WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.720 Our Scripture reading this morning is taken from the book of Daniel, and we're reading in Daniel chapters 11 and 12. 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:16.699 ! I'm going to begin with verses 2 through 4 of chapter 11. 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:19.760 ! Let's hear and read together from God's Word. 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:24.039 Daniel 11 from verse 2. 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:27.219 Now I will show you the truth. 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:35.460 Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:43.119 And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:51.280 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:59.500 And as soon as he is arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:05.980 but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled. 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:12.980 For his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others beside these. 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:21.180 And then in verse 21 through to verse 31 of chapter 11, we read this. 00:01:21.180 --> 00:01:31.280 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:37.700 He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 00:01:38.440 --> 00:01:45.840 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:51.359 And from the time that an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully. 00:01:52.140 --> 00:01:54.800 And he shall become strong with a small people. 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:00.060 Without warning, he shall come into the richest parts of the province. 00:02:00.380 --> 00:02:04.980 And he shall do what neither his fathers nor his father's fathers have done, 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:09.520 scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:14.680 He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:20.200 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:26.159 The king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army. 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:31.260 But he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 00:02:32.640 --> 00:02:34.860 Even those who eat his food shall break him. 00:02:35.460 --> 00:02:39.500 His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:45.020 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.659 They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail. 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:52.099 For the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:55.819 And he shall return to his land with great wealth. 00:02:55.979 --> 00:02:58.340 But his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:01.920 And he shall work his will and return to his own land. 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:06.020 At the time appointed, he shall return and come into the south. 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:09.140 But it shall not be this time as it was before. 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:12.460 For ships of Kittim shall come against him. 00:03:13.160 --> 00:03:16.860 And he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged, 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.000 and take action against the holy covenant. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:24.700 He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:30.439 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:33.500 and shall take away the regular burnt offering. 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:39.219 And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:49.460 And then in verses 40 through 45 of chapter 11 and into chapter 12, verse 3, we read these words. 00:03:49.460 --> 00:04:19.439 Verse 4, 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:49.439 He shall come to his end with none. 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:50.359 To help him. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:56.379 At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who is in charge of your people. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:04.379 And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. 00:05:05.579 --> 00:05:07.759 But at that time your people shall be delivered. 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:13.500 Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:22.060 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:26.980 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above. 00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:32.700 And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:36.979 And then in verses 8 through 12. 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:43.140 I heard, but I did not understand. 00:05:43.139 --> 00:05:49.360 Then I said, O my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things? 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.000 He said, Go your way, Daniel. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:57.459 For the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 00:05:57.459 --> 00:06:01.759 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.519 But the wicked shall act wickedly. 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:07.219 And none of the wicked shall understand. 00:06:08.099 --> 00:06:10.620 But those who are wise shall understand. 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:15.539 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away. 00:06:16.219 --> 00:06:19.519 And the abomination that makes desolate is set up. 00:06:20.099 --> 00:06:24.620 There shall be 1,290 days. 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:32.899 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 00:06:33.340 --> 00:06:35.399 This is the word of God. 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:38.500 And to his name be praise and glory. 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:40.680 All right. 00:06:40.780 --> 00:06:46.259 Well, if you are today at least of the millennial generation or older, 00:06:46.259 --> 00:06:51.199 you will remember December 31st, 1999, Y2K, 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:59.399 when so many Christians across the world were saying that the book of Revelation had come to pass. 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:05.399 And by midnight that night, the computers would revert to 1900 because they couldn't compute 2000. 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:07.639 And the planes would go down. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.539 And the stock market would crash. 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:15.220 And this wasn't just religious predictions. 00:07:15.700 --> 00:07:21.120 It was secularist predictions as well that sort of a post-apocalyptic era would begin, 00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:22.700 a Mad Max sort of environment. 00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:26.020 And bunkers were built and charts were made. 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:27.939 And none of it, of course, came to pass. 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:31.580 And that is what we call apocalypticism. 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:35.960 It's a spirit that wants to always think that we're living in the end. 00:07:36.140 --> 00:07:38.120 The end is very soon. 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:42.840 And every event that happens in the news is signaling the end that's about to come. 00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:45.720 And one of my favorite theologians is Abraham Kuyper. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.139 So trustworthy, so often. 00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:52.399 But he said at the start of the Great World War in 1917, he said, 00:07:53.139 --> 00:07:55.079 this is surely the end of human history. 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:59.300 And the early church said that during the persecutions. 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:03.000 And the reformers said that during the time of the Reformation. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.259 And it's been said so many times. 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:07.579 And it's still, of course, being said in our generation. 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:12.000 And new charts are being written all the time to map out the end of the world. 00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:17.100 One writer commenting on this, it's not just a religious thing. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:18.639 It's a secular thing as well. 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:21.819 To always be thinking this must be the worst it's ever been. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:23.779 The end must be close. 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:24.800 We're about to bring it about. 00:08:24.939 --> 00:08:25.699 One writer says, 00:08:25.699 --> 00:08:29.259 When Christians feel like they're losing cultural influence and power, 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.039 end-time speculation spikes dramatically. 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:37.480 It's a narrative, the writer says, that makes sense of cultural loss. 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:39.460 So the more we feel defeated in our culture, 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.139 the more people have end-time speculation. 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.200 It tends to spike proportionally. 00:08:44.439 --> 00:08:46.039 So prophetic vindication. 00:08:47.659 --> 00:08:51.059 We reach, I should say, when we've experienced cultural defeat, 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:53.899 we reach for prophetic vindication. 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:55.399 And we want to be vindicated. 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:57.459 It's a way of gaining control of the narrative. 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:00.579 If things are this bad, it must be the end. 00:09:00.699 --> 00:09:02.939 That's the only way we can figure this out and justify it. 00:09:03.959 --> 00:09:05.379 Now, Daniel 11 and 12. 00:09:05.579 --> 00:09:07.179 This is our last look at Daniel. 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:12.759 This vision we've just read, packed full of information, 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:16.059 is addressing exactly this habit, this human habit, 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:19.120 to always think that things are about to end. 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:23.100 And it pulls together two great themes 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.100 that have been woven throughout the whole book. 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:26.800 So the very last chapter, 00:09:27.040 --> 00:09:28.940 we get to pull together a couple things 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:31.060 that have been there the whole time, 00:09:31.139 --> 00:09:32.580 but we've not made so explicit. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.840 And one of them, if you go back all the way to chapter 1, 00:09:36.580 --> 00:09:40.360 605 B.C., the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:41.580 goes and he attacks Jerusalem, 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.820 and he brings Daniel and many of the young professional class 00:09:44.820 --> 00:09:46.560 to Babylon to build a great city. 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:48.519 And he wants to Babylonize them. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:51.779 He wants to defeat them by enculturation. 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.179 He wants them to become polytheist and pagan like him. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:00.539 And with that, in chapter 1, if you were here for many, many months ago for chapter 1, 00:10:00.939 --> 00:10:04.759 you'll remember that one of the big chorus lines throughout the chapter is, 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:07.639 the Lord gave, the Lord gave, the Lord gave. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:08.580 And it said the whole time, 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:10.740 it's the Lord that put Daniel in Babylon. 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:16.279 And so there's this echo throughout of God's sovereign hand at work in all of this. 00:10:16.319 --> 00:10:17.939 It felt like such cultural defeat, 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:21.059 yet it was the Lord that put them there. 00:10:21.319 --> 00:10:22.539 The Lord sent them to Babylon. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.419 And so we learn one of the big themes throughout the book is, 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:26.759 the God of the Bible, 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:27.480 the real God, 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:28.720 is the Lord of history. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.840 And that shows up very much in this fourth vision. 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:35.160 But then the other big theme of the book is that when you read, 00:10:35.340 --> 00:10:36.519 especially the first six chapters, 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:37.540 these great stories, 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:39.060 Daniel and the lion's den, 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:40.639 the fiery furnace, 00:10:40.800 --> 00:10:42.139 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:45.139 Daniel and his friends unwilling to eat the king's meat, 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:46.019 drink the king's wine, 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:48.300 yet they were stronger than everybody else. 00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:49.180 How could it be? 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:51.360 How could you survive a fiery furnace? 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:52.800 How can you survive a lion's den? 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:54.019 And we read there, 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:55.940 yet there was one in the den, 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:58.360 there was one in the furnace like a son of the gods. 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:01.680 And so one of the big themes throughout the book is great reversals, 00:11:01.800 --> 00:11:03.639 that things feel bad. 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:07.160 It feels like cultural loss and defeat all the time in exile, 00:11:07.379 --> 00:11:09.440 but then there's a great reversal that comes through. 00:11:10.779 --> 00:11:18.379 And we learn in this final vision that the Lord of history is the God of great reversals. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:21.820 And those two themes have been woven throughout the whole book, 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:23.980 and they come together right here in this final vision. 00:11:24.540 --> 00:11:27.279 Now, as we read it, as David joked, 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:32.139 this is one of the chapters in the Bible that is most full of information. 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:40.220 There are 135 plus distinct prophetic utterances in chapter 11. 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:47.939 And so we couldn't possibly unveil the historical picture in the 28 minutes or so that I have left. 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:50.060 So we have to ask, 00:11:50.160 --> 00:11:51.360 what does this mean for us? 00:11:51.400 --> 00:11:53.880 Let's get a big idea of what's going on here and then ask, 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:55.180 what does it mean for us? 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:57.760 And you know that the question throughout the whole book of Daniel has been, 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.720 how do we live with faithfulness in the midst of exile? 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.460 Every Christian today is living in exile. 00:12:03.640 --> 00:12:05.600 We're living in the city of Babylon. 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:09.160 We're living in a world of idolatries all around us all the time. 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:10.620 And we've learned over and over again, 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:12.919 be in the world but not of it. 00:12:13.719 --> 00:12:15.360 Live with conviction but don't compromise. 00:12:15.579 --> 00:12:19.959 And then the question that comes through this specific vision is, 00:12:20.079 --> 00:12:26.159 how do you live faithfully through dark cycles of history without either panicking 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:30.779 that every crisis means it must be the end of the world on the one hand, 00:12:30.779 --> 00:12:34.579 or thinking God must have lost control on the other hand? 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:39.179 So how do you live faithfully in exile through dark cycles of history? 00:12:39.339 --> 00:12:40.559 That's what this vision is really about. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:41.740 So let's think about it. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.679 First, God teaches us here about the fact that there's a pattern to history. 00:12:47.579 --> 00:12:49.279 We might call it the long defeat. 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:54.159 And then secondly, God breaks in with a great reversal. 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:59.299 And then finally, I'll just give you one reason why this matters for you today. 00:12:59.299 --> 00:12:59.379 Okay. 00:13:00.259 --> 00:13:06.500 So first, we learn in this vision that there is pattern, a pattern to history. 00:13:06.599 --> 00:13:09.599 The biblical vision of history comes with a pattern. 00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:14.919 Now in the very end of chapter 10 into the first part of chapter 11, 00:13:15.319 --> 00:13:18.479 there's an angel, a messenger on the bank of the Tigris River. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.759 And the messenger is speaking to Daniel. 00:13:21.979 --> 00:13:24.719 And the messenger says, I'm going to open for you the book of truth. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:29.079 Now this is a book, a reference to what only God knows in heaven. 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:33.400 So Daniel's being given here a vision of what only God knows, the Lord of history. 00:13:34.180 --> 00:13:38.259 And the text proves it because this is 536 BC. 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:47.480 And we're given 35 verses of predictive prophecy covering 370 years that would follow, 536. 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:54.820 And the big issue with this text is just how precise the prophecy is and how much it came true. 00:13:55.620 --> 00:14:00.600 And so lots of people question the historicity of the text when it was written because it's so precise, 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:05.920 because it's so clear, because the predictions that were made here actually did come to pass. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:07.539 And nobody really debates that. 00:14:07.539 --> 00:14:14.120 And so if you look down at verses 2 to 4, you'll see a couple mentions of some of the great prophecies that have come to pass. 00:14:15.319 --> 00:14:19.299 Behold, the second sentence says, three more kings will arise in Persia. 00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:25.360 So in verse 2, you get a reference to the kings of Persia, and a fourth will be richer than all of them. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:33.039 Now that fourth, who gets three words, is the famous king Xerxes, who faced Leonidas at Thermopylae. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.600 Lots of movies have been made about that battle. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.039 And it's just a brief mention. 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:42.039 And then right after that, in verse 2, 3, I should say, 00:14:42.139 --> 00:14:46.840 Then a mighty king will arise after the kingdom of Greece is stirred up, 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:49.220 who shall rule a great dominion and do as he wills. 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:51.980 That's Alexander the Great, the mighty king that arose out of Greece, 00:14:52.540 --> 00:14:54.920 one of the most important people in all of human history. 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:56.279 And he gets a clause. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:00.160 And then in verse 4, I should say, right after that, 00:15:00.500 --> 00:15:02.360 As soon as that, his kingdom will be broken, 00:15:02.779 --> 00:15:06.220 and it will be scattered to the four winds to those who are not his children. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:11.259 And that's because Alexander the Great's kingdom was scattered amongst four generals to the four winds. 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:16.980 And so there, in three verses, you've got some of the most important people in all of human history. 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:19.120 And they get a few words each. 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:20.779 And it's just a breath. 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:24.000 It's just a vapor that they pass through here in this prophecy. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:29.340 And you cover about 200 years of history that's going to follow the book of Daniel. 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:35.379 And that means that this book is God's vision of history, 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:38.399 focusing in ways that the news would never focus on. 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:42.399 You know, if the news was writing this, Alexander the Great would get all the airtime. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.420 But instead, there's a focus on the little flock. 00:15:45.420 --> 00:15:48.000 You see, there's a mention throughout of the glorious land, 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.379 Jerusalem, right at the middle. 00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:57.480 And all the saga and all the drama and all the movement is all centered on the relationship all these different kings have to the glorious land. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:03.840 And so in part two of this history, verses 5 to 20, we read some of it. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:11.080 There's a long saga, geopolitical, of the kings of the north fighting against the kings of the south. 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:17.080 And these are two of Alexander's generals that have taken over Egypt and Syria. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:21.020 The Seleucid family in the north and the Ptolemies in the south. 00:16:21.300 --> 00:16:22.639 You've probably heard of the Ptolemies. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:29.019 And there's Seleucid kings like Antiochus the first and Antiochus the second and so on and so forth. 00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:33.919 And the Ptolemies, Ptolemy the first, Ptolemy the second, and so on and so forth. 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:35.980 And if you were to read those 15, 17 verses, 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:42.279 it is chronicling the real life history of the saga that went back and forth between them. 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:45.059 And Jerusalem was caught up in the middle between them. 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:50.579 And so Jerusalem gets attacked so often because of the battles between the kings of the north and the kings of the south. 00:16:51.479 --> 00:16:52.419 There's poison. 00:16:53.379 --> 00:16:56.519 There's trying to marry into each other's families to make peace. 00:16:56.619 --> 00:16:57.559 None of it ever works. 00:16:57.979 --> 00:17:00.319 It's a real Hatfield and McCoys situation. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:11.019 And at the end of that, in verse 21, the third period of history we're given is this reference to this one that would arise out of the north called the contemptible person. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.759 And we've learned about him already in Daniel. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.299 And he is Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:17:16.859 --> 00:17:20.379 And he comes to Jerusalem in 170 A.D. 00:17:21.259 --> 00:17:28.819 And he inflicts unprecedented horror on Jerusalem, one of the great holocausts of the Jewish people, actually. 00:17:29.539 --> 00:17:35.960 And more than 80,000 people are murdered in his first attack on Jerusalem. 00:17:36.740 --> 00:17:40.720 And the text moves on, and you can read it in places like verse 31 where it says, 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:45.100 He stopped the daily sacrifices, He plundered the temple, He profaned the temple. 00:17:45.900 --> 00:17:50.920 And the text refers to that as the abomination that makes desolate, the abomination of desolation. 00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:57.880 Now, Antiochus Epiphanes, he went into the temple in Jerusalem in 167. 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:01.000 He slaughtered a pig in the Holy of Holies. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:05.940 He dedicated the temple to Zeus, which is the text references subtly there. 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:08.079 And he outlawed biblical religion. 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:16.400 And so anybody that got caught with a scroll or trying to go to synagogue or come to worship the real God in any way was executed publicly. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:21.360 And so this is what's called the abomination of desolation in the Old Testament. 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:22.460 And it's repeated. 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:24.420 You may remember that line from the New Testament. 00:18:24.560 --> 00:18:25.960 Jesus references it. 00:18:26.040 --> 00:18:33.000 It's this horrible moment in the history of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, one of the great holocausts of their history. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:47.079 And if you were a Jewish person in the second century BC, 167, and this was happening to you, and everybody was being publicly executed around you, you would have said, this must be the time of the end. 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:54.440 And what this prophecy is doing is going out of its way to say, this is all going to happen. 00:18:54.440 --> 00:19:00.579 And you've got to seal this book and open it at the right time to let the people know this is not the time of the end. 00:19:00.579 --> 00:19:06.519 And so you can see that in verse 27, for the end is yet to come, yet for the time appointed. 00:19:06.679 --> 00:19:12.679 Verse 35, the time of the end, even after all that Antiochus Epiphanes does, is still awaited. 00:19:13.199 --> 00:19:24.439 And so the chorus line throughout the chapter is clear that Daniel is writing this vision for the people that were to come to know that when all this horror takes place, it's not yet the time of the end. 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:34.120 And then the last and final period of history that's referenced here, and we'll be finished with the history lessons for today, is in verses 36 to 45. 00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:37.620 Now, in verse 36 to 45, we read a portion of it. 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:44.400 Something changes, and the historians cannot locate these prophecies in history at all. 00:19:45.259 --> 00:19:47.120 It's not about Antiochus anymore. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:50.559 The details don't match how he died, what happened in his life. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:58.279 And it says things like in verse 37, this new Antiochus will come, and he will magnify himself above every god. 00:19:58.579 --> 00:20:01.639 And then verse 40, it's called the time of the end. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:07.339 Now, all the commentators are clear throughout Christian history, it's been said over and over again, 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.779 verse 36 to 45 is about something that has not happened yet. 00:20:11.779 --> 00:20:20.180 And that means what we're reading about here is a prophecy of the end of human history, the time of the end that has not yet come. 00:20:20.220 --> 00:20:27.539 And there's so much mystery there, I can't possibly explain the verses, because they reference something that has yet to happen in world history. 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:34.899 And Jesus uses exactly this language in Matthew 24 to say, look for the abomination of desolation in Jerusalem again, 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:40.000 which would take place in AD 70 when Rome sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple. 00:20:40.299 --> 00:20:43.539 But he says, but not even that will be the time of the end. 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:51.420 And so what we learn about here is that this prophecy is giving us this idea that there are patterns in human history, cycles. 00:20:51.420 --> 00:20:54.120 What is the pattern? What is the vision pointing us to? 00:20:54.200 --> 00:21:04.580 And the pattern of a biblical worldview of human history is that there are cycles and cycles and cycles of violent kings and bad empires rising and falling. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:10.500 And God's people are always getting caught in the middle in different nations, in different places. 00:21:10.820 --> 00:21:16.800 And there will be suffering over and over again that makes you think, surely this must be the last generation. 00:21:16.980 --> 00:21:18.600 Surely this must be the end. 00:21:18.600 --> 00:21:20.200 But it's not. You don't know. 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:22.480 And the pattern repeats. 00:21:22.700 --> 00:21:24.500 And Antiochus comes back in different forms. 00:21:24.600 --> 00:21:26.500 And Jesus teaches that in the New Testament. 00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:30.259 And that's why the New Testament says there have been many antichrists. 00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:31.700 And there will be many more. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:34.860 This is a vision of the fact that this keeps going and going and going. 00:21:35.500 --> 00:21:42.640 And in the Lord of the Rings series, J.R. Tolkien, he was a Christian and a theologian in his own right. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:48.920 And he talks about, he gives into the mouth of the elves this language of the long defeat. 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:56.580 And it's his version in the lore of the Lord of the Rings of explaining this biblical vision of the patterns of history. 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:58.900 And this is how the elves talk about it. 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:03.880 They say that they know that they can't stop, quote, the fading of their world in this age. 00:22:04.060 --> 00:22:05.180 Evil keeps rising. 00:22:05.180 --> 00:22:07.960 And Sauron, the great evil in the Lord of the Rings. 00:22:08.120 --> 00:22:10.640 He was defeated before, but he comes back again. 00:22:11.360 --> 00:22:13.100 And they'll defeat him again, they know. 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:18.480 And yet something else will arise that will capture the elves, attack the elves again. 00:22:18.600 --> 00:22:21.920 And they say it's a long, slow rearguard action. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:27.900 But then here's one of their leaders, Galadriel says, and this is really Tolkien's theology coming through. 00:22:28.080 --> 00:22:34.440 They fight on, not because they think they'll win in this age, in this decade, in this generation, 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.500 but because fighting faithfully is right. 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:42.460 Because small deeds of kindness and courage matter even in the long defeat. 00:22:42.460 --> 00:22:48.960 Because even the wise, the very wise, cannot see all the ends that are coming. 00:22:49.700 --> 00:22:54.160 Now, you see, in other words, what Tolkien's pointing us to is what Daniel's vision points us to. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:23:02.519 And that is that there are two wrong ways of responding to dark cycles of history, the long defeat. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:07.319 What feels like cultural loss, what feels like you're living in an exile and you're never come out of it, 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:09.700 where the ministry fruit does not come. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:11.519 There's two wrong responses. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:17.779 One of them is the secularist narrative, secular progressivism that told us in the 19th century 00:23:17.779 --> 00:23:21.079 that we are moving to a better world, a better life. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:29.420 Secularist versions of utopia and Marx and Rawls and Nietzsche and so many others gave us all sorts of different visions 00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:34.019 for how the more we learned, the better we got, the more we would progress 00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:40.799 and we would realize a society that had finally reached an end, a utopia, a place of real peace. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:42.700 And of course, that's a myth. 00:23:42.819 --> 00:23:43.599 It never happened. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:44.240 It never came. 00:23:44.299 --> 00:23:45.259 It's not going to. 00:23:45.740 --> 00:23:49.019 And we entered instead into the bloodiest century of world history. 00:23:49.639 --> 00:23:55.099 But the other mistake that can be made is religious triumphalism. 00:23:55.099 --> 00:24:00.039 On the one hand, always thinking that the end of time is near. 00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:03.899 On the other hand, when religious folks, when Christians sometimes say, 00:24:04.099 --> 00:24:07.359 if we could only win the culture, everything would be okay. 00:24:07.399 --> 00:24:08.619 We could usher in the kingdom. 00:24:09.719 --> 00:24:12.439 And if we could get the right people in political power, 00:24:12.859 --> 00:24:17.039 if we could get the right emperor, if we could have a Constantinian mentality. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:20.440 Obviously, verse 14 in the middle of this warns us about this. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:20.740 It says, 00:24:20.940 --> 00:24:26.299 The violent among your own people will rise up and lift themselves up in violence to fulfill the vision, 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.159 to bring about the end times, but they will fail. 00:24:30.139 --> 00:24:33.059 And so we've tried this so many times throughout world history. 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.859 And the text is calling us to something very distinct, very plain, very simple. 00:24:37.859 --> 00:24:41.579 And it's saying that the real key is to say, 00:24:41.859 --> 00:24:43.779 I don't know what God is up to. 00:24:44.459 --> 00:24:46.740 I don't know when the end of the world is going to come. 00:24:47.179 --> 00:24:52.459 And I'm called, we're called to be a faithful presence in the place that we are. 00:24:52.740 --> 00:24:54.519 And to let the Lord be the Lord of history. 00:24:55.619 --> 00:24:59.899 And so there are different forms of Christian nationalisms that are arising across our world right now 00:24:59.899 --> 00:25:03.459 that are making the same mistake all over again of religious triumphalism. 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:09.579 And instead, we're called to a faithful presence in the midst of what feels like, the long defeat. 00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:17.720 There's an old black spiritual in the U.S., in the southern U.S., the American South, 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:21.019 called He's an On-Time God. 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:24.940 And the lyrics go like this. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:26.039 He's an on-time God. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:26.980 Yes, he is. 00:25:27.779 --> 00:25:28.519 Job said it. 00:25:28.579 --> 00:25:32.039 He may not come when you want him, but he'll be there right on time. 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:37.240 You can ask the children of Israel trapped at the Red Sea by that old mean Pharaoh and his army. 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:40.440 They had water all around them and Pharaoh on their track. 00:25:40.779 --> 00:25:44.539 And from out of nowhere, God stepped in and put a highway just like that. 00:25:44.899 --> 00:25:46.119 He's an on-time God. 00:25:46.220 --> 00:25:49.379 He may not come when you expect, but he is an on-time God. 00:25:50.099 --> 00:25:51.240 And that's exactly what Daniel is saying. 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:54.059 He said, let God be the Lord of history. 00:25:54.940 --> 00:25:55.519 And he is. 00:25:55.579 --> 00:25:56.599 Now, that's our long point. 00:25:56.839 --> 00:25:57.659 We have two short points. 00:25:57.660 --> 00:26:02.279 Secondly, but that's not the end of the story. 00:26:03.320 --> 00:26:07.900 And the end of the story is that even in this vision, God breaks in. 00:26:08.060 --> 00:26:10.100 The Lord of history becomes the God of the great reversal. 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:16.240 And if you look with me at chapter 12, just verses 1 to 3, especially verse 2. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:39.720 Now, the commentators tell us, the theologians tell us, that this is verse 2. 00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:47.299 Chapter 12, verse 2 is the clearest statement of the resurrection, the second coming of the Messiah, 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:50.860 the resurrection of the dead in the whole of the Old Testament. 00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:55.299 And so in the midst of these cycles and patterns of history and what feels like the long defeat, 00:26:55.559 --> 00:27:01.299 all of a sudden the angel, the messenger breaks in and prophesies the clearest example in the Old Testament 00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:05.940 of the resurrection of the dead, that many shall arise from the dust 00:27:05.940 --> 00:27:08.100 and they'll shine like stars in the heavens. 00:27:08.099 --> 00:27:11.399 And here it is, the great reversal. 00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:18.019 And there are so many, you see, life can oftentimes feel like the long defeat, especially as a Christian. 00:27:18.159 --> 00:27:23.019 But there is the great reversal that is to come in world history, the resurrection of the dead. 00:27:23.219 --> 00:27:28.019 And there are lots of many reversals that we experience in the cycles of history. 00:27:28.119 --> 00:27:29.599 And we call those revivals. 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:35.799 And you see, God uses this pattern of what feels like a long defeat, but then he breaks in with a revival. 00:27:37.099 --> 00:27:38.279 And it's a shadow. 00:27:38.419 --> 00:27:41.219 It's a picture of what he's doing across the whole of human history. 00:27:41.799 --> 00:27:46.679 What feels like a long defeat, this Antichrist we've read prophesied in verse 40 to 45, 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:48.880 but then the resurrection of the dead will come. 00:27:49.900 --> 00:27:57.140 Now, how do you know today, how can you live today on the basis of that reality? 00:27:57.380 --> 00:28:01.840 See, what this vision is calling you to do at the end of the book of Daniel is to live your life on the basis 00:28:01.840 --> 00:28:05.779 that the great resurrection of the dead will actually take place. 00:28:05.779 --> 00:28:07.680 And how do you do that? 00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:08.319 How can you know? 00:28:11.139 --> 00:28:12.759 Imagine that you are four years old. 00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:18.700 And I'm thinking through the lens of my children, so I'm able to pull out illustrations like this. 00:28:19.879 --> 00:28:21.000 Imagine you're four years old. 00:28:21.059 --> 00:28:21.700 Do you remember that? 00:28:21.940 --> 00:28:22.819 Five years old, maybe. 00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:28.980 And you are told by your parents, we're going to have a great holiday at the seaside very soon. 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:38.099 And you, as a four-year-old, as a five-year-old, you just do not have the capability to go and check the receipts on that, to be sure. 00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:42.039 You can't go check the booking confirmations on your dad's email. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:47.940 You know, you're not looking at the bank statements to know, has a deposit been made? 00:28:49.120 --> 00:28:53.140 You're not looking at any itineraries that are written up on a spreadsheet. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:54.640 No, what do you do? 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:59.640 What is the firm basis of the reality of your hope that this is going to happen? 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:04.620 And you're living for it, and you're enduring school just to get to the holiday at the seaside. 00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:05.320 And what is the basis? 00:29:05.420 --> 00:29:11.360 And the basis is that your parents have told you things over and over again that have created trust. 00:29:12.560 --> 00:29:13.600 And so you believe them. 00:29:14.600 --> 00:29:16.920 What kind of a receipt can you have but trust? 00:29:17.620 --> 00:29:18.380 And so what do you do? 00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:25.660 Do you get your bucket and spade, and you start playing in the back garden, pretending you're already there, 00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:30.280 and you start drawing pictures of yourself at the seaside until you await the day that it finally comes? 00:29:30.280 --> 00:29:36.960 What receipt do you have to live today on the basis that in the dark cycles of history, 00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:42.380 the great resurrection of the dead will actually take place and be the meaning of your life forever? 00:29:42.500 --> 00:29:43.600 What receipt do you have? 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:51.559 Now, we've read here about all these cycles, 13 kings in that second period of violence that will arise. 00:29:52.199 --> 00:29:57.779 And God is telling us, Jesus tells us in Matthew 24, this is how history works, and then the great reversal. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:00.179 Many great reversals, and then the great reversal. 00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:01.759 And what receipt do you have? 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:12.439 It's because in this cycle of violent kings, the truest king, the truest king, he came to earth not with a great army, 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:19.680 not riding upon a mighty steed but on a donkey, and he came in great humility in the middle of history. 00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:22.539 He broke, he came to break the cycle. 00:30:23.500 --> 00:30:25.380 He came to break the cycle of the long defeat. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:30.019 He came to break the cycle of empires of violence, one after another. 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:33.799 And the Lord of history did that by becoming the ultimate victim of history. 00:30:35.100 --> 00:30:37.279 The Lord of history, he became the victim of history. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:46.019 You see, at the cross of Christ, the weight of all the evil that has taken place across all the cycles of dark patterns of this world, 00:30:46.299 --> 00:30:47.619 it crashed upon him. 00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:50.339 He bore it in himself. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:55.259 He suffered in ways our eyes could not see, in ways that we could never understand, 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:59.339 bearing the weight of the evil events of this world. 00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:04.879 And on Sunday morning, he was not in the grave anymore. 00:31:05.419 --> 00:31:06.759 On Sunday morning, the tomb was empty. 00:31:06.899 --> 00:31:10.659 You see, the Lord of history became the victim of history. 00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:12.519 But on Sunday morning, there was a great reversal. 00:31:14.059 --> 00:31:15.359 He was not there anymore. 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:20.539 And because of that, you can know that the lengthy cycles of history, of political violence, 00:31:20.639 --> 00:31:23.159 he has broken it. 00:31:23.419 --> 00:31:24.639 You've got a receipt, you see. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:30.259 The receipt is that you can trust the God who raised Jesus from the dead in the middle of history 00:31:30.259 --> 00:31:33.140 to raise you from the dead at the end of history. 00:31:34.120 --> 00:31:38.800 And that means that when the text says that the book of life, 00:31:38.980 --> 00:31:40.720 boy, is your name written in the book of life? 00:31:40.800 --> 00:31:43.160 That's what the text asks of us here. 00:31:43.220 --> 00:31:47.780 When you say, I trust him, I follow him, I am his disciple, 00:31:48.120 --> 00:31:53.060 your name, the Lamb's book of life, John calls it in the apocalypse of John, 00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:58.019 your name is there, and that means that you can have hope in the great resurrection that is to come. 00:31:58.359 --> 00:32:02.819 Look, it gives you the power today to step back out into the world and say, 00:32:03.179 --> 00:32:04.259 my life matters so much. 00:32:04.299 --> 00:32:05.119 Let me finish with this. 00:32:06.220 --> 00:32:09.700 Let me give you one way this great reversal, this great prophecy, 00:32:10.419 --> 00:32:12.759 that the Lord of history is the God of great reversals, 00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:18.099 changes our life as we step out of this building this morning, how it matters now. 00:32:18.099 --> 00:32:23.740 If your name is written in the book of life, as is mentioned here in verses 1 to 3, 00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:27.259 if you trust the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, 00:32:27.539 --> 00:32:32.079 everything changes because you know that the long defeat is not the end of the story, 00:32:32.639 --> 00:32:34.519 that the great reversal is coming, 00:32:34.959 --> 00:32:39.599 and that gives you the power to live faithfully in the midst of dark times. 00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:42.519 Let me focus on one verse. 00:32:42.519 --> 00:32:47.539 Daniel 12 verse 3, the angel says, 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:50.740 and those in the day of the great resurrection, 00:32:50.879 --> 00:32:52.359 those in the day of the great resurrection, 00:32:52.539 --> 00:32:57.599 those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, 00:32:57.700 --> 00:33:02.339 and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 00:33:03.099 --> 00:33:04.000 Now, did you hear that? 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:08.740 It said, those who turn many toward righteousness 00:33:08.740 --> 00:33:14.839 will shine in that day like stars forever and ever. 00:33:15.859 --> 00:33:19.359 Now, here's why the embodied resurrection at the end of history 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:20.799 makes sure life matters so much today. 00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:23.380 He's telling us because of the resurrection, 00:33:23.579 --> 00:33:25.460 because God is restoring this world, 00:33:26.299 --> 00:33:29.240 those who have trusted in the Lamb, 00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:31.460 their name written in the book of life, 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:34.200 and those who have turned many to righteousness 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:35.559 will shine forever. 00:33:35.940 --> 00:33:37.200 Their work will shine forever. 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:40.380 The turning of many to righteousness. 00:33:40.580 --> 00:33:41.240 What does that mean? 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:44.700 And what it means here, I think, is something like this. 00:33:44.779 --> 00:33:48.100 Daniel says, how long will all this take place? 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:50.279 And there's some language there about how long 00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:54.420 the rule of Antiochus epiphanies will last at the end of the book. 00:33:54.500 --> 00:33:55.900 But then the angel says to Daniel, 00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:59.519 go your way, Daniel, till the end, 00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:01.460 and you will stand. 00:34:02.220 --> 00:34:03.460 You will find rest. 00:34:03.460 --> 00:34:08.400 Daniel is not going to see any of the good stuff take place here. 00:34:08.840 --> 00:34:11.280 He's going to die in exile. 00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:13.340 He's going to die in the midst of the long defeat. 00:34:13.820 --> 00:34:15.159 But he says, go your way, Daniel. 00:34:15.460 --> 00:34:16.880 Keep doing what you're doing. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:18.860 Keep being faithful. 00:34:20.300 --> 00:34:22.539 Even if it feels like you're losing every single day, 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:24.940 keep being faithful, and you will stand. 00:34:25.059 --> 00:34:25.860 You will find your rest. 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:26.940 You will shine like a star. 00:34:26.940 --> 00:34:31.900 Those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars. 00:34:32.780 --> 00:34:33.800 What is the text telling us? 00:34:33.820 --> 00:34:37.940 It's telling us that your every waking hour today in this life 00:34:37.940 --> 00:34:40.780 means so much for eternal life. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:44.700 That when you turn people to righteousness in this life, 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:47.220 it shines in the next life. 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:50.200 That what you do in every conversation, 00:34:50.360 --> 00:34:52.139 what you do at work every day, 00:34:52.240 --> 00:34:53.840 what you do in your interactions with your neighbors, 00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:55.000 what you do at the dinner table, 00:34:55.140 --> 00:34:57.579 matters so much for all of eternity 00:34:57.579 --> 00:35:00.500 because he's saying turn many to righteousness. 00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:01.740 Keep doing what you're doing. 00:35:02.200 --> 00:35:03.860 Faithful presence in the midst of exile. 00:35:03.980 --> 00:35:04.880 It matters so much. 00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:06.920 I don't know if you know, 00:35:07.340 --> 00:35:09.519 you probably do know the story of Cologne Cathedral, 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.620 which was started in the 13th century, 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:16.140 the year 1248. 00:35:17.300 --> 00:35:19.200 And Cologne Cathedral, 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:23.139 the last stone was laid in Germany in the year 1880. 00:35:23.299 --> 00:35:27.219 So it took 632 years to build Cologne Cathedral. 00:35:28.259 --> 00:35:29.759 Why don't we make buildings like that anymore? 00:35:30.879 --> 00:35:33.480 And it's been noted by so many historians 00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:35.419 that the first generation knew 00:35:35.419 --> 00:35:37.939 that they would never see the finish, 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:39.239 and the second generation knew, 00:35:39.279 --> 00:35:40.219 and the third generation knew, 00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:41.619 and the fourth generation knew 00:35:41.619 --> 00:35:42.679 that they would never see the finish. 00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:45.039 But we know that so many, 00:35:45.139 --> 00:35:47.099 even of the first generation stone workers, 00:35:47.099 --> 00:35:51.360 carved beautiful images into stones 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:53.259 that were put into Cologne Cathedral 00:35:53.259 --> 00:35:54.880 that no one can see. 00:35:55.319 --> 00:35:56.500 And that was the plan from the beginning. 00:35:56.739 --> 00:35:58.860 There are so many stones that are intricate 00:35:58.860 --> 00:36:00.739 that can't be viewed by a human anymore 00:36:00.739 --> 00:36:01.779 because of the way they're placed. 00:36:02.199 --> 00:36:03.219 Only God can see them. 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:06.119 You see, every single worker knew 00:36:06.119 --> 00:36:07.279 that they were laying a stone 00:36:07.279 --> 00:36:08.839 that nobody else would see yet. 00:36:08.980 --> 00:36:10.420 They did it to God's glory. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:14.239 And you don't go out into the city 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:15.679 building the kingdom. 00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:17.699 Ultimately, only God can do that. 00:36:18.199 --> 00:36:19.819 Ultimately, only God can usher 00:36:19.819 --> 00:36:20.519 in the end of history. 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:22.500 Only He can perfect the cathedral. 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:26.000 But every moment you turn somebody 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:27.599 to righteousness, you lay a stone, 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:29.679 even if nobody sees it, 00:36:30.460 --> 00:36:31.539 to the glory of God. 00:36:32.019 --> 00:36:35.199 Every moment you volunteer 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:36.379 to teach kids Sunday school 00:36:36.379 --> 00:36:37.239 on a day like this, 00:36:37.759 --> 00:36:39.079 and the kids just don't seem 00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:40.460 to pay attention for one second, 00:36:41.299 --> 00:36:42.279 you have laid a stone 00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:44.180 that only God understands, 00:36:44.860 --> 00:36:46.960 that you won't see the completion of 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:47.760 somehow, some way. 00:36:48.120 --> 00:36:49.980 And every time you have quiet integrity 00:36:49.980 --> 00:36:51.800 to pursue what's good 00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:53.320 in a hostile work environment, 00:36:54.680 --> 00:36:56.300 even if you're hurt by it, 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:57.540 even if nobody else sees it, 00:36:57.580 --> 00:36:59.120 you're laying a stone. 00:36:59.220 --> 00:37:00.100 And when you invite a neighbor 00:37:00.100 --> 00:37:02.060 to church for the tenth time, 00:37:02.100 --> 00:37:04.060 and they've said no every single time, 00:37:04.100 --> 00:37:05.900 they've ignored you every single time, 00:37:05.900 --> 00:37:07.700 but you're steady, 00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:09.519 you're laying a stone, 00:37:09.660 --> 00:37:11.000 and you don't know what cathedral 00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:12.180 God is building out of that. 00:37:12.240 --> 00:37:14.860 He will, and when you make great art 00:37:14.860 --> 00:37:16.720 in your life, and you do good work 00:37:16.720 --> 00:37:17.740 to the glory of God, 00:37:17.820 --> 00:37:19.000 you're laying a stone, 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:20.200 you're witnessing. 00:37:20.500 --> 00:37:22.240 And when you witness with courage, 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:23.340 you speak words of the gospel 00:37:23.340 --> 00:37:24.840 to somebody, and you don't know 00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:25.639 what it's going to cost you, 00:37:25.680 --> 00:37:26.420 you're laying a stone. 00:37:27.099 --> 00:37:28.960 You are witnessing to the glory 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.860 of the light that will shine 00:37:30.860 --> 00:37:31.860 in the new Jerusalem, 00:37:31.860 --> 00:37:33.260 and you don't know all the ways 00:37:33.260 --> 00:37:34.320 God is going to use it 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:35.620 because of the long defeat. 00:37:36.260 --> 00:37:37.940 It may feel like loss, 00:37:38.600 --> 00:37:41.480 but God is the God of great reversals. 00:37:41.660 --> 00:37:43.019 He's going to use it somehow, some way. 00:37:43.780 --> 00:37:45.820 And so, when you are raised up 00:37:45.820 --> 00:37:46.640 on that last day, 00:37:46.720 --> 00:37:47.620 on the day of the resurrection, 00:37:47.820 --> 00:37:49.080 you will see, you will see. 00:37:49.539 --> 00:37:50.900 Here's what Daniel teaches us, 00:37:51.059 --> 00:37:52.920 our last line of this book. 00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:56.100 When you are raised up on the last day, 00:37:56.180 --> 00:37:58.420 you will see that living for Jesus Christ 00:37:58.420 --> 00:38:00.740 holistically mattered so much. 00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:02.320 It really did. 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:06.280 And faithfulness and exile 00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:08.840 was worth every moment. 00:38:10.460 --> 00:38:11.559 So, the Lord of history 00:38:11.559 --> 00:38:12.680 is the God of great reversals, 00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:14.860 so be in the world, but not of it. 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:17.320 Go out into our great city 00:38:17.320 --> 00:38:18.340 and seek its peace. 00:38:19.180 --> 00:38:20.039 That's the invitation. 00:38:20.980 --> 00:38:21.420 Let us pray. 00:38:21.539 --> 00:38:25.200 Father, we want to learn 00:38:25.200 --> 00:38:26.580 the faithfulness of Daniel 00:38:26.580 --> 00:38:28.080 in the midst of exile, 00:38:28.080 --> 00:38:29.740 even when we don't ever see 00:38:29.740 --> 00:38:30.420 great victories, 00:38:30.420 --> 00:38:32.099 we don't ever see huge fruit, 00:38:32.180 --> 00:38:33.860 we don't ever see revival, 00:38:34.380 --> 00:38:35.680 and Lord, we long for 00:38:35.680 --> 00:38:37.039 the second coming of Jesus 00:38:37.039 --> 00:38:37.740 and the resurrection. 00:38:38.539 --> 00:38:39.519 So, Lord, teach us 00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:40.820 to be faithfully present 00:38:40.820 --> 00:38:41.639 in our time, 00:38:41.700 --> 00:38:42.300 in our moment, 00:38:42.780 --> 00:38:43.500 in whatever ways 00:38:43.500 --> 00:38:44.500 you've called us to be, 00:38:44.619 --> 00:38:46.099 to do great work, 00:38:46.300 --> 00:38:47.579 to make great art, 00:38:47.680 --> 00:38:49.139 to do great business 00:38:49.139 --> 00:38:49.860 to your glory, 00:38:50.360 --> 00:38:51.820 to ultimately witness 00:38:51.820 --> 00:38:53.519 to the gospel with words, 00:38:53.860 --> 00:38:54.000 Lord, 00:38:54.139 --> 00:38:55.599 to build stones, 00:38:55.720 --> 00:38:56.740 lay stones in the cathedral 00:38:56.740 --> 00:38:58.059 that you are ultimately building. 00:38:58.059 --> 00:38:59.500 And so, we thank you, 00:38:59.659 --> 00:39:00.579 Lord, that you use us. 00:39:00.699 --> 00:39:02.199 We feel convicted 00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:03.820 of our emptiness, 00:39:04.179 --> 00:39:06.000 our lack of holistic witness 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:07.940 in this city for you. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:09.139 And so, we come today 00:39:09.139 --> 00:39:10.099 to be renewed in that. 00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:11.420 We long to change. 00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:11.960 So, Lord, 00:39:12.099 --> 00:39:13.259 as we sing our closing hymn, 00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:15.019 we ask that you would change us, 00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:15.719 and we pray for that 00:39:15.719 --> 00:39:16.400 in Jesus' name. 00:39:16.779 --> 00:39:17.019 Amen. 00:39:17.019 --> 00:39:17.139 Amen. 00:39:17.139 --> 00:39:17.179 Amen. 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:17.179 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:19.579 Amen. 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 00:39:19.579 --> 00:39:19.579 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