WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:09.560 Our passion is to experience and express grace. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:10.620 Join us. 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:15.860 Turn with me this morning to the book of Daniel. 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:25.400 We are starting a new series this morning entitled Lions and Fires and Prayers, Oh My, 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:30.960 Why, which is an action-packed book, right? 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:31.939 The book of Daniel. 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:36.960 There's a lot of exciting stuff that happens, but we're not just studying it because it 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:41.119 was the best series title that I could come up with, although you might think that that 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.099 indeed was the reasoning. 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:50.619 But before we begin reading in the book of Daniel, I want to just answer that question 00:00:50.619 --> 00:00:51.140 briefly. 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:52.099 Why Daniel? 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:53.679 Why now? 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:57.079 Right now, why are we studying the book of Daniel? 00:00:58.140 --> 00:01:02.759 To answer that, let me give a little bit of an extended introduction to Daniel. 00:01:03.980 --> 00:01:10.319 Of course, an entirely sufficient answer to that question is that it is God's Word, right? 00:01:11.060 --> 00:01:16.620 Which means it's always profitable for God's people in any context and always teaches us 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:21.579 more of who God is and more of what it looks like to live in relationship with Him. 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:29.000 In particular, though, I'm struck increasingly in my own life and in the lives of others as 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:29.980 I talk with them. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:35.299 It's hard to follow Christ in this world. 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:37.000 It's hard, isn't it? 00:01:37.739 --> 00:01:38.780 It's not simple. 00:01:39.039 --> 00:01:40.180 It's difficult. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.340 We struggle to figure it out. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:48.219 We have a lot of difficult decisions and it's difficult to know how to bring all of life 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:50.939 under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 00:01:51.859 --> 00:01:57.939 To do more than merely follow a list of rules, but actually to allow the reality of the good 00:01:57.939 --> 00:02:04.180 news of Jesus to impact every relationship and every decision and every parenting moment 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:05.920 and every crisis moment. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:13.699 And to do that in a nuanced way that honors God and loves neighbor and shines His light 00:02:13.699 --> 00:02:15.580 into a dark world. 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:21.319 If you think that's simple, if you have a formula for that, we need to do lunch. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.580 Please, tell me about that. 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:33.039 But whether you're thinking of the political landscape, the moral arena, whether you think 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:40.620 of this in familial terms or economic terms, the questions are, how do I engage? 00:02:41.799 --> 00:02:43.959 What battles do I fight? 00:02:43.959 --> 00:02:50.759 And then how do I engage graciously and redemptively as God would so that I don't merely get my way 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.799 but bless others as God has called me to? 00:02:54.899 --> 00:02:55.859 How do I do that? 00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:56.519 That's hard. 00:02:57.139 --> 00:02:58.939 That's difficult to figure out sometimes. 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:05.300 And Daniel is not a how-to book with a simple list of rules, do these five things and you 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:07.699 will always do this in every situation. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:09.740 But it is very practical. 00:03:10.819 --> 00:03:17.539 It's not just dare to be a Daniel, although I remember every word to that song from childhood. 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:24.659 But it teaches us things that we must know to live as God's people in the world that we 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:25.340 live in. 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:32.620 And it does that in two particular ways in this book, by looking back and by looking forward. 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:38.240 Most of the first half of the book takes us back to scenes where God's people find themselves 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.240 in a similar context to where we are as God's people today. 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:46.980 We're not the first ones to find it hard to follow God. 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:49.300 We feel that way sometimes, but we're not. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.879 The Israelites, God's people, are taken into exile in Babylon. 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:59.139 A land where those who are in authority do not follow their God. 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:03.780 Those all around them do not share their worldview and their priorities. 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:07.639 God has placed His people there. 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:14.800 And so they're wondering, what does it look like to live in a pluralistic world with a 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.740 singular devotion to God? 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:19.120 That's easier said than done. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.819 How do you live in a pluralistic world and be singularly devoted to God? 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:29.860 They're wondering how they stay involved in a polluted world and yet remain undefiled at 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:31.100 the same time. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:38.620 They, like Christians around the world today, find some places and some times where people 00:04:38.620 --> 00:04:41.680 are actively hostile to them and to their God. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:50.579 In other situations, which can be just as dangerous in many ways, sometimes more, where people function 00:04:50.579 --> 00:04:56.639 not actively in hostility, but just subtly contrary to God's priorities. 00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:03.680 For example, in Babylon, they are asked to compromise their single-hearted devotion to God. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:20.639 In Babylon, they are tempted to blend in, to get along or get ahead, and so lose their distinctiveness 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:21.879 as God's people. 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:28.920 In Babylon, they're surrounded by a culture that praises human power and promises hope and 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:30.120 one's own strength. 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:36.139 You're beginning to think we've got a little bit in common with where God's people find 00:05:36.139 --> 00:05:37.720 themselves here in the book of Daniel? 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:43.160 So the book of Daniel looks back, looks back to something we may think is fairly familiar 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:48.019 to us, to other unstable and uncertain times for God's people. 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:53.240 The other thing the book does is look forward at one of the things God has been teaching me 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:56.579 lately is that I don't think about heaven enough. 00:05:56.579 --> 00:06:02.819 I don't think about eternity and bring that perspective into my life. 00:06:02.919 --> 00:06:09.360 I easily lose the eternal perspective that is essential just to stay sane in a world that 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:10.240 we live in, right? 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.899 But not just to stay sane in the midst of all the crazy things that happen, but to think 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:21.139 Christianly about life in this world requires that eternal perspective. 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:23.939 All the way through the book of Daniel, we get that. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.139 In particular, in the second half of Daniel, that's about Daniel's visions and dreams. 00:06:30.479 --> 00:06:31.839 Dreams about the future. 00:06:32.479 --> 00:06:37.279 Visions God gives him about what is to come that are often confusing or difficult. 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:40.860 But they're revelations that God gives to Daniel. 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:43.199 Some of them have already occurred in human history. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.939 And some of them await their fulfillment eternally. 00:06:47.939 --> 00:06:55.000 But Daniel is clear all the way through that this perspective, this eternal outlook is crucial 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.939 to living in Babylon. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:04.680 It's thinking of heaven, not to the neglect of earth, but thinking about heaven and realizing 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:12.800 that future reality transforms how I engage here and now, all of my present world. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:18.720 We read of this perspective in the New Testament in places like Philippians 3, where we're told 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:23.620 our citizenship is in heaven, where our Savior is, that we wait for His return. 00:07:24.280 --> 00:07:27.360 Our citizenship is in heaven, not ultimately in the USA. 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:34.720 And so because of that, according to Hebrews, we are strangers and exiles here on earth. 00:07:34.780 --> 00:07:37.000 This is how God's people have always lived. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:42.480 Not having yet received the things promised, but greeting them from afar and acknowledging 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.000 their strangers and exiles. 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:49.680 If people had been thinking of the land they'd gone out from, verse 15, they would have had 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.860 opportunity to go back. 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:54.720 But as it is, they're looking forward to a better country, a heavenly one. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:57.139 And God's not ashamed to be called their God. 00:07:57.540 --> 00:08:00.939 He's prepared for them a city, a home. 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:02.519 That's where they're at home. 00:08:02.620 --> 00:08:04.699 They're strangers and exiles here. 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:07.079 That's who we are. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.560 Strangers and exiles on earth. 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.759 Like Daniel and his friends, exiles. 00:08:15.339 --> 00:08:21.339 Exiles who need to know the realities of the King on the throne of heaven and the home that 00:08:21.339 --> 00:08:27.740 awaits them, not so that they could escape earth, but so that they could engage here on 00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:31.399 earth right where God had placed them by faith. 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:40.679 Okay, so there will be lions and fires and prayers and dreams and visions and handwriting 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:41.459 on the wall. 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:47.919 Kings, courts, wild beasts, all sorts of stuff in the book of Daniel. 00:08:48.079 --> 00:08:54.779 All of it is there to tell us the story of God's people so that we find ourselves walking 00:08:54.779 --> 00:09:01.879 in that same story and that we also learn about our eternal God so that we learn more of how 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:04.000 to live where he has us today. 00:09:04.139 --> 00:09:05.939 That's what the book of Daniel is doing. 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:07.839 There's so much good stuff in Daniel. 00:09:07.939 --> 00:09:09.600 I can't wait to get there. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.120 But this morning, we're just going to jump in with the first two verses. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.799 I promise that we will take much larger chunks as we go. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:18.879 We will not go two verses per week. 00:09:19.839 --> 00:09:25.759 But these two verses, although perhaps a little mundane at first, set the stage for the most 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.459 significant theme of the entire book. 00:09:29.299 --> 00:09:31.219 Daniel 1 at verse 1. 00:09:31.319 --> 00:09:33.039 Hear God's holy word. 00:09:34.079 --> 00:09:40.219 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 00:09:40.500 --> 00:09:42.439 came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:47.840 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:48.960 the house of God. 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:54.700 And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels 00:09:54.700 --> 00:09:57.360 in the treasury of his God. 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:00.540 Thus far, God's holy word. 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:01.500 Will you pray with me? 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:08.300 Father, this is the word of God. 00:10:08.299 --> 00:10:15.179 It is for the people of God who would seek to follow you. 00:10:15.579 --> 00:10:17.699 Who would seek to honor you. 00:10:17.899 --> 00:10:20.659 Who would struggle to do that. 00:10:20.819 --> 00:10:24.740 And Father, we are faced with a difficult task. 00:10:25.479 --> 00:10:29.000 Not one that is unique and that your people have never faced. 00:10:29.099 --> 00:10:30.379 And we're thankful for that. 00:10:30.479 --> 00:10:36.899 We're thankful that we can learn of you and learn from them as they sought to trust you 00:10:36.899 --> 00:10:38.879 in difficult times. 00:10:40.019 --> 00:10:45.100 So Father, as we enter this study, would you do more than I have planned for? 00:10:45.319 --> 00:10:47.279 Would you do more than any of us expects? 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:49.659 Would you change hearts? 00:10:51.319 --> 00:10:53.519 Because it's your word that we come to. 00:10:53.579 --> 00:10:54.539 That's really our hope. 00:10:55.579 --> 00:10:58.519 We're not here because we found the best preacher in town. 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:04.000 We're not here because we think we'll hear something that will tell us how to fix ourselves. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.100 We're here because we need to hear from you. 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:12.799 And so we ask that you would speak and that you would continue to do that. 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:14.980 Show us more of who you are. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:16.539 Show us Jesus this morning. 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:19.139 We ask it in his name. 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:20.460 Amen. 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:29.220 At the beginning of his account, Daniel here takes us back to 605 B.C. 00:11:30.259 --> 00:11:36.700 The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar marches on the Israelite capital city of Jerusalem. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:44.280 And unlike many who would come against God's people, Nebuchadnezzar defeats the people of God. 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:56.459 The complete destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of God's people will happen in three waves between 605 and 586 B.C. 00:11:57.439 --> 00:12:03.240 But first things first, before we even find out about God's people being taken away, 00:12:03.299 --> 00:12:07.600 about Daniel and others who go away as part of this exile, 00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:09.559 what does Nebuchadnezzar do? 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:12.600 What's the first thing we find out? 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:19.360 Nebuchadnezzar celebrates his victory and his apparent defeat of Israel and her God, doesn't he? 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:22.580 Whose kingdom is more glorious? 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:24.860 Babylon or Israel? 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:27.840 Whose gods are more powerful? 00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:33.279 The many gods of the Babylonians or the one God, Yahweh, of Israel? 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:37.660 Well, that was always established in these days by who won the battle, right? 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:39.600 That's how you knew. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.420 That's how you knew whose God was real and whose God was powerful. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:49.200 And so you see, after conquering them, Nebuchadnezzar spikes the ball, so to speak. 00:12:49.920 --> 00:12:55.019 Verse 2, stealing vessels from the temple, from the house of God himself. 00:12:55.580 --> 00:12:58.100 Nebuchadnezzar walks in, before he even takes all the people away, 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.420 into the house of God and takes the vessels used in his worship. 00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:06.959 And he takes them back to use in the worship of his gods, 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:09.860 who have shown themselves to be, he would proclaim, 00:13:10.579 --> 00:13:14.000 greater and mightier than the God of Israel. 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:20.299 It's the clash of kingdoms that will shape much of the book of Daniel. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:27.480 And it opens with the apparent defeat and disgrace of Yahweh, 00:13:28.599 --> 00:13:29.699 the God of Israel. 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:37.100 We need to realize what an utter disaster this seems to be for God and for his people. 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:42.000 The greatness and the promises of Yahweh seem to be failing. 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:46.580 It certainly looks like that to the nations around them, doesn't it? 00:13:47.140 --> 00:13:52.800 Many of these are nations who have cowered in fear just generations ago, 00:13:53.020 --> 00:13:57.860 as God has led his people into the promised land and conquered nations before them. 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:02.039 And they feared what would happen if the armies of Israel came against them. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:05.320 How do they feel now? 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:09.759 Now that God and that nation was just a flash in the pan. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.100 You know, they were strong for a little while, 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:15.440 but ultimately that God doesn't hang around. 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:17.620 Babylon is great. 00:14:17.620 --> 00:14:24.000 And they and other nations defame the name of Yahweh as his temple crumbles. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:29.860 They gloat and they laugh and they worship their great gods. 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:34.320 But even more particularly than the other nations, 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:39.659 imagine how the people of God would feel about Yahweh in a moment like this. 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:42.100 How do they feel about him and his promises? 00:14:42.100 --> 00:14:46.279 See if you can put yourselves in their shoes a little bit. 00:14:46.680 --> 00:14:51.500 Great promises that have shaped their nation and their people for generations, 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:52.659 all the way back to Abraham. 00:14:53.659 --> 00:14:55.019 What are some of those promises? 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:59.159 Maybe the most obvious and painful one here is the land, right? 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:04.240 This promised land that was going to be a place for us. 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.720 God promised it to us and now we're being taken away, 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.379 removed from the place we always thought proved to us that our God cared for us. 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:19.800 On top of that, we see Jehoiakim, Israel's king, is defeated here. 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.139 In the first verse, it's where Daniel starts. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.060 That's never a good thing to lose your king, is it? 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:26.940 To have your king be defeated. 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:29.800 But Jehoiakim is the Davidic monarch. 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:33.340 He's the one who's on the throne of David, right? 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:34.960 This is no simple throne. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:36.899 There's a promise about that throne, isn't there? 00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:40.720 That one in David's line will always reign on this throne. 00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:46.860 The southern kingdom, Judah, has been loyal to that promise. 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:50.340 They've stuck with the Davidic heir. 00:15:51.439 --> 00:15:53.559 For many years, they've been loyal. 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.100 It's not seeming very promising now, is it? 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:00.279 What throne is he ruling on? 00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:04.460 God promised us we would be a great nation, 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:07.280 that we would grow into many people with much influence. 00:16:07.280 --> 00:16:14.960 But now we're taken captive under the thumb of a nation with real power and prestige in the world. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:20.740 And all of those things, the land and the king and the great nation, 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:21.480 were going to happen. 00:16:21.660 --> 00:16:21.980 Why? 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:22.780 Why? 00:16:22.860 --> 00:16:24.420 Because of what great promise? 00:16:25.420 --> 00:16:26.900 That they were his people. 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:30.660 The promise of a special relationship with Yahweh. 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:35.360 That they as his chosen people would be protected and cared for. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.820 That he would bless them. 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:38.620 He has always said. 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.660 Now Babylon is coming in and he's pillaging Israel. 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:46.400 Cruelly conquering God's people. 00:16:47.040 --> 00:16:49.220 Painfully afflicting God's people. 00:16:49.400 --> 00:16:52.220 Heinously abusing God's people. 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:55.420 Some of the details are unspeakable. 00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.480 What Babylon did when they conquered Israel. 00:16:59.900 --> 00:17:03.420 But if you're thinking it, Babylon was probably doing it and worse. 00:17:04.360 --> 00:17:05.380 To God's people. 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:11.260 I'm not sure discouraged is a fair word for how they would have felt. 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:13.740 Gutted. 00:17:15.520 --> 00:17:16.520 Devastated. 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:19.240 Despondent. 00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:21.560 Defeated. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:22.600 Right? 00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:28.980 Apparently the people of God and Yahweh himself have been defeated. 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:36.620 Psalm 137 famously puts words and emotions to what God's people felt in Babylon. 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:40.720 Having been taken away from the promised land into captivity. 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:42.440 How did they feel? 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:44.700 By the waters of Babylon. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:48.220 It says there we sat down and wept. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:50.440 When we remembered Zion. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:51.420 The promised land. 00:17:51.420 --> 00:17:54.240 On the willows there we hung up our lyres. 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:57.200 For there our captors required of us songs. 00:17:57.360 --> 00:17:59.220 And our tormentors mirth. 00:17:59.340 --> 00:18:02.800 They tormented us and told us we had to be happy while they did it. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:05.480 They said sing us one of the songs of Zion. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:07.779 How did they feel when they heard that? 00:18:07.779 --> 00:18:13.519 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:16.059 We can't sing here. 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:18.899 Weeping. 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:22.480 We can't sing about God. 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:23.319 Silenced. 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:25.460 Crushed. 00:18:26.819 --> 00:18:27.420 Joyless. 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:30.539 Defeated. 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:36.800 I want you to feel the weight of the apparent defeat here. 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:39.000 First of all because it was true then. 00:18:39.080 --> 00:18:42.420 It's how God's people really experienced this. 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:50.220 But also because many of us will feel many of these same things as God's people in our day. 00:18:50.300 --> 00:18:50.720 Won't we? 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:55.400 The kingdom of this world seems to be victorious many days. 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:55.940 Doesn't it? 00:18:55.940 --> 00:18:58.340 Have you thought that or felt that lately? 00:18:59.380 --> 00:19:09.420 You may feel defeated and hopeless when you watch videos of Christians around the world being killed by those following another God. 00:19:11.320 --> 00:19:19.059 You may feel it when no one else around you seems to be following Christ but everything seems to go better for them. 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:24.100 You may feel it when crisis hits your family. 00:19:24.099 --> 00:19:27.740 And from all you can tell God has abandoned his people. 00:19:28.439 --> 00:19:29.740 Evil is pillaging. 00:19:30.159 --> 00:19:32.179 And God's promises are rubbish. 00:19:32.659 --> 00:19:34.939 Because he has apparently been defeated. 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:39.359 He's obviously not strong enough to come through when it really matters. 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:40.480 And you may have felt that. 00:19:40.539 --> 00:19:42.879 You may be feeling that today. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:51.880 In reality what's happening to the people of God in Daniel's day is actually a fulfillment of some of his promises. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:53.960 All the way back to Moses. 00:19:54.100 --> 00:20:01.840 God has promised them that abandoning him to worship idols will lead to their being taken from the promised land and scattered abroad. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:05.980 As recently as just a few decades before through Isaiah. 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:10.759 God has specifically promised that Babylon will come and take them away. 00:20:10.879 --> 00:20:12.619 Read Isaiah 39 sometime. 00:20:12.879 --> 00:20:15.740 It tells specifically this is going to happen. 00:20:15.740 --> 00:20:20.039 The same is true today of our struggles. 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:24.720 The book of Daniel and others promise ongoing difficulty for God's people. 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:26.400 Even after the Messiah comes. 00:20:26.620 --> 00:20:28.039 They say it's still going to be hard. 00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:31.039 Whether a result of discipline. 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:33.059 Or of persecution. 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:35.960 Or of general brokenness. 00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:40.859 The promise is there that it's going to be difficult for us too. 00:20:40.859 --> 00:20:44.579 And so in the midst of this apparent defeat. 00:20:44.740 --> 00:20:46.919 Even in these first two verses of Daniel. 00:20:47.079 --> 00:20:50.859 We get a hint of God's ultimate victory. 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:53.240 Is God asleep? 00:20:53.719 --> 00:20:54.639 What is going on? 00:20:54.659 --> 00:20:56.019 What's the explanation here? 00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:57.459 Has he quit caring? 00:20:58.899 --> 00:21:03.099 Has his world gone off script and he's lost total control of it? 00:21:03.679 --> 00:21:07.859 Is he indeed too weak to stop the might of evil Babylon? 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:09.299 Is that what's going on? 00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:10.839 Is that what I'm reading about? 00:21:10.859 --> 00:21:15.859 Is that what I'm experiencing if I'm God's people in this day? 00:21:16.259 --> 00:21:17.359 Look at verse 2. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.279 Not only did Nebuchadnezzar besiege and conquer. 00:21:23.159 --> 00:21:30.759 But the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:37.059 The Lord gave the king of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. 00:21:37.059 --> 00:21:40.740 Now maybe that doesn't seem really hopeful to you. 00:21:41.579 --> 00:21:43.359 Maybe not really exciting. 00:21:43.479 --> 00:21:46.639 But there's a glimmer of hope even there in these first two verses. 00:21:47.099 --> 00:21:49.579 That God is on his throne. 00:21:49.699 --> 00:21:52.419 That he hasn't lost control. 00:21:52.639 --> 00:21:56.039 Who is in control even when things seem out of control? 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.919 Who's on the throne even when he appears to have been knocked off? 00:22:00.419 --> 00:22:02.399 The Lord gave. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:05.740 This happened at his direction. 00:22:05.740 --> 00:22:08.900 Not because he was overpowered. 00:22:09.900 --> 00:22:15.120 And maybe it is just a glimmer of hope here in a very, very dark day. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:23.859 But it's a glimmer that grows through the book of Daniel as we see the power of God vindicated in one interaction after another. 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:25.639 One scene after the next. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:33.379 The power of God is vindicated until his ultimate victory is pronounced in the vision of chapter 7. 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:36.180 Now this is a little bit of a spoiler alert. 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:40.200 After having you so worked up on did Babylon actually defeat God. 00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:46.100 Daniel chapter 7 says that after human kingdoms fade. 00:22:46.099 --> 00:22:51.059 The ancient of days is seen in one of Daniel's visions. 00:22:51.659 --> 00:22:53.539 God himself still on his throne. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:55.259 And there's one like a son of man. 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:57.319 The promised one who's to come. 00:22:57.639 --> 00:22:58.179 He comes. 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:01.439 And listen to what Daniel says in chapter 7 and verse 14. 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:10.820 To him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages, Babylon included by the way, 00:23:11.080 --> 00:23:14.440 that all people's languages and nations should serve him. 00:23:14.840 --> 00:23:22.259 His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:24.920 He's the ultimate victor, isn't he? 00:23:25.120 --> 00:23:27.120 He's the true king. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:27.239 King. 00:23:29.719 --> 00:23:34.479 So here's what we learn about God from the outset of the book of Daniel. 00:23:34.959 --> 00:23:38.000 Kids, this is the part that you can write down in your bulletins. 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:42.099 If you didn't get one, you can borrow it from your parents if they haven't filled it all up yet. 00:23:42.639 --> 00:23:43.459 Writing notes. 00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:48.759 There's a part there where you can fill in next to an arrow something about God. 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:59.759 God uses apparent defeat to bring ultimate blessing to his people and honor to his name. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:02.779 Isn't that amazing? 00:24:03.779 --> 00:24:06.660 God is so strong. 00:24:07.379 --> 00:24:09.420 He is so sovereign. 00:24:09.660 --> 00:24:11.119 He's so in control. 00:24:11.619 --> 00:24:13.519 He's so gracious. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:16.539 So good. 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:28.079 That he is willing and able to endure the disgrace of the nations and the taunting of human kings who think they're stronger than God. 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:33.559 On his way to achieving his ultimate victory. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:43.160 God uses apparent defeat to bring ultimate blessing to his people and honor to his name. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:46.319 Listen, the Israelites had shipwrecked themselves. 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:47.920 How does this bless his people? 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:55.639 They were dying having shipwrecked on the rocks of self-serving idolatry and immorality. 00:24:56.420 --> 00:25:00.000 They had abandoned God who loved and cared for them. 00:25:00.879 --> 00:25:09.660 And he will stop at nothing to preserve for himself a people who know him and love him and share him with the world. 00:25:09.660 --> 00:25:14.080 His name will be made great through this process. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:20.660 And the people who turn back to him in repentance and faith will be blessed through this discipline. 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:23.940 That's largely what the exile is, right? 00:25:24.600 --> 00:25:28.460 They'll be blessed through the discipline and then after the exile. 00:25:28.460 --> 00:25:34.120 Because ultimately, nothing could be more blessed than knowing God. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:40.620 Nothing they have could compare with having God. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:42.200 That's how it's a blessing. 00:25:43.059 --> 00:25:50.360 Even an Israelite dying in exile away from the promised land, they almost couldn't imagine anything worse. 00:25:50.740 --> 00:25:54.319 Even that could be a blessing if they meet God there. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:26:06.379 Isn't it amazing what God will endure to win our hearts back to himself and to magnify his great name? 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:13.439 Maybe that's what's going on in some of the apparent defeat in our world and in our lives. 00:26:14.500 --> 00:26:20.000 Maybe he's working in ways that we don't understand for our blessing and for his glory. 00:26:20.099 --> 00:26:20.839 Is that possible? 00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:24.339 It's very likely, actually. 00:26:24.539 --> 00:26:34.399 You see, this is not the first time that God has used apparent defeat to bring ultimate blessing to his people and honor to his name. 00:26:34.679 --> 00:26:36.559 Daniel's not the first time this has happened. 00:26:37.339 --> 00:26:40.139 When God's people were at war with the Philistines, 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:45.079 you remember them because David was the one who got involved in that fight with Goliath, right? 00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:48.859 But part of that story, even before David shows up, 00:26:50.099 --> 00:26:55.759 1 Samuel 4 tells us that God's people had begun to lose their awe of his name, 00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:57.939 of him as their great God. 00:26:58.159 --> 00:27:01.919 And so God defeated Israel before the Philistines. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:03.079 Isn't that a weird way to say it? 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.819 Couldn't you just say the Philistines beat the Israelites? 00:27:05.819 --> 00:27:10.659 God defeated Israel before the Philistines. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:15.299 He used the Philistines to teach his people something through defeat. 00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:19.439 And the Philistines, when they conquered God's people this one time in battle, 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:21.659 they actually took the Ark of the Covenant, 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:25.179 the thing that represented God's presence with his people, 00:27:25.379 --> 00:27:30.779 they took it away back to their towns and put it in the temple of their God, Dagon. 00:27:30.779 --> 00:27:36.759 And God worked to show himself strong through this defeat. 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:38.599 I love this scene in 1 Samuel 5. 00:27:38.639 --> 00:27:39.440 I wanted to read it to you. 00:27:40.539 --> 00:27:42.920 What happens is they took the Ark of God 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:44.940 and they brought it into the house of Dagon 00:27:44.940 --> 00:27:46.599 and they set it up beside Dagon. 00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:50.859 They're going to taunt Israel's God as they worship their God. 00:27:50.859 --> 00:27:55.059 And when the people of Ashdod, the city that they have brought the Ark to, 00:27:55.559 --> 00:27:56.940 rose early the next day, 00:27:56.940 --> 00:28:02.000 behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. 00:28:02.539 --> 00:28:06.320 He was bowing, as it were, to Israel's God. 00:28:06.600 --> 00:28:08.180 So they, of course, rushed back in and said, 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:09.500 let us fix this up for you. 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:11.480 Something weird happened last night. 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:12.200 Put him back up. 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:13.200 So they do. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:14.440 And then what happens the next morning? 00:28:15.059 --> 00:28:16.380 When they rose early the next morning, 00:28:16.380 --> 00:28:20.920 behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the Ark of the Lord 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:25.059 and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. 00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:27.779 Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 00:28:29.059 --> 00:28:29.879 Isn't that a neat scene? 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:31.859 It's not the only thing that happens. 00:28:31.940 --> 00:28:34.119 Every city they start moving the Ark around to, 00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:39.240 God brings plagues on the affliction on the people in that town 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:43.039 so that finally what happens is the Philistines send the Ark of God 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.940 back to the people of Israel with a goodwill offering 00:28:45.940 --> 00:28:47.500 to kind of make things right. 00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:48.639 Hey, so sorry. 00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:49.839 We won't do that again. 00:28:50.859 --> 00:28:51.519 What happens? 00:28:51.619 --> 00:28:53.220 God's people are blessed. 00:28:55.059 --> 00:28:56.099 Through apparent defeat. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:57.559 But even more starkly, 00:28:57.619 --> 00:28:59.119 his name is honored, isn't it? 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.559 A nation who thought, 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:03.399 our God is great and we're going to prove it to you, 00:29:03.679 --> 00:29:08.159 realizes that Dagon is no match for Yahweh. 00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:14.159 Blessing for his people and honor for his name through apparent defeat. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:17.679 So Daniel's not the first time God has done this. 00:29:18.679 --> 00:29:20.259 It's not the last time either, is it? 00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:33.599 600 years after Daniel, the Son of God is mocked and disgraced and hung on a cross in a moment of apparent defeat. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:38.799 A moment of apparent defeat that leads to God's greatest victory. 00:29:39.159 --> 00:29:43.879 To the greatest blessing of his people and the greatest honor of his name 00:29:43.879 --> 00:29:53.000 in that he would be so mighty and so gracious as to suffer painful defeat to bring ultimate victory. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:02.440 Some of you are already thinking of the white witch gloating over Aslan like Nebuchadnezzar. 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:12.579 As she sits there and stands above Aslan who's bound and shaved and muzzled, 00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:15.799 lying on the stone table, silent. 00:30:15.799 --> 00:30:23.359 Seemingly helpless and apparently defeated in a chapter of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe called 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:25.700 The Triumph of the Witch. 00:30:26.579 --> 00:30:30.819 And those evil creatures taunt Aslan and they gather around him and cry, 00:30:30.899 --> 00:30:33.019 He's only a great cat after all. 00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:39.700 And then the witch prepares her knife and savors the defeat of the king of Narnia this way, 00:30:39.700 --> 00:30:42.740 And now who has won? 00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:48.000 Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor? 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:55.680 Now I will kill you instead of him as our pact was and so the deep magic will be appeased. 00:30:56.500 --> 00:31:00.480 But when you are dead, what will prevent me from killing him as well? 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:03.200 And who will take him out of my hand then? 00:31:03.640 --> 00:31:07.160 Understand that you have given me Narnia forever. 00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:11.800 You have lost your own life and you have not saved his. 00:31:12.620 --> 00:31:16.160 In that knowledge, despair and die. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:19.740 And the witch thinks she has triumphed. 00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:23.759 I don't really want to spoil the story. 00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:25.360 It's a really good story. 00:31:26.940 --> 00:31:29.540 Well, you know, if you haven't read it or seen it yet, you should. 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:34.580 So I'll just go ahead and tell you that Aslan does die, 00:31:34.579 --> 00:31:38.699 But that's not the end of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. 00:31:40.059 --> 00:31:48.559 In his moment of apparent defeat, Aslan, the true king, has rescued Edmund, the human traitor. 00:31:48.899 --> 00:31:52.519 And all of Narnia, the stone table shatters. 00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:55.939 The great lion roars back to life. 00:31:56.139 --> 00:32:00.519 And he shares his victory with his people, bringing life everywhere, doesn't he? 00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:05.160 That's what happens when the true king shows up. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:14.740 The true king is working, even when you can't see it, to bring ultimate victory from apparent defeat. 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.879 We need to know that reality, don't we? 00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:22.020 We need to know that hope that we have in him. 00:32:22.100 --> 00:32:32.240 The true home that we have to look forward to with him in order to live as strangers today in a world that seems hopeless sometimes. 00:32:32.560 --> 00:32:40.140 Even when the power and promises of God seem defeated in our world and in our lives, 00:32:40.140 --> 00:32:52.140 We can remember our God is much more mighty, much more sovereign, much more gracious than he appears or we imagine in those moments. 00:32:53.140 --> 00:32:56.400 So we will follow the true king. 00:32:57.540 --> 00:33:08.240 The true king, remember, is the one who earns his greatest victory at the moment of his apparent defeat. 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:15.400 The darkest day for Jesus, the one that brings the most light to us. 00:33:15.460 --> 00:33:19.000 That's what we celebrate at this table this morning. 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:25.319 That he has died to bring many sons to glory. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:32.620 That he went to the cross so that many of us could be welcomed at this table with his father. 00:33:33.120 --> 00:33:36.079 Sons of the true king. 00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:50.859 He has risen victorious over sin and death so that those still struggling against it can now come and celebrate today and have hope forever because of him. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:55.879 Remember the words of institution of this supper. 00:33:56.059 --> 00:33:58.119 Paul writes them in 1 Corinthians 11. 00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:01.619 I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. 00:34:01.879 --> 00:34:05.479 That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. 00:34:06.219 --> 00:34:08.500 And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 00:34:08.759 --> 00:34:10.619 This is my body which is for you. 00:34:10.759 --> 00:34:12.579 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:34:13.480 --> 00:34:16.599 In the same way also he took the cup after supper saying, 00:34:16.980 --> 00:34:19.179 This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:22.579 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:29.739 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:32.159 That's what we do today. 00:34:32.599 --> 00:34:36.759 We gather not just as Southwood, not just as Presbyterians, 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:42.279 but as all of those who find our hope in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. 00:34:42.679 --> 00:34:46.000 Please come and celebrate with us if that is you this morning. 00:34:46.799 --> 00:34:51.940 If you don't know him, we'd rather introduce you to him than something that represents him. 00:34:51.940 --> 00:34:53.679 We want you to meet Jesus. 00:34:54.059 --> 00:34:55.800 We'd love to talk with you about him. 00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:57.300 Don't come to this table. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:34:59.840 Come and talk with us about Jesus. 00:35:01.019 --> 00:35:01.900 Pray with me. 00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:11.980 Father, we thank you for these elements even though they remind us of a day that was dark for your son. 00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:15.980 When your face was turned from him and he suffered death. 00:35:15.980 --> 00:35:22.599 We thank you though that he did that in our place to bring us life. 00:35:23.240 --> 00:35:28.159 And so we celebrate with great joy that we sit with him at your table. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:32.920 Would you set these common elements aside to a sacred use in our hearts 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:38.940 that we might rejoice in that more, that we might have hope more because of that. 00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:40.820 We ask it in his name. 00:35:40.820 --> 00:35:42.099 Amen. 00:35:42.099 --> 00:35:49.759 For more information, visit us online at southwood.org.