Just as God said it would happen
The Book of Daniel Part 2 (living a life of integrity) • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsGod knows about the future in advance and reigns sovereign over the rise and fall of all kingdoms great and small, directing history according to his providential plan.
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Note: The lust for power, prestige, and possessions - a blood-lust for more is a dark cloud that has been cast and hangs over human history going all the way back to Genesis 4 and the story of Cain and Abel.
Daniel 10-12 is a unit, and it gives us the final vision of the remarkable book of prophecy. What you are reading today gives us a glimpse into the history that takes place between the Old and New Testaments what is sometimes referred to as the 400 silent years.
Chapter 10 provides the context for chapter 11 and chapter 12 is the Conclusion.
Chapter 10 The spiritual battle behind the vale.
Last week Daniel gave us a glimpse behind the veil at the ongoing spiritual battle that he was constantly being made painfully aware. Last week we are given a glimpse of the pre-incarnate Christ who comes to Daniel in the middle of his anguishing prayer.
Daniel chapter 10 concludes with Daniels visitor strengthening and encouraging Daniel. Chapter 11 this morning begins the same way with a sense of strengthening and encouragement. I think it is hard to imagine how intense and emotionally draining these times of prayer have been for Daniel.
Today we are going to look at God’s sovereign rule and reign over History.
Sinclair Ferguson -
“What is at stake then is a vital issue:
Does God so rule history and can He so communicate with us that His future purposes may be disclosed to us before the events?”
Daniel spends a great deal of energy and time on chapter 11 the longest chapter in the book of Daniel. You have 2 forces engaged what appears to be a never ending battled motivated by blood thirst and desire for power. There knowledge was obviously themselves. The text continually tells us that “they did as they willed.”
The South was the Ptolemies in Egypt and the North was the Seleucids of Syria. In the scope of history Egypt and Syria don’t amount to much during this period of time. The more significant global power is Rome, the new “bad boy” on the block. However, the reason Egypt and Syria receive so much press from Daniel is because they matter in their relationship to Israel and God’s people. They will play political ping pong with Israel for some 175 years until the antichrist-type figure Antiochus IV appears on the scene. This is the focus of verses 20-45.
Until then the civil war takes place between Egypt and Syria with Israel caught in the middle.
vs. 20-45
DIVIDES INTO TWO SECTIONS
vs. 20-35 Antiochus - antichrist type.
vs. 36-45 The Antichrist - the final earthly enemy of God in His people.
GOD RAISES US A CONTEMPTIBLE PERSON TO REFINE, PURITY, AND SANCTIFY HIS PEOPLE.
21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.
29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
IS KNOWLEDGE A GOOD THING OR NOT?
vs. 32 “He shall seduce them with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”
Note: Daniel’s vision reveals the instability of the Kingdoms of the Earth.
Evil is always unstable because it is rooted in our following our own wills instead of God’s will.
God’s will alone is stable and enduring; it alone will ultimately come to pass.
19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
BIG IDEA: Trusting God is easier said than done.
BIG IDEA: Trusting God is easier said than done.
Problem of Evil Is Main Reason for not Trusting God
More people point to the problem of evil and suffering as their reason for not believing in God than any other—it is not merely a problem, it is the problem.
A Barna poll asked, "If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask?" The most common response was, "Why is there pain and suffering in the world?"
John Stott said, "The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith, and has been in every generation. Its distribution and degree appear to be entirely random and therefore unfair. Sensitive spirits ask if it can possibly be reconciled with God's justice and love."
Richard Swinburne, writing in the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, says the problem of evil is "the most powerful objection to traditional theism." Ronald Nash writes, "Objections to theism come and go. … But every philosopher I know believes that the most serious challenge to theism was, is, and will continue to be the problem of evil."
You will not get far in a conversation with someone who rejects the Christian faith before the problem of evil is raised. Pulled out like the ultimate trump card, it's supposed to silence believers and prove that the all-good and all-powerful God of the Bible doesn't exist.
1. To know God is to trust His plan
1. To know God is to trust His plan
What can we know about God?
We cannot know anything about God except what He has revealed to us. We call this the special Revelation of God reserved only for God’s children.
*Those who know God stand firm against evil gaining a foothold in the City of God.
*Those who know God stand firm against evil gaining a foothold in the City of God.
Evil needs a willing participant in order to gain a foothold in our lives of the people of God.
It is not an inevitable thing that the Church should find themselves corrupted by the world; there must be a willingness or a blindness in the Church in order for this to happen.
We see Antiochus the symbol of all earthly kingdoms, gaining a foothold among the people of God. Beware of Flattery and deceit. This foothold finds itself in displayed on three levels: sound doctrine, moral purity, and spiritual awareness. These are the same things that the Church must guard against today.
1) Sound Doctrine:
1) Sound Doctrine:
What is Sound Doctrine?
Sound doctrine is not the stuff of dry academic speculations and armchair theologians. Sound Doctrine is teaching from God’s Word that is faithful to God’s word! Sound Doctrine is Biblical preaching, teaching, and instruction. If God’s word is the heart of the Church, sound doctrine is the blood pumping through it’s veins bringing life to the whole body.
How do we Protect Sound Doctrine?
First and foremost, by filling our Churches with it. For us the danger isn’t that the Word will go un-preached; rather, it’s that we’ll fail to put it first and foremost in our lives. Is hearing God’s word among the things i my life that must be done? Or do I crowd it out of my schedule as an option among many other options.
When sound doctrine becomes an option in our lives we start hearing it less, and less. The less we hear the truth, the easier it will be to twist and expose distortions in our own minds.
One way to protect sound doctrine in the Church is to identify those who rightly handle the word of God and raise them up as elders so that they can share this faithful instruction with others. (plurality of elders who watch over one another’s lives and doctrine to provide a defense against unsound doctrine.)
The ultimate responsibility for sound doctrine does not rest on pastors alone but the entire membership of the Church. (This is why we have a formal membership)
Listen to Paul’s shocking words to the Galatians.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Doctrine is not enough
Churches may be filled with sound doctrine but if we do not apply it to our lives and help each other do so, its only a matter of time before the truth among us will become a casualty.
The only way that we will walk together safely home is if the sound doctrine we hear brings about a sound life. We need sound minds, we need steadfast hearts.
2) Moral Purity:
2) Moral Purity:
Church listen to me closely, “We must guard and maintain moral purity at all cost because there is nothing that damages our effectiveness and legacy more than moral failure in our world today.”
Note: Notice how the writer of Proverbs describes moral temptation as a woman named “folly.”
13 The woman Folly is loud;
she is seductive and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house;
she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
15 calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks sense she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Note: This description does not mean in some way that women are more immoral than men. This is simply a literary device to communicate truth - both to men and women.
Immoral temptation is pervasive: “Folly sits at the doorway of her house calling out to all who pass by to come and visit.”
Immoral temptation is aggressive: “There was a time in the not to far past when immorality was available but you had to know where ti find it. Now, like never before, it comes looking for you. It will track you down while you are on a “straight path” with no intention of being tempted or enticed.
Immorality over-promises and under-delivers: Sexual immorality promises pleasure, satisfaction, and fulfillment it cannot and does not produce. But that does not stop it from making such outrageous claims and promises. (the beginning of and immoral relationship is a heady rush of unleashed pleasure and awareness but the false hope leaves shame and guilt in it’s wake)
Why is Immorality such a Big Deal with God?
Paul dedicates a large portion of His letter to the Church at Corinth on Sexual immorality.
By God’s design, what we do with our bodies engages our hearts. All sexual activity draws on the heart’s affective capacity through desire and pleasure to join the participants not only in body but also in spirit (i.e, heart). Neuroscience has shown that sexual activity releases hormones that result in a greater commitment and trust between those who engage in sex. These hormones are biological, they work to deepen the heart’s commitment to one’s partner by God’s design.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:17 that sex therefore, unites the temple of God with that of immorality.
The body’s significance is not only due to God’s design but also because what we do with our bodies is hardwired to affect our hearts and relationships. Once you become a follower of Christ your body is joined to Christ and becomes God’s dwelling place with man.
3) Spiritual Awareness:
3) Spiritual Awareness:
Note: We expect the world to be spiritually blind, because they are still living in the dark shadow of sin, however, those who are the blood bought children of God have been brought into the light of Christ’s glorious grace. Therefore, those who are not truly His cannot understand the truth of God’s word.
Broadly speaking spiritual awareness is the consciousness of spiritual matters. We must be careful in defining spiritual awareness because, it is such a vague term many find this awareness by “naval gazing,” at themselves. There is no doubt after reading Daniel 10 that the spiritual realm is a real thing. Unfortunately evil spirits often times masquerade as beings of light and knowledge, and “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” ( 2 Corinthians 11:14).
Remember in the garden the serpent tempted Eve with knowledge or “awareness” of things that were beyond her comprehension. Mankind was never intended to shoulder the weight of the knowledge of Good and Evil. When she told the serpent that God had told her and Adam that they would die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent (Satan) said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). The serpent promised a type of spiritual awareness that only brought harm and destruction.
All believers possess a spiritual awareness that they have been removed from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). Our spiritual eyes have been opened to the reality of our sinful condition, the grace of God, and the lies of the enemy. We know the love of God; we experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We understand that we are in a spiritual battle and that Satan’s plan is to devour us. We are not unaware of his schemes.
Since we have been raised with Christ our hearts are set on tings above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2. Man purposes, God disposes.
2. Man purposes, God disposes.
Daniel’s vision brings wave, upon wave of earthly kingdoms and their activities. The Kingdom of Darkness never learns it’s lesson. This evil does not yield to God because it knows that it is doomed. Remember the demons cried out when Jesus was here that there time had not yet come, however, they know their ultimate end is going to be destruction.
PURPOSES: By intent : Intentionally : a course of action or execution.
DISPOSE: to put in place : set in readiness : to settle a matter once and for all : to deal with conclusively.
Note: It is subtle however, notice the number of time Daniel uses the word “but.”
4 And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.
6 After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times.
English Standard Version Chapter 11
8 He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. 9 Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.
English Standard Version Chapter 11
11 Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand.
12 And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail.
14 “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail.
19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.
25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him.
27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed.
29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before.
It reveals a pattern: The worldly kingdoms plot their schemes; as they unfold, God brings them to nothing.
*We make our Plans, but God Intervenes
*We make our Plans, but God Intervenes
Note: The one who blatantly despises God’s word may arrogantly ask, “where is the wrath of God when I do all these things and He does not even respond?” What we forget is that God’s wrath has already been revealed.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Author Darrell Johnson, drawing inspiration from James Sire and N.T. Wright, says that every worldview is asking and trying to answer the following nine questions:
1. What is prime reality? What is the "really real"?
2. Who or what are we? What does it mean to be a human being?
3. Is there such a thing as "morality," right and wrong? If so, what is its basis; how does one know the good and the bad?
4. What is the meaning of history? Or, is there any meaning?
5. What is wrong with us? Something is off—what is it?
6. Is there a solution; can things be fixed? By whom? How? How quickly?
7. Is there a God? If so, can this God be known? And is this God involved in the world, especially relative to human suffering?
8. What happens to a human being at death?
9. What time is it? "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven" (Eccles 3:1). Where are we in the flow of history?
God is a righteous judge. He will not be mocked. What the kingdom sows the kingdom will also reap.
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
God has instituted throughout the human experience the idea of reaping and sowing. When a farmer plants his seed in his own way of thinking such behavior will eventually sprout and produce growth. In the same way whatever a person plants in his own thinking a behavior will later bear fruit - either good or bad.
If a person is focused on fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and that is what he invests in, then that person will reap fruit of that investment.
PRINCIPLE OF SOWING AND REAPING
We choose Good seed to sow: We choose what kind of seed we want to eventually reap, whether seed in conformity with faith and life in Christ, or in conformity with the flesh and corruption.
We Sow Much: We reap in proportion to how much wee sow. The time for sowing is now, the opportunity is now. Satan is working overtime to his destructive evil plan because he knows his time is short, how much more does Christ compel us to turn ourselves to the work of the Spirit of life during the brevity of our days?
We Expect Problems: People are generally willing to toil for earthly gain. However, people can be unwilling to endure for spiritual gain, even those who have sowed the harvest will not even work to reap the results.
We avoid fainting: We should expect spiritual difficulties and problems along the path of our toil and labor for the Lord. However, there is not a difficulty that we will face that is greater than the power that we have in our Lord and Savior.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Note: We must always keep in focus that evil is just for a time, the victory is won and the enemy defeated.
God’s Grace in our Sowing and Reaping
Reaping the reward of heaven is ultimately of God’s own goodness that he has bestowed upon us.
No living person is doomed to suffering for poor choices in a past life (karma). We don’t follow some deterministic luck of blind fate.
We sow knowing in good season that we will reap from what we sow if we are just faithful and don’t give up.
3. God is working out His purpose for His people in all circumstances
3. God is working out His purpose for His people in all circumstances
35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
They know that through all the circumstances of life God is refining and purifying His Church!
2020’s Most-Read Bible Verse
During the hardest moments of a particularly difficult year, Bible searches soared online, and a record number of people turned to Scripture for passages addressing fear, healing, and justice. The popular YouVersion Bible App saw searches increase by 80 percent in 2020, totaling nearly 600 million worldwide.
Isaiah’s assurance to “do not fear,” was the Bible App’s top verse globally this year, also ranked as the No. 1 verse in the US, India, South Africa, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. In Ghana, the top verse was Philippians 4:8 (“Do not be anxious …”), and in Kenya, Romans 8:28 (“in all things, God works for the good …”).
YouVersion founder Bobby Gruenewald said, “Through every hardship, people continue to seek God and turn to the Bible for strength, peace, and hope. While 2020 is a year so many say they’d like to forget, we see it as a year to remember how God used the Bible App to help so many people who are searching for answers.”
Overall, the app tracked 43.6 billion chapters of the Bible read in 2020, with half a billion verses shared, its highest on record.
Note: Romans 8:28 “We know that for those who love God all things work for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.”
One of the most misunderstood pieces of scripture:
The Good is both His good and our good....
This promise is for those who Love God. What does it mean to love God?
We know through Jesus that to love God is not just to believe, but to abide by His commandments just as Jesus did (John 14:12).
When Paul say’s all things he is encompassing the good the bad and the ugly aspects of life. The second qualifier is those who are called according to His purpose. Following God’s commandments as one of His children means that we can be used for His purpose. “Remember that Jesus said in order to follow him we must deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow Him.
What does all things work together for the good mean?
Paul is laying down the contrast between those who live according to the flesh, and those who live according to the spirit.
We are reminded in Romans 8:18 that the present struggles and sufferings that we may currently facing are not to be compared to the future glory of the kingdom of God.
Note: Notice that the text begins with “we know”. This goes back to the idea of knowledge that we started with this morning. For those who know God. So what do we know about God from Romans 8?
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning. vs22
What do we not know?
We do not know how to pray as we should. vs.26.
There is a continuous tension between what we do not and what we do not know about God. There are those places that God has not clearly reveled his mind to us. However in verse 28 Paul lists five truths about Gods providence that we do know.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GOD?
*We know His Good Purposes do not Change.
*We know His Good Purposes do not Change.
The Privilege of Suffering
Helen Roseveare was an English missionary who served in the Congo, enduring imprisonment and torture during its civil war. Of that traumatic time, she said, “I wasn’t praying. I was beyond praying. Someone back home was praying earnestly for me. If I’d prayed any prayer it would have been, ‘My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?’ And suddenly, there was God. I didn’t see a vision, I didn’t hear a voice, I just knew with every ounce of my being that God was actually, vitally there. God in all his majesty and power. He stretched out his arms to me. He surrounded me with his love and he seemed to whisper to me, ‘Twenty years ago, you asked me for the privilege of being a missionary. This is it. Don’t you want it?’
Fantastic, the privilege of being identified with our savior. As I was driven down the short corridor of my home, it was as though he clearly said to me, ‘These are not your sufferings. They’re not beating you. These are my sufferings. All I ask of you is the loan of your body.’ And an enormous relief swept through me. One word became unbelievably clear, and that word was privilege. He didn’t take away pain or cruelty or humiliation. No! It was all there, but now it was altogether different. It was with him, for him, in him. He was actually offering me the inestimable privilege of sharing in some little way the edge of the fellowship of his suffering.
In the weeks of imprisonment that followed and in the subsequent years of continued service, looking back, one has tried to ‘count the cost,’ but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of the privilege.
Can you—will you—believe it and enter into it?”- Helen Roseveare
*His good purpose is in His work
We know that God is working for those who love Him. God is the directing force behind all that He is doing. He is constantly, energetically, and actively working on our behalf. Even if the work includes the privilege of suffering for His sake, and His Glory.
*It is on His people
We must never forget that we are the object of God’s love. The good that is the purpose of all that He does is focused on you.
God loved you first and best when He sent his son. We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, however, our love is imperfect while His love is perfect in every way.
We love because He has first loved us. If we say we love God yet hate our brother or sister he cannot truly love God. (1 John 4:19)
*It is in all things.
The word “all things” panta meaning in everything God works for good.
Everything must include suffering and groanings. Therefore, all that is negative in this life is seen to have a positive purpose in the execution of his eternal plan.
*It is marked by Love.
What kind of Love is Paul talking about here?
This is a limitation that is put on God’s good and perfect purpose for us. This is not a general optimism that all things tend to work out for everyone’s good in the end.
Most of Paul’s reference to love in Romans is God’s love that is directed towards us. However we do no that the first and greatest commandment is built on our love for God.
We know that Christians are marked by how they show love, as 1 Corinthians 13 mentions all of the virtues but at the end these virtues Paul states that the greatest of these is love. We also know that “no greater love can be shown then that one is willing to lay down his life for the object of that love. It would seem to reason that the love we have towards God is an Agape or self-sacrificing kind of love.
*It is on those who have been called
Their love for Him is a sign of His prior love for them. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrated His own love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
Life is not the random mess that it some times appear. Paul is saying that “we know,” we do not always understand, let alone welcome it. Nor are we told that He is at work for our comfort.
But we know that all things he is working towards our supreme good.
One of the reasons we know this is because of all the examples we have in scripture. For example this was Joseph’s conclusion to his brothers selling him into slavery in Egypt: “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
The continual narrative of absolute evil and God’s greater providential plan was most powerfully displayed by Jesus as He hung on the Cross. Peter attributed this both to the absolute wickedness of man and God’s set purpose and plan.
They will taste tribulation … distress … persecution … famine … nakedness … peril … the sword ...
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Paul concludes Romans 8 by asking a question: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
*We know that His Love never changes
*We know that His Love never changes
Pressures caused by the world.
Tribulation… Distress … and Persecution.
Next, we go to famine, nakedness, and clothing those physical things we need to survive. At the Sermon on the mount Jesus promises these things to God’s Children.
“Danger of the Sword”
The last one is the threat of death. The threat of martyrdom is the final test of faith for the Christian.
36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Along 35-39 we read in Hebrews 11 lists people of faith who were jeered at, tortured, flogged, chained, stoned, and even sawed in half.
Can pain, misery, and even death separate us from Christ’s love. No, on the contrary instead of alienating us from Him it galvanizes us closer to Him.
This is why Daniel say’s for those who know God they will stand firm and take action, even though some may stumble and fall in the face of the flattery from the evil one.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul Begins with “I Know” now he ends with “I am sure (convinced).”
“I have become and remain convinced”
Paul chooses 10 items to contrast
“Death nor life”
“Angels nor rulers”
“Things Present nor things to come.” (quality of time and space)
“Height nor depth” (Giving the spacial quality of the universe) Psalm 139 “Where can we go from his presence.
Paul concludes with anything else in all of creation to leave nothing to chance that he has not made the point clear enough that it is all under the control and dominion of God the Creator and Jesus Christ the Lord.
Our confidence is in our love for Him which at best is frail, fickle and faltering, but here is the good news, His love for us is steadfast, faithful and persevering.
Psalm 136 Tells us over, and over, again, “God’s Love Never Fails.” Our love is fickle and changing but there is not shadow of changing with God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
CONCLUSION
The Lord Jesus goodness in contrast with both Antiochus and the Antichrist. The light that shines from His glory is on full display for all the world to see.
Antiochus/Antichrist King Jesus
Despised (11:20) “Desired”
Deceitful (11:23) “Truthful”
Hates the Holy Covenant (11:28) “Loves God’s Holy Covenant”
Desecrates the Temple (11:31) “Cleanses the Temple”
Abolishes sacrifices (11:31) “Made Sacrifice Once and for all”
Persecutes and Murders God’s people (11:22-23) “Refines and Purifies God’s people”
Willful “Submissive” (to the point of death)
Exalts Himself (11:36) “Humbles Himself”
Magnifies Himself as God (11:36) “Incarnated Himself as God” (fully man, fully God)
Blasphemes God (11:36) “Glorifies God”
Worships the God of War (11:38) “Is the God of Peace”
His Kingdom will end (11:45) “His kingdom will endure forever”
The puny human depot meets the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. One of my favorite scenes in the Avenger series is when Loki meets the Hulk and tells the Hulk that he is beneath him in every way, then the Hulk picks Loki up and slamming him to the ground and calls him a “puny little Human.”
When it comes to Satan and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, It is not contest!
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.