WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.960 We're going to read Daniel 8 together from the Old Testament. 00:00:03.820 --> 00:00:06.640 Let me invite Jemima to come and read scripture for us. 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:17.559 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:23.839 And I saw in the vision, and when I saw, I was in Susa, the citadel, which is in the province of Elham. 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:27.000 And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Yulai Canal. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:31.980 I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:36.140 It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other. 00:00:37.120 --> 00:00:38.939 And the higher one came up last. 00:00:39.659 --> 00:00:43.060 I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:47.539 No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:50.000 He did as he pleased and became great. 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:56.439 As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:57.599 without touching the ground. 00:00:58.460 --> 00:01:01.039 And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:05.939 He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the banks of the canal. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:08.359 And he ran at him in his powerful wrath. 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.519 I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him, 00:01:12.620 --> 00:01:14.560 and struck the ram and broke his two horns. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:20.320 And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. 00:01:21.320 --> 00:01:24.100 And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.340 Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:33.879 and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns towards the four winds of heaven. 00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:39.420 Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great towards the south, 00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:41.640 towards the east, and towards a glorious land. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.379 It grew great even to the host of heaven. 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:49.060 And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.620 It became great, even as great as a prince of the host. 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:55.879 And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:58.500 and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:02.760 And a host will be given over to it, together with the regular burnt offering, 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:03.819 because of transgression. 00:02:04.379 --> 00:02:07.379 And it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:13.680 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:17.120 For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:21.080 the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary, 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:22.759 and the host to be trampled underfoot? 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:24.719 And it said to me, 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.620 For 2,300 evenings and mornings, 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:30.719 then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state. 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:35.060 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:38.939 And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:42.400 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Uli, 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:43.560 and it called, 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:46.200 Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:48.599 So he came near where I stood. 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:52.080 And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:53.300 But he said to me, 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:57.080 Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end. 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:00.020 And when he had spoken to me, 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:02.500 I fell in a deep sleep with my face to the ground. 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:04.900 But he touched me and made me stand up. 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:05.740 He said, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:10.539 Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.340 for it refers to the appointed time of the end. 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:16.520 As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:18.920 these are the kings of Medea and Persia. 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:21.159 And the goat is the king of Greece. 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:24.520 And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:26.520 As for the horn that was broken, 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:28.680 in place of which the other four arose, 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:31.140 four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:32.259 but not with his power. 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:35.080 And at the latter end of the kingdom, 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.680 when the transgressors have reached their limit, 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.860 a king of bold countenance, 00:03:40.040 --> 00:03:41.219 one who understands riddles, 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:41.980 shall arise. 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:44.200 His power shall be great, 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:45.960 but not by his own power. 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:48.319 And he shall cause fearful destruction, 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:50.099 and shall succeed in what he does, 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:53.240 and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:55.159 By his cunning, 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.500 he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.060 and in his own mind he shall become great. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:01.640 Without warning, 00:04:01.780 --> 00:04:02.700 he shall destroy many. 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:04.780 And he shall even rise up 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:06.080 against the prince of princes, 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:07.680 and he shall be broken, 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:09.660 but by no human hand. 00:04:10.440 --> 00:04:12.520 The vision of the evenings and the mornings 00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:14.040 that has been told is true. 00:04:14.660 --> 00:04:15.840 But seal up the vision, 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:17.639 for it refers to many days from now. 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:19.680 And I, Daniel, 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:21.980 was overcome and lay sick for some days. 00:04:22.500 --> 00:04:26.639 Then I rose and went about the king's business. 00:04:27.080 --> 00:04:28.460 But I was appalled by the vision 00:04:28.460 --> 00:04:29.740 and did not understand it. 00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:33.580 We're in the book of Daniel, 00:04:33.740 --> 00:04:34.439 working our way through. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:35.840 We come to Daniel 8 today, 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.019 and Daniel's been, 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:37.979 we've been saying every week, 00:04:38.019 --> 00:04:40.839 it's all about learning in the modern day, 00:04:41.039 --> 00:04:42.259 in the 21st century, 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:44.959 how to live by faith and with wisdom 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:46.159 in the midst of exile. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.500 So exile is anytime you're away from the city of God, 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:52.319 and that's the condition all believers are in 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.159 until Jesus comes back 00:04:54.159 --> 00:04:55.959 and we see the new heavens and the new earth. 00:04:56.099 --> 00:04:58.979 And that's pictured symbolically in the Old Testament 00:04:58.979 --> 00:05:00.579 through the exiles of Israel. 00:05:00.860 --> 00:05:01.939 And so Daniel and his friends, 00:05:02.039 --> 00:05:02.579 they're in exile. 00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:04.759 They are in Babylon. 00:05:05.039 --> 00:05:07.579 They were taken to Babylon in 605 BC. 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:10.240 And we are reading a vision that happens 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.120 about 55 years after that. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:12.839 So they've been around. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:14.379 Daniel's been there for 55 years. 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:17.319 And the choice that Daniel and his friends had 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:18.799 throughout the whole story 00:05:18.799 --> 00:05:20.479 is really just, 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:23.399 am I going to be a faithful public witness 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:25.719 to the faith of the God of the Bible 00:05:25.719 --> 00:05:27.139 in the midst of a city 00:05:27.139 --> 00:05:29.019 that is very hostile to that faith? 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:30.459 And so over and over again, 00:05:30.599 --> 00:05:34.199 these wicked kings try to ultimately kill Daniel 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:36.439 and his friends because of their faithfulness, 00:05:36.479 --> 00:05:38.359 because they won't bow down to false gods 00:05:38.359 --> 00:05:39.979 and even to the kings themselves. 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:41.779 And so this book is really saying, 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.159 we have the same choice that modern believers, 00:05:45.539 --> 00:05:47.799 believers of every age are faced with the same choice, 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.419 and that's to live lives of public faith, 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:52.639 a genuine public faith 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.459 that will most certainly at some points cost you, 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:58.560 or to live a private life. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.160 So that's the choice of secularism. 00:06:00.500 --> 00:06:01.540 Secularism, what is it? 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.000 It says that it's okay to believe 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:04.879 what you want to believe, 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:07.120 but never bring your faith into the public sphere. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:08.560 That's secularism. 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:11.780 And so we face the same issues that Daniel faced, 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:14.959 that choice to be men and women of public faith, 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:18.160 courage, faithfulness in every sphere of life, 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:20.379 and to count the cost for that. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:22.560 And that's exactly the dejection 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:24.579 that is potential here, 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:27.819 but yet the faithfulness of God consistently 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:29.560 throughout the story to Daniel and his friends. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:33.139 You've got to remember that 55 years in, 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:34.639 Daniel has this vision, 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:39.060 and the temple is still destroyed back in Jerusalem, 00:06:39.620 --> 00:06:42.599 55 years of exile away from the homeland. 00:06:43.219 --> 00:06:44.639 There's no hope on the horizon 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:48.240 by any circumstances in their outward life. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.699 So there's so much potential for leaving the faith, 00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:54.960 for being dissuaded by the events of life. 00:06:55.259 --> 00:06:57.960 And the same thing can happen to any of us in life. 00:06:58.620 --> 00:07:01.780 And there enters apocalyptic literature. 00:07:02.060 --> 00:07:05.100 So we've just read an apocalyptic vision, 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:07.800 and that's a certain category in the Bible 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:12.079 where God gives these grand, often terrifying images. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:14.539 And they're not meant to confuse us, 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.319 though to modern readers they are very confusing, 00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:18.839 but they're meant to actually encourage you 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:20.500 and to sort of shake you up. 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:22.839 And apocalyptic literature in the Bible 00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:24.219 is written to believers. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.740 So the first half of Daniel is Daniel the prophet 00:07:27.740 --> 00:07:30.000 speaking to these prideful, evil kings 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:30.459 and saying, 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:32.799 you need to humble yourself before the Lord, repent. 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:34.379 The second half, these visions, 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:35.539 is written to Christians, 00:07:36.019 --> 00:07:37.539 to believers in the Old Testament, 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:39.819 saying that in the midst of oppression, 00:07:39.819 --> 00:07:42.480 where it feels like there is nothing but loss. 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:44.159 There is no wins. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:47.199 These visions, these images, 00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:49.360 are meant to shake up the heart 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.319 and say that there is a hope on the horizon, 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:53.659 but it's often going to get bad again 00:07:53.659 --> 00:07:54.540 before it gets worse. 00:07:54.699 --> 00:07:56.480 And that's what apocalyptic literature says. 00:07:57.300 --> 00:07:59.620 And so really the question of the passage, 00:08:00.159 --> 00:08:02.379 verse 13, we get this vision. 00:08:02.539 --> 00:08:03.860 I'm going to explain it in just a moment. 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:05.480 And in verse 13, 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:09.620 the angels of heaven say to the Son of Man, 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:11.579 the man in this passage, the prince, 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:12.980 how long, 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.920 how long will these events continue to take place 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:19.579 and the people of God continue to be broken and suffer? 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:21.040 And that's the question. 00:08:21.139 --> 00:08:22.620 We sang it in Psalm 13 just now. 00:08:23.159 --> 00:08:23.879 How long? 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:27.539 There are times where you will get to a place in life 00:08:27.539 --> 00:08:30.019 where it very much feels like God is silent 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.139 and you will have to say, 00:08:32.139 --> 00:08:34.720 how long will this go on? 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:37.560 And these apocalyptic moments in the Bible 00:08:37.560 --> 00:08:40.160 are exactly written for that. 00:08:40.680 --> 00:08:42.080 They've happened over and over again 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.660 to believers throughout world history. 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:45.700 It is happening in our lives. 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:47.360 It is happening in somebody's life today. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:47.940 It will. 00:08:48.060 --> 00:08:48.399 It's coming. 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:50.700 And the question is how long? 00:08:50.920 --> 00:08:53.660 And when it feels like God is silent, 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:54.820 the call, the invitation, 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:56.200 let me give you the main point, 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:57.980 but we won't finish, okay? 00:08:58.320 --> 00:08:59.139 Let me give you the main point. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:08:59.860 The main point is this. 00:08:59.860 --> 00:09:01.360 This is an invitation, this vision, 00:09:01.940 --> 00:09:03.580 to have an enduring faith, 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:06.620 an enduring faith when it feels like 00:09:06.620 --> 00:09:09.379 you have been walking through the valley for a long time. 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:13.159 55 years they had been walking through the valley. 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:18.080 And the prophecy is written so that you can know 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:19.180 there is a real reason, 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:22.539 there's a strong reason to stick with faith. 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:24.259 And so let's think about it. 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:25.659 First, what Daniel saw. 00:09:26.180 --> 00:09:27.220 What is this vision really? 00:09:27.300 --> 00:09:28.460 That's all we want to do first. 00:09:28.460 --> 00:09:31.240 And then second, let me give you just two reasons 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:35.320 to have an enduring faith that this prophecy invites you to do. 00:09:35.420 --> 00:09:36.860 So first, what Daniel saw. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:40.180 All right, this is two years after Daniel 7. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.840 So he had had a vision in about 552, 00:09:44.060 --> 00:09:45.879 and here we are in around 550. 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:48.139 And he's still in Babylon, 00:09:49.180 --> 00:09:52.980 and he has this vision where he sees himself, 00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:54.680 in verse 2, in Susa. 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:57.440 Susa is in Iran today. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.660 It's the capital of Persia in this time. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:01.980 So Daniel is sleeping in Babylon, 00:10:02.300 --> 00:10:05.000 but having a dream, a vision that he's in Susa. 00:10:05.140 --> 00:10:09.860 So that's a movement of 220 miles from Iraq to Iran today. 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:13.100 And when he sees himself in Susa, the capital, 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:17.580 by the way, the Persians are going to rule from Susa for 200 years. 00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:20.480 They own Babylon in this book as well. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:25.040 And what he sees is he sees two beasts, a goat and a ram. 00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:29.639 Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar had seen four elements, 00:10:29.780 --> 00:10:32.620 gold, silver, bronze, iron, representing four kingdoms. 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:36.240 Daniel chapter 7, Daniel saw four beasts. 00:10:37.100 --> 00:10:40.259 Daniel chapter 2, the beasts get more specific, 00:10:40.259 --> 00:10:43.559 and we focus on the two middle beasts. 00:10:43.779 --> 00:10:45.720 Okay, so stick with me for just a second. 00:10:46.899 --> 00:10:48.799 In Daniel 7, there's four beasts. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:51.120 In Daniel 2, they're different animals, 00:10:51.319 --> 00:10:52.840 but they're the middle two beasts. 00:10:53.379 --> 00:10:55.919 And we're told very explicitly what they stand for. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:58.500 At the end of the passage, we're told they stand for 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:02.000 Media, Persia, one kingdom, and Greece, the other kingdom. 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.639 So just for a second, let's think about the two beasts. 00:11:05.179 --> 00:11:08.059 Verse 3 and 4, we're told about the ram. 00:11:08.059 --> 00:11:08.979 That's the first one. 00:11:10.079 --> 00:11:11.919 And in verse 20, the angel Gabriel says, 00:11:12.239 --> 00:11:14.599 that is Media, Persia, a kingdom. 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:16.859 And we read about that kingdom taking over 00:11:16.859 --> 00:11:17.699 in the book of Daniel. 00:11:18.539 --> 00:11:20.399 This ram has two horns. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:22.500 One is, I'm doing this so you'll visualize. 00:11:22.979 --> 00:11:25.039 One has a longer horn than the other. 00:11:25.839 --> 00:11:29.019 And that's because Persia was a much stronger kingdom, 00:11:29.019 --> 00:11:31.719 but they had gathered the Medians with them. 00:11:31.839 --> 00:11:32.799 So that's the two horns. 00:11:33.339 --> 00:11:35.279 And we read that they are very powerful. 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:36.019 They're very mighty. 00:11:36.179 --> 00:11:37.159 No one can defeat them. 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.339 But then in verses 5 to 8, there's a goat. 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:42.319 And the goat floats across the land. 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:44.539 And the goat comes in. 00:11:45.079 --> 00:11:46.899 The image of the floating is swift. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:49.399 It's blitzkrieg-style warfare. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.159 And this goat comes in and smashes the horns of the ram, 00:11:53.839 --> 00:11:55.699 who they thought nobody could defeat. 00:11:55.980 --> 00:11:58.939 And the goat becomes the ruler of the nations. 00:11:59.299 --> 00:12:01.319 And we're told down in verse 21, 00:12:01.500 --> 00:12:02.620 that goat is Greece. 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:08.279 All right, so what we're reading about here is what happened in the year 333 B.C. 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:13.779 when Alexander the Great, the king of Greece, came and defeated Persia, Media Persia. 00:12:14.740 --> 00:12:18.539 That's a battle that actually occurs later in history, 200 years after this prophecy. 00:12:19.199 --> 00:12:27.919 And I think that this passage is the origin of the modern-day use of the acronym GOAT, G-O-A-T, 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:28.819 the greatest of all time. 00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:32.640 Obviously, the goat here, you know, nobody thought the ram could be defeated, 00:12:32.780 --> 00:12:33.980 but the goat is the goat. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.820 The goat comes in and crushes the ram. 00:12:37.760 --> 00:12:40.760 Now, seriously, Joyce Baldwin, one writer, she says, 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:45.760 what we have here in a few short verses is about 200 years of the war of nations 00:12:45.760 --> 00:12:47.120 packed into a couple sentences. 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.600 And what we're being talked about here is that kingdom of Alexander the Great. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.800 Now, he, Alexander the Great, was tutored by Aristotle. 00:12:56.500 --> 00:12:57.720 He was very smart. 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:00.920 He was truly great, a great man, not a good man. 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:06.060 He, in four years, ruled from India to Eastern Europe. 00:13:06.540 --> 00:13:09.019 He ruled the whole known world as a 22-year-old. 00:13:10.040 --> 00:13:12.019 By 27, he had conquered all the lands. 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:14.340 He wept when he was 27 years old, it's famously said, 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:17.259 because there were no worlds left to conquer, as he thought. 00:13:17.259 --> 00:13:23.460 And Alexander the Great dies in 323 at the age of 32 years old, 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:27.159 very mysteriously, we do not know how, where, in the city of Babylon. 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:31.819 And he did not know, of course, I don't think Alexander the Great, 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:35.879 maybe he did, that 200 years prior, a man had had a vision of him 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:40.259 doing exactly what we later find out he did in world history. 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:45.539 And then out of the goat, there's not just one horn, it is broken, that's Alexander. 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:48.339 But then we read about four horns that arise out of the goat's head. 00:13:49.079 --> 00:13:54.959 Because for about 20 years after Alexander died, in 330 down to about 310, 00:13:55.379 --> 00:13:57.399 no one could consolidate power. 00:13:57.620 --> 00:14:01.419 And so power was divvied in the Greek kingdom amongst four kings, 00:14:01.579 --> 00:14:03.740 four regional rulers across the empire. 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:07.039 And that's, if you want to know, Cassander over Macedonia, 00:14:07.699 --> 00:14:10.000 and Lysimachus over Thrace in Asia, 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:12.319 and Seleucus over Syria, 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.280 and Ptolemy, the Ptolemaic kingdom over Egypt. 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:17.100 So a quick history. 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:19.560 Hopefully you're still sticking with me for a sec. 00:14:20.420 --> 00:14:22.020 Now, here's the point. 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:24.060 You would expect that in a vision like this, 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:27.860 that Alexander the Great would be the focus of this prophecy. 00:14:27.860 --> 00:14:28.680 But he's not. 00:14:28.780 --> 00:14:30.740 Because right after that, verse 9 and following, 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:34.200 we're back to an image we saw last week, the little horn. 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:36.840 The little horn comes up out of one of the four horns 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:39.300 after Alexander the Great's empire splits, 00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:43.320 the Seleucid empire over Syria and Mesopotamia, 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:44.259 the land of Israel. 00:14:45.060 --> 00:14:48.560 And it tells, just listen to the details about this little horn. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:50.740 He will trample on the saints. 00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:53.820 He will become as great as the prince of hosts. 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:56.660 That's referring to the son of God himself. 00:14:56.780 --> 00:14:58.320 He will believe himself to be that great. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.379 He will take the regular burnt offering away from the temple. 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:05.540 He will throw the truth to the ground, the text tells us. 00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:08.879 Now, this is almost certainly referencing a man 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:11.860 that I mentioned last week, Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:15:12.259 --> 00:15:16.279 And this is a man who ruled one of the sections of the Greek kingdom 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:19.159 that reigned over the lands of Israel. 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.939 And he enacted a holocaust over the Jewish people. 00:15:23.579 --> 00:15:27.679 So in 169 AD, Antiochus Epiphanes marched on Jerusalem. 00:15:28.079 --> 00:15:31.419 It is estimated that he killed 30,000 to 40,000 Jews 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:35.059 in a matter of two weeks around the area of Jerusalem. 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:41.599 He would, this prophecy says he will grasp or cast down the truth. 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:45.039 Well, Antiochus Epiphanes for a month went around burning 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:48.179 all the scrolls of the Torah that he could find in that season. 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:52.079 And in 167, I mentioned this last week, 00:15:52.139 --> 00:15:53.860 he marched into the Jerusalem temple 00:15:53.860 --> 00:15:56.659 and he dedicated the temple to Zeus. 00:15:56.980 --> 00:15:59.279 And he had coins printed with his face on it, 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.500 Antiochus' face on it, that said, 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:04.139 Antiochus Phaeus Epiphanes, 00:16:04.579 --> 00:16:07.779 which is translated Antiochus, God manifest, 00:16:08.439 --> 00:16:11.199 meaning he was announcing himself to be the God of the land, 00:16:11.579 --> 00:16:12.539 to require worship. 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:14.399 He looks a lot like Nebuchadnezzar. 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:17.500 He required a spiritual formation program 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.360 to paganize the whole of the Jewish, 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:22.459 of Israel and Jerusalem, of all the Jewish people. 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:25.639 And he ultimately desecrated the temple 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:29.560 by sacrificing a pig in the Holy of Holies to Zeus. 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:31.879 This is what the New Testament refers to 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:33.740 as the abomination of desolation. 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:35.860 So when you come to the New Testament in Matthew 00:16:35.860 --> 00:16:37.860 and Jesus talks about the vision 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:39.400 of the abomination of desolation, 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:42.300 he's talking about the moment that Antiochus Epiphanes 00:16:42.300 --> 00:16:44.680 slaughtered a pig in the Holy of Holies 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:48.179 and desolated the temple. 00:16:49.479 --> 00:16:51.759 And so we have this prophecy about him. 00:16:52.539 --> 00:16:54.120 And what's the point? 00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:55.859 The angel says in verse 13, 00:16:56.719 --> 00:16:57.659 this is what's coming. 00:16:58.439 --> 00:17:01.599 How long do the people have to endure that? 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:05.899 And the text is really all about this, 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:08.240 that over and over again in the cycle of history, 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:11.519 God's people endure these moments of horror 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:12.899 in deep valleys. 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:14.619 Daniel's in the midst of one right here. 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:16.240 It's gonna come again in the second century 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.140 under Antiochus Epiphanes, a holocaust. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.759 And the angel says on behalf of the people, how long? 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:26.220 And this is a prophecy about a pagan polytheist 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:27.460 who will take over the empire 00:17:27.460 --> 00:17:30.299 and try to force pagan worship 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:32.000 of every single believer in the empire. 00:17:32.420 --> 00:17:34.240 And it's to say that over and over again, 00:17:34.299 --> 00:17:35.880 these prophecies in the cycle of history, 00:17:36.340 --> 00:17:38.279 that there are going to be antichrists, 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:41.340 men of lawlessness, valleys, deep, deep valleys 00:17:41.340 --> 00:17:44.640 of suffering that people will have to walk 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:44.880 through. 00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:48.280 And in verse 17, the angel Gabriel says, 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:50.540 then there will be the time of the end. 00:17:50.600 --> 00:17:53.060 And the time of the end there is not a reference 00:17:53.060 --> 00:17:55.140 to the end of history, the second coming, 00:17:55.280 --> 00:17:57.440 but instead a reference to the moment 00:17:57.440 --> 00:17:59.920 where all of a sudden relief will come, 00:18:00.100 --> 00:18:02.060 mercy will come to God's people. 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:03.420 And that happens. 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:07.320 That's 164 BC on the date 25 Kislev. 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:08.860 That's how they did the calendar then. 00:18:09.380 --> 00:18:13.000 Exactly three years after Antiochus Epiphany 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.779 sacrificed a pig to the day in the temple, 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:18.440 a man named Judas Maccabeus, 00:18:18.539 --> 00:18:20.340 the Maccabee family in Israel, 00:18:20.500 --> 00:18:21.880 they conquered Antiochus. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.019 And they restored worship in the temple. 00:18:24.320 --> 00:18:27.539 And they relit the candles in the temple. 00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:30.639 And that day was known as Hanukkah. 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:33.460 So Hanukkah in the Jewish calendar is coming up soon. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:35.379 And that's the event of Hanukkah, 00:18:35.500 --> 00:18:36.659 the feast of dedication, 00:18:36.879 --> 00:18:40.079 the day the temple was reclaimed for worship 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:41.639 from Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:18:41.879 --> 00:18:42.920 And that's how it all happened. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:44.799 Now, the time of the end. 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:47.480 When is the moment that God is going to finally bring 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:48.740 relief to his people? 00:18:49.379 --> 00:18:51.359 J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings, 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.859 he wrote a great essay called On Fairy Stories. 00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:58.159 And in it, he coined this word eucatastrophe. 00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:00.240 He features it in his works. 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.619 And a eucatastrophe is a sudden reversal 00:19:03.619 --> 00:19:06.519 where you think every single hope is lost. 00:19:06.619 --> 00:19:07.299 There is no hope. 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:09.779 And all of a sudden, a eucatastrophe occurs. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.799 E-U in Greek means good, a good catastrophe. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:14.779 When there is no hope, 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:16.199 when you are in the midst of the deepest, 00:19:16.399 --> 00:19:17.479 darkest valley in your life, 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:20.119 or in the cycle of history where God's people 00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:22.539 are under the yoke of absolute oppression, 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:24.679 there will be a time of the end. 00:19:24.819 --> 00:19:26.239 There will be a eucatastrophe, 00:19:26.399 --> 00:19:28.419 a sudden reversal toward the good 00:19:28.419 --> 00:19:29.839 that is totally unexpected. 00:19:30.299 --> 00:19:31.839 And that is what's being talked about. 00:19:32.899 --> 00:19:36.079 The invitation today is to be a person 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.019 of enduring faith, 00:19:39.579 --> 00:19:42.839 a faith that can walk through the deepest, darkest valley 00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:46.599 and know that the prophecy of the time of the end 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:48.559 has been spoken and is actually real. 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:52.259 Let me give you two reasons to endure, 00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:53.719 to have enduring faith today. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:57.739 It is a beautiful thing when a person 00:19:57.739 --> 00:19:59.639 professes faith in Jesus 00:19:59.639 --> 00:20:03.679 and they maybe come from maybe a harder background sometimes 00:20:03.679 --> 00:20:05.239 or sometimes having grown up in the church, 00:20:05.299 --> 00:20:06.599 no matter what, a beautiful thing 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:10.079 when any person comes to profess faith in Christ 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:12.019 and has saving faith in their lives, 00:20:12.159 --> 00:20:13.279 faith that justifies, 00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:15.500 faith that says, for the first time, 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:17.559 I can say God has forgiven me of my sins. 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:18.839 It's a beautiful thing. 00:20:18.919 --> 00:20:19.980 We love to celebrate it here. 00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:24.960 And then there is a temptation 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.539 that we forget about 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:29.220 and that's that the road of enduring faith 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:30.099 is very hard. 00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:32.259 It is very tough. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.679 And there are so many moments in life 00:20:34.679 --> 00:20:37.099 that tempt us to pull away from the faith 00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:38.579 that we once professed. 00:20:38.899 --> 00:20:40.779 And I love to check in with folks 00:20:40.779 --> 00:20:41.960 who do come to faith. 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:43.139 We've had a few last year, 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:44.119 in the past year, 00:20:44.179 --> 00:20:45.899 who've come and professed faith for the first time. 00:20:45.900 --> 00:20:47.820 And to check in six months later 00:20:47.820 --> 00:20:48.960 and say, how are you? 00:20:49.040 --> 00:20:50.800 And most of the time what happens 00:20:50.800 --> 00:20:53.860 is they have now entered the valley of enduring faith, 00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:57.580 a faith that realizes the Christian life is not easy. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:00.340 And the moment of celebration I had, 00:21:00.460 --> 00:21:02.120 of knowing my sins were forgiven, 00:21:02.259 --> 00:21:02.840 I was changed, 00:21:03.140 --> 00:21:04.480 has now entered into the season 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:06.480 where I have to carry on and endure. 00:21:07.019 --> 00:21:09.460 And my life has actually become harder at times 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:10.040 because of it. 00:21:10.280 --> 00:21:12.100 And that's exactly what this prophecy is about. 00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:13.220 Let me give you the two reasons. 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:15.700 The first is to see the power, 00:21:15.819 --> 00:21:16.360 very briefly, 00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:17.680 of predictive prophecy. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:20.819 There is an assurance here 00:21:20.819 --> 00:21:24.519 in just realizing how specific this prophecy is 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:26.759 and how it was so specifically fulfilled. 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:31.039 And three years after the abomination of desolation, 00:21:31.539 --> 00:21:33.759 25 Kislev Hanukkah occurs, 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:36.039 regaining the temple, 00:21:36.180 --> 00:21:37.079 rededicating it. 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:39.980 And in verse 14 in Daniel 8, 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.180 did you notice this very specific number? 00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:42.980 It says, 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:44.740 how long is this going to occur? 00:21:44.840 --> 00:21:45.400 Verse 14, 00:21:45.820 --> 00:21:48.080 2,300 mornings and evenings. 00:21:48.320 --> 00:21:49.259 How long is that? 00:21:49.600 --> 00:21:50.980 That is six years. 00:21:52.120 --> 00:21:55.140 And Antiochus Epiphanes ruled the city of Jerusalem 00:21:55.140 --> 00:21:57.560 from 169 to 164, 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:58.580 six years. 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:00.799 And that's just one little example 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:01.640 in the midst of the whole, 00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:04.039 that this prophecy is so specific 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:06.279 and is so specifically fulfilled 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:09.720 that historical critical scholarship 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:10.920 since the 19th century 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:12.140 has come and said, 00:22:12.299 --> 00:22:13.880 there is no way that this was written 00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:15.259 in the 5th century or 6th century. 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:16.079 Instead, 00:22:16.360 --> 00:22:18.259 this text had to have been written 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:19.519 in the 2nd century 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:20.779 or the 1st century B.C. 00:22:21.420 --> 00:22:22.960 And the reason they say that 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:23.700 is because they say 00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:26.100 there could be no way 00:22:26.100 --> 00:22:27.160 that a human being 00:22:27.160 --> 00:22:28.420 could write a text like this 00:22:28.420 --> 00:22:30.220 that would get the details so correct. 00:22:30.220 --> 00:22:32.620 So just in critical scholarship 00:22:32.620 --> 00:22:34.200 amongst the Old Testament scholars, 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:35.480 it's very important to recognize 00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:36.839 nobody questions, 00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:38.299 nobody questions 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:40.819 that this prophecy of Daniel 8 00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:42.380 is about Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:22:43.360 --> 00:22:44.880 No matter believing scholars, 00:22:45.100 --> 00:22:46.519 non-Christian scholars, 00:22:46.600 --> 00:22:47.360 they both agree. 00:22:48.259 --> 00:22:50.559 But the scholarship often says, 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:51.880 well, this must have been written 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:53.200 post-164. 00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:55.200 And why? 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:56.640 And the evidence does not come 00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:58.600 from the internal data in the book. 00:22:58.700 --> 00:22:59.799 Part of the book's in Aramaic. 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:00.819 That's the language of Babylon. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:02.059 It seems to have been written 00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:02.980 during the time 00:23:02.980 --> 00:23:03.879 of the Babylonian kingdom. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:05.579 What is the reason? 00:23:05.659 --> 00:23:06.619 The reason in the scholarship 00:23:06.619 --> 00:23:07.579 is simply to say, 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:09.379 God does not exist. 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:10.440 Therefore, 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:11.940 there could be no prophecy 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:14.019 that could be this specific. 00:23:14.899 --> 00:23:15.759 And I just want to come 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:17.039 to the believers in the room. 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:19.759 I know that if you're not a Christian today, 00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:20.339 you're exploring, 00:23:20.919 --> 00:23:22.460 it would take more work 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:23.839 to convince you of this. 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:24.919 But I want to come to the, 00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:26.359 this text is written to the believer 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:28.019 and to the believer say, 00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:31.359 an underappreciated reality 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:32.240 of the Bible 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.339 is the assurance 00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:34.299 of predictive prophecy. 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:36.440 It should strengthen 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:37.240 your faith today 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:39.079 to know that this was 00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:40.339 so specific 00:23:40.339 --> 00:23:41.420 in the 5th century BC 00:23:41.420 --> 00:23:42.639 and that it was 00:23:42.639 --> 00:23:44.259 very fully realized 00:23:44.259 --> 00:23:45.259 in the 2nd century BC. 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:46.299 And let me give you 00:23:46.299 --> 00:23:47.119 another instance of that. 00:23:47.220 --> 00:23:48.339 Isaiah 7, 14, 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:49.180 Behold, 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:50.960 the virgin shall conceive 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:52.319 and bear a son 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:53.160 and his name 00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:53.940 will be called Emmanuel. 00:23:53.940 --> 00:23:56.200 And that is a very specific prophecy. 00:23:56.779 --> 00:23:58.400 And it was very specifically fulfilled 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.240 in the 1st century AD 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:01.640 in the birth of Jesus Christ. 00:24:02.580 --> 00:24:03.840 The question here is, 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:06.660 is God the Lord of history or not? 00:24:07.420 --> 00:24:09.220 Is the God who created the world 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:11.380 able to also tell us 00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:12.000 what's going to happen 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:12.559 in world history? 00:24:12.840 --> 00:24:14.320 Is the God who raised Jesus Christ 00:24:14.320 --> 00:24:14.720 from the dead 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:15.380 the same God 00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:17.080 who could give a prophecy like this 00:24:17.080 --> 00:24:18.059 and see it fulfilled 00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:18.960 in world history? 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:20.140 And the answer is yes. 00:24:20.820 --> 00:24:23.920 I love the very difficult words, 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:24.220 I think, 00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:25.860 to receive of a scholar 00:24:25.860 --> 00:24:26.840 named John Gray 00:24:26.840 --> 00:24:28.540 who wrote a book in 2003. 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:30.200 He was the professor 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:32.120 of the history of European thought 00:24:32.120 --> 00:24:33.820 at the London School of Economics. 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:34.820 And listen to what he says. 00:24:35.620 --> 00:24:36.640 If you believe 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:38.060 that human beings are animals, 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:40.160 there can be no such thing 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:41.920 as the history of humanity, 00:24:42.460 --> 00:24:43.520 only the lives 00:24:43.520 --> 00:24:44.580 of particular humans. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:46.680 If we speak of the history 00:24:46.680 --> 00:24:48.920 of the species of humanity at all, 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:50.860 it is only to signify 00:24:50.860 --> 00:24:52.340 the unknowable sum 00:24:52.340 --> 00:24:53.720 of human lives. 00:24:54.060 --> 00:24:55.380 As with other animals, 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:56.720 there are happy lives. 00:24:57.259 --> 00:24:58.100 There are wretched lives. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:00.120 None has a meaning 00:25:00.120 --> 00:25:01.480 that lies beyond itself. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.019 Looking for meaning in history 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:06.160 is like looking for patterns 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:06.960 in the clouds. 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:09.080 Nietzsche knew this, 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:10.779 but he would not accept it. 00:25:11.180 --> 00:25:12.340 He was too trapped 00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:13.519 in the chalk circle 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:14.240 of Christianity. 00:25:14.940 --> 00:25:15.800 Now, if you know anything 00:25:15.800 --> 00:25:16.500 about philosophy, 00:25:16.660 --> 00:25:17.920 you may know that Friedrich Nietzsche 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.480 is one of the most famous 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:20.460 atheists of world history. 00:25:20.580 --> 00:25:21.440 But John Gray said, 00:25:21.840 --> 00:25:23.539 Nietzsche even refused to say 00:25:23.539 --> 00:25:24.259 there's no such thing 00:25:24.259 --> 00:25:24.820 as history. 00:25:25.620 --> 00:25:26.140 What is history? 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:27.759 History is a central, 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:29.039 unified story 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:30.620 that humanity 00:25:30.620 --> 00:25:32.440 and all the disparate events 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:33.240 of our lives 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:34.240 all the way back 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:34.720 to the beginning 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:36.259 actually have together 00:25:36.259 --> 00:25:37.500 one story 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:39.720 called the story of humanity. 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:40.400 That's history. 00:25:40.840 --> 00:25:41.580 And John Gray said, 00:25:41.740 --> 00:25:43.220 if you do not believe in God, 00:25:43.340 --> 00:25:44.960 you cannot believe in history. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:47.140 There is no history 00:25:47.140 --> 00:25:48.180 if God doesn't exist. 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:49.559 All there is 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:50.279 is animals 00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:51.480 having sad lives 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:52.140 or happy lives, 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:52.740 but none of it 00:25:52.740 --> 00:25:53.480 means anything. 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:55.019 And he said, 00:25:55.120 --> 00:25:56.340 even Nietzsche refused 00:25:56.340 --> 00:25:57.500 to face what he believed. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:58.720 Nietzsche believed in history 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:00.240 because he was too influenced 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:00.920 by Christianity. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:02.420 You see what he's saying? 00:26:02.460 --> 00:26:02.779 He's saying, 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:04.860 the reason we can believe, 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:05.440 you can believe 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:06.680 there is real history today 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:07.880 is because God is real. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:09.140 And the God 00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:09.819 who made history, 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:10.700 who predicts history, 00:26:10.819 --> 00:26:12.079 who wrote the story 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:14.019 can give you prophecy like this. 00:26:15.199 --> 00:26:16.339 The second assurance 00:26:16.339 --> 00:26:18.859 to endure in faith today 00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:19.899 is finally, 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:21.659 and this is the biggest reason, 00:26:21.779 --> 00:26:24.359 is the festival of lights himself. 00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:26.899 So Hanukkah, 00:26:27.879 --> 00:26:29.379 this prophecy is about Hanukkah, 00:26:29.559 --> 00:26:32.399 the day when Antiochus Epiphanes 00:26:32.399 --> 00:26:33.259 would be defeated 00:26:33.259 --> 00:26:35.379 in 164 B.C. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:37.740 And they call that Hanukkah 00:26:37.740 --> 00:26:39.040 or the Feast of Dedication 00:26:39.040 --> 00:26:41.820 or the Feast of Lights. 00:26:42.080 --> 00:26:42.580 And it was called 00:26:42.580 --> 00:26:43.240 the Feast of Lights, 00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:44.180 the Festival of Lights, 00:26:44.560 --> 00:26:45.480 because that day 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:46.560 they went into the temple 00:26:46.560 --> 00:26:48.040 and relit the menorah, 00:26:48.120 --> 00:26:49.660 the candles in the temple, 00:26:49.800 --> 00:26:50.160 saying, 00:26:50.600 --> 00:26:52.040 true worship is back 00:26:52.040 --> 00:26:52.820 into Jerusalem. 00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:54.520 In John, 00:26:54.620 --> 00:26:55.380 this is our final point, 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:56.380 in John chapter 10, 00:26:57.940 --> 00:26:58.880 in John chapter 10, 00:26:59.300 --> 00:27:01.060 Jesus Christ goes to the temple. 00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:02.720 And in 10.22, 00:27:03.120 --> 00:27:03.940 we read these words, 00:27:03.940 --> 00:27:06.460 at the time of the Feast of Dedication. 00:27:06.600 --> 00:27:07.360 That's a Greek word. 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:09.039 If it was translated to Hebrew, 00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:09.720 it would say, 00:27:10.100 --> 00:27:12.039 at the time of the Feast of Hanukkah. 00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:13.259 Of Hanukkah. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:14.940 In Jerusalem, 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:15.660 it was winter. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:18.080 And Jesus was walking 00:27:18.080 --> 00:27:18.820 into the temple 00:27:18.820 --> 00:27:20.180 in the colonnade of Solomon. 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:22.140 And you see there, 00:27:22.600 --> 00:27:23.860 Jesus enters the temple 00:27:23.860 --> 00:27:24.660 on Hanukkah. 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:27.160 And this is what takes place. 00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:28.039 In verse 24, 00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:29.840 the people gather around Him 00:27:29.840 --> 00:27:30.360 and they say, 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:31.700 tell us plainly, 00:27:31.820 --> 00:27:32.880 are you the Christ? 00:27:33.940 --> 00:27:35.019 Do you see what they're asking? 00:27:35.740 --> 00:27:37.600 Christ is a Greek word. 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:39.080 Another way to say it is, 00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:40.880 are you the epiphanies? 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.519 Epiphanies means God manifest. 00:27:44.220 --> 00:27:44.799 Are you the Christ? 00:27:44.860 --> 00:27:45.519 Are you the epiphanies? 00:27:45.580 --> 00:27:45.799 You see, 00:27:45.900 --> 00:27:46.980 on the day of Hanukkah, 00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:48.480 Jesus went into the temple 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:49.920 and they said, 00:27:50.100 --> 00:27:51.200 are you the Christ? 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:53.240 What were they asking? 00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:54.620 They were saying, 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:56.940 is this Antiochus epiphanies 00:27:57.460 --> 00:27:58.360 all over again? 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:01.279 Or is this the real 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:02.200 anointed Messiah? 00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:03.140 That's the question 00:28:03.140 --> 00:28:03.640 they were asking. 00:28:04.340 --> 00:28:06.019 Is this the man of lawlessness? 00:28:06.140 --> 00:28:06.799 As the New Testament 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:08.380 puts us all over again, 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:09.640 he entered into the temple 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:10.700 just like Antiochus, 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:12.180 except this was Hanukkah, 00:28:12.259 --> 00:28:13.160 the day of victory 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:15.259 from Antiochus epiphanies. 00:28:15.620 --> 00:28:16.299 And when you come back 00:28:16.299 --> 00:28:16.940 to Daniel 8, 00:28:17.019 --> 00:28:18.340 you look at verses 9 to 11, 00:28:18.460 --> 00:28:19.799 verses 23 to 25, 00:28:20.360 --> 00:28:21.039 and you realize 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:22.200 from the mouth of Gabriel 00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:22.740 and others 00:28:22.740 --> 00:28:24.460 that this man 00:28:24.460 --> 00:28:25.700 that is being prophesied 00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:27.539 is about Antiochus, 00:28:27.620 --> 00:28:28.380 but it's about something 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:29.160 far bigger. 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:30.840 It starts to stretch 00:28:30.840 --> 00:28:32.060 this man of lawlessness, 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:33.180 this Antichrist, 00:28:33.580 --> 00:28:34.240 as the New Testament 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:34.740 would put it, 00:28:34.800 --> 00:28:36.040 well beyond the moment 00:28:36.040 --> 00:28:37.100 of just the second century. 00:28:37.840 --> 00:28:38.960 And we read in a place 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.920 like 1 John 1 and 2, 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:43.860 there have been many Antichrists 00:28:43.860 --> 00:28:44.820 and there will be many more. 00:28:45.540 --> 00:28:46.840 And Antiochus was certainly 00:28:46.840 --> 00:28:47.340 one of those. 00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:48.300 What is an Antichrist? 00:28:48.360 --> 00:28:50.600 An Antichrist is a person 00:28:50.600 --> 00:28:52.100 who regards themselves 00:28:52.100 --> 00:28:53.100 as worthy of worship, 00:28:53.100 --> 00:28:53.920 who says, 00:28:54.300 --> 00:28:55.779 I am theos epiphanies, 00:28:55.840 --> 00:28:56.759 I am God manifest. 00:28:57.660 --> 00:28:59.700 A person who maintains 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:00.319 that belief 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:01.180 through violence, 00:29:01.339 --> 00:29:01.799 destruction, 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:02.379 and oppression, 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:04.720 and a person who suppresses 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:05.440 the true religion, 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:06.559 true worship of God, 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:07.599 the real worship 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:08.259 of the real God. 00:29:08.379 --> 00:29:09.759 And what Daniel 8 is saying 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:10.640 is that there will be 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:11.759 a pattern of men 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:12.379 of lawlessness, 00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:13.240 of Antichrist 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:14.079 throughout world history. 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:15.519 And Antiochus Epiphanes 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:16.660 was one of those. 00:29:16.779 --> 00:29:17.980 But in John 10, 00:29:19.019 --> 00:29:20.440 the people do not know 00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:22.400 yet who Jesus really is. 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:23.000 And they're saying, 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:24.940 you say you're the Christ 00:29:24.940 --> 00:29:26.019 on the day of Hanukkah? 00:29:26.980 --> 00:29:28.139 And this is what happens. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:30.220 They say, 00:29:30.420 --> 00:29:30.960 he says, 00:29:31.259 --> 00:29:32.240 the work that I do 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:33.180 in my Father's name 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:34.660 bears witness about me. 00:29:35.139 --> 00:29:36.759 I will give eternal life. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:38.599 I and the Father are one. 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:39.359 And how do they respond? 00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:40.639 They picked up stones 00:29:40.639 --> 00:29:42.220 to stone him to death. 00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:43.379 See, 00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:44.799 they fear exactly that. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:47.339 And here's the difference. 00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:48.059 Here's how you know. 00:29:48.139 --> 00:29:48.900 In John 8, 00:29:49.259 --> 00:29:50.400 on the Festival of Lights 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:50.879 in John 8, 00:29:50.879 --> 00:29:51.339 Jesus said, 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:52.160 I am the light of the world. 00:29:52.379 --> 00:29:52.980 Here's how you know 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:53.420 the difference 00:29:53.420 --> 00:29:54.400 between the Christ 00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:55.680 and the Antichrist. 00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:57.080 And it says, 00:29:57.240 --> 00:29:58.759 the Antichrist demanded 00:29:58.759 --> 00:29:59.840 the blood of many. 00:30:01.080 --> 00:30:02.320 The true Christ comes 00:30:02.320 --> 00:30:03.420 and gives his blood 00:30:03.420 --> 00:30:04.019 for the many. 00:30:05.700 --> 00:30:06.860 The Antichrist 00:30:06.860 --> 00:30:07.580 was a man 00:30:07.580 --> 00:30:08.860 of abusive power 00:30:08.860 --> 00:30:10.759 who said, 00:30:10.900 --> 00:30:11.800 if you don't worship me, 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:12.759 I will put my boot 00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:13.420 on your neck. 00:30:14.380 --> 00:30:15.460 And the real Christ, 00:30:15.560 --> 00:30:16.100 the God-man, 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:17.900 gave away his power 00:30:17.900 --> 00:30:18.980 to redeem humanity. 00:30:20.140 --> 00:30:21.060 And so the question 00:30:21.060 --> 00:30:21.660 that they're wondering, 00:30:21.780 --> 00:30:22.460 who is this? 00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:23.539 Is this the Christ? 00:30:23.980 --> 00:30:24.960 Or is he like the one 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:25.660 that came before? 00:30:26.420 --> 00:30:27.740 And all they had to do 00:30:27.740 --> 00:30:28.440 was realize 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:29.299 that the man 00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:30.319 who went to the cross 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:30.819 for us 00:30:30.819 --> 00:30:31.880 is the Christ, 00:30:31.940 --> 00:30:32.740 the true epiphany. 00:30:33.819 --> 00:30:34.680 God manifest. 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:36.740 And what this passage 00:30:36.740 --> 00:30:38.079 is inviting you to do 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:38.700 is to see 00:30:38.700 --> 00:30:39.480 that when you look 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:40.319 at the cross 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:41.440 and the resurrection, 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:43.900 you have before you 00:30:43.900 --> 00:30:44.680 Jesus Christ, 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:45.680 the forerunner, 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.120 who really has gone 00:30:48.120 --> 00:30:49.079 down to the bottom 00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:50.660 of every valley already. 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:53.180 So you might be here today 00:30:53.180 --> 00:30:53.680 in the midst 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:54.759 of a deep, dark valley. 00:30:54.940 --> 00:30:55.940 God's people have been 00:30:55.940 --> 00:30:56.920 throughout the centuries 00:30:56.920 --> 00:30:57.920 very, very often. 00:30:58.980 --> 00:31:00.120 And Hebrews says it. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:01.540 He is the forerunner. 00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:03.080 He has experienced 00:31:03.080 --> 00:31:04.940 every suffering 00:31:04.940 --> 00:31:05.920 that there is to experience. 00:31:06.320 --> 00:31:07.300 He has gone before you. 00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:08.220 He's gone all the way 00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:08.660 to the bottom 00:31:08.660 --> 00:31:09.820 in order to soar 00:31:09.820 --> 00:31:10.300 to the sky. 00:31:11.560 --> 00:31:13.340 The cross is the ultimate valley 00:31:13.340 --> 00:31:15.160 and the resurrection 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:15.820 is the greatest 00:31:15.820 --> 00:31:16.560 eucatastrophe. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:18.480 And that's the reason 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:19.279 where you can look up 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:20.619 and say my Savior, 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:21.399 my Redeemer, 00:31:21.539 --> 00:31:22.359 is the forerunner 00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:23.399 who knows what it's like 00:31:23.399 --> 00:31:25.379 to suffer so deeply 00:31:25.379 --> 00:31:26.500 as I am today. 00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:28.299 And He is the one 00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:29.680 who has experienced 00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:30.599 the time of the end. 00:31:30.740 --> 00:31:30.859 You know, 00:31:30.899 --> 00:31:31.339 you can look 00:31:31.339 --> 00:31:33.420 at Jesus' resurrection today 00:31:33.420 --> 00:31:34.619 and say there really 00:31:34.619 --> 00:31:35.819 is a time of the end, 00:31:36.399 --> 00:31:37.480 a time where relief 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:38.019 will come, 00:31:38.399 --> 00:31:39.099 where the burdens 00:31:39.099 --> 00:31:39.619 of this life 00:31:39.619 --> 00:31:40.899 will finally be taken away, 00:31:41.399 --> 00:31:42.359 where there will be 00:31:42.359 --> 00:31:43.200 the truest, 00:31:43.399 --> 00:31:44.480 best eucatastrophe 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:45.559 coming in my life. 00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:48.639 Florence Chadwick, 00:31:49.579 --> 00:31:50.379 Florence Chadwick 00:31:50.379 --> 00:31:51.279 was a woman 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:52.339 in the middle 20th century 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:54.679 and she was a great swimmer. 00:31:54.859 --> 00:31:56.799 She was an incredible athlete, 00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.259 the first to swim 00:31:58.259 --> 00:31:59.519 the English Channel 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:00.940 across and back again, 00:32:01.079 --> 00:32:01.879 there and back again. 00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:03.000 That sounds like 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:03.759 a Tolkien reference. 00:32:04.859 --> 00:32:05.419 She did it. 00:32:05.460 --> 00:32:06.419 She crossed the English Channel 00:32:06.419 --> 00:32:07.299 there and back again 00:32:07.299 --> 00:32:08.579 in 1950. 00:32:08.779 --> 00:32:09.940 And then in 1952, 00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:10.859 she swam 00:32:10.859 --> 00:32:11.980 the Strait of Gibraltar, 00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:13.159 the first human 00:32:13.159 --> 00:32:13.779 to do that. 00:32:13.779 --> 00:32:15.940 And then again in 1953, 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:17.240 she tried to swim 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:18.720 from the Catalina Island 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:20.519 off the coast of California 00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:21.940 to the shore of California. 00:32:22.660 --> 00:32:24.460 That's about a 17-mile stretch 00:32:24.460 --> 00:32:26.839 and in her abilities, 00:32:27.079 --> 00:32:28.500 17 miles was not very far. 00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:31.420 But when she tried it, 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:33.559 there was such a thick fog 00:32:33.559 --> 00:32:34.200 on the morning 00:32:34.200 --> 00:32:35.559 that she tried it 00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:38.200 that she got 16 1⁄2 miles in 00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:40.279 and her mother 00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:41.440 was in the lifeboat 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:42.139 next to her 00:32:42.139 --> 00:32:43.460 and the story says 00:32:43.460 --> 00:32:44.779 that she begged her mother, 00:32:45.140 --> 00:32:46.059 take me out of the water. 00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:47.180 I can't keep going. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:48.819 And her mother said, 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:49.860 no, keep going. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:51.019 You're almost there. 00:32:51.220 --> 00:32:52.380 And she refused 00:32:52.380 --> 00:32:53.140 to believe that. 00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:54.360 And so they took her 00:32:54.360 --> 00:32:54.759 out of the water. 00:32:55.819 --> 00:32:56.519 She didn't make it. 00:32:57.100 --> 00:32:58.059 And she said later, 00:32:58.200 --> 00:32:59.059 I don't want to excuse 00:32:59.059 --> 00:32:59.759 my failure, 00:33:00.500 --> 00:33:01.920 but if I could have seen 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:02.660 the shoreline, 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:03.779 I know I would have made it. 00:33:04.740 --> 00:33:05.019 Now, 00:33:06.100 --> 00:33:07.019 this prophecy, 00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:09.019 like the entire Bible, 00:33:09.019 --> 00:33:10.920 is saying to us, 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:13.220 we live in a very foggy world 00:33:13.220 --> 00:33:15.579 where the sight line 00:33:15.579 --> 00:33:16.160 of the shore, 00:33:16.259 --> 00:33:16.920 the time of the end, 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:18.240 is not very visible to us. 00:33:18.980 --> 00:33:20.519 And you could very much 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:21.799 be in a moment right now 00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:22.420 where things are 00:33:22.420 --> 00:33:23.599 at their most foggy. 00:33:24.339 --> 00:33:25.240 The sight line, 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:26.119 the time of the end, 00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:27.000 is not apparent. 00:33:27.940 --> 00:33:29.299 And this is a passage 00:33:29.299 --> 00:33:30.480 that is inviting you 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:32.359 to have an enduring faith 00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:33.039 and say, 00:33:33.259 --> 00:33:34.299 use the faith 00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:35.460 that imagines. 00:33:35.460 --> 00:33:37.480 What is faith? 00:33:37.539 --> 00:33:38.299 It's not by sight. 00:33:38.420 --> 00:33:39.539 The faith that imagines 00:33:39.539 --> 00:33:40.299 the shoreline, 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:41.200 the sight line 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:41.980 on the horizon 00:33:41.980 --> 00:33:43.019 that you cannot yet see. 00:33:43.360 --> 00:33:44.100 And the way that you've 00:33:44.100 --> 00:33:44.740 got to do that 00:33:44.740 --> 00:33:46.019 is to see the forerunner 00:33:46.019 --> 00:33:46.759 who entered 00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:47.779 into the worst valley 00:33:47.779 --> 00:33:48.759 under the worst 00:33:48.759 --> 00:33:49.779 antichrist himself, 00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:50.220 Satan, 00:33:50.660 --> 00:33:52.220 but yet experienced 00:33:52.220 --> 00:33:53.000 the eucatastrophe 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:53.600 of the resurrection. 00:33:53.779 --> 00:33:54.220 You've got to say, 00:33:54.279 --> 00:33:54.880 the resurrection 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:55.960 is my sight line. 00:33:57.259 --> 00:33:58.160 It's getting me 00:33:58.160 --> 00:33:58.940 through the fog. 00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:01.420 She tried it again 00:34:01.420 --> 00:34:01.960 a year later. 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:04.059 The fog was there again. 00:34:04.059 --> 00:34:05.899 And they kept saying 00:34:05.899 --> 00:34:06.980 to her in the lifeboat, 00:34:07.159 --> 00:34:08.099 you can't see, 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:08.860 but the shoreline 00:34:08.860 --> 00:34:09.539 is on the horizon. 00:34:09.759 --> 00:34:10.820 And she made it. 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:12.259 And it's a simple illustration. 00:34:12.460 --> 00:34:13.579 It's a little testament. 00:34:13.799 --> 00:34:14.639 It's nothing compared 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:16.000 to the calling 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:16.799 to endure 00:34:16.799 --> 00:34:17.980 in the Christian life 00:34:17.980 --> 00:34:18.880 all the way 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:19.779 to the time of the end. 00:34:19.860 --> 00:34:20.279 All the way. 00:34:20.380 --> 00:34:20.960 This is an invitation 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:22.360 to an enduring faith. 00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:24.299 I'll give the last word 00:34:24.299 --> 00:34:25.759 to J.C. Ryle 00:34:25.759 --> 00:34:27.539 and the Anglican bishop. 00:34:28.259 --> 00:34:29.779 He says in his very famous book, 00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:30.279 Holiness, 00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:33.099 the Christian life 00:34:33.099 --> 00:34:34.739 does cost us something. 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:36.819 There are enemies 00:34:36.819 --> 00:34:37.460 to be overcome, 00:34:37.779 --> 00:34:38.539 battles to be fought, 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:39.960 sacrifices to be made, 00:34:40.339 --> 00:34:41.699 in Egypt to be forsaken, 00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:43.460 a wilderness to be passed through, 00:34:43.779 --> 00:34:44.980 a cross to be carried, 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:47.019 erased to be run. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:49.860 Believers of the 6th century B.C., 00:34:49.860 --> 00:34:51.299 2nd century B.C., 00:34:51.299 --> 00:34:53.159 21st century A.D., 00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:53.779 2025, 00:34:54.739 --> 00:34:56.860 Jesus Christ has gone before you. 00:34:58.380 --> 00:34:59.599 Let him be your sight line. 00:35:00.500 --> 00:35:00.920 Endure. 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:02.079 Don't give up on the faith. 00:35:03.740 --> 00:35:04.480 Let us pray. 00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:04.780 Father, 00:35:04.940 --> 00:35:08.119 we are running a race 00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:09.440 that you've set before us. 00:35:09.639 --> 00:35:10.500 We need help. 00:35:10.680 --> 00:35:11.340 We need hope. 00:35:11.579 --> 00:35:12.780 We need a sight line. 00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:13.960 We need the land 00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:14.760 to be visible 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:15.860 by faith today. 00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:16.340 And so, 00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:17.420 for those today 00:35:17.420 --> 00:35:18.300 who feel like 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:19.619 it is at its most murky, 00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:20.880 most foggy, 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:22.380 we thank you 00:35:22.380 --> 00:35:23.280 for prophecies 00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:24.360 that are strange 00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:25.099 to modern readers 00:35:25.099 --> 00:35:25.700 like us, 00:35:25.960 --> 00:35:26.920 but yet apocalyptically 00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:28.300 encouraging, 00:35:28.539 --> 00:35:29.039 unveiling, 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:29.900 of truths 00:35:29.900 --> 00:35:30.420 that we could have 00:35:30.420 --> 00:35:30.980 never known. 00:35:31.340 --> 00:35:31.960 Thank you, Lord, 00:35:32.059 --> 00:35:33.599 for being the Lord of history, 00:35:33.860 --> 00:35:35.039 the Lord of prophecy, 00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:36.779 the Lord of eucatastrophe, 00:35:36.900 --> 00:35:38.400 the one who brings 00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:39.759 surprising reversals. 00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:41.039 So, we ask, Lord, 00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:42.219 that some of us today, 00:35:42.300 --> 00:35:43.059 all of us today, 00:35:43.340 --> 00:35:44.059 could rest 00:35:44.059 --> 00:35:44.940 in the great reversal 00:35:44.940 --> 00:35:45.699 of the resurrection 00:35:45.699 --> 00:35:47.880 as our hope 00:35:47.880 --> 00:35:48.679 and our sight line. 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:49.920 We pray that in Jesus' name. 00:35:50.599 --> 00:35:50.920 Amen. 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:51.099 Amen. 00:35:51.099 --> 00:35:51.159 Amen. 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:51.159 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:53.159 Amen. 00:35:53.159 --> 00:35:55.159 Amen.