Sermon Tone Analysis

Are You Making the Most of Your Time?

A study revealed that an average seventy-year-old man has spent twenty-four years sleeping, fourteen years working, eight years in amusements, six years at the dinner table, five years in transportation, four years in conversation, three years in education, and two years in studying and reading.

His other four years were spent in miscellaneous pursuits.

Of those four years, he spent forty-five minutes in church on Sundays, and five minutes were devoted to prayer each day.

This adds up to a not at all impressive total of five months that he gave to God over the seventy years of his life.

Even if this man had been a faithful churchgoer who attended Sunday school and three one-hour services per week, he would have spent only one year and nine months in church!

If you have a question about the above arithmetic, sit down and figure out how you have been using your time.

How large a portion of it is for the things related to God?

When you finish this exercise, ponder what Jesus said: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? .

A study revealed that an average seventy-year-old man has spent twenty-four years sleeping, fourteen years working, eight years in amusements, six years at the dinner table, five years in transportation, four years in conversation, three years in education, and two years in studying and reading.

His other four years were spent in miscellaneous pursuits.

Of those four years, he spent forty-five minutes in church on Sundays, and five minutes were devoted to prayer each day.

This adds up to a not at all impressive total of five months that he gave to God over the seventy years of his life.

Even if this man had been a faithful churchgoer who attended Sunday school and three one-hour services per week, he would have spent only one year and nine months in church!

If you have a question about the above arithmetic, sit down and figure out how you have been using your time.

How large a portion of it is for the things related to God?

When you finish this exercise, ponder what Jesus said: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? .

With those thoughts in mind…please turn to …today we conclude our study of Daniel…the whole theme of this book as been to see the Sovereignty of God in all things and the need for us to stay faithful, even in times of great distress…

In this book, God revealed his sovereign plan for Israel and the world and his desire is that his people stay faithful no matter what is going on around them, regardless of who is in power on the earth and that being faithful means doing what God has called us to do in the time He has alloted for us...

Now as we get to , God is going to conclude his message to Daniel with a view into a very specific period of time that will impact Israel and the whole world...

The End Times in Daniel

The entire section of constitutes a major revelation of the end times…Jesus would call this time The Great Tribulation… and Jeremiah would call the Time of Jacob’s Trouble…

From we see that this time begins with the breaking of the covenant the Antichrist makes with Israel

A world ruler, a world war, a world religion, time of great tribulation for Israel, deliverance for the people of God at the end of the tribulation, resurrection and judgment, reward of the righteous.

From we see that this time begins with the breaking of the covenant the Antichrist makes with Israel

From ; ; that the reign of terror from the Antichrist will last for three and one half years...

We see Michael in this text…the only angel given the title of archangel……name means “who is like unto God?”… tells us he is the one who kicks Satan out of heaven…Daniel makes it clear that he is the protector of Israel.

We see that this text also points to the Jews… “sons of your people”...

It is a time of trouble...

This text is for Israel and our understanding of God’s message to them is...

Main Point: Stay Faithful Knowing the End is Coming!

Main Point: Stay Faithful Knowing the End is Coming!

God reveals truth to Daniel that is to be a guide for understanding what lies ahead…by knowing these things, the challenge is to stay faithful, redeeming the time alloted to each generation...

What things does God want Daniel and Israel to know?

Know the Prophecies of the End —

These first three verses review and affirm four major prophecies concerning the future of Israel.

Israel will experience great trouble —

“At that time” links this text with the end of …it is the period of time marked by the rule of the Antichrist…it is a reign of terror...

Jer

From Revelation we see how Michael is involved...

Rev

When Satan is cast down to the earth, the Great Tribulation will be initiated on Israel.

Rev

Here is what happens to Israel during this time...

God himself will gather the nations, using them to purge Israel, refine them and judge them…the calamity here will be unprecedented...

Greater detail of this time is seen in .

Jeremiah 30:

Jeremiah compares the men clutching themselves in fear to a woman in labor…the coming calamity will be so awful that nothing can compare to it…but not all is lost for God will rescue his people...

Matthew 24

Unless Jesus put an end to this time, no one would survive…for the sake of the elect…so that the redeemed people do not suffer more than they can bear, the time is cut short, total destruction is held back…in and we are told the beast is only allowed to terrorize the world for a period of three and half years...

When Daniel is told “at that time” he is told about this period of war, famine, darkness, disease and demons…the world will have never experienced what it will then...

wholesale slaughter and famine and economic struggles — horsemen in

collapse of the heavenly bodies — stars fall to the earth like a fig tree sheds its winter fruit…

destruction of 1/3 of the earth, 1/3 of the sea, 1/3 of plant life, 1/3 of the sun is destroyed, 1/3 of the moon, 1/3 of the stars, great demonic activity to the point that 1/3 of the world’s population will be wiped out..

Real Global Warming — sun will scorch people and burn them to death

Real Global Warming — sun will scorch people and burn them to death

Great horrors will be unleashed upon this world when God pours out his wrath through the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments described in .

you ain’t seen nothin’ yet…none of us will ever experience the distress this world will see at that time...

Israel will be rescued —

Everyone who is found written in the book…this is a reference to the Book of life mentioned a number of times in the Bible…; ; ; ; etc.

Everyone who is found written in the book…this is a reference to the Book of Life mentioned a number of times in the Bible…; ; ; ; etc.

Scripture speaks of this book in two ways…a book of natural life…much like a book that records genealogies, this is the book of the living…being blotted out of this book was to die…In , when Moses told God to blot him out he is saying I would rather die than see Israel destroyed…here in the thought is that the righteous whose names are in that book will survive the tribulation.

It is also used in the NT to refer to the fact that those who trust Christ have their names written in this book which contains the names of believers of all times…;

So what we gain from a fuller understanding of this book is that there will be a remnant of Jews that will believe, whose names will be written in this book and they will be rescued, some eternally and some both physically and eternally… would refer to them as the 144,000, the martyr’s, etc.

That seems to be the concept behind the Book of Life…it is a book originally containg

God says in that He will purge Israel of rebellious and disobedient Jews, leaving a remnant of committed Jews...

In we read...

Malachi also makes reference to this...

Malachi

God is going to use the Tribulation period to separate the faithful Jews from those who are unfaithful…those left at the end of that time will be a righteous nation that will reign with Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom…a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth from Jerusalem…,

Israel will experience a resurrection —

This is not saying that everyone will be resurrected at the same time…the New Testament reveals that by the end of the Tribulation, all righteous dead will have been resurrected to life…but the resurrection of the unrighteous will not occur until a thousand years later, at the end of the Millennium

,

Old Testament saints are not raised at the rapture…only those who are in Christ…they are not raised until after the tribulation…why?

Because after the Tribulation Jesus sets up the Millennial Kingdom in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and David of the eternal King.

So what we have here in is a 1000 year gap in time between the resurrection of the just and the unjust…some to everlasting life…some to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

The point of is that those who are in Christ and who die during the Tribulation period will be raised to life and will enter the Millennial Kingdom

Israel will be rewarded —

wise — those having true knowledge, insight into the Word of God.

These individuals will influence others for righteousness and will shine as bright lights in a dark world…during the Tribulation there will be some courageous individuals who will instruct others in God’s Word…and there will be people saved… “lead many to righteousness”…their witness will be a shining light in the darkened condition of the world.

The End of Prophecies —

Something you’ll notice about this is that Daniel doesn’t understand much of what God says to him…Read

We have a greater advantage today than Daniel did…we have the completed revelation of God.

But even with that there are still somethings we struggle to grasp!

But don’t get discouraged!

Peter tells us in that the prophets themselves knew they were writing prophesies but they didn’t always understand what the Holy Spirit gave them to write.

The Prophecies Are To Be Guarded Until The End Times —

conceal, shut up the words, roll up and seal…Daniel is told that the prophecies here are for the end times and that it must be secured so it would be available when it was needed most… indicates that Daniel couldn’t understand what he was told and the only instruction he receives is to seal it up…protect it…there was going to come a time on earth when what is revealed here will make sense and the people are going to need to read this...

“Many will run to and fro and knowledge will increase”… does not mean that technology will rule the day and international travel will be easier…the Hebrew verb form always refers to the movement of a person searching for something…to diligently peruse the words on a page…during the Tribulation people will look for answers to the devastation and discover increased knowledge from reading Daniel because it has been preserved…no matter how much longer it takes for this to happen, God will preserve His Word to make sure people have Daniel available to read during that time!

The Prophecies Speak of A Specific Time When The Tribulation Will End —

Raised both hands — in ancient times raising one hand in an oath was a way of showing the seriousness and importance of a promise…; … by raising both hands he conveyed an even greater significance...

Time, times and half a time — answers the question of of how long will it last?

time = 1 unit, times = 2 units, half time = 1/2 unit

this is a reference to the last 3 1/2 years of Daniel’s seventieth week…the time the little horn/willful king persecutes the saints — ; ; … this same time frame is described in ;

“as soon as they finish”… Daniel is told that all these prophecies will be fulfilled as long as it takes for the power of the Jews to be broken.

— many will be purged…salvation will come to many Jews during the Tribulation and the true believers will develop godliness and understanding through the trials, however the lost will still act wickedly.

Start counting the days when you see the abomination of desolation —

Jesus speaks to this in

— Jesus says flee to the mountains..

The Antichrist removes the daily offerings which he allowed in the covenant he makes with Israel…go back to and you see that he breaks this covenant and begins persecuting the Jews…He desecrates the temple and sets himself up as God…

Why are there different amounts of days listed in , ?