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The Book of Daniel

Living Faith in Turbulent Times - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 10-12

September 10, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 12, Daniel 10, Daniel 11

Outline: 1. We must live with clear awareness that our daily lives are involved in a great cosmic conflict. 2. God’s people persevere through courageous suffering and persistent wisdom. 3. Our heart and our sense of identity must be rooted God's works and promises. • Look to the cross of Christ. • Look to what God has done in your life. • Look to glorious future that God has promised. Scripture References: • Daniel 10-12 • 2 Timothy 3:12 Application questions: • Do you live with a daily awareness that your life is constantly involved in a cosmic spiritual conflict? ◦ That your daily battles and struggles have bigger consequences than you can see? That your spiritual life and integrity has an impact on others around you? • Is your life driven by a conscious pursuit of God's wisdom and guidance in your life? • What is the anchor of your sense of identity? Is it what God has done? Or is it your own works and circumstances? Discussion questions: • What new insights have you gained looking at the book of Daniel? How has this study shaped your thinking or your spiritual life? • How does it impact our approach to daily life when we have a clear understand that we are involved in spiritual battle every day? ◦ How does this change your struggle with sin? ◦ How does this change your approach to relationships? ◦ How does it impact your view of church and ministry? • What is the difference between a mindset that actively seeks God's wisdom and guidance versus a mindset that simply tried to avoid doing sin? ◦ What is wrong with using the question "Is it a sin?" as a primary way to make decisions? • What are ways you may be called to stand alone for God's truth? To suffer? How do we know if we are ready for these things? • How do I know if my sense of identity is rooted in God and his work rather than my own works and circumstances? • How do we grow in rooting our identity in Jesus and cross and his promises? ------ We have been spending the summer in the book of Daniel, and today we come to our final message. Daniel is a written to help God's people navigate the struggles of following God and his promises in a broken and dangerous world. As we come to conclude our study, many of us have already clearly noticed that the lessons in this book repeat over and over from different angles as the book goes on. This is a very typical pattern in Old Testament writing, especially in the prophets. They often have a pattern of talking about the same topic over and over, but from different sides and with different emphasis. This is why when you read the book of Isaiah or Jeremiah, you will sense that repetitive nature. But every time they circle around, they come at the topic from a slightly different angle. The end result is like a "surround sound" 3D effect - to give the reader a rich immersion into the topic. Because we have run out of time for this series, this final message will be an overview of the last three chapters - and in essence these three chapters are all ONE unit, one event that concludes the book. First of all we will read through all three chapters - just kidding no we wont. There is a LOT of rich truth we can explore in these chapters. There is also a lot of complex stuff here that we don't have time to unpack - feel free to follow up with me with questions on these items. What I want to do is to bring out three core principles for our lives, one from each chapter - principles that guide our lives as God's people in difficult times. 1. We must live with a clear awareness that our daily lives are involved in a great cosmic conflict. 4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up, and there was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. 7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see it, but a great terror fell on them, and they ran and hid. 8 I was left alone, looking at this great vision. No strength was left in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless. 9 I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. 10 Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. 11 He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling. 12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.” Daniel's final vision in the book is a of these angels - and their presence is so overwhelming to him, he becomes weak and feeble. What is also really interesting is that Daniel is allowed to see history and world events from yet another angle. This angel come to tell Daniel about a battle that he has been having between himself and an evil spiritual force that is seeking to influence world events for for the worse. The curtain is pulled back and he is allowed to see that behind the historic events of kings and empires, there is a fierce spiritual battle that is taking place. "I have come because of your prayers. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. " Daniel is made to see that the causes in the results that we see here and now in our world today are not simply accomplished by human agents alone but by the fact that there is an entire spiritual realm of beings and forces involved, which is interconnected with the flow of human history. As Daniel is praying and fasting about the outcome of the life of his people, he is told by this angel, that about the very things that he is praying and fasting about there is a fierce angelic battle that takes place. So easily today in the modern world, we fall into the trap of thinking that what we see is all there is. We become functional materialists. We say we believe in a spiritual world, and we believe in God and all the things that he does, but in our day-to-day function, these things don’t ever come into our consideration, and they’re not part of how we view our every day life. What some scientists and physicists are only now starting to realize Christians have always believed in the Bible has always said that the created world has two dimensions to it, which exist parallel to each other. There is a Physical created world, the things that we touch and see and feel, and then there is the spiritual world, which is inhabited by spiritual beings to have the ability to sometimes take visible form. Bible tells us very clearly that angels are created beings and just like us humans they have some form of a will and intelligence and they are powerful and yet they are not created in the image of God like we as humans are. They are not created for the same glorious purpose is that human beings are created. Angels are created to serve God within his created world in various forms. The Bible shows that at some point in the early days of creation, there was an angelic rebellion, and so there are two spheres of Angels. There’s angels that are obedient to God and then there’s angels who are in rebellion to him. We see from the book of Job that Satan and his host have the ability to influence events in the lives of people, including causing illness, causing natural disaster, and motivating the hearts of evil people to more evil. Satan and his demons oppose God and all that he does and this means that they are always working to bring destruction, suffering, and rebellion to the lives of people into God’s creation. The world we live in is deeply spiritual whether we know it or not. A few weeks ago I sent my guys to do some moving work in a home that was full of Satanic statues and worship symbols. They were really disturbed by being in that home. Yaro was telling me about a conversation with a coworker who said he is not religious at all and does not go to church - but he is really rethinking his whole spiritual attitude because he is seeing the massive surge in witchcraft and satan worship and satanic religions today. This stuff is real and its all around us. Daniel is going about his business doing life as usual. He is praying for his people. He is working his job in government and he is unaware of the fact that his prayers and his role in the Persian government is constantly crossing paths with the efforts of spiritual enemies, who oppose God, and work through evil people in the world. “I have come because of your prayers…” There are two extremes that Christians take when it comes to Angels and the spiritual world. One is to act like they don’t exist in the other one is to obsess over them, and to try to see demons under every rock and around every corner. One of the clear points for us to see here is that it is naïve to live in a way, where we are oblivious to the cosmic conflict us around us in the world. We live in a world, charged with conflict in the conflict between the enemies of God, and those who seek the glory of God. Every day, as we are going about our bills parenting, our kids interacting with our neighbors, going to work, we are engaged in spiritual battle and spiritual battle is always trying to pull us away from God away from knowing him worshiping him and serving him Not only that our life of obedience to God, in ordinary ways every day our prayers, especially have a great power in the world around us, in ways that we are completely unaware. Daniel had no idea that his prayers impacted angelic warfare in the sky. This vision shows him that his every day faithfulness matters so much more than he realizes. Sinclair Ferguson - "Daniel prayed, and angels went to war." Do you live with an awareness of the spiritual significance of your life on people and on events around you? Do you have an awareness of the fact that your battle with sin impacts many others around you? When a father or a husband is tempted to neglect, leading his family spiritually, when he is tempted to isolate himself or embrace laziness, there’s so much more at stake than his own personal comfort. When there’s marital conflict, constantly challenging family life When moms are perpetually, battling frustration and temptation to escape the calling of being present, and diligent and faithful in bringing truth and grace to their kids There’s always a spiritual battlefield for the home for the spiritual state of the home, and there are many forces that we do not see. They have a great interest in disrupting the worship and the discipleship of life in our families. 2. Gods people persevere through courageous suffering and persistent wisdom. This angelic messenger that comes to Daniel proceeds to give him a revelation of what is to come. Don’t worry, we’re not going to read chapter 11. It is long and scary and complicated. But the basic idea of this chapter is pretty simple and it’s pretty much a repetition of what we’ve already heard, and Daniel. This angel give Daniel a detailed account of wars and trials and difficulties that will follow in the next couple of hundred years has the Greek empire moves in. It’s pretty amazing to see the level of accuracy that many of these predictions have, and how precisely they were fulfilled during Alexander, the great and his Greek kingdom conquests. But also, as the pattern goes in the whole book, as we have already seen God‘s revelation to Daniel here merges from talking about the Greek empire, to talking about the general pattern of increasing opposition and persecution from gods enemies against God’s people in the final days of history. The Bible consistently speaks of an increasing difficulty and opposition that God’s people experience as the end of the age draws near. It’s interesting to me to notice the two pathways or techniques that these evil characters used to oppose God’s people. The first in the most obvious way is persecution and oppression, and pursuing gods people and eliminating them. But the second pathway is to flatter to impress him to entice people with privilege and success. We see this as a pattern in persecution throughout history. The church is persecuted, almost always a two ways at the same time first of all there’s a threat of harm various forms of harm. If you do not stop following Christ if you don’t denounce Christ if you don’t adjust your beliefs, you will suffer. At the same time, there’s always almost always a offer of reward of privilege of status of comfort and ease of life if you can align with the ideas of the world today It’s really interesting to see how this text describes gods people prevailing in the midst of difficulty. Two things that we can notice. First of all, there’s a willingness to suffer, and the to stand alone There is an expectation of hardship. There’s an expectation of opposition, and there’s no naïve idea that there’s going to be some prosperous golden age that everything’s gonna be perfectly good in my life as long as that I will be in the word God. Actually, the more serious you are about obeying God, and seeking his kingdom, the more opposition various kinds of your face in your life. Daniel 11:32-35 "32 With flattery he will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action. 33 Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will fall by the sword and flame, and they will be captured and plundered for a time. 34 When they fall, they will be helped by some, but many others will join them insincerely. 35 Some of those who have insight will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time." 2 Timothy 3:12 "...all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." This question of suffering makes us dig down to the core of our faith - is my christianity just because of my parents? or my friends? or my community? or is my faith in Jesus something that is the anchor in my OWN HEART? Are you prepared to stand alone for your faith if everything around you was stripped away? The second thing is, they’re both pursuit of wisdom and truth Noticed that they are described as those who have insight other translations say, as those who are wise. In other words, the angel describes the powerful lives of the people of God not as merely waiting for God to come back, and not as merely making sure that they are not sitting and not doing something terrible, but as those who are actively seeking truth and wisdom in their life Satan’s great tactic is not simply to just deny God’s truth outright, but to make it murky and unclear. He wants to make God's standards unclear - and he wants to promise many rewards that are very clear. Its not sin to pursue these things, but if you do they will make your life so much better - money, power, health and fitness, - it can be anything. There are a thousand ways that the enemy dangles a carrot of success and pleasure in front of you - what is the end result? He wants to take your focus away from the things that really matter, he wants to drain all the time, energy and resources you would have spent on pursuing true wisdom and devotion to God and his work in your life and all the ways he is calling you to follow him. Often times people will use the criteria in their life. I’m just making sure they’re not doing something bad. Is it sin for me to do this? In other words were really pursuing what we want, and we don’t wanna ask too many questions about what we should be pursuing as long as we know very concretely. What I’m doing is not a sin that nobody can stop me. This is not the attitude of the people of God in the final days. The only way to survive a world full of deception and conflict in opposition to God’s truth is to be a person who is truly pursuing honestly from your depth of your heart pursuing to know God in his ways. "the people who know their God will be strong and take action. 33 Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to many.." 3. Our heart and our sense of identity must be rooted God's works and promises. When we face times of difficulty and distress - the reason why it is so difficult is because it hits at our core identity. It makes us question ourselves. It makes us wonder, it makes us doubt. Why did this happen to me? Does this mean that God has abandoned me? does this mean that everything I believed was false? Everyone is happy and jolly and confident in God when everything is peachy. But when times get dark, with life presses in, when evil closes in and we see no way out - we start to crack on the inside, we start to question and doubt. We are deeply tied in our sense of identity to our CIRCUMSTANCES and to our PERFORMANCE. This is why in the final chapter, God gives Daniel a glimpse of final victory. And it is not a victory over evil that we accomplish with our own power. It is a final victory over evil, over sin and over death itself that GOD accomplishes. Daniel 12:1-3 At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape. 2 Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt. 3 Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. It is critical that our sense of self worth and identity is being constantly rooted in GOD - in WHO he is, in WHAT he has done, in what he IS doing and what he SAYS he WILL do. How do we do that? • Look to the cross How committed is God to redeeming his people out of difficulty? So committed he took on flesh and become one of us - taking on human nature to make a way for us to be redeemed. The trails we face today and the trails we will face tomorrow are NOT because he is trying to get you to pay for your sins - it is because he is refining you - this is training for something bigger, a more glorious end that he is preparing you for. • Look at what God has done in your life. YOU ARE HERE - this is proof God is working in your life, speaking his truth of hope to you • Look to the glorious future that he promised. His future promises are guaranteed by his past actions! 3 Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. My foundational sense of identity and self worth is NOT rooted in my circumstances and in my performance. It is rooted in Jesus and his victory - it is rooted in Jesus and his Word, his promises and his purposes. Application questions: • Do you live with a daily awareness that your life is constantly involved in a cosmic spiritual conflict? ◦ That your daily battles and struggles have bigger consequences than you can see? That your spiritual life and integrity has an impact on others around you? • Is your life driven by a conscious pursuit of God's wisdom and guidance in your life? • What is the anchor of your sense of identity? Is it what God has done? Or is it your own works and circumstances?

Seventy Sevens Until the End - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 9:20-27

September 3, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 9:20–27

Title: Seventy Sevens Until the End Daniel 9:20-27 Outline: 1. The Lord affirms his love and care to Daniel. 2. God foretells a plan of total restoration that will come in stages 3. The Messiah is coming who will be cut off for the sake of his people. 4. Judgement will come through God's enemies and upon God's enemies. Scripture references: - Daniel 9:20-27 - Exodus 34:5-6 - Leviticus 25:8-11 - Is. 53:8 - Luke 4:16-21 - 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 Application: - Do you know, deep down, in you heart that you are loved by God? - This is one of the signs that the message of the gospel is really penetrating you heart. - Do you see history and the present as the battlefield between the enemies of God and God's people? - Does a false definition of success prevent you from knowing that God is with us in the midst of our struggles? Discussion questions: - How do we handle very difficult to understand passages? What do we do when we are not quite sure what something means? Does this mean the Bible is confusing? - Why does the angel make a special emphasis on telling Daniel he is loved by God? - What is the Jubilee and how does it fit into this prophecy? - What is the christian expectation of world history? ----- We are working our way through the book of Daniel. Last week we left off on Daniel 9, where Daniel realizes from reading the book of Jeremiah that the exile in Babylon will take about 70 years. He begins to pray and confess the sin of his people, asking God to fulfill his promises and restore them. So much in our life depends on HOW we define success. So much of our choices, our attitudes, our plans and our actions will be determined by what it is that you look forward to - what are the goals, what are the end results that YOU are looking forward to and striving for. This is really important because HOW you envision success for yourself will then determine how you react and how you interpret your situations in life. For example, if you have set for yourself the expectation that success in my life means financial prosperity, and you find yourself in season after season of financial difficulty in your life and you are struggling with inevitable conclusion that you will never succeed and you will always be a failure. Because you have set your financial situation AS THE METER of your well being - you are locked into a certain conclusion about your situation. but this conclusion can be totally wrong. There are different reasons WHY you may be in financial difficulty. - It may be because you ARE lazy and don't have self control in how you spend your money - It may be because you have been diligent and hard working, but there are situations in your life that are beyond your control that crashed in and wrecked your financial situation, but that is a season of learning and patience that God is taking you through - in this case your financial situation is NOT a reflection of your well being So much in our life and our thinking depends on HOW we define our goals, the things we look forward to, our definition of success. Daniel was a man who's vision of success and fulfillment was totally shaped and aligned with God's purposes and his personal participation in God's kingdom. Even though he lives a prosperous life in Babylon, he prays a prayer of confession for the sin of his people, he longs for God to restore - he sees his life as living through the judgement of God. As Daniel prays and longs for God to fulfill his promises in his life God gives him an answer of WHAT to expect from history. This answer to Daniel teaches us that we must see our ultimate restoration as coming from GOD and his plan - and we must see that God's victories come through patient endurance. READ Daniel 9:20-27 1. The Lord affirms his love and care to Daniel. 20 While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the Lord my God concerning the holy mountain of my God—21 while I was praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the first vision, reached me in my extreme weariness, about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me this explanation: “Daniel, I’ve come now to give you understanding. 23 At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured by God. Daniel was in extreme weariness and weakness - he was confessing and sorrowful over the sin of his people - over the sadness of his situation in history. the first thing we need to make a note of is the way that God cares for Daniel here. God is caring for Daniels soul. "at the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and i have come to give it, for you are treasured by God..." such beautiful words!! Does God hear me in my prayers and struggles? YES HE DOES - at the beginning of your prayers. The answer may not always come right away. But he heres and he is coming!! Daniel is told that he is heard right away by God even though he himself did not feel that right away. God always hears the call of his people in the midst of their struggles and challenges - though the timing of his answers doesn't always align with our expectations. Why is this so important for Daniel to know? "You are treasured/loved by God..." God will say again in the next chapter - he wants to reaffirm his love and his presence even when there are seasons it may not be felt. There's this silly impression that people have of God in the OT that he is harsh and judgmental, as opposed to being loving in the NT - this is totally not the case if we pay even a little more attention to the text. First of all Daniel, God loves you. This is so important for us to hear every day of our lives, especially in the midst of our difficulties. We may have lots of questions - we may have lots of things we don't fully understand - God says first of all in his word today, that he loves you. He loves you today and he has a purpose for the exact place that you find yourself today. Exodus 34:5-6 5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Stop and let that sink in Do you know that it your heart today? God's answer here is to give Daniel hope and encouragement. As encouraging as his introduction is, the message that the angel gives is...interesting. 24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city— to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. 25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary.[f] The[g]end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” Huh?? How does this answer give Daniel hope?? Its actually one of the most misunderstood, debated and confusing passages in the whole Bible. EVERYONE agrees with that conclusion - and that is pretty much the only thing that people agree on. Some people treat this passage with extreme certainty and make it a point of unhealthy disagreement. Entire ministries are built around certain interpretations of this passage. Not all passages in the Bible are equally understandable - but the core foundational truths are the most clear. As with a lot of other apocalyptic passages, we need to be cautious about extremes. We need to do our best to allow the pattern of Scripture to interpret this passage for us, and we need to start with the parts that are most obvious to us, and work down from there. Obviously we don't have time here to cover every line in detail here, but what I would like to do is sketch our my best attempt at understanding the main ideas and why it gives hope and direction to Daniel. Some of you who are die hard prophesy experts may disagree with me here and we can definitely have more conversations. A very important starting point for us here is to remember that Daniel is mainly concerned about the question of returning from exile and God's kingdom being restored. 2. God foretells a plan of total restoration that will come in stages OT prophets always speak of a period of return from exile and of spiritual healing and restoration to the people of God and the rest of the world. What is clear from the prophets in the OT is that there are two stages to the return from Babylon - there is going to be a physical return when the Jewish people come back and rebuild their city and temple - AND there is going to be a final, later, TRUE spiritual return. This is clear especially in places like the book of Isaiah where God speaks of a return of his people in the future that is not just a geographical return but a return that will be part of a process of total renewal of the world, of the inner life of his people, or real and healing to the whole world. Now, when we look at the purpose statement that the angel gives to Daniel, it is clear he has in mind the full plan of the true return and restoration of God's people. "to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place." He is speaking of the full restoration, the true return. But he tells Daniel its not going to happen quite yet. "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city...." This is where the seventy weeks or more specifically in the Hebrew its literally seventy sevens come in. Whats up with the number seven? It is referring to a common OT idea called the year of Jubilee Leviticus 25:8-11 8 “You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine. 9 Then you are to sound a ram’s horn loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. 10 You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan. 11 The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. God ordered the life of Israel around 7 year periods. Every 7 years was a year of rest for the land. then ANOTHER special year after 7 7's - every 49 years - the year of Jubilee is a year of redemption and restoration, a year when land and debts are restored to their original owners. A year of financial, social and physical rest and recovery for the people of God. It was financial and social - but it was also prophetic - the year of jubilee pointed forward to the promised work of God to bring healing and restoration to the whole world through his plan of salvation. When God tells Daniel about the future, he is pulling on this idea of Jubilee and saying that a total, real true Jubilee is coming not in seven sevens but in seventy sevens. The question is - do we take this seventy sevens as literal numbers or do we take it more as a flexible symbolic term pointing forward to God's restoring work through Jesus? This is a good question and is up for debate. One of the mistakes people do is they get all mathematical about it. They start creating math formulas to predict that EXACT DATE of the end of the world. This is a mistake because that is not how prophetic language is used in general and its not how apocalyptic language is used. The ten horns, the four wings on the monster - Daniel would not have taken is a mathematical code - he obviously would have taken it as general patterns that communicate a clear idea. In the case of the seventy weeks or seventy sevens, the obvious point God is telling here is this: "Daniel, yes the people will go home soon, but the REAL and FULL return is a much bigger project that will take a much larger chunk of history." One commentator says, "Its like Daniel was focused on one mountain peak that he was climbing, and then as he got close to it, he is being shown that there is yet another, much bigger peak that is the path of God's redeeming work - not just the 70 years in Babylon, but the seventy weeks that Gabriel is saying...Daniel is given a more detailed picture of that path.." 3. The Messiah is coming who will be cut off for the sake of his people. the seventy sevens are broken down into THREE segments: - seven - 62 - one 25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. Two sections of time are highlighted here - the time when Jerusalem is rebuilt - and the time when an anointed one, a ruler will come. The time for rebuilding the temple and the city is seven sevens - about 49 years this pretty closely covers the time of Nehemiah and Ezra - the season when the king allowed them to return and rebuild the city. "It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times." then we have another - MUCH longer period - 62 sevens/weeks 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. This is the long stretch that brings us to the coming of the Messiah, the Ruler - now what is interesting and unexpected about this ruler that Daniel is told about is that he is "cut off, and have nothing..." vs 24 says one of the biggest things God is going to accomplish in this time period is to end our sin and guilt. How can God accomplish this task of ending our sin, of paying for our sin? Isaiah 53 talks about a person, a figure, taking the sins of the people on himself to clear their guilt and Isaiah speaks of the servant of God being "cut off" for the sake of his people. Here is where we notice more that Gabriel's message to Daniel is interwoven with hints and connecting points to other parts of God's Word such, namely the book of Isaiah. Is. 53:8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. And here in Daniel 9 we have this phrase that says that the coming ruler, the coming Messiah, the leader, he will bring in the jubilee and the renewal of God's people - will be cut off - rejected, condemned. One morning in a synagogue gathering in a small village, Jesus Luke 4:16-21 16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” Jesus reads the text from Isaiah about the ultimate, spiritual Jubilee - the time of real healing and restoration - and he says - IT IS HERE IN ME. I have come to bring real healing to sinners and forgiveness to all! What is also interesting is what happens next in the story in Luke "28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. 29 They got up, drove him out of town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff." this is a hint of how they will treat the one who comes to bring healing - the reject him. Even though Jesus came to preach the truth to his people and bring his people home to God, they rejected him, judged him, convicted him and handed him over to the Romans to be killed. In Jesus we have the fulfillment of Daniel 9, Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 61 That covers seven plus 62 weeks - thats leaving one week - the seventieth week. 4. Judgement will come through God's enemies and upon God's enemies. 26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” The next contentious question is WHO is 26b and 27 referring to - is it the SAME ruler, the Messiah that we have been talking about in 26a - or is this a different, evil ruler - the opposite of Christ - the main enemy of God? "he will make a firm covenant and put a stop to sacrifice and offering..." - some say this is Jesus, forming the new covenant and ending the sacrifices because he gave himself once for all. I am not full convinced of this. Based on the pattern of how Daniel keeps referring to evil rulers of the world who oppose God and his truth, I am inclined to believe its not talking about Jesus, its talking about an evil ruler. What I think is happening is another instance where the Bible is talking about a specific historical event - but then it pushes past that event to speak of something bigger and more significant that this event is pointing to. "The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed." This is speaking of ANOTHER future destruction of Jerusalem - I think its referring to what happened in 70 AD when the romans came in and completely destroyed EVERYTHING. This is how Jesus quotes this passage too - Jesus uses this passage to speak of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and warning his disciples about what is going to happen is the not so distant future. Jesus said these things will happen to the Jewish religious system as yet another judgement because they rejected Jesus who came to bring them the good news. But then verse 27 seems to push past singular historical event, and points to a bigger pattern or fulfillment in history. Daniel does a similar thing with these "little horns" in chapters 7 and 8 They are speaking of specific leaders in history who will oppress God's people - but then they also seem to point forward to a bigger fulfillment of a anti-Christ figure who rises up at the end of the age to oppose God and his people. Paul speaks of this character in 2 Thessalonians 2 For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with every kind of miracle, both signs and wonders serving the lie, 10 and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie, 12 so that all will be condemned—those who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness. Notice here - just like the judgement that came on the Jewish religious system came through the destructive power of Rome in AD 70, so judgement will come on the world at the end of the age - God permits an evil ruler, or an evil system, to dominate the world and weave deceptive and destructive lies in the hearts of people to follow it. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. I think this is symbolic language that described the end times ruler/or evil system - which imposes its own religious truth on the world. So the million dollar question is WHO is this antichrist and how do we identify him? Is it Joe Biden? Is it Donald Trump? Is it Vladimir Putin? Is it China? or North Korea?... Is it some super powered satanic overlord who will appear at the end and we will all clearly know its him but for now we just chill and wait?? No because all these predictions are counter weighed by Jesus' OTHER words - be watchful, alert and ready - because he may return to judge the living and the dead at any moment! He can come back today and then we will look back and know - it WAS Joe Biden all along. He can come back in 100 years - but the dangers remain. We live today in a evil world system that religiously opposes God and his people. We see truly satanic and evil things take place in the middle east and India where Christians are being slaughters and their homes burned. We face a progressive sexual political system that is more and more opposed to God and his truth - forcing everyone to comply and agree or suffer the consequences. Daniel was closing in on the peak of his mountain, his 70 years of exile and he was shown a much bigger peak and a longer path up ahead of the people of God. Today we find ourselves somewhere along the steep and dangerous climb of that final peak in God's story of history. We live in a time when the enemies of God grow and gather. The question is where do you align your life in this story? What are the goals and end points that your life is striving for? Are you aligned with God's plan for history? Or are you trying to make your own? The angel says, all these terrible things will keep going - "until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” There is coming a time when, As Paul says, Jesus will return suddenly to the scene of the world stage and crush his enemies. For now we find ourselves in the middle of verse 27 somewhere that we follow the pattern of our savior, who was cut off, who was rejected We follow in his pattern and in his power. We learn endurance and strength and dependence on his grace the struggles in the trials in the oppression in the difficulties, we experience in our lives. Application: - Do you know, deep down, in you heart that you are loved by God? - This is one of the signs that the message of the gospel is really penetrating you heart. - Do you see history and the present as the battlefield between the enemies of God and God's people? - Does a false definition of success prevent you from knowing that God is with us in the midst of our struggles? Today, as we approach the table, its a memorial and a celebration. Its a memorial because it is remembering Jesus' death and suffering in our place Its a celebration because he is the long awaiting Savior who has come at the peak of history to bring about God's long awaited promise of healing and restoration. To proclaim victory to the captives of sin and guilt, to give strength to the weary, to put speak to us in the most powerful way - that we are loved.

Grabbing Hold of God's Promises - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 9:1-19

August 27, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 9:1–19

Outline: 1. Daniel's prayer life was driven by a singular focus on God's kingdom. 2. Daniel understood the significance of our actions (especially PRAYER) in response to God's promises. 3. Daniel's mindset in prayer is driven and defined by God's Word. 4. Daniel understands the centrality of confession of sin in prayer. Scripture references: • Daniel 9: 1-19 • Jeremiah 25:11 • Revelation 8:2-5 • John 1:7-10 Application • What is the focus of you life? What is the mountain that you are climbing? Is there a genuine pursuit of God in your life? • What is the perspective that drives your prayer life and relationship with God? Are you learning to see your life through the lens of God and his story? • Do you confess your sins or do you hide them? Are you trying to clean yourself up or are you living in the light of God's goodness and love? One of the biggest tensions we feel as believers is summed up in the words of the Psalmist - "How long or Lord?" Its the tension we feel between our current situation, and the promises of God that we know to be true. Its the tension we feel when we see the world around us spinning out of control and promises of God saying all will work together for good. Its the tension we feel between feeling that we are weak, struggling and broken - and the Word of God telling us that all who trust in the Lord will be like an ever green tree that cannot be shaken. Its the tension Daniel likely felt as he spent his entire life, and poured out the vast majority of his strength and intelligence working in a government system that destroyed his own homeland. We have walked with Daniel through the past few weeks from the days of him being a young man taken from his homeland amidst war and destruction - to now the image of Daniel at the end of his life - still looking and still waiting for God's promises. As we look at this chapter today, the lesson we want to derive for ourselves is that in God and his Word we have an unshakable anchor of hope, and an invitation to call upon him, to participate in his plans, even though his answers to us are often so much bigger than we expect. Read Text 1. Daniel's prayer life was driven by a singular focus on God's kingdom. Daniel is a wise and significant figure, a man of God who has witnessed and lived through a lot. He is spiritually mature and he is esteemed by even the unbelievers around him. He has lived a long and fruitful life. So the question is, what is it that he spends his time and energy doing these days? Answer - studying Scripture. "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy." This is the posture of the mature and powerful man of God - the higher he goes in his growth and wisdom - the more focused and tied his heart becomes to God's Word and God's promises. From the start of his life to his end - his heart is committed to living for God and his kingdom. The life he lived in babylon no doubt made many of his fellow exiles comfortable and caused them to forget the tragedy of the fact that the city of God and the promises of God have been forgotten. His life is one focused climb, one steady pursuit of God and his glory. I can't resist the side note to men especially - what is your life pursuing? Are you being manipulated by the enemy to turn your nose in every way, being directed and influenced by the chaos the distractions the blessings and the pleasures of life?? WHAT are you focused on? What is your life set on? Your life can fly by in an instant you find you just spent it all chasing vapor. Daniel is locked in to God and his promises. And What is it that he discovers? "I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy." What is he referring to? Jeremiah 25:11 11 This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. He realized that the time for God to bring about the return and restoration of his people was about to come to pass! What an exciting realization!! He must have been like WUUUUUUTTT????? What was his response? To celebrate, to rejoice? To kick back and wait for God to do his promises? 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. He commits himself to prayer, to fasting and to ASK GOD WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH TO DO WHAT HE PROMISED! So many people struggle feeling like their spiritual life is flat, like they don't have a clear sense of purpose or direction or closeness to God... But are we SEEKING him? We often want the results of God's work in our lives and through our lives without actually wanted GOD HIMSELF. 2. Daniel understood the significance of our actions (especially PRAYER) in response to God's promises. Daniel did not kick back and chill and wait - he realized God is about to bring about the renewal of his poeple and our return. How does that happen? Through our own prayer and through our repentance and acknowledgement of all that we did wrong - through our asking for him to DO WHAT HE SAID HE WOULD DO!! This is one of the biggest misunderstandings people have about God's sovereignty and total control and his promises - it just means then that we don't need to worry or do anything - we just wait for him to do it. NO! Yes God plans and controls and promises - and yet, God works out all his promises through the powerful, confident faithful prayer and obedience of his people! Theres a powerful image of this in the book of Revelation - Revelation 8:2-5 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The angel takes the prayers the the saints which come to God as an offering of worship - and he throws those prayers back onto the earth as the TOOL that brings about apocalyptic judgement - through the prayers of the saints God is accomplishing the end of the world. WE are the tool God uses to accomplish his eternal purposes in history. Daniel is not simply leaning back and waiting for God's promises, he is reaching out and grabbing hold of them! James 5 tells us that the prayer of the righteous person has great power. Is that your perspective today? Do you believe in the power of your prayer and your life of following Christ to do great things? Sinclair Ferguson - "God’s sovereign purposes are never revealed in Scripture as excuses for our personal indolence but as incentives for action" 3. Daniel's mindset in prayer is driven and defined by God's Word. The way that people pray about their situations tells you a lot about what they think about God and what they think about themselves. "God please give me more money and more success" "God why did you let all these things happen to me??" James says one of the problems with the prayers of many is that they come to God like a genie in a lamp, they come to him with their own dreams and ambitions, completely detached from his own word and his story. What is the drive of Daniel's prayer? what is the motivation? If you notice, over and over in the prayer, Daniel is referring to God's own word to them and he is praying God's own promises back to him. This is another product of a man who is soaked deeply by the Word of God - he is not just demanding for big money and nice cars - he whole imagination is structured by God's story and God's plans for the world - and when he sees things about to happen he is calling on God to fulfill his own promises. He is not making up his own explanations for WHY all this happened to them. Did God abandon them? Is God a fake? No. Daniel interprets his situation through Scripture, he allows God's Word to dictate his own view of his life - and from that position he prays. From the very start, God spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy 30 and said, IF you disobey my word and break my covenant - you will be exiled from the promised land. You will face judgement for your sin. Daniel's own prayer is based on the prayer of Solomon in 1 Kings 8 where Solomon is praying at the dedication of the temple - and in that prayer, Solomon is linking back to what Moses said and asks God to please have mercy on them and, even if they are disobedient and are exiled from the land - that when they pray to him to restore them back - that he will hear them. Daniel does not see himself as a solo player on the stage of life. His whole heart is shaped by the story of salvation that God is working through his people and he comes to God to appeal for him to do what he said in his own word. 11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+9&version=csb#fen-csb-22000a] written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him. 12 He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. 17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine on your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake. 18 Listen closely,[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+9&version=csb#fen-csb-22007c] my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name. So often people will allow their difficulties to reshape their theology. Why did this happen to me? you allow your own sinful heart and imagination, you allow pop culture, you allow the world around you - to shape how you see your life and how you interpret your life and how you approach God. You end up in a dead end, blaming God, asking for things that will bring even more pain in your life. Daniel knows he must see himself in light of God's story, he must OWN his part in the story, confess the reality of the sin of his people, and call on God to DO WHAT HE PROMISED! God loves it when we come to him like a child and say, "You promised God!!" But for us to be able to do that we must also carefully sift our prayers and our desires through the story of God's own word! Are your prayers to God driven and empowered by God's very own promises? Or are they just a collection of your own personal and selfish ambitions? 4. Daniel understands the centrality of confession of sin in prayer. Daniels prayer is a serious one, not a prayer of party and celebration. Why? Because he starts with admitting the sin of his people. He starts with the foundational acknowledgement that they are guilty and unworthy of God's grace and goodness - and yet they only depend on GOD's own goodness and righteousness. Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands— 5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the people of the land. 7 Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel—those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you. 8 Lord, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the Lord our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets. If we do not start on the foundation of brokenness before God, we are blind. So often people come to God with so many requests and demands - and yet in their whole approach there is missing the central significance of acknowledging their own sin and brokenness before God. Starting in a place of humility before God allows you to have a realistic view of yourself. The truth is that we are broken and weak sinners before God - and the basis of our hope is never how good we can be - its always a deep awareness of our total dependence on his mercy and his grace. John 1:7-10 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. The practice of confessing our sin to God has long been a core practice for the daily christian life. The christian life begins on the foundation of confessing our sin and repentance - and it continues as a routine through which God continually sanctifies us. this is not because we somehow earn God's forgiveness over and over - as if we need to be re forgiven over and over. The good news of the gospel is that total forgiveness for our sins comes into our lives when we turn from our sin, repent, and believe and trust in Jesus as our King, our Savior. Its such a basic truth but its one that is always to amaze us. When John and James both talk about continually confessing our sins as a part of our daily christian life, they are not talking about the fact that we need brand new forgiveness and acceptance every day from God. Even though we are accepted by God and forgiven, we still struggle with the residual effects of sin - and our daily practice of confessing, of bringing that in God in prayer - it is an avenue, a pathway - through which we welcome God's grace and strength to bring change and transformation to those parts of our lives. When we confess our sin - we are reminded of our deep need in God, of our total dependence on him and on his great goodness love and faithfulness. this is central to Daniels prayer. He understood God's promises. but he also wanted to experience them, he would not simply sit back and wait, he wanted to run to God and open his heart, Application • What is the focus of you life? What is the mountain that you are climbing? Is there a genuine pursuit of God in your life? • What is the perspective that drives your prayer life and relationship with God? Are you learning to see your life through the lens of God and his story? • Do you confess your sins or do you hide them? Are you trying to clean yourself up or are you living in the light of God's goodness and love?

The Ram, The Goat and the Little Horn - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 8:1-27

August 20, 2023 • Victor Kuksenko • Daniel 8

The Ram, The Goat and the Little Horn Daniel 8 1. The Context: The Ram and the Goat 2. The Focus: The Little Horn 3. The Response: Daniel's Weakness & Life Quotes: Because of that "Antiochus accused the people of rebellion, savagely attacked and sacked Jerusalem, and executed tens of thousands of its inhabitants - forty thousand apparently dying within the space of three days - while others were taken captive. He entered the holy of holies in the temple, sacrificed a pig on the altar of burnt offering, defiled the temple precincts, took the sacred furniture, and established a traitor, Menelaus as high priest" - Sinclair Ferguson Ian Duguit says it well "The cross is the guarantee that God's plan will always prevail in the face of our weakness, rebellion and sin, and in spite of the fierce enmity of Satan and all of his hosts" Scripture -"for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything to take your stand" - Eph. 6:12-13 1 John 2:18 "Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour". __________________________________________________________________ Open with me to Daniel 8 Let's read! v. 1-2 are key at connecting this vision with the previous vision. Notice that the vision is during Babylons reign, and Daniel is in Babylon, yet he is in this vision appearing in the city of Susa, which is the capital of Persia The structure of this vision is very simple yet a lot of details that make it not simple, and we will address some of it not all.: • first, we are introduced to two animals, the ram and the goat, which is the background to the vision • secondly, the focus narrows down to the "little horn on the goat". • thirdly, the interpretation of the vision, and Daniel responds to the vision. I. The Context: The Ram and the Goat v. 3-4, 20 The Ram is the Medo-Persian Kingdom following Babylonian kingdom (560 BC- 330 BC) • God is saying that after Babylonia reign, will come Persia • This kingdom had two horns but one was longer than the other. Meaning the Persians were stronger in power than the Medes. But they were together in one kingdom. • This is the same as the second beast of chapter 7:5, about the bear who was raised on one side v. 5-8, 21-22 The Goat is the Greek empire following Medo-Persian Kingdom (330BC - 146BC) • This animal comes from the west yet, it is not touching the ground, as if flying over it. ◦ This is Similar to the third beast in chapter 7, which is the leopard with four wings of a bird and four heads. ◦ The Greeks started to have influence during the Persian empire through their philosophy and writing by people like: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and more. ◦ Yet, when Alexander the Great "the conspicuous horn" came into power around 330, he was able to bring Greek dominance extremely fast, first he secured their own Mesopotamian boarder, and then went to fight Persia and was very successful militarily and conquering them without any problems. As we are reading this, we can forget that this was written before the events took place. • Daniel was writing this in the 6th century, with extreme accuracy! • But we believe that God not only knows the future, he directs it in ways he sees right. ◦ Often when crazy world events happen that shake us up to the reality that this world is full of brokenness and evil, we might lose heart. ◦ We let our anxieties paralyze us in living this life. ◦ But God knows, he allows them to be, he saw this from the beginning of time. Don't you think he knows better and he has a plan for all this!!! ◘ When crazy things happen in the world, and you are fearful, run to the Father, look to Him for comfort and peace. • No only are we reassured that God knows the future, but also that he is in control even when it seems that evil reigns ◦ We don't know why God allows evil to reign for now, but we know that evil is not outside of God's plan. God allows it for His reasons. No matter how hard they are and difficult it is for God's people, he is there and He is with us. II. The Focus: The Little Horn The whole trust of this vision narrows down to this is "little horn" in v. 9-14, 23-26 • It is a bit surprising that the huge world powers and even Alexander the great is not give the spotlight here but this particular little horn, ◦ Little horn, emphasizes the smallness it has in comparison to the world events, a king over a small area, and not very significant in himself. Why focus attention on this king?? ◦ This king will do a lot of evil to the Jews, to the people of God, and God cares about that very much!!! ◦ In verse 13, a holy being is speaking to another holy being summarizing the way the little horn will attack the people of God So who is this little horn coming to the south and the east and toward the beautiful land? • This little horn is not identical to the little horn of chapter 7 of the fourth beast. But there are similarities. • After Alexander the Great dies, the kingdom of Greece is divided into four generals. One of the generals was over Syria governed by Seleucus Nicantor, which became the Seleucid dynasty. ◦ From this dynasty comes "Antiochus Epiphanes" who is represented by this little horn. • Antiochus came to power in 175 BC, who was Antiochus IV. • Because of that "Antiochus accused the people of rebellion, savagely attacked and sacked Jerusalem, and executed tens of thousands of its inhabitants - forty thousand apparently dying within the space of three days - while others were taken captive. He entered the holy of holies in the temple, sacrificed a pig on the altar of burnt offering, defiled the temple precincts, took the sacred furniture, and established a traitor, Menelaus as high priest" - Sinclair Ferguson This was pure evil, and totally focused on annihilating the Jews and their religion! • When Gabriel is explaining this vision of the little horn, not only is he describing Antiochus Epiphanes in v. 23-26, but also somewhat in the same breath describes the ultimate "antichrist". ◦ Meaning Antiochus is a type of the ultimate eschatological Antichrist. ◘ He is operating in ways that this evil world is operating, and it is focused on destroying the people of God! • Why should we know all this? ◦ Because we need to see that there are often little "antichrists" in power that will try everything in their midst to destroy God's people, and it is fueled by Satan himself. ◦ We might look at news and only see people, but we also need to realize that there are underlining elements at play. ◦ The Bible says: "for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything to take your stand" - Eph. 6:12-13 ◦ The question to all of us is this: are we in God's army? Do we have security in his power? Or are we fake? ◦ The reality is this power that the enemy exerts is given a time. ◘ It is allowed to do it's evil things, but for a time. ◘ At one point this king is desolates the temple, kills godly people, exercises power over the place, but then comes the end. ◘ In God's plan, there is always an end to the evil, ◘ Ian Duguit says it well "The cross is the guarantee that God's plan will always prevail in the face of our weakness, rebellion and sin, and in spite of the fierce enmity of Satan and all of his hosts" ◦ Now Jesus is reigning and living, holding power over Satan, sin and death. ◦ Yet, we are still at war until he comes to claim total victory. ◘ Jesus say "You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 10:22) ◘ We as believers are to hold strong. III. The Response: Daniel's Weakness & Life • Notice two areas where we see Daniels Response to all this: ◦ The first is after the vision of the Animals and this horn, Daniel is trying to understand what is happening. we read v. 15-19 ◦ Daniel is overwhelmed by this vision and the presence of heavenly beings ◘ He is confused, he is weak and unable to even stand. ◘ The Gabriel calls him "Son of man" - which often means human, mortal, and thus "weak" in comparison to the Spiritual powers. ◦ Daniel was supposed to understand the vision ◘ So for us Christians, we are see and understand more about this vision because it has happened, but it also points to the ultimate "big horn" the "antichrist" that is coming into the work and will wage war against the people of God. ◘ As John says in 1 John 2:18 "Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour". Secondly, after this vision, and seeing what will happen in the future to God's people, Daniel responds in. v. 27 • It made him overcome and exhausted and he laid sick for many days. But then notice, he didn't stay in that condition forever, it says "I got up and went about the kings business" Daniel lived as a faithful godly person even though he did not understand the vision. • We should not read the apocalyptic letters like Daniel, 2 Thessalonians and Revelations to try to piece things and find who fits where. And what do each number mean? • Don't lose sleep over the future, because you are simply a human, who is limited. You trust God and be faithful in where you are at. ◦ Go to work, do your job well. ◦ Be a good witness to people around you. Amen

The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 7:1-28

August 13, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 7

Outline: 1. A beastly picture of the enemies of God. ◦ The power of human kingdoms is terrifying and violent. ◦ Human kingdom are not as independent as they think. ◦ Human kingdoms are often influenced and used by Satan and his powers. 2. All throughout history however, God sits peacefully on his throne over all things. 3. A mysterious "son of man" approaches the throne. 4. Final victory comes through suffering. Scripture references: • Daniel 7 • Psalm 8:3-6 • Mark 14:61-64 Application: • What kingdom are you serving today? The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the enemies of God? ◦ It all starts with your view of Jesus - glorious and exalted Son of Man, King of kings • What is your view of the world? Is your vision overcome with the scary things of this world? Or are you learning to see this world through the lens of the throne of God? • What is your expectation for the future? ◦ The posture of a disciple of Jesus is to receive in humility and total dependence on God whatever difficulty and trails comes at us, allowing it to push us to deeper dependence on God. Discussion questions: • What do the beasts teach us about human history? How does this help us think about what we see in the world around us today and for the future? • What is God's relationship to history? Why is the vision of his heavenly throne so important? • What does the vision of the one like a son of man teach us about our Savior and about our faith? • How do we cultivate a correct expectation of the future? • How do we cultivate a healthy expectation and view of suffering in the christian life? -------- More than anything, our perspective on life is the most important thing that defines our lives. This is very tricky because we usually can't know what our perspective is because we are inside it. But two people can look at the exact same thing and come to opposite conclusions about what they are looking at. What do you see? • example of the story of Elisha So many christians live with a sad and narrow vision of God and his work in the world. This chapter will hopefully open that up for you today. This chapter dives into a new kind of genre in the book of Daniel - 1-6 was historical narrative. 7-12 is apocalyptic. It is very important to understand this genre and its use of language. We understand this intuitively every day as we read news, texts, memes, novels. Different forms and genres of writing will use language differently. Some basics of apocalyptic literature - • God reveals his purposes for the future • Highly symbolic • detailed and dramatic images that are a mix of literal facts and symbols We see it here. but also in Zecharaiah, Ezekiel and of course - Revelation. It is a very epic and dramatic - its a genre that brings very powerful impressions if it is understood correctly. God in his word gives us very amazing and shocking images and pictures to help us expand our view to see the world as it really is. Important considerations: • It is not a code to be deciphered. • There is not a one to one match to every detail. • The specific symbols were not always apparent to the people who received the truth originally Its also important to notice that Daniel is working inside a PERSPECTIVE that is soaked in the story of the Bible up to his day. The key to understanding these parts of the bible is not to figure out the code, but to understand the overall flow of the biblical storyline. Read text - Daniel 7 What is this vision that Daniel sees? 1. A beastly picture of the enemies of God. “In my vision at night I was watching, and suddenly the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea. 3 Four huge beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other." A terrifying and disturbing scene invades Daniel's mind. Four monsters rising up out of the sea, from the blowing four winds. one clear pattern here we see in the book of Daniel is the pattern of fours. Chapter 2 we see Nebuchadnezzar have a vision of the future of the world - and that future is broken down to four major world dominating kingdoms. All the visions and revelations that we will see in the next few chapters will just be deeper explanations of the future that involves these four kingdoms and the kingdom of God. As we noted back in chapter 2, the most fitting way to understand these four beasts as representing Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 4 “The first was like a lion but had eagle’s wings. I continued watching until its wings were torn off. It was lifted up from the ground, set on its feet like a man, and given a human mind. This is very clearly reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar - the wings are clipped - he was humbled to live like an animal, and then he was restored - "it was lifted up from the ground and se on its feet and given a human mind..." the second beast is like a vicious bear with three ribs in its mouth - pointing to the vicious way this kingdom devoured others. the third kingdom is like a leopard with wings - alluding to the speed with which it conquered - Alexander the Great conquered one of the largest territories in history in just 10 years - stretching from Greece to India. the fourth beast is given special attention. It is extra attention - extra dreadful and terrifying. It has iron teeth - this corresponds with the kingdom of iron in chapter 2. this beast has ten horns, corresponding to the 10 toes if you remember in chapter 2. Historically this fourth beast represents Rome and its crushing power - but there is also a reason why Daniel spends more attention on this fourth beast that we will come back to in a few min. What do these monsters demonstrate to us about history and human power? • The power of human kingdoms is terrifying and violent - not like the visions of God's heavenly creatures which are powerful and terrifying but beautiful and amazing. ◦ they have some ugly blend of human and animal - this is genesis 1 turned upside down. Instead of man ruling over the world in a beautiful way, man becomes animal like and violent in his power. ◦ Violent - the history of human kingdoms is so violent and gruesome. So much killing and death. • Human kingdom are not as independent as they think - they are always kept in check by power from on high. ◦ Every one of these kingdoms gets some sort of heavenly intervention or word that allows them or stops them from existing. • Human kingdoms are often influenced and used by Satan and his powers But also - there is something different about this fourth kingdom - Its the kingdom that takes the most attention and the most space. among its ten horns a little horn rises up and uprooted three horns before it. Horns are clear symbols or kings or leaders, especially kings who conquer in war. this little horn is given special power and ability and it is exalted above others. Later in the chapter we will see this leader is especially powerful but also uses that power in especially evil ways which go against the people of God and directly go against God himself. Here, again we see a pattern that is sometimes used in biblical prophecy where we see that one idea can have multiple layers of meaning. For example in Ez. 28, the prophet is speaking of the pride of the king of Tyre - how prideful and rebellious he is. But then as the chapter is going, it becomes clear that Ezekiel is not just talking about the King of Tyre. He starts speaking of him being in the Eden the garden of God, he speaks of him being an angel that was cast out of heaven... and then you realize the prophet is speaking about Satan, not just the historical king of Tyre. Daniel is speaking of this fourth kingdom - which can be best interpreted as Rome - but at the same time, we see that Daniel is speaking about something or someone that is more than just historical Rome or a historical king. "25 He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time." What we see here is a clear and direct spiritual evil that goes beyond the mere human desire for power - this power always seeks to oppose God and his work in the world. Here in Daniel's visions, God is connecting the story of history back to Genesis 1 and 3 - God created humanity to know God and represent his power in the world. But the spiritual evil of Satan and his host as worked to tempt and divert humanity to a power that is ugly, violent and rebellious against God. this little horn is showing us a pattern of world leaders who arise and stand up against God - this is definitely a pattern we see all through history. There is also some indication that this pattern will be culminated in the end of history with an ultimate world leader to opposes God and his people in a final and especially terrible way. 2. All throughout history however, God sits peacefully on his throne over all things. There is a dramatic shift of the scenery from the violent and terrible beasts that disturb Daniel... 9 “As I kept watching, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white like snow, and the hair of his head like whitest wool. His throne was flaming fire; its wheels were blazing fire. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from his presence. Thousands upon thousands served him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. Notice here that Daniel is telling us what he saw - he is trying to put in words things that are beyond our normal daily existence - so the images he is using are trying to communicate the impression he received as he looked. Its not about saying that God has white hair, or that he sits down on a chair - Daniel is given a unique picture as God pulls back the vale of the part of existence that is not seen to our human eyes but is nevertheless just as real as our physical world. It direct parallel existence to the beast and chaos of our world, there is the unstoppable reign of God who sits on his throne and who sees everything and is in full control of everything that takes place. Notice the massive contrast between the throne room of God and the beastly kingdoms of the world. Ancient of Days - God is timeless, unbound, eternal, never ending, all wise and all powerful the God that Daniel sees takes his breath away - his clothing is pure white as snow - he is perfect, he is righteous, he is completely free from evil, sin, error or any darkness. His throne is flaming fire, and a river of fire come from him. Fire is often a symbol of judgement in Scripture. This perfect God is purifying and judging ALL EVIL. He is unspeakably glorious and righteous and just and his VERY EXISTENCE guarantees that any and all evil that exists in the world will be exposed, will be judged and will be extinguished. In the midst of the all the anxiety and difficulty that Daniel experiences in his life, even as he witnesses these scary beasts rising up - God is seated on his throne. He is at peace. He is in control. He is not challenged or surprised by anything that takes place. "Thousands upon thousands served him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." Sinclair Ferguson writes, "In a new way, Daniel, who had so often dared to stand alone, must have realized, “I am not alone.” Myriads of others served the Lord with him. He was an earthly outpost of the heavenly garrison. " He continues... "Christians who have this vision of God and His throne will never feel alone and isolated. They will find their point of orientation not on earth but in heaven (Phil. 3:20–21). Their perspective on history will not arise from below (that is, from “the Great Sea” of v. 2) but from above, from the throne of God." The beasts fill the earth, but God is seated on his throne. Where is your point of view anchored today? 3. A mysterious "son of man" approaches the throne. 11 “I watched, then, because of the sound of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued watching, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to the burning fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but an extension of life was granted to them for a certain period of time. 13 I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. 14 He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed." Daniel sees that history moves clearly in a resolution, where the enemies of God are effortlessly and totally destroyed. But there is an interesting twist here that must have puzzled even Daniel Earlier we see God clearly on his heavenly throne. But here we see another figure, "one LIKE the son of man" coming on the clouds of heaven - he is escorted to God and he is given an everlasting kingdom "son of man" is a common OT reference to a human being. It echos back to Eden, that we are all descended from the one man who was created to rule the world as God's representative. Ps. 8:3-6 3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: Human beings are created to rule God's world but in our sin and rebellion, our role in creation is twisted and ruined - pointing back to the evil beasts. This reference to the son of man is pointing to a picture of ultimate humanity restored - ruling and reigning God's everlasting kingdom. What is interesting about this character though is that he comes "on the clouds of heaven..." Son of man is a clear reference to humanity. But the clouds of heaven are a very clear reference to divine power. There are 70 references to the clouds of heaven in the Old Testament and every single one of them refers to GOD coming in his unstoppable divine power. What is more, he is given an "everlasting kingdom" - we have heard this phrase a few times in Daniel already, when Nebuchadnezzar confesses God and proclaims that God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. This phrase is also a reference to God's promise to king David in 2 Samuel 7 - where God promises that someone will come from the family of David and God will establish his everlasting kingdom through him. This mysterious son of man - appearing to be human, but also coming with divine power and God's kingdom. The jewish people expected a Messiah, a conquering king, but they didn't have it all worked out exactly how to expect him and they certainly did not expect him to be God, come in the flesh. It's no surprise then also that when we read the gospels, Jesus' number one way to refer to himself, the most common title he ascribed to himself when he spoke of himself is not Lord or King or Messiah - it was Son of Man. This all comes to a head when Jesus is standing in trail before the high priest - Mark 14:61-64 Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” 62 “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?” They all condemned him as deserving death. Jesus says - what Daniel say - that was ME. And I am coming back with the clouds of heaven to judge the world and restore all things. Daniel saw a window into the future - the victory and ascension of Jesus, King, Lord, God become man, to take our sins upon himself and receive the Title as the Savior and Lord of the World. Daniel saw God's plan hundreds of years before it took place and he likely didn't fully understand it. We look back at the words of Daniel written 600 years before Christ and we realize God told his people all along what he was going to do. The Jesus we follow is not just a good guy or a teacher of love - he is God himself, coming in human form, to stand for us, to conquer sin and evil and to set us free. 4. Final victory comes through suffering. Daniel is given a clear picture of the final victory of God over all evil kingdoms, But Daniel is also shown that its gonna take a while. That victory is coming a little later. You are only in kingdom one. There are four more, and theres a final evil leader who will stand against God and his people. 21 As I was watching, this horn waged war against the holy ones and was prevailing over them 25 He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. God's victory is inevitable. But the other thing that is inevitable is the future of God's people suffering. Why does God give so much time? Why does he let these beasts rage through the world? Why does God allow any of this evil to take place? This is without a doubt the most difficult question we can ever ask. And yet this question does not push God out of the picture - it only shows us the way things are. The bible does not give us a full answer to this question. But it definitely gives a partial one. The key point here is that God's people prevail over the evil. They have victory. They stand faithful through the trials. And in doing that - they become an ever and ever brighter testimony to the power of their King. God doesn't just destroy evil at the end of history. He overcomes and conquers it. He comes himself to take our sin and death to open the door to new life to all sinners. And then he allows his saints to be weathered in the storm of it - to show all evil that, not only did Jesus beat death and Satan, but that his saints too continue to prevail over it even as they are being overcome by trails. "the Ancient of Days arrived and a judgment was given in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, for the time had come, and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom." 27 The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey him.’ Application: • What kingdom are you serving today? The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the enemies of God? ◦ It all starts with your view of Jesus - glorious and exalted Son of Man, King of kings • What is your view of the world? Is your vision overcome with the scary things of this world? Or are you learning to see this world through the lens of the throne of God? • What is your expectation for the future? ◦ The posture of a disciple of Jesus is to receive in humility and total dependence on God whatever difficulty and trails comes at us, allowing it to push us to deeper dependence on God.

Daniel in the Lion's Den - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 6:1-28

July 30, 2023 • Aleksey Khizhnyak • Daniel 6

Belshazzar's Wine Goes Sour - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 5:1-31

July 23, 2023 • Victor Kuksenko • Daniel 5

Belshazzar's Wine Goes Sour Daniel 5:1-30 Passages: • "You were secured in your wickedness; you said 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself, 'I am, and there is no one else.' But disaster will happen to you; you will not know how to avert it. And it will fall on you, but you will be unable to ward it off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly" (Is. 47:10-11) • "What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12) • "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who live in you" - (Rom. 8:11) • "This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength on that day when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed" - 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 • "The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him." - John 3:36 Quotes: • "In his own spiritual bankruptcy he turned to the bankrupt wisdom of the world and found it to be empty too." - Singclair Ferguson • "No wonder that the wrath of God, when manifested but a little to the soul, overbears human strength". - Jonathan Edwards. • "Here clearly was an indication that through long years of faithful witness, Daniel's true identity - determined by God, not by kings - was still known. He possessed that quality and qualification required for all leaders among God's people. He had a "good testimony among those who are outside". Singclair Ferguson Structure: 1. The Wickedness of Belshazzar (v.1-4) 2. The Fear of Belshazzar (v. 5-12) 3. The Judgement over Belshazzar (v.13-30) ____________________________________________________ NOTES: Open with me to Daniel 5. • Between the two chapters there are approximate 20 years ◦ Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC, then came three other successors and then we get to Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar Babylon represents the epitome of the human kingdom and it's wealth and glory. Belshazzar is a prime example of this kingdoms ignorance, wickedness, and blasphemy before the ultimate king of heaven and earth, before whom we all live and will give an account. • NO matter who you are: a Hindu, Muslim, Seek, or Spiritual. Or you live in your own kind of way which works for you and you don't believe in God, or seek him as someone distant, or you go to church and try to be a good person. • NO matter your origin, age, experience, achievements, and position, we all are accountable before God of heaven and earth!!! Our Lord is the Sovereign king over all things. We all walk before HIM! Belshazzar trusted the thick walls of Babylon, and his military power to keep them safe during a siege under Medo-Persian armies. This enemy should have waken Belshazzar up to the reality that he needs God. Brothers and sisters, how do we live??? Are we faithful to our Lord and King? He is holy is our life holy? ____________________________________________ With all that in mind let us read and make three important observations and implications. I. The Wickedness of Belshazzar (1-4) Let us read v. 1-4 • The way this chapter starts is not an accident: there is no introduction, biography of how we got to Belshazzar, or anything of that nature; it simply goes into the last day in the kings palace of Babylon. • Belshazzar was the son of Nebonidus who was the third successor after Nebuchadnezzar. He probably married Nebuchadnezzar's daughter. • Belshazzar seems to have been taken pride in his security and greatness of his city. ◦ This is exactly what Isaiah says about the Fall of Babylon in Is. 47:10-11: ⦾ "You were secured in your wickedness; you said 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself, 'I am, and there is no one else.' But disaster will happen to you; you will not know how to avert it. And it will fall on you, but you will be unable to ward it off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly" • Belshazzar's pride leads him to act foolishly. ◦ Rather then figuring out how to protect his city and how to fight his enemy, he parties. ◦ Then he goes beyond his foolishness and satisfaction of his desires, and blasphemes God. ◦ It makes you wonder, why out of all things he asks he asks for these vessels??? ◦ In his drunkenness we can see the ultimate rebellion is against GOD All humanity is in rebellion against God!!! ◦ We read about this in Romans 3:9-12 "What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” ◦ From the very beginning mankind turned their back on God. They decided to listen to themselves rather than God, serve themselves and the things they create. ◦ Even if people say they don't believe in God, they rebel against Him The problem is that Sin is not passive or static, it will always lead to downfall. ◦ You may think you are in control and can make it work, but reality, you don't realize your blindness. ◦ In our Pride we don't realize we are powerless to do anything. ◦ O how broken we are!!! • We may see good mannered people around us, they seemed to do their own thing and don't have anything to do with God. They obey the rules, live as good people. ◦ YET in reality deep inside all people rebel against God. ◦ Things like: Alcohol, troubles in life, uncertainties of the future bring out our true heart. This passage begs the question to us all: Where am I at? ◦ Am I rebelling against God of heaven and earth? ◦ Am I freed from this self-possession and self-centeredness? ________________________________________ II. The Fear of Belshazzar (5-12) Let us read v. 5-12 • Notice the contrast to the feeling of security and partying, until God shows up. • He shouts out of fear to find anyone who can read and interpret. ◦ Which made the king even more terrified. ◦ Singclair Ferguson points out here: "In his own spiritual bankruptcy he turned to the bankrupt wisdom of the world and found it to be empty too." ◦ Jonathan Edwards says it well,"No wonder that the wrath of God, when manifested but a little to the soul, overbears human strength". • The king doesn't know what to do, he is a mess. His own security and abilities are nothing against the God of heaven. ◦ The reality is that when the heavenly power shows up, humans cannot stand against it. They either fall on their face or freeze. ◦ The king operates on a physical level only, without realizing that there is a whole spiritual world, which is how Daniel is portrayed the person who has the spirit of the god's in him. ◦ People may speak of God without fear and reference. They may mock him and laugh foolishly at life. Yet, when God shows up, all mouths will close, all knees will shake • As the king is out of his mind what to do, the queen shows up. ◦ She was probably his mother or grandmother, because it says that all his wives and concubines were with him in the celebration. ◦ This women seems to be very wise based on her answer and that she does not take part in his partying. ◦ It seems that she hints on the contrast between Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar. Pointing out that Nebuchadnezzar did this and that. ◦ She is very familiar with Daniel. ⦾ Daniel is not an ordinary wiseman. ⦾ He has the spirit of the holy god's in him. ⦾ Singclair Ferguson points out: Here clearly was an indication that through long years of faithful witness, Daniel's true identity - determined by God, not by kings - was still known. He possessed that quality and qualification required for all leaders among God's people. He had a "good testimony among those who are outside". Notice the contrast between Belshazzar who is proud and blind, and his own mother says how foolish he has been in contrast to his ancestor. Then she points out Daniel who is of a different sort of person. • Man of Earthly kingdom vs. A man of heavenly kingdom, or the people of God • The people of God are marked by the presence of God! • "Where do I find my strength?" What makes you firm through trails? - Not the outside physical things. Not your muscles, not strength, not your energy, not your gadgets not chat GPT, but God himself. ____________________________________________________ III. The Judgement over Belshazzar (13-30) Let us read v. 13-30 First notice how Belshazzar address Daniel, he says "Are you Daniel, one of the Judean exiles that my predecessor the king brough from Judah?" Yet Daniel is not swayed by his gifts. He refuses to be bought by money, but he will be faithful at interpreting what is being said on the wall. • Notice that these words are not favorable. Who would want to tell the king unfavorable news? But Daniel does not care about what the king will do, but rather what he needs to do, and that is interpret it faithfully. Then Daniel addresses Belshazzar, with a form of a lawsuit against the king. 1. Daniel points out historical background to Belshazzar's sin (18-21) 2. Daniel applies this reality to Belshazzar (22-24) 3. Daniel interprets and pronounces judgement against Belshazzar (25-30) ◦ Mene - means "numbered" - God brought his days to an end. Meaning he will die very soon. ⦾ This tells you that God has the power to take your life away. Because he is the one who holds it. Without him we would not exist. ⦾ Mene is written twice to say that this divine pronouncement is certain. ◦ Tekel - means "weighed" - God found that he was deficient in the scales of God. Meaning on the scales of God the kings wickedness was evident. ◦ Parsin - means "divided" - Which is a plural form of "Peres". The kingdom is divided. Meaning destroyed and crushed to pieces. This kingdom of Babylon will end with the hand of Medes and Persians. • At this point Belshazzar did what he told he will do and that is give his gifts. But that very night Darius the Mede kills Belshazzar and takes over his kingdom, without any fight. ◦ Xenophon a historian of that era records that the city was taken during the night festival and that the king was slain! ◦ Darius diverted the waters of Euphrates River, and his army was able to enter the city and capture it without any difficulty. This is a glimpse of God's Judgment against a nation and it's king. ◦ The great judgement of our God is coming to judge this world: ◦ We read in 2 Thessalonians a sobering passage: ⦾ "This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength on that day when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed" (1:7-10) ⦾ How scary it is to be in the hands of a Sovereign God pouring out his answer on sin and humanity. ◦ "The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him." (John 3:36) • There will come a time when everyone, will stand before God and give an account. ◦ All of us failed to achieve God's standard. We have lied, cheated, stole and more. ◦ All our sins will fill the scale of the Lord. And everything we lived for will be exposed and tested by fire. • How will you measure up? ◦ Those who have Jesus in their life. Do not fear that day of judgement. Because it does not depend on us if we get in or not. Jesus stands for us there and paid our penalty for sin, so that we may go in. ⦾ My friend if you don't have Jesus you need to be afraid of that judgement day, for it will be fierce. ⦾ It is called the wrath of God. Not because it is evil or angry, but because he hates sin and wickedness more than you do. ⦾ He needs to punish it and no one is off the hook. Justice has to be served. ◦ But there is a way out, Jesus paid the price, if only you come to Him. • Brothers and Sisters, those who have Christ in our lives, rejoice and praise God for such a Savior. ◦ This should ignite us to walk with Him throughout life and seek his will for all of our lives. ◦ But not only that, our God is a Holy God and he desires us to live in obedience to Him. ⦾ A world that is full of distraction and allure, we might miss that there is a real war going on for our souls. ⦾ We might live comfortably yet we need to be we alert for our enemy. ◦ We need to build convictions and stand firm on the word of God. ◦ Be consistent in God's word, be in closeness to Him, because we need direction from our captain against our enemy. ◦ Be in deep prayer with God, who give you strength.

The End of Human Pride - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 4:1-37

July 16, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 4

Outline: 1. Nebuchadnezzar’s sneaky and self deceiving pride. 2. Nebuchadnezzar's pride gets one final direct and personal warning. 3. Nebuchadnezzar's pride meets its inevitable end. 4. The king humbled, pride replaced. Scripture References: - Daniel 3 - Romans 2:2-6 - Galatians 2:22-23 Application: - Humility starts with seeing and confessing both God and our sin - Humility is demonstrated in a life of spiritual fruit - Humility is receptive rather than combative - Humility leads to worship and joy rather than bitterness Discussion questions: - What was Nebuchadnezzar's response to God's repeated challenges to his pride in chapters 2, 3 and 4? What was missing from his response? - What does this response teach us about how pride works in our hearts? - What do we learn from Daniel's words to Nebuchadnezzar about confronting sin in others? - What are some common areas of our lives that pride hides in undetected ways? - What is the difference between a person who is truly humbled by God versus a person who on appears to be humbled? - How is the gospel the ultimate source of humility? --- If you search up the words, "celebrating too soon" - you will get some of the best content that the internet has too offer. Countless examples will flood you screen about people who's pride got the best of them in the midst of competitions or challenges, only to end up sprawled on the ground with dirt on their face. - a runner who is first in the race who turns to mock his opponents and comes crashing down - a soccer goal kick that bounces off the rim of the goal, sending the goalie to run around and celebrate only to have the ball slowly roll into the unattended goal. There is something extra cringey and hilarious about moments when someone's pride gets the best of them - only to bounce back and bring their pride back down. We are continuing our series on the book of Daniel today looking at the faithful life of God's people in the midst of a hostile and godless world. Daniel is taken from his homeland in Jerusalem by the Babylonians as they conquered his city and land. He is indoctrinated into Babylonian culture and religion and he is given a job to serve in the government system of the enemies of his people. Despite this tragedy Daniel and his friends remain faithful to God, even as they humbly work within the new situation that they find themselves. One of the major plot threads that we see so far in the book of Daniel is actually God's intentional work with the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. In this chapter, God's work with Nebuchadnezzar comes to the forefront of the story - no matter how much Nebuchadnezzar tried to avoid God's humbling work in his heart, he was finally humbled by the Most High God. READ Text - Daniel 4 1. Nebuchadnezzar's sneaky and self deceiving pride. "To those of every people, nation, and language, who live on the whole earth: May your prosperity increase. 2 I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me.3 How great are his miracles, and how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. 4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace. 5 I had a dream, and it frightened me; while in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me. 6 So I issued a decree to bring all the wise men of Babylon to me in order that they might make the dream’s interpretation known to me. 7 When the magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners came in, I told them the dream, but they could not make its interpretation known to me." Throughout this whole book, God is working with Nebuchadnezzar. In this chapter this becomes very obvious. The chapters written from the perspective Nebuchadnezzar himself and he tells you something that happened to his heart. Yes the book of Daniel is about Daniel and about the people God but the book of Daniel is also about God working in the world building in the world. And it's obvious that God is working in all places in the heart of all people including Nebuchadnezzar. God is everywhere working and his kingdom is always being built in every moment of history even through the most unlikely person. God cares about every one of his creatures. Gods people see a total tragedy the pagan Babylonians have invaded and taken over. But what God sees is his plan unfolding in history and he is using horrible people to accomplish his purposes. Even as God is working through Nebuchadnezzar in through the Babylonians to discipline Israel for their unbelief god is also taking the time to care and work with the heart of this pagan rebellious king. It's clear from the previous chapters that God is trying to communicate to Nebuchadnezzar that he is not the ultimate king but he thinks he is. God is pushing down on the pride of Nebuchadnezzar. And his response is interesting. In chapter 2, he falls down and worships Daniel and proclaimed “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.” (2:47) In chapter 3, he is amazed at how God rescues Shadrack, Mishak and Abednago - 28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.” (3:28-29) It's very clear in these moments that God is working with Nebuchadnezzar to challenge his pride and to reveal himself to him. And he appears to respond by acknowledging that. And yet at the same time in a very next versus he turns around and runs back to his own prideful ways. He builds a golden statue to celebrate himself. He continues to live the same way he did before. Now God sends him another set of scary nightmares. What is interesting about this dream is that you don't have to be a genius to see a basic message in this dream. A great and glorious tree is standing, and all the creatures of the world are cared by it. A spiritual being, an watcher, an angel - makes a declaration - cut it down, put a chain on it, and then its obvious that this tree represents a PERSON Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share the plants of the earth with the animals. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a human, and let him be given the mind of an animal for seven periods of time. Hmmm - who could this be about?? What could this mean? I think he was probably afraid because he understood that this dream like the previous one was about him. And very obvious from the dream that this dream if it is about him it means somethings not good is coming to him. Notice what he does - he calls his magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners why doesn't he just call Daniel in the first place? Daniel comes with a different kind of power and wisdom. Daniel comes from the God who has been able to challenge and confront Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel comes from the God who makes Nebuchadnezzar uncomfortable. Daniel comes from the God who Nebuchadnezzar has been trying to avoid. Nebuchadnezzar in his pride has responded to God challenging him in a way that has given him just enough space to acknowledge God to praise God but also for Nebuchadnezzar to keep God at an arms length distance and allow Nebuchadnezzar to keep living the way he wants. This is the sneaky and slithery way in which pride snakes its way in through the human heart. Sometimes it is in the form of outright full on rebellion to God. Sometimes human pride work in a self deceiving way to affirm just enough to keep God at a distance and acknowledge him but also to preserve its own independence. Nebuchadnezzar is ready to acknowledge God as A god - but not as THE ONLY GOD WHO REIGNS OVER HIM PERSONALLY. God often comes to repeatedly confront our sins in our lives. And there is a way that our prideful heart often takes to CONFESS GOD without truly CONFESSING OUR SIN. There are many christianese ways that we can skirt by, and seem to acknowledge and receive God's truth - to say the right thing or to appear to be humbled - but all that we are doing is we are using God's own words and God's own mercy and grace to continue to dodge and run from him. What is the posture of your heart today to the convicting and challenging work of God in your heart? When God brings confrontation of your sin and pride in your life - do you receive it without qualification or explanation? Do you truly live with a heart wide open to God's convicting Word to challenge and expose your faults? Or are you full of very good confessions, christian words and explanations for all the reasons you keep struggling the way you do? 2. Nebuchadnezzar's pride gets one final direct and personal warning. 19 Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was stunned for a moment, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies! 24 This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree of the Most High that has been issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants. 26 As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.” It has been obvious what God has been doing with Nebuchadnezzar's part. Despite the obvious nature of God's work Nebuchadnezzar is missing the point he's missing the message. So as a final warning God sends Daniel to speak directly to Nebuchadnezzar about his sin and call him to repent. Notice once again the clear contrast between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar - Daniel is a man who walks in the light because of the way he lives it is very obvious and clear to the people around him that he is a different person. Daniel's humility in the story is quite clear and it is his humility that makes him so powerful among the pagans. Daniel and his friends lived in served the good of the city even though they knew that they lived in a culture that completely opposed their God. They lived in opposition to the paganism an evil but that does not mean that they lived in continual opposition and rebellion against the government and against everything around them. They served in high government positions. They obeyed most of the laws. But when the moment came to choose to obey God versus obeying the system if they're in they very clearly pivoted and disobeyed and were not afraid to do that. It seems that Christians today have two extremes either be completely soft and give into everything at the world demands of them or be full opposition and only disagree and only rebel and only call out everything that is wrong. Daniel could clearly see that God was here to confront the pride and paganism of Nebuchadnezzar. At the same time Daniels approach to Nebuchadnezzar though he is speaking truth he is also very kind and caring and wishes him well. Daniel humility before God enabled him to be a tool used by God to speak truth to her belly is king. What is the posture of my heart today? Am I a person who is posture and humility before God in a way that enables need to be used by God to speak truth to people around me both inside and outside the church? "oh king, may this happen to your enemies, not to you...turn from your sins and do what is right!" Are we able to speak with compassion to the most vile of rebels? Nebuchadnezzar is NOT a safe person to confront. And yet Daniel was the one at peace and Nebuchadnezzar was afraid. This also speaks to our ability to speak truth in the midst of sin and pride in the church. Are we able to speak with gracious and loving honesty to people around us in the church? God sends his clear warnings to our pride and our sin through his people. There are two parts to the warning - exposing the sin, calling it out - naming it - and then a call for turning and repentance. This chapter continues to prod and poke our hearts - how do we respond? What is your posture when your sin and pride is challenged or confronted? Are you actively working to be open to others? If not, then you will automatically live in a defensive mode. 3. Nebuchadnezzar's pride meets its inevitable end. 28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, 30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built to be a royal residence by my vast power and for my majestic glory?” With all of Daniel's humble confrontation, Nebuchadnezzar does the same thing he did every other time - he just moved on with his life. Twelve months goes by, life as usual - looking around admiring his wealth. How can he be so insensitive? So blind? Pride grows and hardens amidst our feeling of ease and prosperity. Nebuchadnezzar hears all these challenges and all these confrontations - but then he goes out back to his balcony to think it all through, living in total peace and luxury - having everything he could imagine - and all these warnings they just seem to distant and unrealistic. One of the most powerful defensive mechanisms that we have against God's convicting work in our hearts is to run to the things that give us a sense of comfort and security. God gives him SO MANY WARNINGS! And he still goes the other way. This is the total power of pride to make the heart totally blind to God and his ways. One preacher tells the story of a blacksmith who got himself a new dog. The first few times the preacher visited the blacksmith after he got the new dog, the dog was barking and going crazy at the noise of the hammer on metal as the black smith worked. Over time, the barking got less aggressive. After a few weeks the preacher visited the blacksmith and found the dog asleep next to the blacksmith as he worked, totally immune to the clanging noise of the hammer. In the same way, the human heart can become hardened and totally deaf to the repeated blows of the Word of God when it repeated responds as Nebuchadnezzar did - by turning away and making excuses. Romans 2:2-6 2 Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. 3 Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? 5 Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. 6 He will repay each one according to his works: Do you mistake the kindness of God as a sign of his absence? "Ya I know, but this wont ever happen to me. Look I've been fine as I am this long.." 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you. 32 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals, and you will feed on grass like cattle for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants.” 33 At that moment the message against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people. He ate grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. There is NO ESCAPE from the humbling hand of God. Our sense of safety in sin is ALWAYS a delusion. Sooner or later we will ALL be humbled by God. It is only a matter of time. You either WELCOME his convicting humbling work in your heart today, you bow the knee, you submit to his Word, you find life and peace - OR you resist, you keep fighting, you keep doing your own thing - and you will one day face the King of kings and Lord of lords, speechless, without excuse, to pay for all your rebellion on your own. After repeated warnings Nebuchadnezzar was humbled - at the time when he felt most safe came the moment of his undoing with just one word from heaven. Its interesting to observe regarding his mental condition here - some modern people laugh at sections in the Bible like this - he became like a cow? eating grass and living outside? Yeah this is proof that the Bible is ridiculous. Actually this is a real mental condition. Lycanthropy is the disorder where a person believes himself to be an animal. It apparently afflicts around 40 new cases per year. The man who thought he was a god was lowered to the level of a beast. His sin and pride lead to the sickness of his mind that brought disorder to his entire life. In this case it was the direct intervention of God. But when we look around at a culture of mental health disorders - how can we not also make the connection that sin working in the heart eventually works itself out in the body and the mind. So much of what we experience is the deteriorating work of sin in the heart and the body. there is no escape from the wages of sin, what we sow is what we reap - all human pride is brought low at one point or another. The clock runs out for every single one of us. and we have WAY less time than we think. 4. The king humbled, pride replaced. 34 But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” our sanity, our humanity, our glory - all returns when one main change happens - "i looked up to heaven" Not within, not at me, not at my strengths and my glory or other people and what they say - look up and allow your heart to be brought low, to be undone, to be broken - by the total, complete, incontestable, incomparable glory and power and supremacy of GOD. Have you ever had a moment where you are stopped cold in your tracks by a realization of God - by a speechless awe and wonder over who he is and how UTTERLY little you are in comparison?? There is no doctrine that is more likely to evoke either humility or rebellion than the total sovereignty and Lordship of GOD over EVERYTHING. This penetrating understanding that without his help, without his grace, we cant even think, we can't even believe in him properly. Before him we are NOTHING and there is NOTHING that can stop his hand - there is NOTHING that can stop what he is doing in the world. What is really shocking about the God of the Bible, what makes him utterly unique - is that not only is he that one and only true God is has total control of everything that takes place, infinitely higher and more amazing than anything we can ever understand - but it is that in his power, in his total unstoppable authority - God condescends down to sinners like Nebuchadnezzar and works to not just HUMBLE their heart, but also provide a way of restoration. What is it that evokes your DESIRE to humble yourself before God? Its is power coupled with his love and grace displayed here in some sense - but more fully displayed in Jesus. God comes to humble us not just by his power and holiness, but by his own humility and love. God entered history in Jesus, became one of us, lived a perfect life of obedience, love and compassion, God touched our brokenness, God came to speak to us in our dead and rebellious state. God then took the humbling penalty of sin that was owed to us. why? So that we, in our beastly stupidity and pride might look up at heaven and see his saving goodness and be forever changed. 34 Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride. How do you know you have TRULY been humbled? There were many times when Nebuchadnezzar APPEARED to have been humbled - but nothing really changed. So it works in our lives. We can deceive ourselves so easily - how do we know that we are truly brought low? Application: - Humility starts with seeing and confessing both God and our sin - Humility is demonstrated in a life of spiritual fruit "you will know them by their fruits" Galatians 2:22-23 "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things." one particular one to point to here is PEACE. When we are humbled we are at peace. - Humility is receptive rather than combative You welcome what God is telling you through the channels that he is telling you you stop fighting you feel free because you are not afraid to hear what you need to hear because you identity is captivated by GOD and all that he is - Humility leads to worship and joy rather than bitterness 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

Heart Worship - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 3:1-30

July 9, 2023 • Vitaly Kunda • Daniel 3

Heart worship 1. Worshipers of idols 2. Worshipers of true God 3. Worshiping God rewarded 1. Worshipers of idols a. Created to worship , has to admire something, exalt , have object of love b. Worship of unbelievers : because they reject ultimate object of adoration which is God Himself, they worship created things. People, self, things, ideas c. Personal vs national worship – furthermore groups of people who worship common idol organize in one entity, government have to have uniting idea in order to keep public together. Communism Indoctrination – pledge of alive de, oath LGBTQ Socialism Nationalism There could be many ideas of praise floating around ( global worming, racial equality, gun control, nationalism) but ideas that introduced and later if not appreciated punishment established is the situation when idea gets out of its proportion and becomes idolatrous Read Dan 3:1-7 Idol of Nebuchadnezzer – power and control, achievement / statue and furnace His response to the interpretation of his dream of statue with golden head, silver chest, bronze, iron and iron with clay body parts downward represented kingdom that would rise after Babylon. Pivotal point is that rock that is not carved out by man will hit the feet of statue and destroy it fully. King focuses not on the great rock but on his golden head. His kingdom was truly wealthy east, most powerful empire in all the history. Military, knowledge, wisdom, riches, able men, technologies… Their kingdom glory has filled their minds, Satanic agenda in Babylon h Tower of Babel, human achievements, Daniel repeating governing and administrative position people, musical instruments and multitude of cultures commanded to bow down and worship – not their Creator but self made idea. Satan distracts people from their true object of worship, but their own independent achievements Reign of Antichrist Do idols still exist or is it thing of the past? They do , materialism, ideology, education, even good things like marriage- things that we brag about, proud of, afraid of loosing, angry if it is taken away from us. God forbids idolatry, it is morally wrong, it destroys who we are and how we should live God’s agenda is to save us from idolatry , bring us to confession and repentance by believing in Savior. 1 Thes 1:7-9, where God becomes our object of adoration and commitment “As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” 1 Thessalonians‬ 1‬:7‬-9‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Did you had that initial turning from idols towards one God? If not you are under condemnation, if you did how does your life is different now, how your heart worship changes your way of thinking, way of relation and way of living now? 2. Worshipers of true God Disobedience Read 3:8-23 “Some Chaldeans took this occasion to come forward and maliciously accuse the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever. You as king have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music must fall down and worship the gold statue. Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Then in a furious rage Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar asked them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you don’t serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up? Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire — and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times more than was customary, and he commanded some of the best soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So these men, in their trousers, robes, head coverings, and other clothes, were tied up and thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Since the king’s command was so urgent and the furnace extremely hot, the raging flames killed those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.” Hebrews were forbidden to worship idols Commanded to destroy them Don’t entertain, avoid curiosity how idols were used Deut 5:7-10, “Do not have other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.” 7:25-26, ‬‬‬‬‬‬ “Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction.” ‬‬‬‬‬‬ 12:29-31 ““When the Lord your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land, be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’ You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice every detestable act, which the Lord hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” This idea of king would end their faith, they were in captivity exactly for this reason. Ch 1 and 2 were not so much challenge to their faith and dedication as this event. Evidence of true faith: God focused – not deliverance focused, not people fearing life saving, benefit receiving Integrity and faithfulness integrity is convictions in practice, faithfulness under testing, when no one is looking, not in the ground, not by tradition. Examples Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Jo, Jesus Confidence and submission – trust in his person, already experienced his faithfulness Based on relationship – not like idols that enslave, abuse, destroy. God chooses us to be His people, to love Him and be loved. They knew Him as sovereign Ruler, Powerful Deliverer, promise Keeper, personal Savior Ultimate delivery Lk 4:17-21 “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”” From great evil powers of sin, death, Satan, paid penalty for our sins to God with His own blood, brings us out from life of slavery to idolatry. Blood of Christ is our power! Grace of deliverance Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.” 3. Worshiping God rewarded Read Dan 3:24-30 “Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?” “Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king. He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and called, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God — come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.” Then the king rewarded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.” ‬‬‬ Idol worshiping has failed Decree – freedom to worship Hebrew God Testimony to others God works on the heart of king Nebuchadnezzer Faithful ones have been rewarded. What is your heart worship? How long would my worship last? If I left alone? Do I stop at prosperity? In afflictions? In persecution? What do I love? Great lessons of where we should be careful not to be participating in political agendas that are contrary to God’s will, where we are to resist worshiping idols. We need to mention more God and His decrees to unbelievers We are more to see our God show as a Deliverer in the future times of intense idolatry. Today is the time to build our intimate close relationships of faithfulness and integrity with our Savior waiting on His return.

The God who Rules and Reveals - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 2:1-49

July 2, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • Daniel 2

Outline: 1. Nebuchadnezzar's nightmare - Despite all his power and wealth, Nebuchadnezzar is weak and afraid - The world’s power and success is never as strong as it seems 2. The root of Daniel’s wisdom. - Daniel responds with wisdom and prayer - Daniel’s response is rooted in knowing the God who knows all things 3. The dream revealed. - Daniel’s life of faith becomes a bold confession of faith - All of history is the place where God is building his kingdom Scripture references: - Daniel 2 - Philippians 4:6-7 Application Questions: - What are you doing with your anxieties today? How do you process the tensions the challenges and the fears of life? Where do you run? - Where does your ultimate trust lie today? Is it the King of Kings? Or in yourself? - Does your life confront the truth and expose the lies of the world around you? Or does it buy in to them? Discussion questions: - What made the difference between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar? - What does Daniel's example teach us of the importance of prayer in the christian life? - Why is it so critical for christians to be rooted in a clear understanding of the sovereignty of God? - How do we cultivate a trust and knowledge of God that overpowers our fears and anxieties? - How is our faith supposed confront the lies and false idols of the world around us? Daniel 2 We are taking the summer to journey through the book of Daniel. Daniel is written about 500-600 before Christ, a time when the Jewish people were overrun by their enemies the Babylonians and some of their best and brightest were taken to Babylon to serve the king there and be educated by him. Daniel faces the tension of being faithful to God in a land that is totally opposed to God and in a situation that seems like God may have abandoned them. Following God's way in a world of opposition often becomes threatening and dangerous. As we walk with Daniel through this book we will find many key and powerful recurring themes. The one we want to see today is true strength and peace is found as we root ourselves in the God who sovereignly reigns over history and over every aspect of our lives. Nebuchadnezzar's nightmare In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled him, and sleep deserted him. 2 So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, mediums, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams Even though he is the most powerful man in the world, he is still scared Being a ruler over the most powerful empire in the world does not make him immune to fear. Actually is does the opposite - it creates more threats and more enemies. This is the second year of his reign - he is not far into it - and its already feeling shaky and unstable to him. As a solution he brings in the best and most powerful men of his land to help with his problem. Magicians, mediums, sorcerers and Chaldeans - for the real problems, spiritual power and knowledge is requires - no money or weapons are helpful here. But these guys don’t realize the challenge they are walking in to. "I've got bad dreams, and I need to understand them" "Ok tell us the dream and we will tell you the meaning!" "NO. YOU tell me the dream AND the meaning and if you don't, you will be torn to pieces and your houses will be turned into a garbage pile." Well that escalated quickly. Why is he doing this? Did he forget his dream? No, most likely not. He knows this dream is really important and he can't trust them to be truthful with him. They need to prove it to him - if they have the power to tell him the meaning of his dream don't they also have the power to tell him the dream itself? He is alone in his struggle and his fear. The closest people can't be trusted. “I know for certain you are trying to gain some time, because you see that my word is final. 9 If you don’t tell me the dream, there is one decree for you. You have conspired to tell me something false or fraudulent until the situation changes. So tell me the dream and I will know you can give me its interpretation.” When they fail to come up with an answer this scared and suspicion king now becomes a violent destroyer. "king became violently angry and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon." Sinclair Ferguson - "Despite his power and position as king of Babylon, in his heart of hearts he was like a lost child in the darkness." Why do we get scared? Why is fear and anxiety such a powerful struggle for so many? You can have so many amazing and wonderful things in life, you can have what many others around you crave and desire - and still be filled with angst, with anxiety and with fear. Why? Fear and anxiety have to do with the unknown. They have to do with the future that we think may happen, but we don't know for sure and we can't control it. It is this unknown that eats away at us, grows like a weight on us - this unknown sets our imaginations on fire to think of the possible things that CAN happen. what if something happens to my kids? what if my business crashes? what if everyone thinks I am a fool? what if I fail? what if i let everyone down? what if I never get married? what if.....??? Fear grows and explodes out of us in anger and violence. Angry people are often people who are anxious and scared, people who feel like they are loosing control. This is what finally blew the cap on Nebuchadnezzar - 10 The Chaldeans answered the king, “No one on earth can make known what the king requests. Consequently, no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, medium, or Chaldean. 11 What the king is asking is so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.” With all the power you have you are not God - you can't control the future and you can't know the unknowable. At its heart our fears and anxieties and our desire to control our lives is our rebellion against God and our rebellion against the fact that we are not God. Friedrich Nietzsche: “If there is a God, how can I bear not to be that God?” This is a declaration of the failure of paganism. Who can reveal secrets? Who can tell the future? Life in Babylon is not all its cracked up to be - famous city in the center of the world - luxury and power - and those who are at the top - live in constant tension and danger. Same goes for today. Look at the top elite areas of our world - fame, politics, riches - look deeper behind the perfect pictures and videos - death, danger and decay. "Nebuchadnezzar, like so many people, had everything except the one thing he most needed: peace." Sinclair Ferguson How do we get that? The roots of Daniel's wisdom. 14 Then Daniel responded with tact and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon. 15 He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why is the decree from the king so harsh?” Then Arioch explained the situation to Daniel. 16 So Daniel went and asked the king to give him some time, so that he could give the king the interpretation Right away what we see here is a total contrast between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel a young slave, Nebuchadnezzar a powerful king. This is at the beginning of Daniel's life in Babylon, they had just graduated from their school of Babylonian education elites - he is still a very young man. "tact and discretion" "prudence" - a proper taste and sense of the situation and what the right thing is to do. What to do? Talk to the executioner. Even though the situation is pretty scary - he doesn't freak out. It is clear that Daniel was the type of guy who had healthy relationships with people around him that even in time of crisis like this, he was able to have a sensible conversation with the guy who was supposed to execute them. This was his character, his reputation. One of the most important traits we can cultivate in ourselves is this sense of calm and wisdom in difficult situations. He doesn't run for he hills. He asks questions. He considers the situation. He asks for time. 17 Then Daniel went to his house and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter, 18 urging them to ask the God of the heavens for mercy concerning this mystery, so Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men. OK, they have a little time - what do they do with it? Escape plan? Disguises? Rebellion? No - prayer. Here is where we see the real reason for the difference between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Was Daniel also scared? Probably. Did he know the secrets to solve the problem? No. But Daniel KNEW the God who knows. And he KNEW that God knows. For a lot of people, the activity of prayer is seen as sort of a last effort thing when all else fails we start to pray or at scene is this minor introductory thing that we do before we actually do the real work but for Daniel prayer was the work prayer was the most powerful thing he could do it very difficult crisis This is how the early church viewed prayer, early church father Turtullian writes: "Prayer is alone that which vanquishes God. But Christ has willed that it be operative for no evil: He had conferred on it all its virtue in the cause of good. And so it knows nothing save how to recall the souls of the departed from the very path of death, to transform the weak, to restore the sick, to purge the possessed, to open prison-bars, to loose the bonds of the innocent. Likewise it washes away faults, repels temptations, extinguishes persecutions, consoles the faint-spirited, cheers the high-spirited, escorts travelers, appeases waves, makes robbers stand aghast, nourishes the poor, governs the rich, upraises the fallen, arrests the falling, confirms the standing. Prayer is the wall of faith: her arms and missiles against the enemy who keeps watch over us on all sides. And, so never walk we unarmed." (Turtullian, On Prayer) Prayer was the most powerful thing Daniel could do - why? And it all comes back to how we view God Daniel had a clear conviction that God is completely over everything and has all the knowledge and all the power over this entire situation You see this very clearly in the way, Daniel responds when God hears his prayer and gives him this miraculous revelation. Daniel responds with a song of praise and worship that it’s at the very center of this chapter. A song of exaltation to God and this song is highlighting fact that God is completely in control over everything and that God knows all things. 20May the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. 21 He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals the deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. 23 I offer thanks and praise to you, God of my ancestors, because you have given me wisdom and power. And now you have let me know what we asked of you, for you have let us know the king’s mystery. This is the key to Daniel’s wisdom. Anxiety thrives on the unknown - fear thrives on doing everything you can to try to control all the things you are afraid of. Daniels fears are not solved by knowing everything it is solved by running and leaning and completely depending on the God who knows everything This is what gives him the ability to stay controlled to act wisely, and this is what drives Daniel to prayer first and foremost Sometimes God permits the struggles in the difficulties in the scary things in life, so that we may be driven to him in prayer so that threw our prayers he can reveal and work, and do his mighty act. Often times he lets these things happen to drive us to prayer so that in our prayer we might rediscover the beautiful fact that he is God that he knows all things that he reveals that he guides with his wisdom, and with his power, and he never leaves us up for success Daniel and his friends pray, and that is their biggest and most powerful weapon against all of the powers of paganism Philippians 4:6-7 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. What are you doing with your fears and anxieties today? Are you frantically running for solutions or are you boldly coming to pray to open your heart interest in your all knowing all powerful god? God knows the answers. God controls the future. He orders every detail of your life for his glorious purposes. God knows the answer to the difficult and complicated issues you are facing today. God gives wisdom to those who ask tells us, James. His wisdom is the total opposite to the anxiety and fear and anger that takes place in our hearts when we are trying to run our lives in our own power. This leads us to the third and final point is God’s revelation The dream revealed. Everything in this chapter points to the power of God to control all things into reveal all secrets. The word reveal or make known is a constantly recurring phrase all over the chapter. And the central point that everything leads to the fact that it is that God is God, he is the actual King. He is the one who is in control over all things, and it is to this end that Daniel is called to stand before the king and boldly proclaim the truth of God. This is where Daniel finds himself 26 The king said in reply to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream I had and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, medium, magician, or diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days. It is his knowledge of God that puts him in the place to speak, and to declare the truth of this God As Daniel lives out his life of faith and worship to God, his entire life also becomes a confrontation of the lies of idolatry that surround him "The picture of the servant of God standing before the Lords of the earth to bear witness to God’s truth is one that occurs regularly in Scripture; consider, for example, the stories of Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, John, and Paul." (Sinclair Ferguson) This is also why we confess the truth - we live in a world of paganism - we live in a world where the enemy is trying to confuse and twist the truth. This got my blood boiling this week, an example of the evil that spreads into building CALLED CHRISTIAN CHURCHES a female pastor leads the congregation in saying THIS confession of faith: "(we) believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. (we) believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling-child of God. (we) believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love, so beloved, let us love." that is satanic; and Satan knows how to make disciples. Theres a bunch of people who DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY BELIEVE. A confession of faith is a confrontation of all false lies that surround This is why we confess this is why we proclaim the truth as a church. This is one of the central jobs as the people of God to confess, and proclaim the truth of the one true living God, in a world of idols. Daniels rootedness in a sovereign God gives him the power, puts him in the position - to stand before the world and proclaim the true God and expose the lies of all the idols. So what do we make of this dream? And it’s quite the idea it’s quite simple. This terrifying statue has four different sections. Each section represents a different world dominating kingdom. Babylon is a head of gold, followed by three other kingdoms. Traditionally its been understood here to refer to Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. This is where some people love to take a detour, and start to dig into all the intricacies of who these different layers in empires are, and missed the whole point of the chapter. We will take more time to dive into this 4 kingdom breakdown in chapter 7, this is a topic that continually resurfaces in the book of Daniel. The main point in THIS chapter is pretty simple. A stone that is cut out of the mountain without hands means it is not done by humans, strength or human ability comes and completely decimates all these empires. 44 “In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. The powers of the world are doing their thing, making their plans, conquering lands. And running parallel to all their efforts, the God of heaven is working throughout all history setting stage until the time is just right. during the height of the Roman empire a young girl gets a visit from a supernatural being, an angel that tells her that she will have a son and that through him, God will establish his everlasting kingdom. Years go by. Rome's armies grow, wealth and money, power and influence. Nothing changes. Then 30 years later a man shows up preaching in the last of Israel like no man ever preached. He heals the sick. He confronts the religious leaders. He speaks of the kingdom of God. He seems like he’s on a solid path when the Jewish religious leaders conspire to have him arrested, and in a corrupt trail they have him condemned and killed. Just a blip in history. Not noticeable to anyone outside the Jewish land. The movement seems to have died out. Then a few months later something weird happens. His disciples show up in the middle of Jerusalem during a crowded feast and they are boldly proclaiming that he is alive, that he is the Savior of the World and that he is coming back to judge the living and the dead. the small band of disciples grows and grows to thousands, it spreads to other lands - despite severe persecution, it continues to grow until it covers all the Roman empire. 2000 years later Rome is long gone but the disciples of Jesus number just above 2.6 billion living in the world today. The stone that crushes the empires grows and grows to fill the whole earth. All the kings of kingdoms of the world, who think they are so powerful and capable, and have arrived there by their own genius in their own power, are only Pons on the stage of history, which God, himself sets, leads guides and controls, and all of it is moving to a very distinct direction direction that glorifies God and his kingdom above all The entire dream is simply highlighting, one simple truth the truth, Daniel, declares in his song of praise. God is the one who establishes times and seasons, that God is the one who put who removes kings that God is the one who knows all things, and he is the one who reveals all mysteries. There is a God in heaven - and this God is building his kingdom today. Here is the amazing thing - even though Nebuchadnezzar got the revelation of this dream - he didn't seem to hear anything really past "you are the head of gold.." in the next chapter he is setting up a giant gold statue of himself for everyone to worship. God entered our world, and the people who looked him in the face missed it. Why? Our hearts are blinded by our idolatry - our selfishness and our pride. The King who conquers all kingdoms rides into town on a lowly donkey. Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest. But you must lay down your pride, your self centeredness, confess your sins and trust in the king who gave his life to save you. Application: What are you doing with your anxieties today? How do you process the tensions the challenges and the fears of life? Where do you run? Where does your ultimate trust lie today? Is it the King of Kings? Or in yourself? Does your life confront the truth and expose the lies of the world around you? Or does it buy in to them?

Life Without Compromise - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 1:1-21

June 25, 2023 • Aleksey Khizhnyak • Daniel 1

Life Without Compromise Daniel 1:1-21 I. Nebuchadnezzar determined to have Men from the kingdom of God to serve him in his kingdom. http://ii.daniel determined that he will not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. http://iii.god determined he will graciously save sinful men and be actively present with his faithful servants. I. Nebuchadnezzar determined to have Men from the kingdom of God to serve him in his kingdom. “the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built to be a royal residence by my vast power and for my majestic glory?” Dan. 4:30 • He isolates them • He gives them new names • He indoctrinates them • He changes their diet “It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire beer. 5 Otherwise, he will drink, forget what is decreed, and pervert justice for all the oppressed.” Pr.31:4-5 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes? 30 Those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine. Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.” Pr.23:29-33 http://ii.daniel determined that he will not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. • Decision made in the heart • Actions follow conviction • Humble perseverance • Reliance on God “24 Do not bow in worship to their gods, and do not serve them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+23&version=csb#fen-csb-2169i] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces. 25 Serve the Lord your God, and he[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+23&version=csb#fen-csb-2170j] will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you. 26 No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.” Ex. 23:24-25 http://iii.god determined he will graciously save sinful men and be actively present with his faithful servants. • God was in Garden of Eden, in Babylon, at the Calvary and is here today • King Jesus was the savior then and he still saves today • God is intimately involved in the lives of his faithful servants 20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; some for honorable[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+tim+2&version=csb#fen-csb-29830e] use and some for dishonorable.[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+tim+2&version=csb#fen-csb-29830f] 21 So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable,[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+tim+2&version=csb#fen-csb-29831g] he will be a special[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+tim+2&version=csb#fen-csb-29831h] instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Tim. 2:20-21

The Kingdoms in Opposition - The Book of Daniel - Daniel 1:1-2

June 18, 2023 • Victor Kuksenko • Daniel 1:1–2

The Kingdoms in Opposition Daniel 1:1-2 Structure: I. Context & Structure are key in understanding the book of Daniel 1. Literary Structure 2. Historical Background II. Pillar #1: The Lord is Sovereign over all the kingdoms III. Pillar #2: There are only two kingdoms and they are at war with each other Passages: - Isaiah 39:6-7 "Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon" - Gen. 10:8-10 "Babylon, Erech, Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar" - Gen. 11:2 ""As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settle there." - Gen. 3:15 "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel -Gal. 4:28 "But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now" - John 3:3 "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" Quotes: - Sinclair Ferguson "There are two ways of looking at life: it can be viewed simply in terms of what occurs ("history), Christians, however, can never be interested in human life merely to discover the "when" or the "who" or the "what". They are always concerned to know the answer to the question "why" in order to relate their answer to the biblical teaching on the purposes of God." - James Hamilton - "Shinar thus comes to be associated with rebellion against God: it is the land of the seed of the serpent, where God's enemies dwell." - Augustine - "Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self" - Sinclair Ferguson says "The heart: the good news of the kingdom of God: Nations and empires, thrones and dominions will rise and fall, but the city of God will endure. ... The stone cut without hands will break into pieces the idols of man's creation and ultimately grow into a mountain that will fill the whole earth. ________________________________________________________ NOTES: The book of Daniel is extremely relevant book for us today. Daniel and his friends were in the same context. ◦ Their country was destroyed by Babylon ◦ They were taken from their homes against their wills. ◦ They were attempted to be brainwashed by the Chaldean philosophy and religion. ◦ Daniel and his friends probably were made Eunuchs against their will. Not having a family of their own, their main point in life was to be in full service to the king. Yet with all of that this book is not filled with sorrow over their condition, but with hope I. Context & Structure are Key in Understanding the Book of Daniel 1. Literary Structure As any writing we need to know what kind of writing we are dealing with. - This kind of genre is often called as: Apocalyptic literary genre + • (Very similar to Revelations) - Daniel is the Revelations of the OT. ◦ But it's a bit more than that because it contains big narrative accounts. • The structure of the book at first glance seems simple: ◦ The challenge is this book is written in two languages: ◘ 1-2:4a - Jewish ◘ 2:4b-7:28 - Aramaic (It was considered to be the international language of the day and some consider it to make this as core of the book) ◘ 8-12 - Jewish. • Daniel often falls into a "progressive parallelism" structure. Where the author begins and ends the sequences of event and then turns to describe them again in different terms or perspective, and as a response deepening our understanding. ◦ Most of us think in a straight line: beginning, middle and then the end. (which is very Aristotelian, and logical) ◘ The ancient civilizations often times thought in a "spiral" fashion, ◦ That is why you may notice a pattern in Daniel and the way he structure this book, it follows a Chiastic structure: Many commentators propose that the book of Daniel is a carefully constructed into a chiasm ◘ 1 - Exile ◘ 2 - Statue: four kingdoms, everlasting dominion ◘ 3 - Delivered from the fiery furnace ◘ 4 - Nebuchadnezzar humbled ◘ 5 - Belshazzar humbled ◘ 6 - delivered from the lions' den ◘ 7-9 - visions: four kingdoms, everlasting dominion ◘ 10-12 - return from exile • The author is Daniel ◦ Two dates are mentioned in the book, one from 605BC and the other at 537 BC (10:1), which means we have 70 years of Daniels life in this book. ◦ Various critics have attacked this notion that Daniel wrote this book ◘ He predicts precisely the Fall of the Medes and Persians and the Greek kingdom of Alexander the great and his successor to Rome. ◦ These prophesies as a whole is prof that God speaks to his people. ◘ Who can know the future that far? If it is not our God. ◘ God is the one who knows the future, because he make the future happen! ◦ That means everything he prophesied to happen in our day and age will happen, just as he said. Now understanding how the book is composed, then we need to ask, what is the context for this book, that is extremely important to understand. 2. Historical Background • We read of the Babylonian Expansion in relationship to Jerusalem in 2 Kings 24:1-25:1 ◦ This was prophesied by Isaiah 100 years earlier: ◘ Isaiah 39:6-7 "Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon" • Babylon attacked Judah three times. ◦ 1. 605 BC - Nebuchadnezzar breaks through the Jerusalem wall (with was the Southern Kingdom) and defeats Jehoiakim king of Judah. (this is 100 years after Israel - the Northern Kingdom was conquered by Assyria.) ◦ 2. 597 BC - When Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim tried to fight back again, but failed and completely surrender. ◦ 3. 586 BC - The third invasion was the one we remember the most because that point the whole temple and wall was destroyed. ◘ The prophet Jeremiah was there during this time, and he wrote his book of Lamentations. ◘ In fact Daniel new of Jeremiah, because he quotes his prophesies in this book. *Daniel and his friends were part of the first of the three invasion. ◦ That means not only did Daniel experience exile, he also was able to hear the news that the king he so faithfully serves just destroyed their temple, that Israel is there no more. ◦ Makes you wonder how he was able to stand so strong. ◦ The answer lies in two underlining truths that we read of in the book of Daniel ◦ Even though the message of Daniel is multifaceted there are two pillars on which everything is hung on. And we see them in the first two verse: II. Pillar #1: The Lord is Sovereign over all the Kingdoms Notice that the first thing that Daniel mentions that was taken from Jerusalem were not people but the "vessels from the house of God" and Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon or Shinar to the house of his god. • Nebuchadnezzar symbolically shows that their god's and himself are stronger than the Jerusalem God. • Nebuchadnezzar was very arrogant and power hungry. We will learn more about him later, but he believed that he was sovereign over all the world. Yet, ~In verse 1 we read men's perspective on what has happened: "King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it" ~In verse 2 we read of God's perspective on the same event: "The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God" The destruction of Jerusalem was not an accident, it was in God's plan In the midst of chaos and turmoil, God there. Despite various kings edicts and military power, God's decrees stand! In the book of Daniel every difficult events: the destruction of the temple, Daniel's and his friends brainwashing, the untold dream that needed interpretation, the blazing furnace, the hungry lions and more all have the hand of God in them. Sinclair Ferguson says it well- "There are two ways of looking at life: it can be viewed simply in terms of what occurs ("history), Christians, however, can never be interested in human life merely to discover the "when" or the "who" or the "what". They are always concerned to know the answer to the question "why" in order to relate their answer to the biblical teaching on the purposes of God." Tragedies in life are somehow in God's plan are for our good: • Job - lost everything, and yet in the end he learned more about God, and we read that God blessed him even more. • Jesus - dies on the cross, the worse tragedy in the world yet it produced the greatest result, now he is able to set us free from our sins. • The trials that the church experiences is real and difficult. ◦ Yet, we should constantly keep our hope in God, because we know no matter how horrible the world gets it is not outside of God's will. ◦ Even as AI technology gets to a level where the government can truly control people, God is still ultimately in control. That is what gave Daniel the ability to function in the place and condition he was in. • We often lose heart, when the republican party loses, or another law passes about abortion or transgender. ◦ We should stand for justice and pray for goodness in our country. But when brokenness is felt and chaos is sweeping through the nation, we should look to our sovereign God. • This reality of God's sovereignty might not be as evident at times, but that does not change who God is and what he is doing. ◦ The storms might appear to be out of control in our life, Yet, Jesus is there with us. • What else can give us this foundation to function when everything seems to be at a loss? ◦ The Sovereignty of God ◘ Believe and preach that to ourselves ◘ We need to trust Him. ◘ We are to seek his will for our time and situation. Fathers, husbands what God do we serve? ◦ Do we lead our families faithfully standing on the sovereignty of God? ◦ Do we stand firm on this truth even as everything crumbles? ◘ Our wives may have a lot of worry, and kids might not know where to go. But is there a firmness to our walk because we know what kind of a God we serve? ______________________________________________________ III. Pillar #2: There are only two Kingdoms and they are at War with each other The phrase ""Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege" has huge symbolism. • Jerusalem represents the kingdom of God. • Babylon - represent the kingdom of man. ◦ Actually when it says in the CSB "Nebuchadnezzar carried the vessels to the land of Babylon" the original wording is into the "land of Shinar". Babylon was in Shinar. But to call Babylon Shinar draws out a lot of theological elements. ◘ In Gen. 10:8-10 we see that Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. He started cities of "Babylon, Erech, Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar" ◘ This was a kingdom of man! ◘ Also in Gen. 11:2 "As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settle there." and there they decided to build themselves a Tower. ◘ This Tower we often call The Tower of Babel, it is a representation of man's kingdom. ◘ James Hamilton points out that "Shinar thus comes to be associated with rebellion against God: it is the land of the seed of the serpent, where God's enemies dwell." In other words Babylon and Jerusalem present two diametrically apposed kingdoms in this world. • Augustine describes these kingdoms as two cities saying "Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self" • Not only are there two kingdoms but these two kingdoms are at war with one another. ◦ The people of God are in conflict with the people of this world ◦ This conflict is traced back to the garden of Eden. ◘ Gen. 3:15 "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel" ◘ Since then there is a distinction between the people of God and people of man. ◘ As we read in Gal. 4:28 "But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now" ◦ Jesus said that there is only two masters "God or Money" Money is self. ◘ Jesus said that: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3) ◦ In the Book of Revelations Babylon is referenced as "the mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth". ◘ Which wages war against the church of Christ • In the whole book of Daniel there is a constant struggle between these two kingdoms ◦ Nebuchadnezzar carries the temple cups into his gods temple, as if he won God. ◦ Daniel and his friends stand in opposition to Nebuchadnedzar and his system. ◦ In the visions that Daniel explain: there are numerous kingdoms of man, yet one kingdom of God, which crushes them all The question that we should ask ourselves: "AM I living for the city of God and according to its code of conduct or am I living according to the laws of the city of destruction?" ◦ The kingdom of man lives to uphold humanity ◦ The Kingdom of God is to uphold God and his rule ◘ This world is not your true home, you live as Daniel in a foreign land, yet you operate from a different kind of living. We all live in exile as Daniel lived, and it may seems that the world is winning. ◘ Yet, as in Daniel, God is sovereign over all the processes of life. ◘ EX: As in the Lord of the Rings, it gets darker and darker as the story goes, and at some point it may seem impossible and the evil will win, yet the light wins in the end. ◘ Our life may seem dark and gloomy, but God is there, we need to be faithful to his way of living. ◘ Jesus went to the cross, and it seemed like God's kingdom has lost. ◘ Yet that is precisely how he gained upper hand over the enemy. ◘ He was raised on the third day in power and sovereign rule. ◘ He is the conqueror ◦ Let me point this out: the Republican party is not the kingdom of God. ◘ Yes they do a lot of good, but they have not Christ centered. Fathers: Which Kingdom are you building in your home? • Do we stand in clear opposition to the men made kingdom of self? • Are we courageous to build carefully and wisely? • Do we have convictions? Amen!