Waiting in Exile (Daniel 12:1-13)

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All right, you can go ahead and grab your Bibles, then open up to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12. We will wrap up the series in Daniel this morning. So as you’re turning to Daniel chapter 12, maybe this has happened to you many, many, many times. You know, you sit down with a friend, maybe somebody you haven’t seen for a little while. Maybe it’s somebody you go to for help, whatnot. And so you’re sharing a current struggle that’s going on in your life, and you’re sharing it with a little bit of emotion, because that’s what happens and all of that. So you share this struggle, your friend is listening what happens next. Almost every single time the friend will start offering solutions. Here’s what you need to do. Have you tried this? And why is it because you’ve done the same thing too to your friends. You know that, right? So why is it that we immediately start fixing things? I mean, one of them, of course, is that we don’t like messes. We don’t like messy people, and so if I can fix you quickly, then you won’t be a burden to me anymore. Let’s just own that that’s not good, but that’s true, but there’s also this element of human hubris in it, like the idea we believe we can fix anything that is broken. So give me 10 or 15 minutes, and I will fix your problems. We think about this. You know, everywhere in the world are your eyes going? There’s LASIK, do you not like your boss? There’s LinkedIn, global poverty, okay, that one’s trickier, but still, we got a couple of strategies that we can employ, and pretty soon, we will take care of this. You need revival in your church or community? Well, have we got a conference for you. I mean, how many sermons are actually just techniques in disguise? Follow these six simple steps and you’ll be sin free in a year. There’s just one problem with all this. Not everything can be fixed. Not everything can be fixed. I’m the dad. That means I’m the fixer in my home. And occasionally small children, boys in particular, will bring me something that they have just broken. Happened this week, in fact, and Dad, can you fix this? And sometimes I can. That’s what super glue is for, and that’s the only tool I know how to use. But sometimes yes, but sometimes no. And so it did. It happened this week where they brought me something and I went, buddy, this one, like, I can’t do anything, like wear this snap that can glue it and you will snap it again. It’s over. I mention that because that’s kind of what dad is telling us in this passage, and in apocalyptic generally, apocalyptic reminds us that this world can’t be fixed. We are not just one tweak away from paradise. This world can’t be fixed. This world needs to be remade. Which reminds us, then that we are in a waiting room of sorts. Do what we talked about this morning sermon is waiting in exile. Waiting rooms are no fun. No one wants to be in a waiting room, especially if you’re waiting for news that could kind of go one way or the other. Will the judge take this case or not? You know? So there are these questions that we ask when we are in the waiting room, and that’s what we’re going to look at this morning, although it’s interesting, because God actually gives us the answer first, and then we start asking our questions. And so there’s your outline, but let’s dig in as we go. Daniel, chapter 12, we’ll start with the answer. Verses one to four. At that time, Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as not happen from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time, your people, everyone whose name is found written in the book, will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end, many will go here and there to increase knowledge. This is the theological and literary climax of the book of Daniel, where we finally read of God’s final deliverance of his people. I mean, this is what we’ve been waiting for all along. I mean, Daniel is in exile, right? And he’s waiting for his people, for the Jewish people, to be rescued out of exile. Of course, we see there’s a bigger issue, a spiritual exile, that’s being addressed as well. Now this does continue the vision of last week. Daniel, chapter 11, really, I should have gone through verse chapter 12, verse four, last week. But long enough covered enough last week, right? So that’s why we kept this one until now. But it continues the vision of last week. So when he says at that time, what time are we talking about? We’re talking about the time of the Southern King’s demise. You weren’t here, or you don’t remember southern King near the end of the. 11, we are now talking about some big figure, the Antichrist, the one who is greater than Antiochus, the fourth who is pictured, but he’s just this image of what is coming now. Last week, we had the the bad news of judgment on the unrepentant wicked, the hard news this week, we get the positive vision. There will be a period of great distress, yes, during which Michael, who is the patron angel of Israel, or something like that, will arise and do battle against God’s enemies. This is a good reminder. Again, we hit a little bit of angelology as we’ve gone through Daniel because they show up at a few points, but angels are more involved in our lives than we probably realize most of the time. Hebrews 13 tells us that some of us have entertained angels unaware. One reason you open your home at Thanksgiving, you never know if it’s gonna be an angel or something. Okay, so that’s what’s happening. Angelic intervention is necessary for the perseverance of God’s people. God uses them in our lives. In other words, here’s Psalm 91, verses 11 and 12. For He, God will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. So God sends His angels, and his angels are the ones who are holding us, at least in that case, the hosts of heaven, in other words, are being deployed by God on these daring rescue missions. They are God’s heavenly seal, Team Six, and they come here. Michael leads the way. Well, how does it end this, this battle that that Michael wages, then we have final deliverance for those whose names are written in the book, presumably the book of life that Revelation talks about. In other words, we’re talking about Final deliverance, not just from Babylon, not just from Persia and from exile. We are talking about salvation itself, which is where we go in the next verse, those who sleep will wake some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. This is a really important verse, because this is the clearance, clearest reference in the old testament to the individual resurrection of people, either to eternal life or eternal death. Now, Jews believed in a national resurrection of sorts. You can see this Ezekiel 37 the vision of the valley of dry bones. For example, there’s a resurrection of God’s people. Or Hosea six, verse two, which has this idea of, after two days He will restore us, and on the third day he will revive us. Sorry, flip those around, he will revive us. Third day He will restore us. Now, both of those passages kind of have this sense of like, well, is this a spiritual revival, or is it really physical? Well, by Hosea 13, verse 14, we are definitely in physical Hosea says, I will deliver this people from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. Where O death are your plagues, where O grave is your destruction, which is, of course, quoted by Paul in First Corinthians, 15. So there is going to be this national physical resurrection. But if you’re going to raise a nation, of course, you’re going to have to raise the individuals of the nation. So it’s no surprise that we get this individual resurrection as well. Isaiah, 2619 for example, your dead will live, Lord, their bodies will rise. But what’s different here in Daniel 12 is the double resurrection. Again, resurrection, some to eternal life, some to eternal condemnation. And this resurrection is presented as the foundation of Daniel’s and our hope. And here’s the thing to provide hope. It does need to be that double resurrection, which is hard to hear. It is hard to read about some people being raised to everlasting contempt. But what else can a loving God do? It is love that motivates God’s judgment. Why? Because when you love someone, you hate, whatever it is that is destroying them, and what is destroying us is sin and evil. And so God, if he’s gonna remake this world without evil, again, that’s a vision that we’ve got here. You’re gonna remake the world without evil. There are only two options, either God can eliminate the evil in our hearts, or God is going to have to eliminate evil people,
if evil won’t get out of our hearts. I mean, like God could either eliminate racism, or he can eliminate racists. God can get rid of sexual immorality, or he can get rid of. Sexually immoral, but he has to do one or the other, or some combination of both, or otherwise, heaven would very quickly become hell if he lets it in then, I mean, God created the world perfect, and we broke it right? And if God lets us, in our current state, into heaven, we will break it. We will break it. So he’s gonna have to deal with this sin somehow. Now here’s the thing. God has provided every possible means of escape, every possible means of escape, like we can have the evil in our hearts eliminated when we come to Christ in repentance and faith, he has made away. We talked about this last week, right? And before he brings the flood, God has Noah build an ark. Anyone can get on the boat. No one does, just Noah’s family, but anyone could get on that boat. Well, God has sent a better Ark. His name is Jesus. Anyone can be saved from the storm of God’s coming wrath, if they will enter in. Jesus. CS Lewis said at one point, in the long run, the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of Hell is itself a question. What are you asking God to do if you want to get rid of hell? What are you asking God to do to wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help, because he has done so on Calvary. It’s already been done. And so if the wicked Remember, all of us are wicked, we come into this world wicked. If the wicked will not repent, they cannot come in to heaven. Hell is God’s quarantine, so the evil does not infect the good place he is remaking. That is why judgment is part of the hope of resurrection. Because again, what’s the big problem in this world? Well, as we look around, the big problem is wickedness, evil, sin, right? And one of the problems is that the wicked seem to prosper, like if you were just to read the newspaper, you would not have a clear sense that this world is a moral place, that good will triumph over evil, that light will triumph over darkness from the Holocaust of the Holodomor. We’ve got proof after proof that sometimes the wicked prosper. Millions of Jews killed, millions of Ukrainians starved to death under Hitler and Stalin and Hitler met an untimely end, and Stalin lived, died a natural death, sometimes wicked seems to prosper. Will they prosper ultimately? Will the poor and oppressed and weak and marginalized go on being trampled forever when the answer is an unequivocal no thank God. History will come to a climax, and God will separate the repentant from those who will not repent. And then we get, in this vision, a little bit more about what the repentant look like in verse three, those who are wise will shine. You know, Jesus said, Let your light shine before others. And here we see that we will go on shining forever like stars in the heaven. The wise will those who, like Daniel, seek God’s truth, live in light of it, and then lead others to do so too, to lead many to righteousness. Really interesting, by the way, those are our 3l here at Cityview, aren’t they? Who seek God’s truth, they learn from Jesus, and they’re live like Jesus, to meet you in love like Jesus, and then you’re going to use that influence to affect others. You’re going to lead, for Jesus’s sake, for the sake of His kingdom. I find it so interesting that Paul in Philippians two, he actually references this verse here. He says that if we live godly lives, basically, he says, then you will shine among them, shine among the warped and crooked generation, like stars in the sky, as you hold firmly to the word of life, but that’s now, and Daniel’s talking about eternity. In other words, what we are in this life, we will be in the life to come, only perfected. So we should go on learning from Jesus, loving like Jesus, and leading for Jesus. Then we come to verse four, though, which is interesting, because this all seems like really important information, and so if people need to know it, why is it being sealed up? Well, we have to understand what the seal is doing. This is not hiding God’s revelation, but preserving it. So when a king would make a decree, they would have a duplicate copy written out, sealed placed in the records room so that you could go back and look and go, oh, oh, right. That’s what the king said back you see that right after the Jews returned from exile, and they get some opposition, and they’re like, no Cyrus told us we could come back and rebuild the temple and rebuild Jerusalem, and they go, and they find that sealed copy, go, Oh, yes, oh yes, you were right. So that’s what’s happening here. We have a copy sealed and placed in the vault. So we know God’s plan. We know that he will keep it because it’s been sealed, even if we don’t know every detail of how it will shake out. We know his plan, and we know that he’ll bring it to fruition. And that encourages us to persevere. And we know the truth. But you see at the end of verse four, then others will scurry about looking for it. Now you read that, many will go here and there to increase knowledge. And it sounds positive. It probably is not, because it’s a reference to Amos 812, Amos says people will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. And that’s a problem, right? Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It’s the beginning of wisdom. So if you’re going to try and increase knowledge, and you’re not starting with God’s word, with the fear of the Lord, you’re not actually going to find it. We have to listen to him. We have to study his word, the image here, people going here and there, looking for anything else, basically, to figure out how to live. And so this is a good reminder for us. So like, if you are here this morning and you are still questioning Christianity, like you’re here because you’re checking things out, you are in the right place, that’s what this verse is saying. Why? Because it’s imperative that you seek truth, not just people’s opinions, but God’s truth. And it’s imperative that you seek it because of how much it matters, which we just saw in verse two, like it matters eternally. So I would encourage you here. Now I didn’t realize I just said that, like, you gotta find God’s truth, and you’re like, well, that’s my question. Is this God’s truth or not. I can’t get into all that right now, but, but let me ask you this, if you’re hearing questioning, how likely is it? Like, what percentage chance would you assign to the idea that Jesus’s claims about himself are true? Like, what are the chances that Jesus is who He says He is? Is it 50% 30% maybe even just 10% for you fine, even if it’s 10% it’s worth investigating, because of how important it is. Like you don’t want to be on your deathbed going, I should have checked that out. I should have looked into that more. So do it? Do it now, read His word the Bible. Start with Mark, start with John, one of the Gospels, read His Word, and keep coming to this gathering because you want to read the word in community. Of course, don’t seek truth in vain, but find the word of the Lord. This, then is the end of the vision which we started all the way back in chapter 11, verse two. Remember Kyle in in chapter 10, he gave us the beginning of the narrative frame. We now get the other side of the frame, but this vision was an answer to Daniel’s prayers. He’s praying because the people have returned from exile, some group of them, Daniel still there in Persia. But, you know, they’ve returned from exile, but it’s slow going, and they’re they’re facing entrenched opposition. They’re beginning to despair. And so Daniel is going, where is this glorious future? And this is the vision that’s given, but the people are still despairing. And so that raises some questions, which is where we go next? So let’s keep reading the first question, verses five to seven. Then I Daniel looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. One of them said to the man clothed in linen who is above the waters of the river, how long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled? The man clothed in linen who is above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever, saying it will be for a time, times and half a time when the power of the holy people has been finally broken. All these things will be completed. When things are going bad, two questions come to mind immediately. And the first one is, how long? How long is this going to be? How long is this going to take? You may remember, we did this a few chapters ago. Are we there yet? Right? That’s the big question. Are we there yet? You can see, this is what the Israelites are asking. How long until Jerusalem is rebuilt?
We ask it personally, how long until I find employment and can get back to work. Or we ask it on the cosmic sale scale, how long until evil ends? I mean, this is the constant refrain in the Psalms, how long O Lord? And couched in this question is the reminder that we can endure just about anything for a bit like, just let me know how long, and if I know it’s got a set period, I can get through it. I will give you a macabre example. But, you know, it’s apocalyptic. Lots of macabre examples. I don’t remember who it was, but I know after 911 when the CIA was, whatever word you want to use, but I’m gonna use word torturing some of the map. Masterminds behind it. They were waterboarding, and they had video waterboarding, which is pretty intense, right? And you can see the guy tapping his finger on the chair as he’s being waterboarded, because he knew it was gonna be 30 seconds, and he thought, I can do this, because it’s a set period of time. How long? Just tell me I can tap my finger and we will get through this. What’s interesting about this question, though, is that it’s not Daniel who asks it. So we’ve got this first man again. We met him back in chapter 10, verse five. This is the man clothed in linen. Kyle suggested. This is likely a christophany, meaning an appearance of Jesus before He became flesh. The word was in the beginning with God. So Jesus has always existed, and then the Word became flesh. Well, he was there before he became flesh. Is this Jesus? If not, it certainly is one of God’s messengers. He’s bringing the Word of God, and He gives this vision. Now, two more people appear, two more angels, most likely on both sides of the river, and one of them asks, How long until these astonishing things take place? Now, astonishing is a word that’s shown up a few times recently. It was there in chapter 11, verse 36 when it says that this this evil person is going to speak unheard of same word, unheard of things against God. Or back in chapter eight, verse 24 he was going to cause astounding devastation. In other words, this is a negative word here. This is what Antiochus, the fourth, the king of the south and his, you know, the one who’s going to succeed him and be his greater the Antichrist. What they do. So the astonishing thing that’s being asked about here is not the resurrection. It’s not our blessed hope of Christ’s return. No, it’s about the length of our suffering. How long must we endure? And what’s interesting here is that the man clothed in linen, he raises both hands, highly unusual. Raise one hand that’s taken an oath. Right which he does. He swears by Heaven, of course, but to raise both nobody even knows what exactly is going on. Just seems like he’s adding solemnity this moment, like I am really promising here. Raises both hands to add weight and emphasis to what’s coming. And then he says it’s going to last for time, times and half a time, which means something surely, possibly years. That’s what most people think. So time, times and then half a time, we get three and a half years, which would make some sense. I mean, Antiochus the fourth, he desecrates the temple for a little more than three years, from 167 to 164 BC, maybe that’s what we’re talking about. Or if you really want to get three and a half, maybe it’s between when he murders Onias the third, the high priest, and when he desecrates the temple. Except the problem there is, well, that’s three and a half and then another three. So really, that feels more like six and a half. So this is the whole problem with trying to find really specific events that all these numbers refer to. They never quite work out. We keep seeing these are probably symbolic ideas. These are meant to teach us something, not just dates. I don’t think this refers to specific events. I think the point is, in the odd progression, we teach our kids to recognize patterns right at a certain point in math class and school, you got something like, circle, circle, square, circle, circle, square, right? And then they start doing it with numbers, right? You get 2468, and then you get two, four, and you’re like, I know where this is going, 816, all right, you guys are with me now. This is the most responsive you’ve ever been, by the way, this is my favorite day. So you get time times. Well, we got options here, either three times or four times, and instead, we go time times, half a time. Do you see the pattern breaks? It’s increasing. It’s gaining momentum, and then it is arrested, abruptly stopped. And not only that, it’s abruptly stopped at the worst possible moment, like when things look their bleakest, because it is when the power of the holy people has been finally broken, which is not how we expect the end to come, right? It’s when the power of wickedness is finally broken. No, it’s when the power of the holy people is finally broken. When we come to dad and finally go and he says, it can’t be fixed. It can’t be fixed. It needs to be re made. That’s when God steps in, by the way, that is often when God steps in, often on purpose, always on purpose. Everything God does, he does with purpose, right? I mean, you think about Mary and Martha send word that Lazarus is sick, and Jesus. Goes, cool, I’m gonna stay here for a bit more wait until he dies, because if I show up, people will know I’m a healer. If I wait, people will know I can raise the dead. That’s something else entirely. Or even Daniel, okay, God can rescue Daniel from the lion’s den. That’s amazing. How about rescue him before he gets thrown in the lion’s den? Like you couldn’t have changed the King’s mind, or had this plot discovered sooner, or something like that, or the Red Sea splits the Red Sea so that Israel can walk through it. Why not? You know, break all the chariot wheels. That would also be a miracle, but then Israel wouldn’t know what God had done for them. So this is often how God works, so that we know he is the one who is saving us. So we’ve got our question how long? And our answer is, I don’t know, but not forever, not forever. Evil has an expiration date. Things will get worse, but God will deliver us in the end. Takes us to the second question. Then let’s finish up the passage and the book. Verses eight to 13. I heard, but I did not understand. Get in line, Daniel. I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, my lord, what will the outcome of all this be? He replied, Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end, many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand. But those who are wise will understand. From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1335 days, as for you go your way till the end you will rest. Then at the end of the days, you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance. Daniel is just like all of us. He wants to know more, right? And that is the second question we always ask. You know, it’s the doc. Give it to me straight question What is this? Okay? So let’s say the Lord shows you, you’re going to be unemployed, and maybe for this length of time even there’s your how long question is answered, your next question is and how bad is it going to be? Are we going to lose our home now I need to pull kids out of sports like, what is this going to look like? Exactly. So how bad is it going to be? You can understand why Daniel asks this because we just ended the last question. The answer to it with the power of the holy people will be broken. And Daniel goes, well, what’s that going to look like? How will this end? We all have more questions, but at a certain point, there are no more answers given, at least not in this life, and we just need to rest in what he has revealed so far. And one of my questions, I don’t know about you, is, why can’t we get answers to all of our questions? And I’m not sure why. I have some guesses, but I’m not sure why, but I tell you what we can trust the one who decides what information we get, because He is all knowing and all wise. So Jesus or His Messenger, whoever this man clothed in linen is, sends Daniel on his way. That’s it. That’s all you’re getting. Move on. Leave room for mystery. History will continue. The wise, those who fear the Lord, will grow more like Jesus. They’re being purified, made spotless and refined. On the other hand, the wicked, well, they’re just going to keep being wicked. We’ve got opposite trajectories in life again, which explains eternal destinations as well. It’s like, you know we’re becoming light if we are in Christ, so that we shine like stars forever. There are others who are increasing in wickedness and who are becoming darkness, and so that will continue. The question we have to answer, looking at those two trajectories, of course, is, Which am I? Is there any more important question for us to answer?
Seek truth, become wise, turn from sin and trust in Jesus, especially because the WISE will understand whereas the wicked will not. But wait, you’re saying, you just said we won’t understand, because we don’t get any more answers to these questions, because mystery blah, blah, blah. So what is it that we get to understand, then that the wicked do not understand? Not the final mysteries, not times and dates. What we understand is God’s purposes and plans, how the story ends and why it will end that way. The wicked keep being wicked because the wicked seem to prosper. Nice guys finish last. So if you want to get ahead in life, you’re probably going to have to cheat. At some point the wicked seem to prosper. No fun, being good, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But the wise understand that this life is not all there is. We know that this life is just one short night in a bad motel on the way to eternal glory, and that eternal glory outweighs everything in this life. That’s what wisdom understands, and it changes how we live, so that we live wisely. Okay, but one more question, what about all these numbers? So you remember a few weeks ago, we had 2300 morning and evening sacrifices, so 11 150 days. Then we got time, times and half a time, which would be 1200 77 days, if it’s three and a half years. And then we get 1200 90 days, and then we get 1300 35 days, all in the ballpark of each other, I guess I
but
what? Only God knows. I’m sorry, that is probably the point. Of course, again, we’re not supposed to know the times and dates. It’s just that it’s a set period, and it’s not going to be forever. In fact, probably some of the reasons why these numbers change is so that we don’t try to figure out exactly what the set dates are, and maybe even some of the where we go. Hey, it’s been 12 190 days. Lord, I’ve waited long enough, and God goes, Yeah, but have you waited 13 135 days? There’s this leftover time, like the number keeps increasing just a little bit. We don’t need to worry ourselves about that part. We see this again and again in Scripture. I mean, Jesus says about that day or hour no one knows, not the angels, not even the Son of Man like Jesus Himself, says, I don’t know what day we’re talking about. Only the Father knows. If Jesus didn’t know, you’re not going to know. Okay, let’s just be really clear about that. Or here’s First Thessalonians. Five, one and two should be up on the screen for us. Paul says to the Thessalonians after he’s been talking about the end times, he says, Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates. We do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And you know how thieves come. They come at a time when you’re not expecting because otherwise you would catch them. That’s the whole point. We’ll come at a time when we don’t expect we know what we need to know, and that isn’t the exact timing we know what we need to know. In fact, what we need to know is really verse 13, which is such a fitting conclusion to the book as a whole, as for you go your way till the end, you will rest. Then at the end of the days, you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance. This life will be marked by suffering and evil, which we have seen throughout the book of Daniel. It culminates in our death. We will die unless the Lord returns, like a thief in the night, but just based on history so far, probably not, probably going to die a natural and ordinary death. So you will suffer, you will die, but you’ve seen the coming glory. You have seen the resurrection, and you can rest in that knowledge and rest in the knowledge of verse two, the wicked don’t win. In the end, we will rise to receive our inheritance. We will hear those treasured words, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your master’s joy. That’s all we really need to know. Much more so than dates and times, we have enough to persevere here and now. That is our big idea. We’re pulling out of this passage, do what you are supposed to do, because, you know, God will do what he’s promised to do. Just do what you’re supposed to do, because God’s got the rest, and God’s gonna keep his promises. He always does, do what you’re supposed to isn’t that what Jesus means when he tells Daniel to go his way? New Daniel, Go your way, walk the path laid for you, do what you’re supposed to do, like do what you know you need to do, instead of trying to figure out what you don’t need to know. And yeah, that’s the end time stuff. Sure, we talked a lot about that, but there are probably other questions too, where we can go? I’m not going to know the answer to this, but I know enough to do what I’m supposed to do. I mean, think about, say, the relationship between evangelism and the sovereignty of God, which, by the way, is the title of a wonderful book by Ji Packer. So if you have questions about it, can read that. We have it in our library. But evangelist and the sovereignty of God, we go, Well, if God predestines certain people to salvation and he’s going to save them anyway, why do I even need to evangelize? To which God responds? Just, just do what I told you to do, go proclaim the gospel. Okay, that’s your business. All the other stuff that’s that’s mystery, that. For me, you do what you’re supposed to do. That’s the consistent vision of the New Testament, by the way, over and over again when discussing the end of time, this is the takeaway, do what you’re supposed to do. Here’s First Corinthians 15. First Corinthians 15, one of the most majestic chapters in Scripture, all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how it prepares us for our own resurrection. It ends like this. Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Give yourselves fully to what God has given you to do, what you’re supposed to do. Or here, even better, second, Peter 310, and 11. This is like soaring rhetoric. Okay, so here we go. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth, and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives? That’s it. So we get this extraordinary vision of the end and a command to such ordinary obedience, live holy and godly lives, do what you’re supposed to do. You know that God will do what he’s promised to do. We can’t fix everything. That’s why God is going to have to remake the place, but we can do our peace with faithful endurance, and oftentimes it is very ordinary. Bring up your children in the training and instruction of the Lord. It’s pretty ordinary, changing diapers. Be a faithful presence in your workplace, and maybe you can’t proselytize company rules, all that kind of stuff, but you can live such godly lives among the pagans that they tap you on the shoulder and ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have. And by the way, if they ask you, it’s not proselytizing, fair game at that point, talk away. Maybe we can’t cure global poverty. We certainly can lift the poor one life at a time. That’s why we’ve got a Christians against poverty, debt Center here at the church even, and we can just keep doing good, ordinary good, forgiving those who wrong us, loving those who are difficult, irregular, maybe even our enemies, serving quietly, faithfully, even when no one notices. And above all, of course, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear, being wise, making the most of every opportunity and leading many to righteousness as verse three says righteousness is a big word, big theological word. It means our performance record, right? That’s all. It is just the record of your life. Now I don’t know that we’re going to lead anyone to a spotless performance record on their own. I don’t have one. You don’t have one. What righteousness are we talking about? We’re talking about an alien righteousness, as Luther said, someone else’s righteousness. We are leading them to Jesus. I mean, think about it. Verse 11 mentions the abomination that causes desolation. We’ve looked at a few times already. We know what that was. That was when Antiochus the fourth sacrificed a pig, an unclean animal, to Zeus on the altar in God’s temple, thus desecrating God’s temple. That was an abomination. May well have been the greatest abomination the world had seen up to that point. But the worst was coming. It happened century and a half later, when the wicked seized Jesus, who is the true temple, and they beat him, spat upon him, tortured him, and ultimately crucified Him, hung his body on a tree, which is a sign that he had been cursed by God, that He was the god damned man, and they mocked him as he was dying. That is a desolating sacrilege. That is an abomination. Wasn’t the power of God’s holy people, but the power of God’s holy person. That was finally broken as he breathed his last. And just before he did, he said one more thing. Will read it for us earlier. It is finished. What’s finished? His life, our hope, no evil. Evil is finished. God’s plan has been brought to fruition. In the debt has been paid, the slaves have been redeemed. Enemies have been reconciled to God, right at the moment when evil seemed to have won, when the wicked seemed to be prospering, Christ is crowned. King triumphs over death and evil. That is the truth we proclaim. God will destroy wickedness and evil. But the good news of Jesus Christ is that he made a way to destroy wickedness while saving wicked people who will turn to him in repentance and faith. Thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, Therefore, brothers and sisters, let nothing move you. Stand firm. Give yourselves fully to God’s work. Live a holy and godly lives. Do what you’re supposed to do because you know that God’s going to do what He promised to do. Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You that You have given us everything we need to know and everything we need to live godly lives, and the knowledge that we have, including the knowledge of the end, the knowledge of our resurrection, the remaking of this world, and even the judgment on the wicked, the unrepentant. All of that Lord allows us to obey you faithfully, to give ourselves fully to your work, because we know the end. We can rest in that knowledge, we do not fear those who can kill our bodies or make our lives in this world difficult. We fear you. That is the beginning of wisdom, that is beginning of knowledge, and that changes the trajectory of our lives, how we live, what we give ourselves to And Lord, we give ourselves to your glory and your kingdom, and we are such willing ambassadors for your name. Lord, would you use us as we live holy and godly lives and as we proclaim the truth of the gospel? Would you use us to bring revival in this community, among our friends and family and neighbors and colleagues, would you save the lost? Lord? We know that you have made a way for all to be saved as we proclaim that truth, Lord, would You do what you promised to do and save those who turn to you? We ask in Christ’s name, Amen.