God’s Plan to Purify Israel – Part 3
Daniel 12:1-13
August 28, 2016

Tonight we come to the end of our study of the book of Daniel.
And so in order to close it I do want to take just a moment
And remember the reasoning for why we studied it to begin with.

We said from the beginning that the book of Daniel reminds us
Of the sovereignty of God like no other book in Scripture.

We were given a glimpse of Israel in her most vulnerable moment
In order to recognize that God had not lost control.

• We saw systematically as God humbled one world ruler after another.
• It didn’t matter if it was Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, or Darius, each of these men were forced to bow the knee to Israel’s God.
• And we saw that God’s plan for Israel goes even beyond Babylon
God is in control.

And that is always an encouraging reality for us to remember.

I read a blog post this week that I want to share with you
As sort of the “OTHER VIEW”.

There are many in our world who literally strip God’s sovereignty out of the equation for fear that it somehow makes God look bad.
But I want to show you what you end up with when you do that.

This was a blog written by a lady named Christine Suhan
She is a Christian blogger

Have you ever found yourself, in the midst of unimaginable grief, pain, heartache, or despair, wondering how you are going to make it through another day? Wondering where your next breath is going to come from? Your world has crumbled beneath you and you are left feeling shattered, empty, and hopeless.
And then a well meaning friend or family member comes along and drops the infamous “Everything happens for a reason” bomb. You smile kindly and nod- that’s all you can do to keep yourself from punching them in the face.
You can’t possibly imagine a reason for what just happened. The more you stew about a possible reason for your pain, the angrier you become. You try desperately to make sense of a situation that won’t ever make sense. You reach for answers but none come.
I spent years searching for answers, trying to find reasons that would bring an end to my pain. I thought that if I could find the cause, I could treat the condition. But what I found through years of searching, experiencing, and living is that often there is no reason for why tragedy has occurred.
Sometimes bad things happen for no reason other than we are human beings having a human experience. Pain, heartache, grief, loss, disease, and death are inevitable parts of the human experience.
We hear people say “Life dealt me a crappy hand” as if pain and hardships are not the norm. We assume that life is supposed to be easy and when things don’t go our way, we feel like we have been wronged. Human beings seem to have an innate sense of entitlement. We think that we are owed a pain free existence.
But the truth is that human beings are not exempt from the human experience. And struggle is an innate part of the human experience. None of us are exceptions to this rule. We all struggle. We all suffer. We all experience pain, heartache, and loss. And sometimes, there’s just no reason other than we are human and pain is a part of the process.
I recently had a conversation with a friend who was struggling to find peace with “God’s plan” for her life including the recent death of a loved one. “How could this possibly be God’s will?” she asked.
Here’s what I’ve come to know about God’s will: God’s will is not the path we walk, but rather how we walk the path. God’s plan is never for someone to have cancer. God’s will is not for an innocent child to be brutally murdered. God’s will is not for a teenage girl to be raped. God’s will is not chronic pain, illness, disability, or death. God’s will is not an event that happens to us, it’s how we respond to what happens.
God’s will for us is to walk with Him through the cancer. Through the abuse. Through the death. Through the illness. God’s will is for us to draw close to him in the midst of pain. God’s will is for us to use our painful life events to carry his message of hope, grace, forgiveness, and mercy.
God’s plan was never for pain to be part of the human experience. His plan was for us to live in peace and harmony with Him. The human experience became painful when sin entered the world. Our own free will weaved threads of tragedy, loss, heartache, and pain into the human experience
God is not responsible for our pain. We are not responsible for our pain. What happened in the Garden of Eden is responsible for the human condition. And the human condition is hard wired for pain and suffering. God is not causing us to hurt. He is hurting with us. What we do with our hurt is what matters. How we handle tragedy is what brings purpose into our pain.
There’s hardly ever a justifiable reason for the bad things that happen in life. Tragic loss is not laced with inherent specs of good. I used to get so mad when people would say, “you can find good in every situation.” That’s just not true. There was nothing good about being raped. There is no good in murder or abuse. We have to create the good. We have to choose to respond in a way that brings good into an impossible situation. We have to choose to give purpose and meaning to our suffering.
Not everything happens for a reason. But in everything that happens, there can be a reason to bring hope and healing to others. God can use our pain for a greater good if we choose to let Him in.
(http://tosavealife.com/relationships/everything-not-happen-reason/)

And this line of thinking is not fringe, there are a lot of people who cope with life’s tragedies with this same sort of reasoning.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to vilify this lady. (If I read the article correctly she survived being raped, and according to her bio on her blog page she also suffers with depression; possibly as a result)

Furthermore I even understand that her goal is to defend God in the midst of tragedy and I appreciate the fact that even after her own personal suffering her goal is to proclaim that God is good.

The problem is that this line of thinking
Does not bring true comfort, hope, or peace to life.

Listen to what is being said. (by more than just her I assure you)
Over and over we hear that suffering is not God’s will,
It’s just part of being a human and the human experience.

Probably the most emotionally charged paragraph came when she said:
“Here’s what I’ve come to know about God’s will: God’s will is not the path we walk, but rather how we walk the path. God’s plan is never for someone to have cancer. God’s will is not for an innocent child to be brutally murdered. God’s will is not for a teenage girl to be raped. God’s will is not chronic pain, illness, disability, or death. God’s will is not an event that happens to us, it’s how we respond to what happens.”

Later she says:
God is not causing us to hurt. He is hurting with us.

And then:
I used to get so mad when people would say, “you can find good in every situation.” That’s just not true. There was nothing good about being raped. There is no good in murder or abuse. We have to create the good. We have to choose to respond in a way that brings good into an impossible situation. We have to choose to give purpose and meaning to our suffering.

I share that because it is the most accurate description I have found
Of a person living life without a view of God’s sovereignty.

Everything is up to the sufferer.
• They have to choose to make lemonade out of their lemons.
• They have to “create the good” in their situation.
• God isn’t doing anything here,
• In fact God is up in heaven with his hands thrown up in the air hurting with you.

That may make you feel warm and fuzzy toward God,
But it will not help you cope with life’s hardships.

Let me tell you the outcome of this line of thinking.
• It replaces faith with work – after all you are the one who has to create good in your situation because this situation has already gone beyond what God intended.

• It replaces prayer with reason – God doesn’t have the answers any more than you do, in fact He’s up in heaven hurting like you. There’s no need to ask Him for guidance or direction, you’ll have to dig deep and figure that out on your own. (or consign to the hopeless position that it was pointless)

• It replaces God’s glory with man’s glory – Under this mindset there is only one possible victor here, and it isn’t God. On the day you come through your trials you are the one who gets applauded for your strength, not God. He was nothing more than a traveling observer.

• In the end it crushes all hope – If God doesn’t have a plan or a hand in your suffering then there is no hope that any of this will ever get any better or that anyone will ever be blessed by it. You are just walking through wasted pain that won’t ever benefit anyone at all.

BUT FRIENDS THAT IS NOT TRUE.
God is in control and that fact is the assurance we have
To know that this will all end well.

Regardless of the unthinkable atrocities that life may deliver
The believer has every assurance
That God knows exactly what He is doing.

Even in unthinkable tragedies and atrocities.

In those situations you only have two options.
1) God couldn’t stop it
2) God wouldn’t stop it

Now most today opt for the “God couldn’t stop it” approach because they think it makes God look more attractive to people.

But if that is true we are in a world of hurt.
We must answer who it is out there that God can’t stop?

People don’t like the other option of “God wouldn’t stop it” because they think it makes God look cruel.

And that would be true if we knew all the facts, but we don’t.
This is the point where trust comes in.

This is the point where we must realize that
• The God who is in total control
• And who loves me unconditionally as evidenced by the cross
• And who has determined that all things must work for good for me
• And who is totally omniscient
• Obviously knows what He is doing, even if I don’t.

I find hope in the reality that God is in control even in the tragedy.
• Tragedies like a 14 year old kid getting sold into slavery
• Tragedies like a man who lost 8 children in natural disaster
• Tragedies like a torn from his home at age 15 never to return
• Tragedies like a man’s son being brutally murdered while His father looked on

Incidentally, those tragedies were Joseph, Job, Daniel, and Jesus

GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING

And that is such a central message here to the book of Daniel.
We’ve seen it over and over.

And it is a message made extremely clear again tonight.

In fact we are talking about GOD’S PLAN TO PURIFY ISRAEL.

• We know Daniel was reading Jeremiah 29 and learned that the Babylonian captivity was to last 70 years.
• We know that Gabriel came to Daniel to reveal that the entire plan of God for Israel would take 70 sevens, not 70 years
• And we have listened as Gabriel revealed to Daniel what events God was going to sovereignly orchestrate in order to accomplish His purpose.

And I do want to remind you again of God’s purpose for Israel.
I want to remind you of the end game.

Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

God’s goal is not the comfort of Israel, God’s goal is the purity of Israel.

We’ve already seen the first two points.
#1 THE PAST HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:1-35

There we saw events that were future to Daniel but history to us.
• We saw a detailed description of the division of the kingdom of Greece and many of the wars that would take place among those kingdoms.
• Everything from invasions to marriages to deaths and defeats
• Ultimately we saw that one of those rulers would come in to Israel and desecrate the place and it all happened to a “T”.

And while that certainly did have an immediate purpose in Israel as it brought about a revolution for purity,
Ultimately those events were merely foreshadows of a future time.

#2 THE FUTURE HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:36-45

There we looked at events that are future for both Daniel and us.
We looked at the rise of a man whom we know as Antichrist.
• We saw his arrogance
• We saw his pride
• We saw his rise and his love of power
• We saw how he blaspheme God
• We saw how he would persecute Israel
• And we saw how he would ultimately come to his end

BUT WE HAVE YET TO SEE IS HOW ANY OF THIS ACTUALLY HELPS GOD ACCOMPLISH HIS ULTIMATE GOAL FOR ISRAEL

If we stopped after Daniel 11
We would be in the same boat as the blogger
Who couldn’t find any purpose in the middle of the pain.

That is what the final chapter of Daniel is for.
In fact if you want a bit of sneak peek look down at verse 8

(8) “As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of all these events?”

DANIEL ASKED, WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?

We’ve seen the Past History; The Future History
#3 THE SOVEREIGN DESTINY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 12:1-4

Now we find what the sovereign God is up to
With all of this difficulty and hardship.

To help us grasp it all let me break this down into 3 points here.
And what you will find is that in all 3 points God is making His purpose clear, but it doesn’t appear that those who are seeing the vision are getting it.

So God sort of reveals the purpose
But then has to answer questions regarding His revelation.
But God continually spells out the purpose for all of this suffering.

Let’s look at those 3 points together
1) THE DESCRIPTION (1-4)

This is still part of that initial revelation which started back in chapter 11,
In fact it is the end of it.

• The angelic messenger (whom we believe to be Gabriel) has just given details about the horrific reign and timely fall of the Antichrist.

Now he is going to reveal what that time period will be like for Israel.
He is merely describing what to expect while Antichrist is in control.

(1) “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time;”

I hope you like the words “time of distress such as never occurred”

The world has never seen suffering like the suffering
Which will come during the reign of Antichrist.
Not even the holocaust could compare to this.

However it is during this time of distress that God will send “Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people”

We only have the names of 3 angels in the Bible.
We have Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer
• We know about Lucifer
• Gabriel always seems to be PR man, sort of the message carrier.
• Michael is always the warrior, he’s always in battle.

And here Daniel is promised that during this great time of distress
When Israel is under attack like never before
That Michael will arise on her behalf.

The fear is EXTINCTION, which has always been the plan of the enemy.
It is Satan seeking to destroy God’s elect.
• That was the plan of Pharaoh drowning all those babies
• That was the plan of Babylon deporting Israel
• That was the plan of Haman wanting to kill the Jews
• That was the plan of Antiochus Epiphones
• That was the plan of Hitler
• That was the plan of Stalin
• That is the plan of the Arabs and Islam

It’s not new.
And that will certainly be the plan of Antichrist.
His goal will be to totally annihilate Israel.

But we find here that while the tribulation will be intense
ANTICHRIST WILL NOT SUCCEED.

(1) “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”

“rescued” doesn’t necessarily indicate deliverance from death as we see many tribulation believers who are martyred.

Revelation 7:13-17 “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Even
Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

“rescued” doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t die, but they won’t perish. That is to say Satan can’t get to them and destroy their souls.

And if we know anything of the gospel,
We know that death is not to be feared
For the Lord has promised RESURRECTION.

(2) “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”

So even though some may die,
It’s really not dealing here with physical death,
It is dealing with whether or not Satan can get through to them
And turn them against God.

And Daniel is promised “everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”

That is to say: THE ELECT WILL ENDURE.

Remember what Jesus taught us?
Matthew 24:22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”:

God will lose none through this time period.
It is great tribulation that He will allow,
But it causes absolutely NO THREAT to His chosen elect.

Incidentally if you want to see what he is referring to in the book of the Revelation it can be found in Revelation 12.

Here is just an excerpt:
Revelation 12:7-14 “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”

That is the event Gabriel is referring to here.
THE ELECT WILL SURVIVE.
That is to say they will be off limits from the enemy
And will not deny Christ regardless of the hardships they face.

And in the end all will rise, those who were faithful to “everlasting life”
And those who deny will be given “everlasting contempt”,
But we are promised not a single one of the elect will deny.

But that still doesn’t answer the question: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?

(3) “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

What is going to be the result of all this suffering and persecution?
• It’s going to separate the wheat from the tares.
• It’s going to cause the cream to rise to the top.

Jesus in fact used this exact phrase
When explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares.
Matthew 13:41-43 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

It is the suffering and tribulation which will mark those who are genuine.

Suffering has always had a way of revealing those who are genuine.
We are told repeatedly in Scripture
That suffering and persecution is for our testing.

And God reveals to Daniel here that this intense tribulation,
Like the world has never seen,
Will be the tool God uses to reveal those who are truly His.

And then Gabriel says:
(4) “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”

In other words, pack this book away.
It’s not going to be of any use to Israel until the end.
It won’t be until the end times that Israel will be interested in Daniel’s prophecy.

SO IT IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF PURIFYING ISRAEL.

But as you will see, that reality wasn’t fully sinking in.
2) THE DURATION (5-7)

This is interesting to me because now we find that
Daniel wasn’t the only one getting this vision.

There were a couple of angels who were also soaking all of this in,
And they didn’t get it either.

Incidentally you should know that while angels certainly do abide in the presence of God and are much more informed of the plan than we are, they don’t know it all either.

Remember what Peter said:
1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which angels long to look.”

• Peter was talking there about God’s revealed plan of salvation and how the
prophets of old searched into it like crazy trying to figure it all out.
• And then Peter reveals that they weren’t the only ones who were interested.
Peter said that these are things “into which angels long to look.”

Even angels want to know the plan.

And apparently here we have a couple of eavesdroppers
Who are listening in to all that God is doing through Israel.

And even though the purpose was revealed in verse 3 they still want to know more, so they speak up with a question of their own.

(5-6) “Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?”

Boy there is a familiar question isn’t it?
“How long..?”
• Psalmist after Psalmist raised that question to God.
• Person after person today raises that question to God.
• My favorite is Isaiah who volunteered for God’s mission with that infamous “Here am I, send me!” in Isaiah 6.
• After God revealed that his mission would be one of judgment and condemnation in which people would not be saved but only condemned, Isaiah asked the same.

Isaiah 6:11-13 “Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

God basically told him, UNTIL MY PURPOSE IS FINISHED
Which in Isaiah’s case was the destruction of everyone but the chosen remnant.
And that is the answer here as well, straight from the lips of Jesus.
(6-7) “And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?” I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.”

The quick answer is that it would last 3 ½ years
(“for a time, times, and half a time”)

But the real answer is that it will happen UNTIL “they finish shattering the power of the holy people”

The entire objective of this period
Is to finally and totally crush the pride of Israel.

NOW THERE IS SOMETHING FOR YOU TO PONDER IN THE MIDST OF UNTHINKABLE TRAGEDY.

The next time you walk through a trial
You think couldn’t possibly be good,
Maybe you should ask whether the purpose of that trial was simply to crush your pride.

Which do you think God values more in your life humility or comfort?

Israel has been throughout the Bible
The ultimate picture of pride and self-reliance.

And until that pride is crushed Israel isn’t returning to God.

When asked how long this would take;
Jesus said, “It will take just long enough to crust their pride.”
(which incidentally will be 3 ½ years.)

Remember what Jesus said just before his arrest?
Matthew 23:37-39 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'”

• If you’ll remember, that was the phrase they shouted to Jesus as He entered during the triumphal entry. They cried “Hosannah! Blessed is He who comes”

“Hosannah!” means “Lord save”
• Jesus knew that they were saying it in hypocrisy on that day, but He also knew that salvation wouldn’t come until they finally looked on Him and cried it for real.

This period of tribulation will take just long enough
• To get Israel to cry out to Jesus for salvation
• And to prove who is real and who is not!

This is what Peter said while preaching in Jerusalem:
Acts 3:17-21 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

This is what was prophesied of old:
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

And once again the purpose is revealed.

This time of terrible tribulation is for a very distinct purpose.
It is to crush the pride of Israel and to cause them to run to Christ
And to reveal who is real and who is not.

The Description, The Duration But you’ll see that it still isn’t fully understood.
3) THE DESTINY (8-13)

There it is again, Daniel wants to know the purpose.
(8) “As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?”
• Why are you doing this?

It is the cry of sufferers throughout the ages,
But I assure you that unlike the blog we read earlier,
God does have a purpose, even for this most horrific time of suffering.

(9-13) “He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”

If it wasn’t clear and specific before, hopefully it is now.
“Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand but those who have insight will understand.”

• I’m going to separate the wheat from the tares.
• I’m going to reveal the elect
• I’m going to make the shine like the sun
• I’m going to make judgment obvious

And then God gives the CHIEF CHARACTERISTIC that separates the two,
And it is ENDURANCE.

“From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days.”

That is to say that there will 1,290 days of extreme suffering (3 ½ years),
And if you can wait 45 days beyond that
You will enter the millennial kingdom of Christ.

• It is endurance that reveals who is genuine and who is not.
• It is those who endure who don’t take the mark of the beast.
• It is those who endure who don’t bow to that statue he makes.
• It is those who endure, who may lose their life, but will gain it for eternity.

And the entire purpose of this final tribulation
Is to purify God’s elect and redeem them to Himself.

Is it awful? Yes
Is it hard? Yes
But 3 ½ years of extreme suffering on earth
Is better than an eternity of suffering in hell.

If that is what it takes to save His elect, than rest assured God will do it.
“All that My Father has given Me will come to Me,
and I will raise them up on the last day.”

And then we find that Daniel’s role in that purpose is now over.
(13) “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”

Daniel, I brought you hear and put you in Babylon so that I could reveal all these truths to you, and your role in the story is finished.

You will now rest (die) and rise again when it is time.

EVEN DANIEL’S SUFFERING HAD A VERY DISTINCT PURPOSE.
God didn’t just put Daniel through this for no reason.
Daniel was placed here for the purpose of receiving this revelation
Which will one day be of the utmost significance to Israel.

BUT THE POINT TO IT ALL IS THAT GOD HAS A PURPOSE IN IT.
• He is sovereign!
• He is in control!
• We may not always know what He is doing (we may not ever know what He is doing)
• But we must not assume that He doesn’t know either.

God is not a God of chaos.
He sees the end from the beginning, He has a plan.

And that means that regardless of what you walk through,
You never have to doubt if somehow God has lost control.
HE NEVER LOSES CONTROL.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

The Four Horsemen – Part 1
Revelation 6:1-8 (1-2)
August 28, 2016

This morning I would like to welcome you all to the end.
We begin looking at Revelation 6 and the events surrounding the tribulation.

I would like to start out by reading Psalm 9
TURN TO: Psalms 9

It is safe to say that the cry of the Psalmist is about to be answered.

This is the time when the Lord is about to execute His judgment on
A sinful world bent on iniquity and the persecution of His people. The Lord is about to make the nations know that they are but men.

THE LAST TIME we saw a great worship service in heaven.
It was the worship of the Lamb.

John had spotted a book in the hand of the One who sat on the throne, and he recounted a search to find one who was worthy to open it.
• This book is the title dead to the earth.
• More specifically it is the contract which reveals God’s terms of eviction
regarding the usurper who has wrecked God’s earth.

And all of heaven eagerly sought the one who could take this contract and evict the enemy.

The only One found worthy to take the earth back from the enemy was the only One who had ever successfully taken anything away from him, and that is Jesus Christ.
• We know Christ can take what was once the property of Satan and redeem it
back to God because that is precisely what He did with the church.

This prompted the heavenly worship:
Revelation 5:9-10 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

It is now time for the Lamb to begin to open that scroll
And begin the work of reclaiming creation from the usurper.

And we see that work as a tremendous work of judgment.

Everything we are about to see here is because of God’s wrath
On the usurper and the sinful world he has corrupted.
(Don’t fall into the mindset that this is the devil’s wrath)

That point is clearly made even here in this 6th chapter.

Revelation 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

What you are about to read is not the wrath of the devil,
It is the wrath of God.

And it will serve as very important reminder.
Hebrews 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Hebrews 2:3a “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

Certainly anyone without a relationship to Jesus Christ
Should read these passages in utter terror because of what they reveal.

HOWEVER, While this letter can certainly be a good warning to the lost,
It is not the lost that this book was written for.

Let me draw you back to the opening verses of this book one more time:
Revelation 1:1-3 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

This message is for the “bond-servants” of Christ.
This message is for believers.
And we are promised a blessing if we read and heed these things.

As we work our way through this amazing book you are going to see various points that are preserved solely for you as believers.
• Points meant to give you comfort in suffering
• Urgency in Evangelism
• Wisdom in Struggle
• Encouragement to Endure
• Hope in the Future
• And Awe of Christ and God

This book and this message are for you.
To strengthen your faith and solidify your commitment to Christ.

This is the story of God’s wrath
And it is a story that was recorded for your benefit.

THIS MORNING THE SEALS BEGIN TO OPEN.
You should know that the entire scope of God’s judgment is contained within these 7 seals.

It is true that we will also see 7 trumpets and 7 bowls
But these all come out of the breaking of the 7th seal.

As Jesus breaks the seals and unrolls this scroll
God’s wrath is unleashed, ultimately culminating in Christ’s return.

#1 THE FIRST SEAL: DECEPTION
Revelation 6:1-2

I’ve typically called this first seal FALSE PEACE for that is certainly what it is, but I still think a better description of why it is a judgment is to reveal it as merely deception.

“Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.”

I absolutely love the excitement that begins this entire demonstration.
• This creature is of course one of the cherubim who were described to us back in chapter 4.

• Cherubim are the protectors of the Holy and certainly they desire front row seats to the day when God sets out to defend His holiness.

• And no sooner does Jesus break the first seal then does one of those creatures bellow out the call “Come”

It’s time! Let’s Go!
There is excitement in heaven over this reality.

(2) “I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

If you’ve been studying through Daniel with us on Sunday night
You already have a tremendous leg up here on what you are seeing.

WE HAVE HERE AN IMPOSTER.
WE HAVE HERE A PHONY.

I saw an old cowboy cartoon one time talking about a particular politician whom he didn’t like. The old cowboy said, “He’s a post turtle.” When asked what he meant, the old cowboy replied. “If you ever see a turtle sitting on a fence post, one thing you can be sure of is that somebody put him there.” That is to say, he didn’t earn the position on his own.

Well the man you see here is a post-turtle.
He is a man in a high position that he did not earn.

Now first we recognize that he is riding “a white horse” and this has led some to assume that it is Jesus.
And the answer to that is an emphatic “NO!”
Yes Jesus will return riding on a white horse, but don’t get the two confused.
A “white horse” was an important message.
• When a king went out to battle he typically rode a red horse, if he won the battle and came home the conquering hero he came home on a white horse.

It was symbolic of victory.

Incidentally if you are letting your mind follow the imagery that was one of the problems Israel had with Jesus entering Jerusalem. They would have loved it if He had entered on a white horse, but instead He entered on a donkey’s colt; a beast of burden; which was symbolic of peace.

This man, whoever he is, comes in riding “a white horse”
As though he is the conquering hero.

Well that is interesting, especially when we read the rest of the verse.

We find that “he who sat on it had a bow”
• A bow is certainly a weapon of war,
• But if you’ll notice this rider has a bow with no arrows.
• It is like a sword which is merely part of the uniform.
• It’s part of the costume, it’s ceremonial.
• He is not fresh off of some battle, he just wants to look like he is.

And then of course we read “and a crown was given to him,”
• Important phrase here.
• That is certainly where the “post-turtle” reference comes to full fruition.
• He didn’t win a kingdom, he didn’t earn a crown, it “was given to him”

(It implies not only the world elevating him to power,
But also God bringing him to power)

Beyond that, the word “crown” here is NOT DIADEMA which would be a sovereign crown or a monarch’s crown like Jesus who will have on His head “many diadems”.

The word for “crown” here is STEPHANOS which is the victor’s crown.

It’s not a person who won a battle, it’s a person who won an award

And even then this crown wasn’t given to him until after he entered on this white horse.

The implication there being that he received the crown
Because he fooled the people who gave it to him.

But this man hasn’t accomplished anything yet, in fact his entire mission is before him.
It says “he went out conquering and to conquer.”

Now you can as: How we can say that this man brings peace, even false peace, when clearly his heart is set on conquering?
The answer is because of the next horse, which is the red one and John says in verse 4 that he would “take peace from the earth”.

So obviously peace (or at least the appearance of peace)
Is what this first man brings.

He is a man who somehow, despite his lack of credential,
Ascends to the highest level and is bestowed with great honor
All because of his supposed ability to bring in world peace.

Now that isn’t just me filling in the blanks.
This is where OUR STUDY OF DANIEL greatly benefits us.

Daniel had much to say about this particular man.
(Incidentally all four horsemen are the same guy)

Daniel had a lot to say about him.
(If you want the detailed versions you’re going to have to listen to those sermons online)

But let me hit the highlights for you.

When you study Daniel you are hit continually with TWO FIGURES.
• One of those figures is of course the Antichrist.
• The other figure is a man named Antiochus IV Epiphones who is a prophetic picture of the Antichrist.

Antiochus Epiphones was an actual ruler of the Greek empire
And the things he did historically are often cited as prophetic pictures
Of exactly what the actual Antichrist will be like.

For example:
Daniel 11:21-24 speaks of Antiochus Epiphones
Daniel 11:21-24 “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. “The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant. “After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. “In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.”

Daniel predicted the rise of this ruler.
After Alexander the Great died his kingdom was parceled out 4 ways under 4 generals.
• Eventually out of the kingdom of the north will arise this man named Antiochus Epiphones.

He will not be a natural successor to the throne, but will take the throne via intrigue.
• He actually holds off an attacking army and uses his popularity to sort of steal the throne.
• He then strengthens his position through a sort of socialism where he robbed the rich to distribute it to the poor

He is also remembered for his persecution of Israel.
• On the heels of an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Rome, this man came and took out his frustrations on Israel.
• He killed many, set up an altar of Zeus, and then sacrificed a pig on the altar to desecrate the temple.
• It was known as the abomination of desolation.

In short, his peace didn’t last:
Daniel 11:31 “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.”

He was a historical figure that did awful things in Israel.

But Scripture is clear that this man was a “type” (a prophetic picture)
Of the actual Antichrist who is to come.

In fact Jesus said this:
Matthew 24:15-16 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.”

Jesus was there making it clear that in the future there is one coming
Who will do things much like they were done in the past.

So Antiochus Epiphones was a picture.
• The way he came into power untraditionally
• The way he swayed opinion through socialism
• The way he turned on Israel
• The way he blasphemed God

All of those were prophetic pictures.
But they were accurately fulfilled in history.

They were all pictures of the actual Antichrist, whom Danial also spoke of.
Daniel 11:36-39 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.”

That passage was not about Antiochus Epiphones,
That passage is about the actual Antichrist,

But you clearly see the similarities.
• The actual Antichrist will also magnify himself as God
• He won’t care for God or the Messiah
• He will love power and crave power
• He will distribute wealth and power to those who follow him

NOW I BRING ALL OF THIS TO YOUR ATTENTION
BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO SEE THIS
IF YOU ARE TO UNDERSTAND THIS FIRST HORSEMAN.

This first horseman is a man who appears to be the victor
• He rides the white horse

But all of his glory and authority does not come the traditional way
• He has a bow, but no arrows
• He is given a crown, but not the right one
• He is attributed honor, but he didn’t earn it
• And he brings the appearance of peace

THIS MAN IS THAT MAN THAT DANIEL SPOKE OF!

Let me give you another one of Daniel’s prophecies
Regarding the Antichrist.
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

• Daniel saw that this man would come and “make a firm covenant” with Israel for one week (7 years)
• But Daniel also saw that he would break that covenant halfway through with an abomination that would make things desolate.

The point is that when this guy comes
It will be under a banner of peace.

People will promote him to power as one who has ability to bring peace.
We’ll see it a little later in our study, but what will actually occur is that you will have a sort of rejuvenated Roman empire (10 kings of the European confederation) and they will just hand over their power to him.

He is the guy that will have the answer for world peace.
He is the guy that will get the world to put down their guns
(or at least to drop their arrows)
And the world will love him for it.

Not only that, but Israel will love him for it.

Now think about it with me for a second.
Think of some of those Old Testament promises regarding the coming Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

Israel was constantly looking for that mighty ruler,
That mighty king who would return Israel to a place of prominence
And bring peace to the world.

Jesus addressed this expectation in Matthew 10
Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Jesus confronted that notion reminding that
His peace was peace with God, not necessarily peace with men.

But you have here a world ruler arising who is everything that Israel thinks their Messiah should be, and they will love him.
He’s on that white horse
He’s bringing peace
The world has given him a crown

HE IS EVERYTHING ISRAEL EVER WANTED
HE IS EVERYTHING THE WORLD EVER WANTED

AND THERE IS THE DANGER!
Why?
Because his “peace” is false peace. It is really only deception.

You are going to see that when the next seal opens
This man is going to reveal his true colors.

He’ll go from riding the white horse to riding a red one.
Revelation 6:4 “And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”

World peace is very soon to lead to world war.

Now we’ll talk about that more next time,
• As Daniel pointed out this man will revoke his peace and break his covenant
• What promised to be peace will turn into a war like the world has never known.
• In fact this man will be responsible for the death of ¼ of all mankind.

He doesn’t bring peace, he brings death.
• His promises of peace were false claims.
• His promises of prosperity were false claims.
• He is a liar and a deceiver and he will literally deceive the whole world.

NOW ON TO THE BIGGER QUESTION
How is this the judgment of Christ?

It really appears like this is the work of Satan.
But we already established that the opening of these seals is the work of Christ,
Not the work of the devil.

So how is this the judgment of Christ?

IT IS CHRIST GIVING MEN OVER TO WHAT THEY DESIRE,
AND THE CONSEQUENCES THAT ULTIMATELY FOLLOW.

Bring Romans chapter 1 up into your mind for just a moment.
Romans 1 is a great chapter on the wrath of God.

But in Romans 1 God’s wrath is not revealed by what He does to man,
But rather by what He allows to happen to man.

Three times in the chapter we read the same phrase: “God gave them over…”
• “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity” (Idolatry)
• “God gave them over to degrading passions” (Homosexuality)
• “God gave them over to a depraved mind” (Wickedness)

In all of those cases God didn’t specifically do anything to man,
He merely let them have what they craved
And then allowed them to suffer “the due penalty of their error”

He in effect said,
“You want it? You got it. But be careful what you wish for.”

THIS IS THE PATTERN OF THE TRIBULATION
At the beginning Jesus doesn’t do anything to humanity,
He just allows them to have what they crave.

And couple that with the fact that the church is now gone, there is no moral presence on earth to slow the decay. There is no “pillar and support of the truth” to hinder the desires of the wicked.

Man is free to run after the sin they desire and the plans they make
Without any restraint from the church or from Christ.

It is a “You want it? You got it” time.

And the world will immediately flock to an immoral man
Who claims to be able to bring peace to the world.

WE KNOW HE IS IMMORAL
• Daniel says he has no concern for God.
• Paul calls him “the man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3

He is a man who promises happiness and prosperity and fun.
He’ll be the ultimate “Make Love not War” leader.

The world will not only flock to him but they will give him full control.
They won’t even realize that
They are giving this control to the devil and his puppet.

They’d have been wise to remember what Jesus taught about the devil
John 10:10a “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”

• It may look like peace today…
• It may be fun today…
• It may be fulfilling today…

But this guy never keeps his word. There is an absolute storm coming.

AND THE WRATH OF JESUS IS HERE SEEN IN THE FACT THAT
HE JUST LETS HUMANITY HAVE WHAT THEY CRAVE.

Paul described it like this:
TURN TO: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
• Thessalonica was afraid they had missed the rapture and were now in the
tribulation
• Paul reminded that the tribulation wouldn’t come until you saw “the man of
lawlessness” that is Antichrist.

But Paul also reveals why God allows this man to come to power
And why God allows this man to deceive so many.

Paul says this man will come (10-12) “with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

Paul references people who were confronted with the gospel.
They were confronted with the true gospel which called them to repent of their sin,
Deny themselves, forsake the world and run to Christ.

But these people chose wickedness over Christ.
They did not love the truth, they loved sin.
When given the choice they said, “thanks, but no thanks” I’ll keep the sin.

Do you suppose God just dropped it and said, “Oh well”? NO

We find that God then sent upon them “a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false”

Do you know WHY SO MANY PEOPLE WILL FOLLOW the Antichrist even though Scripture is clear that this man will only bring destruction?

Because God’s wrath will cause them to believe him.
IT IS GOD’S JUDGMENT!!!!

You say, “Does God really do that sort of thing?”

TURN TO: 1 Kings 22
• In 1 Kings 22 we have two kings.
• We have King Ahab in the north over Israel
• We have King Jehoshaphat in the south over Judah

• Ahab wants Jehoshaphat to join him and go to war against Aram.
• Jehoshaphat wants Ahab to seek God about it.
• So Ahab seeks all of his false prophets who always tell him what he wants to
hear. (READ: VS. 6)

• Jehoshaphat says, “That’s all good, but is there a real prophet we can seek?”
• Ahab says there is 1 but I hate him because he always speaks evil about me.
• Jehoshaphat says let’s give him a try anyway.

Long story short Micaiah eventually gives the reality for Ahab
And it is not a pretty one.
(READ 17)

Ahab would die.

But that is not all that Micaiah had to say.
Micaiah also sought to address the issue with why all those other prophets spoke so favorably to Ahab.

(READ 18-23)

THAT IS THE SAME THING.
You take a man like Ahab who is not interested in God’s truth
So God purposely sends a deceiving influence to him.

WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT?
• So that he will be deceived
• So that he will make the wrong decision
• So that he will suffer the consequences of his wrong decision

THAT IS HOW GOD’S WRATH IS DISPLAYED
That is precisely what is happening here in the opening of this first seal.

It may not sound so terrible that the first seal is merely peace that won’t last,
• For some would say, “Oh well, at least it’s peace for a while.”

But do you understand that this first action
Is the catalyst for everything that comes?

If the world doesn’t give this guy his power
Then none of the other atrocities follow.
No war, No famine, No death, No mark of the beast, none of that.

All of that comes because the world put this guy in power.

This is an awful judgment at the hand of the Lord.
He begins by giving sinners what they always wanted so that they can have the full consequence of their sin.

CAN I REMIND YOU AGAIN OF THE DANGERS OF CHOOSING SIN BECAUSE IT’S FUN?

THAT IS A HORRIBLE DECISION.

We are out of time this morning, I really intended to make it much farther,
But let me just leave you with this.

When God calls you to repent of your sin and follow Christ
You had better do it.

Trust me, the last thing you want is to so persist in your sin that God finally says, “Fine, just let them have it.”
That is a horrible reality.

So I most certainly appeal to you today again
To leave your sin and to follow Christ.

Sin may be fun for a season
But I promise you that you won’t like where it takes you.

Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

The Soldier, The Athlete, & The Farmer
2 Timothy 2:1-7
August 21, 2016

This morning we are going to take a break
From our current study of the book of Revelation.

And we are doing so because I think it is important
To commission this morning a very important type of missionary.
We tend to view missionaries generally as those
Who go and serve on foreign soil or in difficult communities,
But we understand that all of us are called as witnesses of the Lord Jesus.

And tomorrow morning many of you
Will be invading the same mission field, which is the public school.

Some teach, some are students some work in other capacities,
But regardless of your secular position,
You have all been strategically placed there by God.

And we know that as you go into the school
• You will daily rub shoulders with many who do not believe the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
• You will spend hours upon hours with teachers and students and workers who
are not interested in the truth of God, but who seek to gratify their own sinful
desires.
• You will encounter all manners of morality, belief, and peer pressure.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, THE SCHOOL IS A MISSION FIELD.
• You are to be lights in the midst of darkness
• You are to be salt to a world without flavor
• You are to be truth in a world of error
• You are to be a holy example in a world of immorality

I have become so convinced at the difficulty of this mission
That last year we started commissioning those of you
Who make this a part of your daily lives.

• It is important that you are clear about your mission.
• It is important that the church remember that you are caught in a daily struggle
and need our prayers and support.

And so this morning as we commission you
We are going to look at a very fitting letter and text.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy was the last he ever wrote.
• At this point in his life he was in the famous Mamertine prison in Rome (literally no more than a dungeon) and he is awaiting he own execution.

2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Coupled with that Paul has recently gone through
Quite an ordeal of rejection and humiliation.
Paul has now been disowned by all those he gave his life to reach.

2 Timothy 1:15 “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.”

2 Timothy 4:16 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”

The Asia Paul referred to was Asia-Minor where Ephesus was located.
Ephesus was a church Paul planted and the one were Timothy currently pastored.
And even all of them turned away from him.

Paul is at the end of his race alone and rejected
Having literally suffered the loss of all things for the cause of Christ.

What is ALSO APPARENT is that Paul senses that Timothy is vacillating.
Paul senses that Timothy has become intimidated.
• Maybe Timothy fears persecution from Nero
• Maybe Timothy fears association with Paul

We don’t know his motive, but the tone of Paul’s letter
Suggests that Timothy is on the verge of retreat.

This letter is a passionate request from Paul to Timothy
For him to be bold in the midst of a hostile environment.

2 Timothy 1:6-8 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”

It is a letter which asks Timothy to be faithful to his calling
No matter the difficulty and no matter the cost.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

And we could certainly spend more time giving context to this letter,
But hopefully you grasp it enough to move forward this morning.

The portion of the letter we are going to examine together
Are the first 7 verses of chapter 2.

And the reason is because here Paul presents Timothy with
THREE VERY HELPFUL ANALOGIES.
He reveals to him the SOLDIER, the ATHLETE, and the FARMER.

And at the end of these analogies Paul says:
(7) “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

That statement reveals that
Paul didn’t carry these analogies as far as he would have liked,
But trusted that if Timothy would ponder on them
That the Lord would continue to give insight and application.

SO THAT IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS MORNING.
We are going to place these three analogies in your mind
(and I’m going to give you a visual reminder to take with you later)

In hopes that throughout the coming year you will “consider” them
And allow them to encourage you in your mission.

Paul begins here by saying:
(1-2) “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

We aren’t going to spend much time on these two verses
Because I want to get to the analogies,
But there are some surface points here that you really need to see.

1) Our strength is in “the grace that is in Christ Jesus” not in ourselves.
• No one is asking you to fulfill this mission in your own ability, ingenuity, strength, wisdom, or determination.

• Everything that is being asked of you inside this mission field is being asked on the basis of Christ’s strength within you.

• This implies that success depends upon your trust in Him and your commitment to lean upon on Him and run to Him for continued strength.

2) Paul told Timothy to “entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
• The reminder to Timothy was that he was not a one-man show, and neither are you.

• You are not alone, you are part of a church, you are part of a body, and many of you will be together in this same field. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of your fellow saints who serve with you.

3) The emphasis was on everyone teaching the things that Timothy had heard from Paul, which is of course the gospel.

• Everyone one of you in that school (teacher and student alike) have the same basic mission, which is to proclaim the gospel.

• It is not primarily a mission of kindness, though kindness is important.
• It is not primarily a mission of love, though love is necessary.
• It is not primarily a mission of scholastic success, though we hope you have it.
• It is not primarily a mission of athletic victory, though we all root for it.

Primarily your mission is the proclamation of the gospel,
And you are all in this together.

There is more that could be said there, but just grab those basics.
And then Paul lays out for Timothy three analogies for him to consider

Let’s look at them:
#1 THE SOLDIER
2 Timothy 2:3-4

In Scripture the soldier analogy is used in different ways,
But it is a rather common analogy used for the Christian.

• Both in Philippians 2:25 and in Philemon 1:2 Paul referred to other believers as “fellow soldiers”

• In 1 Corinthians 9:7 Paul used the soldier as an analogy revealing that a missionary should expect compensation for their mission. Saying, “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?”

• The most commonly quoted analogy comes from Ephesians 6 when Paul speaks of the armor of a Christian likening it to the centurion’s armor for battle.

The soldier is used many times in Scripture,
But here Paul has a specific reason for using the soldier as an example.

Paul hits the center of it right off the bat.
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”

In a very basic sense when people think of serving as a soldier,
They understand that there is a general sense of suffering
That is going to accompany that.

A soldier’s life is one of hardship.
• It may be the hardship of leaving one’s family
• It may be the hardship of basic training
• It may be the hardship of the military request
• It may be the hardship of facing the enemy
• It may be the hardship of battle
• It may even be the hardship of the aftermath of the battle

Whatever the aspect a soldier should understand that
There is going to be “hardship” involved.

But even beyond that Paul seems to focus even more in verse 4
“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

Certainly in Paul’s mind would have been the Roman soldier here.
And we all at least have some familiarity with this Roman soldier idea.

Important to this text would be the understanding of the soldier’s oath.
• The Roman soldier took an oath referred to as the “Sacramentum” and it was
more than just an oath like one takes at a courtroom.

The soldier would quote:
“But the soldiers swear that they shall faithfully execute all that the Emperor commands, that they shall never desert the service, and that they shall not seek to avoid death for the Roman republic!” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramentum_(oath)#cite_ref-8)

It was a total commitment to the will of the emperor or general
And any activity was considered acceptable if it came at the command.

Furthermore, to break this oath brought with it
The penalty of punishment even death.

The Roman soldier was committed as a matter of chief priority
To the command of the emperor
And nothing else came as high in importance.

The point was that the soldier must be free from distraction.
They were to SERVE WITH FOCUS

Paul said, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life”

“entangles himself” is EMPLEKO
Which means “to weave in”

It carries the idea of being ensnared
Or hooked or caught in an obligation.

The verb is in the passive voice which indicates
Something that he doesn’t allow.

He does not allow himself to be entangled.

And of course the reason is because his main obligation is to “please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

His only job is to follow the command of the emperor,
Nothing else can ever come before or above that.
Now that was a soldier’s life.

Paul said that we are soldiers “of Christ Jesus”

Instead of taking an oath to the emperor, we are those who have taken an oath to Christ.
• It is Christ who has “enlisted” us “as a soldier”.
• It is the Lord’s army we now march in.

Allow me to remind you of the undistracted commitment Christ expects.

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

That was a call the disciples had heard before.
Mark 1:16-20 “As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.”

You can see the priority there of their lives.
Fishing nets and human relationships
Had to take back burner to the call of the Master.

Consider these men who tried to follow Jesus while remaining entangled in worldly affairs.
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Those were all people who wanted to have their hand in the middle of both endeavors and Jesus said you can’t.
You either forsake all and follow Me or you don’t.

Remember this passage:
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Jesus was leaving absolutely no doubt there
Regarding the priority of the lives of His followers.

Or consider the weedy soil which is a picture of a divided heart and consequently a non-believer
Matthew 13:22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

There is just no notion in Scripture that says
You can be a follower of Christ
And be entangled by the world at the same time.

You cannot be a sold out servant of Jesus on Sunday
And then a sold out servant of something else during the week.
You’re either all in or all out, but you can’t walk both.

And if you are a teacher or a student who has given their life to Christ,
I just can’t see any way you can go into that school
Without your mission to Christ being your chief priority.

• As a teacher your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
• As a coach your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
• As a student your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.

That is your PRIMARY job from the Lord.
Don’t get distracted.

Now, am I saying that you shouldn’t worry about teaching or coaching or making good grades?

ABSOLUTELY NOT.
• If you don’t teach well they’ll fire you and the mission will be over.
• If you don’t coach well they’ll fire you and the mission will be over.
• If you don’t study hard you’ll be a poor example to those around you.

I’m just reminding you that all of those things
ARE SECONDARY IN PRIORITY.

THEY ARE IMPORTANT ONLY AS:
• They bring glory to Christ
• And they allow you the opportunity to complete your true mission.

Paul said:
Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

You should do the best job you can do for the one who hired you,
But you must always remember that the priority is your service for Christ.

Romans 14:7-9 “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

It is important that you grasp this because I can guarantee you that
At some point YOU WILL BE TESTED to prove which matters most.

(I see it every year. I saw it last year with our girls’ basketball coach
And I remain grateful for where his priorities surfaced)
YOU WILL GET AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE YOUR PRIORITY.

LET ME GIVE YOU A SIMPLE ONE
I would put out an appeal to those in the school system not to compete with the church for time.

Your part of the mission is in the school system,
Our part is to teach and train and encourage
On Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.

We should all be working for the same objective,
Yet we see it all the time where the church loses their opportunity to minister to students because teachers have scheduled over the top of us.

I would ask you as Christians to remember what really matters,
And who we are really serving and work with us for the mission of the gospel.

If you are a Christian the priority has to be Christ!
And at that moment when the secular comes up against the spiritual
It is imperative that you remember who it is you are out to please.

You certainly want to do well for those who hire you.
You certainly want to do well for the parents who entrust their kids to you.
But make no mistake, when push comes to shove, Christ matters more.

Martin Luther wrote:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there is the loyalty of the soldier proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is more flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
(MacArthur, John; The Truth War [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; 2007] pg. 26)

As a soldier you must serve with focus and avoid distraction.

#2 THE ATHLETE
2 Timothy 2:5

The athlete is also a commonly used analogy in Scripture.

• Athletes remind us of endurance – like in Hebrews 12 where we are told to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

• Athletes remind us of effort – like in 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul tells us to “run in such a way” that you may win.

But here the emphasis is on obedience.
Here we are to avoid disqualification.

“Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”

In the Greek games there were 3 conditions every athlete had to meet.
• He had to prove he was a native born Greek
• He had to take an oath before Zeus that he had trained for 10 months.
• He had to compete according to the rules of the game.

Otherwise the athlete, regardless of ability, was disqualified from competing.

We all understand that if you break the rules,
You will disqualify yourself from competition.

My degree was to be an Ag Teacher,
I still remember Johnny Johnson at Tarleton sitting us all down and saying, “Let me tell you about pretty little boys and pretty little girls.”

He gave us a speech on the dangers of teacher student relations, pointing out how quickly we could disqualify ourselves from being allowed to teach in the school if we crossed that line.

And every Christian should understand this as well.
Being the most successful teacher, coach, or student is absolutely pointless if you disqualify yourself spiritually.
• You may please the administration
• You may please the parents
• You may please the students
• You may even earn a trophy to display your success

But 100 years from now, none of that will matter.
All that will matter was the service you performed for Christ.

YOU MUST GIVE CAREFUL ATTENTION
TO NOT KILLING YOUR WITNESS

• I’m aware of what typical coach language sounds like.
• I’m aware of what typical Ag Teacher language sounds like.
• I’m aware of what typical break room gossip is like.
• I’m aware of what typical teenage morality is like.

YOU HAVE TO BE ABOVE THOSE THINGS.
BECAUSE THOSE THINGS WILL DISQUALIFY YOU.

No, you won’t lose your job or get kicked out of school,
But you’ll sure have a tough time
Preaching the gospel to someone after the fact.

And what good is it to be the most successful teacher of all time if there is no eternal reward?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

We want “the prize”.

Later in the letter Paul will spell it out:
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

The world may not recognize your commitment to Christ as a good thing,
But we aren’t competing for their accolade.
We are competing for the heavenly prize,
DO NOT DISQUALIFY YOURSELF FROM THAT PRIZE.

Do you want a guideline?
2 Peter 1:5-9 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. or he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

Like a soldier you must avoid distraction and serve with focus.
Like an athlete you must avoid disqualification and run with obedience
#3 THE FARMER
2 Timothy 2:6

Farmers are also a frequent analogy in Scripture,
But almost always farmers represent the same thing: HOPE

1 Corinthians 9:10 “Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.”

James 5:7 “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.”

I certainly don’t want to belittle the hard work that farmers due even in our day and time, but you must understand that it pales in comparison to the work of a farmer in Paul’s day.

• I literally cannot imagine busting the ground behind a mule.
• I cannot imagine planting that seed by hand.
• I cannot imagine carrying buckets of water to irrigate.
• I cannot imagine harvesting by hand.

Farming is hard work now, but it was really hard work then.
It is non stop and it requires patience.

A farmer would get up and work sun up to sun down every day
And receive no reward for his labor
Because all he had to look forward to was the future crop.

THE CROP WAS THE PAYMENT.

And if you’re paying attention, this is now the third reference that has been made to reward.
• The soldier’s reward is pleasing the one who enlisted him.
• The athlete’s reward is the prize
• The farmer’s reward is the harvest

And one thing we know about the HARVEST is that it is DELICATE.
You can’t just plant it and stop and hope for the best.
Most farmers have to baby the crop.

Thanks to the curse this ground naturally produces careless weeds,
But it doesn’t naturally produce cotton.
If you want cotton you have to work at it tirelessly

THE FARMER DOES THE WORK IN HOPE THAT
THE HARVEST WILL MAKE HIS LABOR WORTHWHILE.

And that is Paul’s analogy here.
“The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”

That is to say he always looks forward to the harvest.

Most teachers and coaches already have a pretty good handle on this.
They have learned that most results are not instant and not automatic.

• Coaches know that they have to work their teams hard to produce results and even that doesn’t come quickly.
• Teachers know they have to teach for hours and hours to get a concept across and sometimes it is slow in coming.

But this is also true regarding your spiritual service.
• Preach the gospel over and over and over.
• Leave a good example over and over and over.
• Pray over and over and over

And most of the time there are no immediate results.

That’s one of the reasons we look for fulfillment in other places.

Instead of holding out for the eternal treasure and the spiritual crop
We grow impatient and settle instead for a perishable wreath.

But don’t.
Stay the course, keep working hard, wait for the harvest.

And it will come!
Some day your labors will be worth it all.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

TIMOTHY FACED A DIFFICULT MISSION FIELD.
• Paul told him to consider the focus of the soldier
• Paul told him to consider the obedience of the athlete
• Paul told him to consider the endurance of the farmer
• And to apply all those things to the way he served Christ.

That’s what I’m asking from each of you today
Who will enter the school system tomorrow.

Remember that
• Service to Christ and His kingdom is your main priority.
• You must walk in obedience to Christ so that you are useable
• You Christ is worth it so you must endure.

That’s the charge to you who are about to go on mission.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

TO THE CHURCH
I GIVE THE CHARGE OF SUPPORTING THEM IN PRAYER.

God’s Plan To Purify Israel – Part 2
Daniel 11:2-45 (36-35)
August 21, 2016

Tonight we get back to this very interesting chapter in the book of Daniel.

As you are aware it all started back in Daniel 9.
• Daniel was reading Jeremiah 29 and saw the need for repentance.
• Daniel began to pray and God sent Gabriel with a revelation.
• Gabriel began to reveal God’s plan of 70 weeks.

Daniel 9:24-27 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

God has a plan that will ultimately purify Israel.
He will fully accomplish His purposes in her.

But this plan both confused and concerned Daniel.
He wanted to know more, but he couldn’t understand it.

So Gabriel was given orders to explain the vision to Daniel.
(We actually saw the behind the scenes working of this in chapter 10)

CHAPTER 11 IS THAT EXPLANATION.
• All of this chapter is future to Daniel.
• And all of this chapter is (for lack of a better term) history to God.

God is not limited by time and space.
He is the God is was and who is and who is to come.

Which means that everything we see here
Is already fully accomplished in the eyes of God.
To Him it is as though it already happened.

This is not God’s proposal
This is not just His plan
This has been decreed, it is done.
IT WILL HAPPEN JUST AS GOD SAYS.

And we are more privileged than Daniel in understanding this.

For as I said, for Daniel this entire chapter is in the future, but we have the luxury of coming at this prophecy from the middle of things.
The first 35 verses of this chapter have already been historically fulfilled.

That means we get to test the accuracy of the end of this chapter
By the accuracy of the beginning.

If the first 35 verses proved true
Then we have no reason to doubt that the last 10 will also.

Well last time we examined those first 35 verses.
#1 THE PAST HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:2-35

And I certainly don’t want to hash back through all of that
Except to remind you that Daniel was very specific in what he saw
And that what he saw was specifically fulfilled.

• We saw wars with predicted victors…
• We saw marriage alliances that we knew wouldn’t work…
• We saw interference of foreign armies…
• We saw the rise and fall of many rulers just as Daniel said…

Everything that Daniel saw up until verse 35 happened verbatim.

That means we have no reason to doubt that
What is recorded in verses 36 to 45 won’t also happen verbatim.

Now, We begin to talk about events that have not yet happened.
However because God decreed it just like he did verses 2-35
We have no doubt that it will happen.

So just as sure as we saw The Past History of Israel
Now let’s see:
#2 THE FUTURE HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:36-45

As we said, prophecy is just history that we haven’t experienced yet,
But in God’s eyes it’s already done.

Furthermore it was all future for Daniel
So he would have no reason to believe this final part
Any less than he believed the first part.

These sections are equal in accuracy
Even though we haven’t seen the end yet.

What we begin to talk about in verses 36-45 is a future king who will rule.
You and I will know him as Antichrist.
I do want to remind you again that
The purpose of all that God is revealing is for the purification of Israel.

Ultimately that means that all of these events
Are meant to drive Israel to Jesus Christ,
Who alone can fulfill that list of attributes given in Daniel 9.

It is only when Israel turns to Jesus that:
• Transgression will be finished
• An end will be made of sin
• Atonement will be made for iniquity
• Everlasting righteousness will be brought in
• Vision and prophecy will be finished
• The most holy place will be anointed

So all of these events are meant to drive Israel to Jesus
And I don’t know of one who will be more instrumental in that plan
Than this man we call Antichrist.

And make no mistake, he is promised to come.
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Zechariah 11:15-17 “The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. “For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. “Woe to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be blind.”

God has appointed the rise of this man,
And Daniel does a good job of giving us a brief outline regarding him.

Now obviously since he has not yet come and has not yet performed the things mentioned here we can’t be as specific in our detail as we were in the first 35 verses.

We can however, take what Daniel says
Along with other prophecies concerning him
And gain an understanding as to who this man is and what he’ll do.

4 things here about him
1) HIS CHARACTER (36)

Verse 36 really seems to serve as a sort of a summary or overview of the life of the Antichrist.

“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.”
Daniel mentions some specific things about this man’s character.
• We see his LIBERTY – “the king will do as he pleases”
• We see his ARROGANCE – “he will exalt and magnify himself”
• We see his BLASPHEMY – he “will speak monstrous things against the God of gods”
• We see his PROSPERITY – “he will prosper”
• We see his END – “until the indignation is finished”

We are dealing here with a man
Who is the absolute epitome of worldliness.

Everything we read through the Bible about worldly arrogant people,
Who only want the things of the world and who turn their back on God and blaspheme Him is literally summed up in this man.

HE IS WORLDLINESS PERSONIFIED.

You may remember when Asaph lamented the prosperity of the wicked:
Psalms 73:3-9 “For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth.”

That is exactly the type of man Antichrist is.
And we could give other examples of men like him throughout the course of time.

And that is part of why he will be so appealing to so many in the world.
He will be a living epitome of what sinful people want to become.

I do think it is also important to give a little understanding
To HIS RISE TO POWER.

Daniel spoke of it earlier, but not here.
Daniel 7:7-8 “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.”

We are referring here to that “little” horn Daniel saw.
And we see him rising to power out of that fourth beast Daniel saw.

You’ll remember that fourth beast was Rome.
• Now the Roman empire fell during the 5th century.
• It did endure in a sense but as a divided and separated nation.
• It actually is now Europe.
What Daniel saw was the future rise of the Roman empire.
When the 10 kings of these 10 nations will once again
Form a sort of coalition as a revamped Roman confederation.

Out of them will come the Antichrist.
Revelation 17:9-13 “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. “These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.”

The heads there represented the kingdoms which persecuted Israel.
• The five which have fallen – Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece
• The one which is – Rome
• The one not yet come – future Rome or kingdom of Antichrist

The ten horns he saw were the ten kings of that European confederation that gave their power to the Antichrist.

We’ll see it next week as we begin to see Jesus open the seals in our study of Revelation that this king will arise in a time of peace, and that is precisely what happened here.

He arises through intrigue much like Antiochus IV Epiphones.

But the main point Daniel reveals is that
This king who will arise is literally dripping with arrogance
And blasphemy and will ultimately fall because of it.

That is his character
2) HIS PASSION (37-40)

Probably more telling than what he loves
Is the revelation of what he doesn’t love.

He doesn’t love God.
“He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women,”

This is an important phrase.
It is a phrase that I think indicates that he must be a Jewish man.
(That seems to make sense since he is seen as the Messiah for a time)

“the gods of his fathers” was a heavily used Jewish term speaking in reference to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Antichrist won’t have any interest in serving the historical God of Israel.

“the desire of women” spoke of the Messiah. As it was a common desire for the women of Israel to be the conduit through which the Messiah would come.

Luke 11:27 “While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

This is a Jewish man who has no interest in God or a coming Messiah,
And you’ll see why in a minute.

For that matter he isn’t interested in worshiping any other god either.
“nor will he show regard for any other god;”

And the reason is that “he will magnify himself above them all.”

He’s not interested in worshiping God or looking for Messiah,
Because he is convinced that he is both,
And will demand the worship that they alone deserve.

What he will love however is POWER
(38-39) “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.”

His entire interest will be power.
He will love power, seek power, and honor power.

And anyone who will acknowledge his power
Will also be given honor and apparently land at a discounted rate.

You may remember how Antiochus IV Epiphenes solidified control of his kingdom by robbing the rich and distributing it to the poor.

That is a foreshadowing of the Antichrist.
He will conquer and distribute in order to obtain what he really wants which is world power.

What is important to see here is how similar (yet twisted) his work will be
To that of the genuine Messiah.

Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
Jesus promised to His followers that they would be rewarded
And given houses and lands and the right to rule and to reign.
Of course Jesus’ promise was regarding heaven and eternity, not this life.
Jesus routinely called for the sacrifice of this life.

But the Antichrist will be the same yet opposite.
He also will offer houses and lands and the right to rule and reign,
But he will offer it in this life.

Remember the offer of Satan to Jesus?
Matthew 4:8-9 “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

Not much has changed there has it?

As a side note maybe this helps you see why
I am so opposed to preachers of the prosperity gospel.

I’ve been mildly rebuked recently for mentioning Joel Olsteen by name and have been assured that his a man of God.

But he isn’t.
• His messages are saturated with how to get ahead in this world and in this life.
• Everything he says is about gaining this world.
• He even writes books called “Your Best Life Now”

That was, is, and will always be the message of the enemy.

It sounds very similar to the message of Jesus, with one major exception.
Jesus was talking about the next life, not this one.

Why do Satan and Antichrist and prosperity preachers offer those things?
Because it gives them what they desire which is power.

• Satan would give Jesus the whole world if Jesus would have simply worshiped him.
• Antichrist will do the same if people will acknowledge him.

It’s not hard to see the similarities.

The passion of the Antichrist is not God, it’s power.

His character, his passion
3) HIS POWER (40-43)

Here we actually get a taste of his power.
(Read 40-43)

Don’t confuse the South and the North here with the same countries we studied in the first half of this chapter.
This is no longer the Seluecids and the Ptolemies.

• The South is most likely Egypt (even called that later)
• The North is not defined. At the very least it is Syria, though many believe it to be Russia.

Either way what happens is that each of these nations will invade Israel.

Now at this point Israel is full allegiance with the Antichrist.
They’re buying what he is selling hook, line, and sinker.
They think he is their guy.

He’s brash and powerful and successful and he’s conquering the world,
And they just think he’s the bomb.

So an invasion of Israel is an attack on Antichrist.
Antichrist won’t stand for that so he will march from Europe to Israel
And literally overflow many nations on his way.

• He won’t be able to fully conquer Edom, Moab, or Ammon (which are all in modern day Jordan) but he will conquer Egypt and he will plunder her.

• His victory over Egypt and the wealth he gains will gain him even more dominion and will earn him the allegiance of Lybia and Ethiopia.

The point is that his power will be tested
And he will come out as the super victor.

He won’t have absolutely conquered every single country,
But he will be the undisputed heavy-weight power of the world.

If you are wondering where all this fits in with the
TIME FRAME OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
It is the invasion of the North and the South
That signifies that second horseman of the apocalypse.

• Remember the first horse is peace…world peace.
• It is the second horse (the red one) which signifies war and that is what
began here.

Also at this time is when the Antichrist enters Israel to fight his battle
At this time takes his seat in the temple and magnifies himself as God.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

It think it is safe to say that it is most likely the battle he fights
Which will cause him to receive the fatal wound which is healed.

And it is this victory that goes to his head to such a degree
That he sets up that massive abomination
That Daniel and Jesus both warned about.

Revelation 13:1-8 “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”

His victory and his dominion
Will bring out a previously unseen arrogance in him.
He will declare himself to be God.
We even see later in Revelation 13 that he will have a statue of himself built which will be declared an item of worship which all the world must worship.

And we read that most of the world will worship him.
They will be enamored by his great power.
However, this event will be the light bulb moment for the Jews.
Their history under Antiochus IV Epiphones has prepared them for this very moment and when they see history repeating itself they will finally get it.

They will recognize they have been deceived
And according to Zechariah 12
They will turn to look on Him whom they had pierced.

In short, while the rest of the world is flocking to the Antichrist,
Israel will rebel against him.

This will bring about a slaughter.
He will attack and kill them continually and it will be a horrific time which will last for 42 months or for a time, times and half time.

THIS WILL BE THE HALF-WAY POINT OF THE TRIBULATION.
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
Jesus spoke of it:
Matthew 24:15-22 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

It will be a horrible time of tribulation for the saints of God.

But as we already noted; it will be the work of God
To purify Israel as a nation unto Himself.

And in between verses 43 and 44 you can actually insert the final 3 ½ years otherwise known as the Great Tribulation.

AND THEN DANIEL SEES THIS MAN’S END.

His character, his passion, his power
4) HIS FALL (44-45)

He is going to be bothered by “rumors from the East and from the North”

Remember he conquered the South, but these other two nations
Which he has not yet fully conquered will bother him.

He’s going to hear rumors of rebellion which will be more than his pride can handle.
• And so he will draw a great army to himself.
• And seek to fight a mighty battle.

Revelation 16:12-14 “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”

God will actually dry up the Euphrates river and the Antichrist will see this as his opportunity to gather the armies together for battle.

The East and the North weren’t against him, they were false rumors.
In fact they will gather with him.

What he doesn’t know is that it is a trap issued by the God of heaven.
He will gather on the plain of Meggido between the two seas.

And “he will come to his end, and no one will help him.”
What will happen?
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

God set the trap and initiated his fall.

Daniel 7:8-11 “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. “I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. “A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.”

And all this is God’s plan for finally bringing about the purity in Israel that He has intended from the beginning.

And all that is fascinating information,
But it does bring about the need for some important application.

WHAT IS TO BE LEARNED FROM ALL THIS?
What should Israel learn from this?

THE MESSIAH THEY NATURALLY WANT
IS NOT THE CORRECT MESSIAH.

In fact, according to what Gabriel revealed to Daniel,
Israel will cut off the correct Messiah and then embrace the false one.

WHY?
I think Paul summed it up best.
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

Do you see why they didn’t love Jesus, but will love the Antichrist?
It is because they do not love the truth.
Instead they “took pleasure in wickedness.”
Is that not the danger Jesus continually warned of?
John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Loving sin and hating truth
Is a sure-fire recipe to get deceived by the enemy.
And that is precisely what is happening to Israel.

AND THE PARALLEL IS TOO REAL NOT TO SEE.

Like so many today who don’t want a savior from sin, but only want a savior from poverty and sickness and discomfort.

If that is all you want, you are in danger of finding the wrong Messiah.
There are plenty of Messiah’s offered in the world today
And all but one of them are false.

John said:
1 John 2:18-19 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

Our world is filled with “antichrists”

Remember what Paul told the Corinthians?
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

That isn’t just true for Corinth, it’s true for so many even in our day.
It is the danger of seeking a savior who gratifies the flesh.

Jesus did not come to gratify your flesh, He came to destroy it.
Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The pitfall of Israel is the pitfall of the ages.
Namely that people seek a multitude of teachers to tell them what their itching ears want to hear.
AND END UP WITH THE WRONG SAVIOR
If you go down that path, you are setting yourself up for deception.

There was only one in the New Testament
Who offered this world and that was the enemy.

Be careful searching for a savior who gratifies the flesh,
All you have to do is look at what it’s costing Israel.

Let them be a forever example to you about that danger
And let their folly drive you to the real Savior.

Jesus is the One who will save you from sin
And who will give you the real kingdom, seek Him.

Worthy Is The Lamb
Revelation 5:1-14
August 7, 2016

As you know we are in the book of the Revelation
And we are currently looking at the events of the end times.

• It is the things “which must take place after these things”, that is after the church age.
• It is the events of Daniel’s 70th week that we have been discussing in the book of Daniel.
• It is the events of the end.

And this entire revelation began with John being caught up to heaven
Where he learned a very important lesson.
GOD IS ON HIS THRONE

John especially noted:
• His Glory and Wrath which was on the throne
• His Faithfulness which surrounded the throne
• His Judgment which came from the throne
• His Justice and Righteousness which was the foundation of His throne

• John was also mesmerized by the unceasing worship which was continually near the throne of God.

John was captivated by The Sovereign God of Heaven.

And as we left we sensed that the celebration in heaven
Was really about to crescendo.

The song of worship was beginning to turn toward the reality of creation.

Revelation 4:9-11 “And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

• It was heaven’s way of stating that God alone is the rightful owner and ruler
of creation.

• It was heaven’s way of declaring that all of creation should be in full
subjection to God and be giving all glory to God.

The reason this declaration is so definitively made is because
That is NOT what is currently happening.

We studied Genesis recently and we noted right off the bat that “God created the heavens and the earth.”

We noted that after 6 days God finished creating all things and He rested.
• He didn’t rest because He was tired.
• He rested because there was nothing left to do.

Creation was finished and it was perfect.
Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

God looked at creation and it was “good”, it was perfect, it was finished.
No tweaking was needed, no remodel was needed,
Nothing could be improved upon.

Creation started perfect

The obvious question to be asked when reading Genesis is:
“What happened?”

That answer is given in Genesis 3,
• The answer is that there was a Usurper.
• The serpent entered the garden and deceived the woman and threw sin into the world.

And now we live in all the muck of it.
Sickness, Death, Depravity, Immorality, Ambition, you name it.

We know that CREATION (which remembers life before the fall) absolutely HATES THIS new found state of affairs.

Romans 8:19-22 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

Creation remembers what life was like before the fall
And ever since creation came under new management
It has lamented the day longing to be set free.

The CHURCH represents those who have had our eyes opened to this reality, and now we WAR AGAINST this usurping regime.

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

We battle this reality.
Like Jude said, we save some, plucking them from the fire, but as a whole we realize that this creation is just sinking deeper and deeper into the grasp of the usurper.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

That is simply one of many passages which depict that
Things are headed down the drain.

Isaiah 24:20 “The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”

The usurper stepped in as “the god of this world”
And has systematically ran God’s creation right into the ground.

He is like a BAD TENANT who has rented God’s house
And is trashing the place.

And the neighbors and even the house itself long for him to be evicted.

That is certainly the cry of heaven, and as we saw last week they are starting to sense that the usurper’s days are numbered.

• We saw heaven reminding God that He built the house and that the house belongs to Him and that the enemy should not be allowed to dwell there any longer.

That song actually erupts into excitement by the time we get to chapter 5
Because in chapter 5 we realize that God
Has actually pulled the rental agreement out of the filing cabinet!

(1) “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.”

This is actually a scroll, and it is the title deed to the earth.

If you’ve read the book of Jeremiah you’ve seen this before.
• As Babylon was in the process of destroying Israel and deporting people to Babylon it is obvious that property wasn’t very valuable.
• However, in order to prove that Israel would one day return to their land God had Jeremiah actually purchase a piece of land as a visible illustration.

Jeremiah 32 tells that story.
Jeremiah 32:9-15 “I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. “I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. “Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. “And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time.” ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”‘
The custom of a deed was to record the details of the deed and roll it up and seal it. It could only be unrolled by the rightful heir and this protected the purity of the transaction.

Well here we find that God has pulled from the filing cabinet
The title deed to the earth.

What we are most curious about in this deed are the
“TERMS OF EVICTION”
That specify how God will go about removing a bad tenant.

For that is precisely what this scroll contains as you will see in chapter 6.

But you can imagine the excitement in heaven is now almost deafening
As heaven wants that scroll to be opened and the enemy to be evicted!

AND SO THE SEARCH IS ON!
(2) “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”

That is to say,
• “Who is capable of presenting the eviction notice to the enemy?”
• “Who hear can handle him?”
• “Who hear can serve him with the papers?”

Obviously it would require one who is not only stronger than the enemy,
But who also is not easily fooled by the smooth talker.

• Could you imagine what it would be like to haggle with such a deceiver?
If you weren’t careful he might actually convince you that he deserved this world and that it was all the fault of the landlord, not him.

• And even if you didn’t believe him and were still set on evicting him, who
out there is going to grab him by the shirt and put him out on the streets?

It’s going to take someone special to do it.

So the call goes out: “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”

I imagine this to be a bitter-sweet moment for John.
For on one hand there is the excitement of waiting for one who will step forward; on the other hand there must be the remorse of knowing it can’t be him.

John would be no match for the enemy one on one.
In fact no human would be.
(at best we “resist” the devil, but Scripture never tells us to overthrow him)

Even angels aren’t in the process of rebuking the devil.
Jude 9 “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
So as the call goes out throughout the heavens
For one to come and open the scroll,
Men and angels alike begin to examine themselves
Only to find themselves unable to do it.

(3) “And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”

The search went out throughout heaven, earth, and all of hell,
And still no one was up to the task.
Satan was that terrible tenant that no one could evict or handle.

And the reality was more than John could bear:
(4) “Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”

W.A. Criswell wrote:
“[John’s tears] represent the tears of all God’s people through all the centuries. Those tears of the Apostle John are the tears Adam and Eve, driven out of the Garden of Eden, as they bowed over the first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground with their tears over the silent, still form of their son, Abel. Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their affliction and slavery. They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried unto heaven. They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience in the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable. Such is the curse that sin has laid upon God’s beautiful creation; and this is the damnation of the hand of him who holds it, that usurper, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan-devil. “And I wept audibly,” for the failure to find a Redeemer meant that this earth in its curse is consigned forever to death. It meant that death, sin, damnation and hell should reign forever in the hands of Satan.” (sited in: MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 1-11, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, pg. 165)

• Ever lose a loved one and weep?
• Ever suffer a hardship and weep?
• Ever see a person fall into immorality and weep?
• Ever contemplate the future and weep?

These were the tears of John.
It doesn’t appear that things will ever change.

No one can remove the enemy from the creation he is destroying,
It will forever be ransacked with sin and the curse!

That is in fact a horrific thought.

In fact the word “weep” there is KLAIO and it means to weep bitterly.
• It is used of Peter after he denied Jesus.
• It is used of Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem

This is intense and bitter weeping by John.
Incidentally, the tears John cries in verse 4
Are the only tears ever recorded to have fallen in heaven.

And the beauty is that those tears are totally unfounded
And they are cried purely in ignorance.

(Heaven isn’t panicked or worried)

(5) “and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

It’s almost as though one of the elders tells John to “get a grip!”
THERE IS ONE WHO CAN!

He is: “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah”

He is: “the Root of David”

He has: “overcome”

Now if you’ll notice, all of these titles and phrases
SPEAK OF THE ULTIMATE CHAMPION, THE ULTIMATE VICTOR.

“the Lion” is a reference to Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49:
Genesis 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. “He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. “His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.”

Hopefully you’ll remember from our study of Genesis that Judah was the next Patriarch.

And as Jacob prophesied over him, he blessed him with:
Praise, Power, Preeminence, and Prosperity

Judah was a lion!
“And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?”

That is to say, who would dare mess with him?
(Satan prowls around “as” a roaring lion, but this is the REAL LION)

The elder here tells John not to weep regarding who will deal with the enemy because “the Lion” is here.

Not only that but He is “the Root of David”

Oh, it’s getting even better!
Isaiah 11:1-10 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.”

(We’ve read that verse several times because it’s the one which reveals the 7-fold fullness of the Holy Spirit. It is also the passage which reveals who will be filled with that Spirit)

This is David’s descendant, and we all remember what David was like!
“Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten-thousands!”

When my dad was in hospice:
I asked him aside from Jesus or family, who did most want to meet?
He said, “David, I love the way he smack-talked that giant!”

Don’t weep John, one like David is here!
If anyone can handle that usurper, we’d send David’s descendant in to do it.

And this is one we have found is NOT SOME UNTESTED WARRIOR with much potential, We are talking about One who “has overcome”

• He’s already fought His share of battles.
• He’s already a champion.
• John, We’re sending in the best!

WE ARE SENDING IN THE MOST WORTHY!
WE ARE SENDING IN THE ONLY WORTHY!

We’ve got the perfect One for the job.

And that is what we want to look at this morning.
What is it that makes Christ so worthy?

3 things
#1 THE DEMONSTRATION OF CHRIST’S WORTH
Revelation 5:6-7

John was just told about an overcoming lion from the line of David.
Can’t you imagine him looking for the warrior of the century?
And notice what John says:
“And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”

Do you remember why Israel failed to recognize Jesus when He came?
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

He didn’t look kingly!
• He was a lion, but He didn’t look like one.
• He was the seed of David, but He didn’t’ look like it.
• He was an overcomer, but it didn’t appear He could.

John looks for a warrior and he sees “a Lamb”
And incidentally the Greek word used here is in the diminutive form.
It is ARNION which means “little lamb”

Let me go ahead and give you a SPOILER:
This little lamb is the absolute focus of the book of the Revelation.

• 1 time in the Old Testament is Jesus called the lamb (Isaiah 53)
• 4 times in the New Testament is He called the lamb

And yet 31 times in the book of the Revelation is He called the “Lamb”
Contrast that with the fact that He is only called a lion once.

This Lamb is the focus.

Obviously it doesn’t have to do with appearance for this Lamb even looks to be in a ROUGH CONDITION.
“a Lamb standing, as if slain”
• You can still see the battle scars.
• You can still see the wounds.

But there is more to this Lamb than meets the eye.
He also has “seven horns”
• Horns equal power, and 7 is the perfect number. This little Lamb is omnipotent, He has all power.

He has “seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God”
• We’ve read it several times in Isaiah 11 about the Spirit in His fullness. This is the One who embodies that Spirit.

• This is the deliverer mentioned in Isaiah 11 who will bring in that time of peace where the lion will once again dwell with the lamb.
We have our deliverer!
AND THIS LAMB DOES THE MOST AMAZING THING!

(7) “And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

This is THE event!
• It’s the grand slam in the bottom of the ninth
• It’s the hail marry in overtime
• It’s the 3-pointer at the buzzer
• ONLY INFINITELY BIGGER!!!

He took the book!
Daniel 7:13-14 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

This Lamb demonstrated His worth
By approaching the throne and taking that book!
(See David approaching the giant here!)

And that leads to the second point
#2 THE DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST’S WORTH
Revelation 5:8-10

The immediate effect is worship!
The “four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb”

They all have “a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

They hold close to them all that the church has cried out to God for.
All the prayers for relief.
All the cries for deliverance.

They’ve been waiting for this day!
And they are coming to worship.

And look at what they sing:
(9) “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals;”

YOU ARE WORTHY!

WHY?
“for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
YOU ARE WORTHY BECAUSE YOU ARE THE GREAT REDEEMER!

Who better to redeem creation from the usurper than the One who effectively redeemed humanity from him?
• Jesus was the One who died and purchased the pardon for sinners.
• Jesus was the One who set them free from sin
• Jesus was the One who made them children of God.
• Jesus was the One who took them from darkness to light.
• Jesus was the One who took them from outside the veil to inside the veil.

When He died on that cross He pulled off the greatest work of redemption the world has ever seen.

Who better to redeem this world than the greatest Redeemer of all time?
You don’t need a lion, you’ve got the Lamb!

Demonstration of Christ’s worth, Description of Christ’s worth
#3 THE DECLARATION OF CHRIST’S WORTH
Revelation 5:11-14

As we saw earlier, the worship is contagious!
The choir just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Those near the throne instantly declare Christ’s worth
And at once the angels join in!

(11-12) “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Here we have an unnumbered choir of angels.
“myriad” was the biggest numerical word the Greeks had.

So John said it was “myriads of myriads”
It’s like if you say there was a bagillion of them.

And notice their declaration as well:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

The elders and the creatures declared WHY He was worthy.
Now the angels declare WHAT He is worthy to receive.

Because of who He is and what He did you should give Him “power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

And it’s not just heaven that worships.
(13-14) “And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Did you catch that?
“every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them”

That may seem strange given that in just a few chapters
Much of the world will be cursing Him, but it isn’t.

There is a difference between
Recognizing Christ’s worth and submitting to it.

You may remember the triumphal entry when all of Jerusalem worshiped Him.
Jesus even said if they didn’t the rocks would.

All of creation will at this point praise Jesus because He is worthy of it.

He is the only One who has the ability
To throw the usurper out of creation and set creation in order.

THE ANTICIPATION COULDN’T BE HIGHER!
• We’re about to see Jesus clean house!
• We’re about to see Jesus kick Satan out!
• We’re about to see Jesus put God’s house back in order!

So John’s vision begins with a view of heaven.
It starts with a throne, it ends up focusing on the Lamb who was slain.

SO, WHAT’S THE POINT HERE?
Namely that Jesus Christ is worthy of all!

The only victor this world will ever know is a Redeemer.
(it’s not the battle general, or the wise philosopher, it’s the sacrificial Lamb)

Every ounce of heaven’s anticipation and our hope
Rests upon Jesus’ ability to redeem.

And because He has done it and will do it again, all of heaven declares Him worthy!

They say He is worthy of:
“power” (dunamis) it speaks of His authority.
“riches” (ploutos) which speaks of abundant wealth
“wisdom” (sophia) which speaks of His understanding
“might” (ischus) which speaks of His strength
“honor” (time (timay)) which speaks of His value
“glory” (doxa) which speaks of His praise
“blessing” (eulogia) which means to speak well of

SO LET ME ASK YOU.

The angels ascribe “power” or authority to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him submission?

The angels ascribe “riches” to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your wealth?

The angels ascribe “wisdom” to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your obedience?

The angels ascribe “might” or ability to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your trust?

The angels ascribe “honor” or value to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your priority over earthly things?

The angels ascribe “glory” or doxology or praise to Jesus.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him the praise of your lips?

The angels ascribe “blessing” or a eulogy to Him. That He is worthy to be spoken well of to others.
Do you believe He is worthy of that?
Then do you give Him your public testimony?

Some give Jesus those things
In hopes that He will give them something in return.

“I’ll praise Jesus if He’ll provide for me or protect me”

To do that is to ask Him to prove His worth to you again.
That is not the worship of heaven.

The worship of heaven says that Jesus is already worthy
Simply because of what He did on the cross,
Apart from any other benefit or blessing.

Heaven says the cross alone makes Christ
Worthy of every single gift that could be bestowed upon Him.

Because He died on the cross Jesus deserves
My submission, my offerings, my obedience, my trust, my priority,
My worship, and my public testimony.

Even If He never does another single good thing for me.
HE IS ALREADY WORTHY!

SO HOW’S YOUR WORSHIP?
• Does it even exist?
• Is it merely lip service?
• Is it done in order to get Him to give you more? (manipulative)

THE LAMB IS WORTHY OF ALL OF YOUR WORSHIP
And He’s the only One who is!

This morning we come to commemorate His worth
As we partake in the Lord’s Supper.

We do this to proclaim His great worth!
We do this to glory in the redemption He accomplished!

BUT BEFORE WE PARTAKE the Scripture says that we should examine ourselves to make sure that we partake in a worthy manner.

1 Corinthians 11:27-28 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

Jesus is worthy of the best worship.
And we are warned not to worship in an unworthy manner.

Well what does that mean?

Jesus spelled it out to us.
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

There you have it church.
We are commanded not to try to bring Christ less than He is worthy of,
And He is worthy of everything.

As you examine yourself before partaking in the Lord’s Supper
Ask the Lord to reveal to you an idols
Or any habits that are unworthy of Him.

And study His word to see what those things might be.

After all He is worthy of all power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

As Isaac Watts so eloquently put it in his hymn
“When I Survey The Wondrous Cross”

“Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”