WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.560 Hey, for those of you who don't know, my name is Justin. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:08.000 I'm one of the pastors here, and it's my joy and privilege to be able to bring God's word to you this morning. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.199 I want to say Happy Mother's Day. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:16.399 We love celebrating the women of Sacred Mission Church. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.320 At Sacred Mission, we're a complementarian church. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:32.640 And what we believe is rooted in that is that women provide this supplemental strength and power and gifting that is absent in men. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:44.399 And this beautiful strength when put on display for the glory of God and the good of his people is something just magnificent to behold. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.479 And so we are so thankful for our women here at Sacred Mission. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:51.679 We mean this with all sincerity and genuineness. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:59.119 We could not do what God has called us to do without powerful, strong, gifted women here in the church. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:00.000 Amen. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.759 And all the men said, Yes, you did. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:04.959 Yes, you did. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:05.599 Uh-huh. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:14.319 Hey, uh, we're excited to celebrate Mother's Day, but we're also this morning kicking off a new sermon series in the book of Daniel. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:17.439 And so we we've got a lot to unpack. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:21.200 This is a very deep and rich book. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:30.079 And so I'm going to do my best to try and help us get an overview of the book while also not completely dismissing the text of chapter one. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:31.200 That's my goal. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.719 So bear with me as I attempt this this morning. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:36.799 But but here's where we're at. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:39.439 We begin the book of Daniel. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:42.000 If you're not there in your Bible, go ahead and turn to it. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.079 Old Testament prophet Daniel. 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:46.319 You want to make sure that you follow along with us. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:57.439 But as we begin this book, we actually find ourselves in a very significant beginning of a historical event for the Hebrew people. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:04.719 You see, the book itself, it takes place in a time when Israel was divided into two kingdoms. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:13.520 You had Israel in the north, and then you had Judah, the southern kingdom, with its capital being Jerusalem. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.840 Now, over this kingdom of Judah, the southern kingdom was this ruler named Jehoiakim. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:25.840 We're able to actually know the historical backdrop of Daniel from the book of 2 Kings. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:32.560 In chapter 23, at the end, in the beginning of 24, it kind of helps set the scene and tone of the book. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:40.159 We read in 2 Kings 23, 36 through 37, this Jehoiakim was 25 years old. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:46.240 Now, first, let's just wrap like 25 year olds today, we don't want them ruling over anything, right? 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.680 Even their own schedule, let alone a kingdom, right? 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:55.599 So 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:59.840 His mother's name was Zebeda, the daughter of Pedeah of Rumah. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:09.199 And he, this is focusing on this, he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his fathers had done. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.840 So Jehoiakim was a wicked ruler. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:16.639 Not only was he young and probably prideful and foolish, he was wicked. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:26.879 And God was going to punish his unfaithfulness through a series of judgments that would eventually lead to Jehoiakim's death. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:30.879 We we read about this in 2 Kings 24, 3 through 4. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:46.400 It says, Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:52.080 For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.199 Jehoakim faced a gruesome death. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:02.800 It was prophesied that his body would rot away in the sun, and that he would be removed from the history of Israel. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:10.080 And he was killed and thrown over the wall to be wasted away after he died. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:14.479 And so the Lord came through on his promises. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:23.040 Now, here though, in the passage of 2 Kings, this young king was rebellious toward the Lord and his people. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:24.480 And this is what he did. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:31.519 He refused to humbly rule under the sovereign and righteous rule of God. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:36.800 And because of that heart posture, the Lord judged him. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:49.600 And the first judgment that came upon him was an attack from Babylon, where the Lord gave the young king into enemy hands, and they carried away many of Judah's people into captivity. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.240 We read this in 2 Kings 24:1. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:05:02.079 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:04.160 This is where Daniel begins. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:15.360 Daniel 1, 1, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:22.480 Now there's something that's going to be established in this book from the very opening of it. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:28.720 And it's it's this that God is sovereign. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.920 God is sovereign over all of human history. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:39.839 And this reality, this truth is asserted from the very beginning of Daniel. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:47.439 Even in verse 2, there they use this name for God, which ascribes majesty and power. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:06:00.480 It designates him as the exalted one, responsible for all that happens to his people, and the one to be trusted even in the midst of disaster and despair. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:04.720 So verse 2 reads, And the Lord gave. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.920 This word, this phrase, God gave, the Lord gave. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:33.920 So the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shannar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.800 So look what God did. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:43.920 God gave over this wicked ruler Jehoiakim, but not just him. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:52.959 He gave over the people of Judah into the hands of a foreign and secular nation. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.639 So Daniel begins from this sovereign judgment. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:10.879 The sovereign judgment against a wicked king, where a foreign nation comes and besieges Judah and exiles many of its people into captivity in this city named Babylon. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:21.279 Now, Daniel, he's one of those people who were brought into captivity and exiled and placed in Babylon. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:36.639 He's a young man of nobility who King Nebuchadnezzar actually desires to be assimilated into the culture of idolatrous Babylon and actually serve in his court. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:40.079 We read in 3 through 4 of Daniel 1. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:08:06.319 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance, and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:08.720 So here's what Nebuchadnezzar is working to do. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:12.959 He's working to identify young men with giftedness. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.399 And in that, he wants to exploit that giftedness. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:26.800 And the way that he's going to exploit that giftedness is to actually assimilate them into this secular, idolatrous culture. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:40.639 They're going to go through this education process, and we're going to see where their names are stripped from them, and they're going to be recalibrated to be able to think the way that a Babylonian thinks and to embrace their values and culture, right? 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.799 So that they might serve in the king's palace. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:09:00.159 Now, when we come to the book itself, this book is one of the, is actually the only book that is written in two different languages for the way that we have it and have received it. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:05.519 It opens with chapter 1 being written in the language of Hebrew. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.919 And then chapters 2 through 7 are actually written in Aramaic. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:14.559 Then there's this central event in the story of Daniel. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:22.799 And when it occurs, the author actually changes the language of the book back to Hebrew in chapters 8 through 12. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:31.519 Now, I think this is important for us to understand because this is a literary device that's actually telling a story in and of itself. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:36.399 It's a story of suffering and salvation. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:47.200 You see, after beginning in Hebrew, the language of God's Jewish people, with the telling of the besiegement of Judah and the exile of their people, it quickly switches to Aramaic. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:49.120 It's this secular language. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:59.600 We see where God's people are being subjected to foreign rulers and they're being indoctrinated and assimilated into this idolatrous culture. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:04.399 And we see it even in the language being used to written write the book. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:12.720 It works to convey the reality of a sacred people who are held captive in a secular city. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:23.279 But after telling the story of their struggle in chapters 2 through 7, this is where we get all the action of the fiery furnace and the lion's den and so forth, right? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:30.240 After telling the story of their struggle in 2 through 7, the language switches back to Hebrew for the rest of the book. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:39.279 It's as though the author's working to communicate that things are actually going to be restored and come back. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:49.360 That God's people will know his salvation and his redemption, and they will be carried back by the same hand that brought them into captivity. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:54.879 God's sovereign will, he will deliver them back into their homeland. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:11:00.799 And we see it even with the story being written in their homeland language. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:09.600 I think it's pretty interesting to observe that as we see that the book of Daniel is really a message about identity. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:13.519 It's about mission and perseverance and faithfulness. 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:26.159 But another literary device that's actually used in this book, and we discover it as we try to understand the central theme and storyline, it's called a chiasm. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:27.279 A chiasm. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:37.759 So here's what a chiasm is it's a literary device in which a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.159 And the result is this mirror. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:44.799 It's this effect that the ideas are reflected back in a passage. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:48.159 So let's understand something from our modern world, right? 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.399 What an example of a chiasm is. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.320 In this historical presidential speech, you'll hear this language. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:01.679 That's a chiasm, right? 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:09.440 He repeated himself on the back end in reverse order, trying to make this reflection that we can observe. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:19.600 Now, the whole book of Daniel is a chiasm in itself, but the beauty of it is that there's a double chiasm, right, within the book. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.600 Like the double rainbow on YouTube. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:23.039 It's just beautiful and glorious. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:25.840 You have no words to even describe it, right? 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:31.039 So we're going to try and work through this together because there's a point to all of this, right? 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:38.879 Um, within Daniel, there's these three chiasms, and what they do is they help to tell the meta-narrative of the book. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.000 So I'm going to try to help us understand what that means. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:50.080 If we just read Daniel, we're going to get down into the details of all the wonderful stories that we treasure and value, right? 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:57.679 And then the details of all these wild visions and dreams and prophecies, and we're going to get lost in the details, right? 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:01.039 We're going to miss the forest for the trees, so to speak. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:05.840 The meta-narrative is the story that's being told above all of that. 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:12.159 There's one story being told within Daniel above the details of all of the events. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:13.840 And we want to try to unpack that. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:20.320 And these chiasms help us to evaluate and assess what that story might be. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:26.320 So the first two are actually subdivisions of the main overarching ones. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:28.159 So here we see the first chiasm. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:30.639 I made this slide to try to help us visualize it. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:32.159 I'm a visual learner, right? 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.080 I don't read instructions, I watch YouTube. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.240 So I was trying to help us understand. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:42.559 Chiasm 1 is found in chapters 1 through 7. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:51.279 And at the center of that chiasm, the reflection point, if we would say, is Daniel 4, 37. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:52.879 And it reads this way. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:08.320 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.039 Now, don't miss what's happening here. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:22.399 Idolatrous, secular King Nebuchadnezzar, who rose up in power, dethroned Jehoiakim, and brought many of Judah's people into exile and captivity. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:31.519 He's declaring out of his mouth that all of God, Yahweh's works are good and his ways are just. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:36.559 That's going to be critical for our understanding of the story being told in Daniel. 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:50.000 We have this prideful, faithless, secular ruler being humbled by the Lord and declaring that God alone is fully good and he is fully just. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.480 God alone is fully good and fully just. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:06.320 Now, this notion of God's goodness and his justice are actually revealed to us as the central question his people are wrestling with. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:07.519 Right? 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:24.480 How could the sovereign hand of God allow, permit this wicked king to dethrone the king of our land and carry us out into captivity and exile? 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.720 How can God be good and just? 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:35.120 Now, if we're honest with ourselves, we we wrestle with that same question. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:43.919 We find ourselves in a secular culture and we see the chaos around us, the destruction that is happening day after day. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:53.200 And if we are God's people, there's something in our hearts that makes us wrestle with this question: is He truly good and just? 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:10.480 But it's not just a question that God's people wrestle with, it's also the very central truth that every foreign nation in power refuse to acknowledge and submit to. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:28.720 So God, in his sovereignty, he causes the very declaration of his absolute goodness and justice to come from the mouth of a wicked, secular king, so that all may know, yes, he is good. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:30.639 Yes, he is just. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:33.919 Now, the second chiasm, right? 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.799 This is found in chapters 8 through 12. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:44.240 And its reflection point or its center is actually Daniel 9, 25 through 27. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:47.679 But its own center is 9.26. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:49.120 You you with me, right? 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.879 We together here, right? 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:57.440 So this passage 25 through 27, it's one of the most debated passages in Scripture. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:02.639 And there's a lot of viewpoints on what this passage is actually speaking to. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:08.559 It's got some numbers and weeks, and it has some abominations and desolations, right? 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:10.079 But here's what I want us to do. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:13.680 I want us to focus our intention on verse 26. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:15.920 That's the center of this. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:17.440 And here's what it says. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:25.039 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:31.039 And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:38.640 Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war, desolations are decreed. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:44.720 Now, this verse is talking about two primary things. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:53.119 The first is talking about the death of an anointed one, and second, it's talking about the destruction of a temple. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:18:03.359 Now, all of scripture, all of scripture is the unfolding of Jesus in his all-sufficient work. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:04.960 We see this in Luke 24. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:09.839 After his resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples and says, You guys don't get it yet, still, right? 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.440 It's not clicking yet. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:17.119 All of that, all of the prophets and the psalms and the books, they're about me. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:17.599 Right? 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:19.519 So we want to honor that reality. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:21.279 We want to submit to that truth. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:27.839 That even here in this text, it's talking about Jesus and his all-sufficient work. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:42.880 And so I want to submit that the second chiasm is actually working to unfold the means, the means by which both the angst and the tension of is God good and just is actually resolved. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:47.680 And in his mercy and his kindness, he resolves it in the very death of his own son. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:50.799 Do you want to know how good I am? 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:54.079 Do you want to know how just I am? 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:02.880 You see, its resolution rests on the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lord's anointed. 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:09.359 And we see this sovereign destruction of the temple happen in 70 AD. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:14.799 These two events culminating into the vision of what Daniel is seeing. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.079 These are future and prophetic events for Daniel. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:25.119 But for you and for me here this morning, these are historical, actualized realities. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:36.559 Now the third chiasm, which spans the entirety of the book, it has its center in Daniel 7, 13 through 14. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:47.039 And it reads this way I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:50.720 And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:58.160 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:07.279 His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.440 This is the crowning moment of the book of Daniel. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:12.880 But not just of the book. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:16.640 This is the crowning moment of redemptive history. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:20.960 The Son of Man being given his kingdom. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:25.920 You see, Daniel sees this one like a son of man. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:31.839 That's actually a name that Jesus preferred most to refer to himself by. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:37.200 He used it approximately 80 times throughout the gospel narratives to refer to himself. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:43.599 And this son of man is being given to him dominion and glory and a kingdom. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:49.359 This is the glorious, envisioned future of the finished work of Jesus. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:21:02.559 This is what all of redemptive history is pointing to: the eternal reign of a good and just king and the establishment of his glorious, eternal kingdom. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:10.640 So if we go back to this central question, is God good and just? 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:18.400 We're able to see the book of Daniel bring us to this beautiful resolve. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:53.599 Through the means of the death of his anointed servant Jesus, and the destruction of the temple, which is the institution of the sacrificial system, God the Father will deliver dominion and glory and a kingdom to his son, and every earthly power, even the faithless and wicked kings of this world, will have to declare as they bend their knee to his reigning rule all his works are right and all his ways are just. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:02.640 In to see in this book. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:15.119 You see, as we try to understand that and observe it and apply it, what we actually come into interaction with within the book is two things. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:19.599 We are faced with both a predicament and a promise. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:30.400 The predicament is this: God's people will find themselves suffering under those who refuse to acknowledge God's kingdom. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:37.200 You see, the book of Daniel can't just be something for them, it has to be something for us. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:41.599 And this is the predicament that you and I face even today. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:55.440 If we are God's people, we will experience suffering in this life because we will find ourselves under the rule and power of people who refuse to acknowledge God's kingdom. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:04.240 God's kingdom being his sovereign reign, his righteous law, and his perfect justice. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:11.920 You see, the world, they refuse to acknowledge God's goodness and his justice. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.480 And so what do they do in response? 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:17.519 Well, they set themselves up as gods. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:28.400 And in that, they create a suffering reality for God's people as they pridefully exert their own dominance and control over others. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:31.519 This is what we're seeing played out within culture. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:36.400 It is a people who refuse to acknowledge God's kingdom. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:49.920 They refuse to believe in his goodness and justice, and so in their own power and strength, they try to apply their own interpretation and understanding of what is right and what is just. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.880 And here we have the chaos of culture. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:58.400 As in that power, they simply destroy whatever they touch. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:12.720 And this suffering situation causes God people to wrestle with the question is He truly good? 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:16.240 Is he truly just? 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:20.559 God, look at the rulers you've allowed to take power. 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:27.519 Look at the people groups that have come up in influence and authority within sight of culture. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:35.359 Look what's happening to families and children and jobs and go down the list and down the list of what makes culture. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:43.359 If we're honest with ourselves, every single one of us at some point in the last five years has asked the question: God, are you good? 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.880 God, are you just? 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:54.319 But this is the downfall of man. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:07.839 The downfall of man resides in either the disregard or the disbelief of man's goodness, of God's goodness and justice. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:09.440 Look at the garden. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.799 You see, Satan's work was to disregard God's goodness and justice. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:17.279 Adam and Eve, he's holding out from you. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:18.480 You know that, right? 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:22.720 He's not as good as he makes himself out to be. 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.720 He's not being fair to you. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.880 Then you have Eve saying, maybe you're right. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.319 Maybe he's not good, maybe he's not just. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:35.599 And what happens in that? 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:39.920 They try to take the outcome of their life into their own control. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.119 They reach for the fruit and they eat. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:45.119 But that's our story. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:55.359 When we either disregard or disbelieve God's goodness and justice, we're going to control, we're going to try to control the outcomes. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:00.319 And we're either going to kill ourselves or we're going to kill people around us. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:16.319 You see, if all of God's works are good, then he alone is the origin of all that is good in the world, such as beauty and truth and love. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:21.039 Anything good in creation is derived from his very nature. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:34.000 And his goodness is expressed through his steadfast love, compassion, and desire for the flourishing of his creation, namely, even the flourishing of his image-bearers. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:40.640 And if he is good, then church, I can with confidence tell you he is trustworthy. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:53.759 He's reliable and faithful, acting consistently with his loving character, even when circumstances seem difficult or unclear. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:04.240 And if all his ways are just, then it means that he's perfectly fair and impartial in his judgments. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:13.759 He upholds moral order, rewarding good and punishing evil according to his perfect standard of truth and holiness. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:27.279 And again, this also makes him trustworthy because he is equitable to all, repaying each person according to what they have done, according to Paul in the letter to the Romans. 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:37.599 And so I want to submit to us that God alone is trustworthy. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:42.000 Because God alone is both good and just. 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:19.359 Separatism is not what we're called to as a people who are supposed to be light on a hill and salt in the earth. 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:23.680 But there's this other way that we might actually conform to culture. 00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:31.279 Where we think that culture is good and we're unaware or we actually dismiss the evils with inside of it. 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:37.839 And so we think that if we can become friends with culture, then hey, maybe we'll be able to actually win them to Jesus. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:43.680 And so we compromise in our convictions and where God's word is clear and loud. 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:47.519 And so we try to set that aside for the sake of relationship. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:57.839 But here's the reality: any of God's people who have ever tried to capture the world by conforming to it have only become captives of the world as a result. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:06.480 You will become a secular person if you try to engage culture through that lens. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:08.960 But there's a third and better way. 00:34:09.360 --> 00:34:18.320 Christ transforming culture from the inside out by the faithfulness and servanthood of his people. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:25.760 Where God's word is clear, we want to faithfully submit. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:31.840 We want to live as a consecrated people, as a sacred people. 00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:38.239 But where God's word is silent, there's freedom. 00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:41.119 And there's a ton of freedom. 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:42.559 There's so much freedom. 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:46.320 Most of us are incredibly uncomfortable with the amount of it. 00:34:47.360 --> 00:35:06.400 But here's the reality: in that freedom, we get to agreeably participate with culture, to love our neighbor, to show compassion and mercy, and to see the culture transformed from the inside out because Christ transforms culture ultimately. 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:11.599 It is the coming of his kingdom that will renew the world. 00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:16.000 And we get the joyful responsibility to participate in that. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:18.880 So we're going to try to unpack that more throughout the series. 00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:21.199 That's just an appetizer for you. 00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:23.199 But here's what we need to see. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:26.000 Verse 8 coming back. 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:32.639 Refusing to break God's clearly spoken law, Daniel requests to be allowed a substitutionary diet for 10 days. 00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:35.920 Now, look, for some of you are like, oh, Daniel fast, I love it. 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:36.559 No. 00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:39.519 It's not fruits and vegetables. 00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:43.360 It's not about the food at all, really. 00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:46.079 You're not better than everyone else because you're vegan. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:53.360 There's nothing superpower that's going to happen because you try to follow the Daniel fast that you found in some weird book in a bookstore. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:55.599 Here's what's happening here. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:57.039 Daniel is saying this. 00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:08.400 God has spoken clearly and loudly about how I'm supposed to treat my body in your ways and customs would cause me to defile that, break his law, and be unfaithful to him. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:11.679 And I'm going to prove to you the power of my God. 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.760 That I don't need your rationings. 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:17.920 I don't need your supply. 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:20.559 I don't need your sustenance. 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:22.559 God will provide for me. 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:24.480 It could have been anything. 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:26.639 It literally could have been anything. 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:27.840 That's the point of this. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:33.199 So the actual original language, a lot of our Bible translations make it vegetables, it's seeds. 00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:36.559 So it was probably like nuts and grains and then some water. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:38.000 Maybe there was fruits and vegetables. 00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:40.880 I don't think they had watermelon in Babylon. 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:41.360 I don't know. 00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:43.440 But this is what I believe. 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:45.599 The chief, this is what the story tells us. 00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:48.880 The chief eunuch is, he's anxious about this request. 00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:55.519 Because he's the one who's responsible for presenting these young men to the king in a prime state of health. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:37:01.039 And he worries that this diet is going to actually cause them to appear malnourished and sickly. 00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:07.119 But but here in the text we see the phrase God gave appear for the second time. 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:08.559 Verse 9. 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:14.960 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. 00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:17.280 So look at the sovereignty of God. 00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:20.880 God gave his people over to a wicked ruler. 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:25.440 God gave his people favor in the midst of that secular nation. 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:34.559 And at the end of those ten days, Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were actually healthier looking than the other young men who had been eating from the king's table. 00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:43.920 And so the chief eunuch actually took away their portion of the king's table and put all of them on the very same diet as these four faithful young men. 00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:48.320 And here we see for the final and third time God gave. 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:55.519 Verse 17, as for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill and all literature and wisdom. 00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:58.559 And Daniel had an understanding in all visions and dreams. 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:12.320 Daniel's faithfulness and servanthood posture puts him into a place where he's able to transform the very culture of Babylon. 00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:23.760 And by God using him, this secular king is going to open his mouth in Daniel 4.37 and say, Your God, Yahweh alone is good and just. 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.079 God blesses their faithfulness. 00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:36.880 And he blesses their faithfulness even while they reside in, submit to, and agreeably participate in a faithless culture. 00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:40.960 So let's close this out. 00:38:41.599 --> 00:38:49.760 At the opening of Daniel, we see a powerful testament to God's sovereignty and faithfulness, even in the midst of exile and cultural pressure. 00:38:50.079 --> 00:39:05.280 Daniel and his friends faced a secular culture that sought to strip them of their identity and cause them to be unfaithful to God, yet they remained steadfast, trusting in his goodness and his justice. 00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:09.840 But their story is not just a historical account. 00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:28.079 Is God good and just? 00:39:28.239 --> 00:39:38.400 It finds its ultimate answer at the cross because there, Jesus, the anointed one, was cut off, bearing the weight of our sin. 00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:46.079 Our sin that both disregarded and has disbelieved that God is good and just. 00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:55.599 In his death and resurrection, Jesus confronts all wickedness, secures our redemption, and inaugurates his eternal kingdom. 00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:02.639 So the suffering of God's people, both in Daniel's day and in ours, is not the end of the story. 00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:03.119 No. 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:14.239 Christ's sacrifice guarantees that God's goodness and justice will prevail and his kingdom, led by the Son of Man, will never be destroyed. 00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:27.519 You see, just as Daniel resolved to not defile himself, we're called to live as a sacred people in a secular city, holding fast to our identity in Christ. 00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:40.320 And so the same God who gave Daniel favor, wisdom, and strength, he's with us today, by his spirit, empowering us to stand firm in our own faith. 00:40:41.039 --> 00:40:51.039 Yet, unlike Daniel, Daniel, who had to look forward to a promise not yet come, we live in the reality of its fulfillment. 00:40:51.199 --> 00:41:09.920 Jesus has come and now our hope is in his coming again to fully establish his rule and reign where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that God is good, his justice is perfect, and his promises are sure. 00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:22.079 And so, church, may we be by the power of the Holy Spirit, a people who reflect the light of Christ in a world that desperately needs him. 00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:28.400 Knowing this that our King is coming to make all things new. 00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:29.360 Amen.