people will be resurrected and finally all of God's people will be perfected that's what's being described here in chapter 12 verse 3 look there with me it says those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever I will confess to you this is beyond my understanding church I can barely imagine it but I believe it with all my heart that when the Lord Jesus returns all of you me all of God's people will be at last perfected we will be made like him you can imagine the glory of the
[36:00] Lord the resurrected Lord Jesus risen never to die again he has conquered death risen never to feel pain again never to suffer again risen in power and risen in glory and God says if you are in him this is what the future holds for you Christian God has prepared an eternal kingdom of glory God has prepared an eternal home for him to dwell with his people and he says he's going to make us fit for this kingdom he's going to transform us that we might be fit to enjoy him for the rest of eternity I'll turn to John one more time 1st John chapter 3 he says beloved we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is that's our future hope
[37:04] Christian that's what lies ahead of you you will be made perfect fit for glory transformed into the image of our risen savior and so what does that mean for us now John tells us everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure what does it look like to live today in light of that day he says pursue purity pursue holiness now it says pursue wisdom those who are wise will shine like the sky above pursue righteousness not just for yourself but for others around you pursue righteousness by sharing the gospel with those who don't yet know the Lord pursue it for others seek to share the gospel with those who are perishing those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever the certain hope of that coming day ought to give shape to the way that we face every day church you may have heard it said
[38:23] I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future and in general that statement is true but not exactly by God's grace we know what the future holds and we live in light of that certain hope of course there is much that we don't know and so we'll close here in this final section by looking at two questions in this final section of Daniel two questions as we close the first is here in verses 5-7 Daniel apparently is listening in on a conversation between these two angelic beings and one asks the other how long shall it be till the end of these wonders in other words how long until all of this suffering is over and we ask that same thing don't we how long oh lord until this present evil age is done how long until the kingdom of man is finished how long lord until the powers of darkness are finally done away with how long lord until the end of this reign of sin how long what's the answer a time times and half a time unclear mysterious but defined period of time unclear to us but defined and clear to the lord we don't know exactly when but praise god he does and there will be an end when all hope seems lost the power of the holy people has been completely shattered in the most desperate hour the trump will sound and the lord will descend and all of god's people will be protected resurrected and perfected at last
[40:10] Daniel like us still has questions and so it says in verse 8 I heard but I did not understand can I somebody say amen so he asks oh lord what shall be the outcome of these things tell me more explain please tell me tell me more and what's the answer I'm not telling go your way what should you focus on purity wisdom everlasting life love the truth resist the enemy keep waiting keep persevering keep trusting in a sovereign God don't don't worry about what you don't know Daniel live in light of what you do know I'm reminded here of one of my favorite verses Deuteronomy 29 29 29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law in other words church there is much that we don't know but we are called to live in light of what we do know
[41:22] I absolutely love the way that this great book ends he pronounces blessing on the one who perseveres who arrives at the end but he says as for you go your way till the end and you shall rest and you shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days church the time is coming and coming soon when our exile will be brought to an end at last and we will be brought into that glorious kingdom of God into the presence of Christ the king for the rest of eternity so how do we approach our lives tomorrow go your way press on live your life to the glory of God live today in light of that great coming day and then rest and then rise to the glory of God let's pray father we praise you for this glorious hope of the gospel that
[42:26] Jesus has purchased for all of his people Lord that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that we will be raised to life because we are united to a resurrected savior who has conquered over sin and death Lord that we will be made like him and get to enjoy his presence forever Lord we love you we pray that we live amen