IMAGINE (Daniel 12.1-4)

The way through hard times in the present and to come is to imagine the unfolding of God's great and precious promises.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Upwards podcast. I uh took a couple of weeks off and am back in the saddle again. I want us to resume our study in the book of Daniel because I've left off the best part of this book, chapter 12, and I want to do a couple of messages related to that. But then after that, I want to do a summary lesson where I link all of the elements of a biblical understanding of the end times together, and I think that might be helpful. Today I've simply entitled this message, Imagine. One of the most iconic songs of the last century is John Lennon's song Imagine. And it's a beautiful melody. The words, however, leave something to be desired. Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky. I've often wondered if a Christian rendition might be helpful. Imagine there is a heaven, it's easy if you try. A hell below us and above us more than sky. And maybe the other words of that song can be adjusted a little bit as well. The only thing that helps us to endure hard times is to hope. It's to imagine. To imagine some light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise, we despair. People end their lives without hope. We cannot live without hope, especially when we suffer. It is hope that makes all of it worth enduring. And so imagine a new day is coming. Daniel is being called upon to imagine. And Daniel's telling us to imagine in chapter twelve of his book. You see, Daniel's prophecies are pretty bleak. I think you've probably gathered that. He thought when he was in exile in Babylon, that life was over. Or that as he left and others left, life would return to normal. But it didn't. And Daniel is told that Israel's future will be disastrous. That's what we've gathered in these last few sessions, with all of the images and all of the chaos and confusion in those visions. Israel is told that they're going to be controlled by the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then the Romans, and from Ahasuarus to Alexander to Antiochus III, and then to Antiochus IV. A series of kings will oppress them. One will follow another. It does not end. And as if that was not enough, a messenger tells Daniel of a final king who's going to be worse than all who precede him combined. A dictator, an egomaniac, an atheistic blasphemer, unmoved by natural affection, except for the God of raw power. In Daniel chapter 11, this king is described, and we looked at that in the previous lesson. It's described that this king will have a command post that's only 17 miles from Jerusalem. And his troops will fill the land, a final battle will erupt. All of this is described in Daniel chapter 11, verses 36 through 45. The storm clouds are gathering, but the sky will eventually clear if we can just hang on. Daniel is going to be told to imagine great things. And we're going to get to that, but first of all, the first thing Daniel's told to imagine, and he tells others to imagine, are rough times. So more rough times are coming. And then we're going to imagine several things. And this will simply focus on Daniel chapter 12, verses 1 through 4. We will look at imagining rescue, verse 1, imagine resurrection, verse 2, imagine renewal, verse 3, and imagine routine, verse 4. But before any of that, we have to imagine rough times. Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1 says, At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. Your people refers to Daniel's people. This would be Israel. He says, At that time shall arise Michael. At what time? Well, at the time of the battle of the final king, that's been described in verses 36 through 45 of chapter eleven. This battle will be at the time of the end, according to verse 35 of chapter eleven. What will happen at that time? Well, the scripture is going to point out that Michael shall arise. Michael is the archangel, he is high up in the hierarchy of angels, a ruling angel according to Jude, verse 9. Michael has helped the messenger fight the princes of Persia in order to get to Daniel according to Daniel chapter 10. We already looked at that. We're told that he has charge of your people. He is Israel's prince. Daniel 10 and verse 21. This Michael is going to arise. This archangel is going to arise. Again, we're looking at a spiritual battle. Why is Michael going to arise? We are told at the rest of verse number 1 that there will be a time of trouble, such as never been since there was a nation till that time. In other words, Michael is going to arise to go to war on behalf of God's people. If you go to the book of Revelation, chapter 12, and not to confuse things, I just want you to see that there's something similar stated there. In Revelation 12, Michael there attacks Satan, knocks him down to the earth, and Satan takes a third of the stars or angels with him. Satan then turns on Israel, but God protects Israel for three and a half years. And Israel is spared, but what Satan does is he makes war with Christians on the earth. All of this is stated in Revelation chapter 12, verses 1 through 9. Very similar to what's described here in Daniel chapter 12. The idea here is that Satan is going to embody a world ruler who will rally the kings of the earth into a coalition, and they will use politics and government and wealth and education and the economy and religion, all of that, to war against Israel and against Christ and against the church. Some have asked, will this attack be on Israel or on Christians? And the answer is yes. You see, God distinguishes national Israel or ethnic Israel, those who descend from Abraham, from true Israel. And the true Israel are those who are justified by faith, those who realize that their salvation with God is based not on law-keeping, but on faith. And then there's not only national Israel, true Israel, but then there's spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel is the church. This is a new stage of the true Israel, according to Romans chapter 9 and Romans chapter 11. Spiritual Israel are those united by faith with the true Israelite who is Jesus Christ Himself, Galatians 3. When we were baptized into Christ, we're told that we're circumcised by the Spirit. This is stated in Romans 2. These are all, again, Jewish concepts. The church, then, both racial Jews and Gentiles, who are in Christ, are called, Galatians 6, the Israel of God. Galatians chapter 4, we're called the Jerusalem above. Hebrews 12 calls us the heavenly Jerusalem. So Israel, in this sense, is Christ's spiritual kingdom. Now the hostile world will make little distinction between fleshly Israel and the church. And nor will the final king make much distinction. That's why I'm saying when someone asks, will this war be against Israel or will it be against the church? the answer is yes. They're not going to distinguish that. The world that is aligned against the people of God will not make a distinction. But there will be, mark it down, there will be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. And this time of trouble is going to be caused by this final king that we've been talking about, or as he's referred to in the New Testament, the man of lawlessness, according to 2 Thessalonians 2, or the Antichrist, 1 John 2, or who Jesus calls the abomination that causes desolations, Matthew chapter 24. Jesus warns in Matthew 24, for then there will be great tribulations, such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. That sounds an awful lot like Daniel 12 and verse 1. So it would suggest to me that Matthew 24, the words that Jesus speaks in verse 21, are going to be then a fulfillment, are referring to the same thing that Daniel is talking about in Daniel chapter 12. In A.D. 70, the Roman Emperor Titus stood in the temple of God in Jerusalem. He leveled the temple, he destroyed Jerusalem, and massacred over a thousand, I'm sorry, a million people, got that wrong, massacred over a million people. In the 1930s and 40s, we are hopefully remember this. This opposition against Israel, against the Jewish people, was exceeded by Hitler's Holocaust. In other words, what Titus did was surpassed by Hitler's atrocity. And both of these, though, are emblematic of and a foreshadowing of what's coming that will dwarf even them. In other words, Titus or even Hitler foreshadows the Antichrist at the end of time. And the Antichrist ushers in what Jesus called the Great Tribulation. The word tribulation comes from the Greek word means to press. In other words, spiritual Israel will experience an unparalleled pressing. The Great Tribulation will be an all-out assault on God's people, and we will be trampled on by the nations. According to Zechariah chapter 14, Zechariah 13 talks about this as well, and two-thirds of all will fall. Only a third of the remnant or uh or a remnant will be left. So there's this coming, as Daniel is warned, there is coming a time of trouble such as has never been experienced before. And I'm simply trying to link what Daniel is told in Daniel 12 and 1 with some of the other ideas that are said in the New Testament. The New Testament certainly picks up on this idea. So the first thing Daniel tells us to imagine, and Daniel is told to imagine, are some rough times coming. But we don't want to stay there because this message is one of hope. We are to continue to imagine. Imagine what? Well, if you go on in verse 1 of Daniel chapter 12, we are to imagine rescued. Daniel is then told, but at that time your people, that's Israel, shall be delivered. What does that mean? Rescued. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book of life. This is good news. Israel is rescued. God's people are rescued. And again, we're likely talking about spiritual Israel at this point. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 24, if those days, in other words, the days of the tribulation had not been cut short, no human being would be saved for the sake of the elect. Those days will be cut short. In other words, God will step in, Christ will step in, he will intervene, there will be rescued. How are we going to be rescued? Jesus said in Matthew 24 and 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. How are we going to be rescued? Christ is going to come. Zechariah 14 says, Then the day the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. The point here is that when Christ comes, at Christ's return, at the second coming, Christ will fight. And when Christ fights, my friend, it is over. Our hope is, as Daniel is told, your people will be delivered. Israel, spiritual Israel, will be saved. Again, people get confused about this, and people ask, do you mean, Jeff, that all Jews are going to be saved? No. No, that's not what this is saying. Because Daniel he qualifies. He goes on to say, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. That's Daniel 12 and verse 1. Who is going to be saved? Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. What is this book? This is the book of life that lists the righteous. Psalm 69, 28. Philippians 4 says, names are in the book of life. Revelation 13, verse 8, this is the Lamb's book of life. Revelation 13 says that our names are written in the book of life before the foundation of the world. All those whose names are written in the book of life will believe. And by believing in Christ, they're going to be rescued. They're going to be saved. Jesus said, Whoever stays clothed in white, I will never blot out his name from the book of life. Revelation 3 5. Implied in that statement is one's name can be deleted from the book of life. So obviously, we have something to do with our names staying there. But you need to understand that the book of life will be opened on the judgment day according to Revelation 20 and verse 12. Revelation 20 and 15 says, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 21, 17, John adds again, only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life will enter into heaven. So, my friends, only those who accept Jesus as Messiah will be saved. Their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Jews who reject Jesus as the Messiah will not be saved. Nor will any Gentile who rejects Jesus. Names must be in the book of life. This deliverance that's being described, this rescue that's being described, are for those whose names are written in the book of life. They must believe Jesus as their king. And just being a Jew, in other words, does not save. Only Jesus saves. And he rescues us. He rescues us from sin by our conversion, and he's rescuing us from tribulation by his coming. But but then there's something beyond rescue. We're to imagine not just rescue, but verse 2 of Daniel 12 says we're to imagine something else. After our rescue, we rise. The Antichrist is going to kill a lot of people. But Daniel 2 and 12 says, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Wow. This is a profound statement in the Old Testament about resurrection. You see, Israel, and I'm talking about Old Testament Israel, fleshly Israel, they only had a vague idea of the resurrection. Much less what was beyond the grave. When you search the Old Testament, you're going to get some idea of that. But the Old Testament only has a few references to the resurrection. And this is the only teaching in the Old Testament, by the way, of a double resurrection. One for the righteous and one for the wicked. Daniel 12 and 2. The only one. But both resurrections are going to lead to what is everlasting. And Daniel's told it's either everlasting life or everlasting contempt. Contempt meaning guilt and exclusion. By the way, Scripture never knows anything of what some people believe as the annihilation of the wicked. In other words, the wicked just cease to exist. No, they're raised. They're raised to everlasting contempt punishment and pain. Torture. That's not going to be the case with the righteous. Now, I want you to notice, too, that um Daniel is told he he speaks of those who sleep in the dust of the earth. This again is something that's misunderstood. To sleep in the dust of the earth is sort of a soft way of speaking of the burial and the body, the body's decay in death. Scripture often describes death as sleep. There are many New Testament references that talk about this. And the idea behind sleep, I think, is conveying some things. The dead are conscious, I believe, where they are, but the word sleep suggests that they're unaware of times or maybe time or this world's suffering. We're released from all of that. Also, sleep implies rest. But most of all, sleep illustrates death is irrev it it that death is reversible. Sleeping people wake up. In death we sleep. In the resurrection we awaken. What are we going to awaken to? Jesus says, do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. John 5, 28 and 29. It's very similar to what Daniel is told in Daniel 12 and verse 2. That to sleep in earth's dust is not the end. There's going to be an awakening. So, my friends, the Bible does not teach, by the way, a rapture before the tribulation. It teaches that when Jesus comes, he comes after the tribulation, he kills the Antichrist, and then Jesus raises us up on the last day, according to John chapter 6 and verse 40 in other places. When we're raised up, it's the last day. In other words, there are no more days. And by the way, Daniel knows nothing of a thousand years between resurrections. Both resurrections occur together. In other words, when you're raised, your glorified body will rejoin your spirit, and you will live forever with God in a new earth. So imagine. Imagine number one, rough times are coming. Imagine number two, there will be a resurrection. And then imagine number three, renewal. Because after rescue and resurrection comes a perfect renewal. Look at verse 3 of Daniel 12. Daniel's told, and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. What a great verse. He speaks about the wise who are the wise. The wise are those who embrace the Messiah. The wise are those who turn many to righteousness. Righteousness. In other words, the wise are those who have spent their lives discipling others. He who wins souls is wise, the book of Proverbs says. Resurrected. And then they, as Daniel's told, will shine like the brightness of the sky, like the stars forever and ever. God wants to make us shine. This is renewal. We're going to be blameless, without fault, in a warped and crooked generation. Then Paul says in Philippians 2, you will shine among them like stars in the sky. We are to be in the here and now, what God is going to make us in the there and then. We shine in this world's darkness, but we're going to shine ultimately in ways that we cannot begin to comprehend. But God is going to make us shine. In other words, we will be perfectly renewed. We don't talk a lot about this. This is what the scripture calls our glorification. God calls you into his eternal glory. We're told in 1 Thessalonians 2, 1 Peter 5, and other places. God calls you into his shining, and our spirit will shine. We're perfectly conformed to God's attributes in our spirit. We are the spirits of the righteous made perfect, Hebrews 12. Not only will our spirit shine, our inheritance will shine. We're heirs with Christ of a paradise, new heaven and new earth. In fact, we're going to be rulers of that. Romans chapter 8 tells us. Our bodies are going to shine. We will be raised imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15 says, When Christ appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3. God will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3. Our faces, our muscles, our eyes will all shine. Every feature of your body will shine. There will be no need for eyeglasses or canes and braces, hearing aids or pills, doctors' appointments, hospitals. We will have exquisite beauty, complete health, unending power. It will never fade. This is our hope. Paul says in Romans 8, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. So when is this going to happen? And what can we expect until then? We've talked a little bit about this, but this leads me to the fourth thing here in verse 4. Imagine routine. We're to imagine rough times are coming. We're to imagine rescue, we're to imagine resurrection and renewal. But then the messenger says to Daniel, verse 4, but you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book. These are strange words. We probably don't get what he's saying right off. But I want you to think about this for just a moment. Daniel's words are written in a book. By whom? Daniel. Through the Spirit. In Daniel's times, books were scrolls. They were rolled up. To seal a book means to roll it up, secure it, hide it, put a wax seal on it until the designated time for its fulfillment. Implied here is that the fulfillment of the things to which Daniel has been exposed, it's going to be a long time off. How long? Daniel shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. In other words, the end of time. Daniel's further told in verse 4, until then, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. A profound statement. In other words, until that time, between the time, Daniel, you shut up this book, until the time of its ultimate fulfillment, all of these things come to pass, people are going to run all over the place. You know, like ants, you know, just kind of crawling all over the place, and they're going to expand learning. I also think we're going to expand learning. Well, truth is going to escape us. In other words, the idea means people are going to go on with their routines. Daniel's told it's it's fulfillment. What you've heard, Daniel, is fulfillment, is way beyond your years. Go and live according to the normal routines and rhythms of your daily life. I think that's what he's being told here. You know, it's hard to do this, isn't it? It's hard to wait in hope. It's hard to live in hope. It's hard to stay still and to remain settled, to not get antsy about the way things are going to unfold. Especially when losses mount up. Or when pain lingers and then spreads. Or when your life is filled with fear and you have no clue about what's coming or how to face it. It's hard to learn to live without. And to anticipate that rougher days are coming. There's more ahead, and and we we privately ask to ourselves, when is this going to end? And what are we going to do until all of this happens? And God says to us, keep running to and fro. Keep living life. Live life in this world. Keep doing my will. And certainly don't get stuck in this world and don't get trapped in sin. Keep going. That's what Daniel's being told here. Don't despair over what is going to happen in the distant future. Just keep going. These are good words for God's children today. Keep running. Back in 1968, the Olympics Olympics Olympics were held in Mexico City. And there was a Tanzanian marathoner named John Aquari. He would compete with 74 other marathoners. A marathon, of course, is 21, or excuse me, 26.1 miles. And halfway through the marathon in this particular race in 1968, Aquari fell and he dislocated his knee. Absolutely devastating. And yet he got up and somehow kept running. And after an hour, um let me put it this way, an hour after the winner finished, only a few spectators were in the stadium. And Akwari finally entered the stadium with his leg bloody and bandaged. And he winced every step. The crowd noticed him coming in, few people left, and as they sensed what was happening, they began to clap and to cheer. And as Aquari rounded the final curve, the crowd grew louder, and finally he hobbled across the finish line. The crowd cheered as if he had won. A reporter then asked Akwari how he ran through the pain. And Aquari's words are classic. He said, and I quote, My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. He sent me 7,000 miles to finish the race. You know, God says, I know you're in pain. I know your losses. I know how tired you are and bloodied you are. And it's okay. Go in the strength that you have. Run as best as you can. Stick with your routine. Keep trusting me. Imagine rough times. Imagine rescue. Imagine resurrection. Imagine renewal. Imagine the finish. I will get you there. You know, Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 8, better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The end is coming. And so is what's better about the end. I leave you with a question. Could it be that the end is better than anything you've ever imagined? Imagine.