Participants: Pr. C. A. Murray
Series Code: DAA
Program Code: DAA000001A
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00:01 Music...
00:25 Welcome to Daniel All Access. 00:29 Some months ago, Danny Shelton, John Lomacang and I were sitting 00:35 and just musing over some of the things 00:38 that we wanted to do on 3ABN for this year 00:41 and Danny suggested that we take a new contemporary look 00:48 at Daniel and Revelation. 00:50 In the light of the times in which we find ourselves... 00:53 the lateness of the hour in this earth's history, 00:55 we decided to look at Daniel again and anew 01:00 along with the book of Revelation. 01:04 Now, we were not seeking for new light 01:08 or a new gospel 01:10 or even a new methodology or theme, 01:16 what we wanted to do was lift up the light of Jesus 01:20 in the light of the book of Daniel 01:23 and the book of Revelation. 01:26 We wanted to take a look 01:29 at what these books have to say for us 01:32 in these latter days, 01:33 I found an interesting quote 01:35 from the book of Evangelism, page 95 01:39 where Ellen White says, 01:42 "There will be times when we must stand still 01:47 and see the salvation of God. 01:50 Let Daniel speak... " she says, 01:53 "let Revelation speak, 01:54 and tell what is truth. 01:56 But whatever phase of the subject is presented, 02:00 uplift Jesus as the center of all hope, 02:05 the Root and the offspring of David, 02:10 and the bright and morning star. " 02:15 That was a testimony given to ministers. 02:18 It was our intention... our thought... our mindset... 02:22 that if we just preached beasts and lions and leopards 02:26 and unclean frogs, 02:30 we may preach prophecy 02:33 but we might not be preaching the gospel 02:36 and so, we felt it necessary 02:39 to insert Christ in everything that we do 02:41 in Daniel and in Revelation 02:44 because Revelation is the revelation of Jesus 02:47 but Christ also puts in an appearance 02:50 in the book of Daniel 02:51 and so, we are going to lift up Christ 02:55 during these next several sittings together 02:57 and by the grace of God, 03:00 take one more step along that road that leads to glory. 03:05 The title of our presentation tonight 03:07 is: Sandwiches 03:09 and that may seem like an odd title 03:13 for a presentation from Daniel 03:15 but ere we shall have finished you will understand 03:18 what we mean by "Sandwiches. " 03:19 Our next presentation will be "Dream Catcher" 03:25 followed by "Chutzpah" 03:28 so we got a lot to talk about 03:30 and we pray that God will speak to us 03:33 and through us 03:34 as together, we look at his Word. 03:37 Bow your heads with me in a word of prayer. 03:41 "Father God, we praise you and we thank you 03:44 because you are a God above all gods 03:48 and our Father and our friend. 03:50 We ask, Lord, now that as we open these sacred pages, 03:55 that your Spirit would be with us 03:57 because we need to hear a word from the Lord. 04:00 As we look at the book of Daniel, 04:03 may we find truths for our lives today 04:05 and we thank you, dear Father, 04:07 in Jesus' name, amen and amen. " 04:09 In this Series, I want to look at Daniel 04:13 in a number of different ways. 04:16 When you have a portion of the Bible 04:19 that has been preached on so many times and so thoroughly, 04:23 it's rather difficult to find new material 04:27 but you can find new ways to preach that material 04:31 and if you search diligently enough, 04:34 you'll actually find some new things 04:37 that will encourage you and inspire you. 04:41 Daniel has been a book 04:44 vital to the history of the Adventist Church, 04:45 from the time that Uriah Smith 04:48 wrote thoughts on Daniel and Revelation 04:51 in the late 1800s to this day... 04:52 we have always preached from the book of Daniel 04:55 and there is much encouragement from Ellen White to do so 04:58 in these last days. 05:00 So, we want to look at Daniel and Revelation 05:04 later on... as Pastor Lomacang will bring that, 05:07 but today we want to study Daniel for a number of reasons 05:10 we want to study Daniel for its prophetic content. 05:14 Obviously, it is a prophetic book. 05:16 There is much we can learn prophetically, 05:19 so, we want to look at the prophetic content 05:21 but there's more than just the prophetic content, 05:24 we want to look at Daniel to study its present truth content. 05:29 That is to say that there are things in this ancient book 05:35 that are relevant for us today. 05:37 Daniel has much to say to contemporary Christians 05:42 and for contemporary Christianity 05:46 so, we want to look at the prophetic content 05:48 we also want to look at the present-truth content 05:51 and then we want to study the pastoral/ecclesiological content 05:55 now what does that mean? 05:57 It simply means that there is... there's light for pastors... 06:00 and leaders and teachers 06:01 and there is much truth relevant to the church today 06:06 that we need to talk about 06:08 so, we've got, prophetic content... 06:10 we've got present-truth content 06:13 then we've got pastoral content 06:15 and ecclesiological or church content 06:18 that we want to take a look at. 06:22 As such, when we look at the historical... 06:25 the prophetic narrative 06:27 as it intersects with Bible truths, 06:30 or the ecclesiological realities 06:33 we're going to add a couple of new wrinkles... dare I say, 06:36 one... we're going to have what we call... 06:40 or what I call... a side bar. 06:45 When the Biblical narrative 06:46 has something to say for us today 06:49 when it has a reality that we need to be aware of, 06:53 we're going to come out and do what I call a "side bar" 06:56 that's an examination of that truth 06:58 in the light of where we are today. 07:01 So, we will examine the current-day ramifications 07:06 of Bible truth in our side bars 07:09 because the Bible speaks to its day 07:12 but it also speaks to our day 07:15 that also has much to say to us today 07:18 so, we will seek to examine these things 07:21 in what I call side bars. 07:23 There are Biblical lessons for each of us, 07:26 there are things that we need to know 07:29 to apply to our lives in our walk with Christ today, 07:31 the Bible says, "those things are written for our learning, 07:35 for our patience, for our comfort 07:37 and for our hope. " 07:40 Romans chapter 15 verse 4, 07:41 "they are written... " 07:43 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 11 says, 07:46 "for our example" 07:47 so, when you read the Bible, 07:49 there is something that you can take 07:51 and apply to your life today 07:54 and that's what we're going to do 07:55 when we have our side bars. 07:58 It is necessary to know... I like to say, "the what" 08:03 but it's also necessary to know the "why" 08:06 If you just preach the "what" 08:08 then you're just preaching what you see 08:11 but it's necessary to preach the "why" 08:14 because then you get a good understanding 08:17 of how things are put together and why they exist as they do. 08:21 So, we're going to preach the "what" 08:23 we're going to preach the "why" 08:25 we're going to preach the "how" 08:26 and sometimes, we're even going to preach the "who" 08:29 so, tonight, we're just setting the foundation, 08:31 we're just sort of driving our pylons down 08:34 to set our foundation 08:35 so that we can build on these pylons and this foundation 08:40 as we move into the book of Daniel. 08:44 So, today, we're going to take a look at sandwiches 08:49 and everybody's getting hungry, my stomach is growling... 08:52 I've been fasting since Tuesday evening 08:54 but, you know, when you got a burden 08:57 food is not that big a deal, 09:00 so, I don't feel particularly hungry 09:02 and I feel strong in the Lord and we praise the Lord for that. 09:08 So, Daniel, as a book... 09:12 is a particular kind of "sandwiches" 09:17 sandwich... rather... 09:18 so, we are... we are calling this first presentation 09:22 "sandwiches. " 09:24 My thesis is this... 09:26 that you can view much of the early part of Daniel... 09:30 really all of Daniel in terms of a... a sandwich 09:35 so, if you're a visual learner, 09:37 somebody who learns by signs and symbols... like I am, 09:40 you like to employ visual cues for your study and memorization, 09:45 then think of Daniel in terms of sandwiches. 09:49 Daniel is a sandwich. 09:54 Now, I want to touch on something 09:57 that I was going to... 09:58 actually I was going to leave it out of the message 10:00 and then I said, "Well, maybe I'll put it back in 10:03 and then I heard Shawn Boonstra some time ago, 10:06 preaching on Daniel 10:07 and he touched on it 10:09 and so I said, "If Shawn can do it, 10:11 then it's good enough for me" 10:13 plus it's integral to what we want to say about sandwiches. 10:17 That is what we call... 10:20 see that's a good looking sandwich... 10:22 that's a veggie burger... 10:23 kind of makes you hungry doesn't it? 10:25 It's a good looking sandwich. 10:27 Audience: Yummy. 10:29 So, Daniel is a... a... a sandwich. 10:33 It's... it's a particular kind of sandwich. 10:37 You remember, years ago there was commercial that said, 10:41 "Where's the beef?" You remember that? 10:43 The lady asking, "Where's the beef?" 10:45 And in the book of Daniel, 10:50 the beef actually is in the middle 10:52 where it ought to be... 10:53 Daniel is a book of chiastic structure, 10:58 that's a big word 11:00 that has to do with how the book of Daniel is put together. 11:03 Daniel, Revelation, parts of Isaiah, 11:07 some other books in the Bible 11:08 also have this chiastic structure 11:10 written whole or in part 11:13 but Daniel... not only is a chiastic book, 11:16 it has several chiastic structures... 11:19 structures... within the chiastic structure. 11:22 So, in short, what is chiastic structure? 11:26 Chiastic structure is the answer to the question, 11:30 "Where's the beef?" 11:31 Now, in... in western literature, 11:35 usually... in western literature... 11:38 you save the punchline or the... the... the big part 11:43 for the end... 11:45 you know Daniel always says, 11:46 "I've read the last part of the book... the back of the book" 11:48 well, that's how... that's how western literature is 11:50 is... is constructed... 11:51 the punchline or the... the... 11:54 the big part is always at the... 11:56 the boy gets the girl at the end, 11:58 the man gets his inheritance at the end, 12:01 the... the damsel gets saved at the end 12:04 we always save the... the... the punchline or the big part 12:08 for the end... 12:10 but in chiastic structure, 12:12 the... the big part... the important part 12:15 is actually in the middle. 12:17 That's what makes chiastic structure so different 12:21 the... the good stuff is not at the end... 12:25 the good stuff is in the middle. 12:29 So, you don't build to a climax, 12:32 in chiastic structure, "Where's the beef?" 12:36 It's in the middle where it ought to be 12:39 so the important stuff in a chiastic-structure book 12:43 is right there in the middle. 12:45 So a "chiasm" then is a sandwich... 12:50 it... it starts with a bun, dare I say, 12:54 it ends with a bun 12:58 and then the good stuff is in the middle 13:01 and Daniel is a chiastic sandwich. 13:06 So, let's go to it, 13:08 Daniel, as a book, was written in two different languages. 13:14 It is written in Hebrew, Aramaic and then Hebrew again 13:20 and this is why we call it chiastic, 13:22 it's... it's... the chiastic structure... 13:25 the beef is in the middle 13:27 you've got Hebrew... Aramaic... beef... 13:32 and Hebrew outside... 13:34 the book of Daniel is as I said, a chiastic structure, 13:38 the entire book... 13:39 now, here's how it breaks down, 13:40 Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 till Daniel chapter 2 verse 4 13:47 are written in Hebrew. 13:51 Then it goes to Aramaic 13:54 and then, Daniel chapters 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, 13:59 back into Hebrew 14:01 so, you've got a Hebrew bun, an Aramaic middle 14:06 and a Hebrew bun. 14:08 So, it's a sandwich. 14:12 Hebrew... Aramaic... and Hebrew... 14:15 and we see that in the book of Daniel. 14:17 Now, by the time Daniel began to write, 14:19 Aramaic had become the language of scholarship 14:22 and the language of learning, 14:23 so, he starts in Hebrew... his native language... 14:26 he switches to Aramaic in the middle 14:29 and then he ends back in Hebrew, 14:31 so can see it's... it's kind of a chiastic sandwich 14:37 Daniel, it appears, tries to lift up Christ throughout 14:42 the Hebrew... the Aramaic and the Hebrew... 14:45 it appears to me or occurs to me 14:49 that in the middle part... he wants to include Gentile readers 14:53 because the message is so important 14:55 that he wants Gentiles also to pick this up 14:59 so he starts in Hebrew... he flips to Aramaic... 15:04 and then he ends again in Hebrew. 15:07 So, what's in the middle is good for everybody, 15:12 It's as though Daniel... 15:14 under the unction of the Holy Spirit 15:17 decided that... that middle section... 15:19 everybody needs to know that and everybody needs to hear that 15:23 so he wrote that in an international language... 15:25 the language of Aramaic 15:27 sandwiched between two Hebrew sections. 15:31 Daniel was written by Daniel 15:36 and the reason I put that in there is because 15:38 there are some scholars who say that Daniel didn't write Daniel 15:40 you will find some preachers... some teachers who say that 15:44 Daniel was written years later by someone other than Daniel 15:48 but we believe and most scholars should believe 15:51 and by-the-way... Spirit of Prophecy confirms 15:53 that Daniel was written by Daniel. 15:56 Daniel... his name means "God is my judge" 16:03 God is my judge 16:08 he is youthful... he is a youthful Hebrew intellectual 16:14 and one of the greatest prophetic voices 16:16 in the Old Testament and in the whole Bible... 16:18 he was taken captive in 605 B.C. 16:23 Pause. 16:24 We got a view of Daniel... he is young, 16:29 he is strong, he is good looking, 16:33 he is blemish free, 16:35 he is smart, 16:37 he is wise, 16:39 he is God fearing 16:40 and he is faithful. 16:42 I... I chaff against those pictures... 16:43 did you all see these pictures of Daniel 16:45 as an old man with a beard and he did live to that age 16:49 but when Daniel got started, he was sub-20 16:52 perhaps about 18 years of age, 16:53 strong, tall, good-looking, blemish free, 16:57 smart, wise, God fearing 17:00 and faithful, can you say, "Amen. " 17:01 Audience: Amen. 17:02 And we praise the Lord for that, 17:04 you see the difference between smart and wise, 17:05 smart simply means, you have the ability to acquire knowledge, 17:09 if you're smart... someone tells you something... 17:11 you pick it up right away, 17:13 but if you're wise... 17:14 wise is the ability 17:16 to make good use of the knowledge that you have. 17:18 There are a lot of people that know a lot of stuff 17:21 but they don't put it to good use. 17:23 So, you got to be smart... got to be able to grasp it, 17:27 you also got to be wise... got to be able to use it 17:31 and Daniel was smart and wise... 17:35 faithful and God fearing. 17:37 So, now, let's examine... 17:40 let us examine life in the ancient Middle East 17:44 seven centuries before the birth of Christ. 17:47 Now, the 10 northern tribes had been destroyed... 17:53 you know, Israel was divided, 17:54 you had two and a half tribes in the south, ten in the north. 17:57 The ten northern tribes had been destroyed in 730 B.C. 18:00 by the Assyrian Empire 18:02 and in the ensuing century, 18:05 Syrian power and prestige had waned and sort of fallen back 18:10 so, a new world power was coming on the scene, 18:17 they were once a vassal State of Assyria 18:19 but they began to grow in strength. 18:21 We call this new world empire the "Neo Babylonian Empire" 18:27 it was once a small little vassal State, 18:30 but it began to grow under the leadership of Nabopolassar 18:34 and his son, Nebuchadnezzar, 18:36 they conquered Nineveh... 18:38 now, the other... 18:43 the other rival for power in the ancient Middle East 18:49 was the country of Egypt. 18:52 You had Babylon to the north, 18:58 you had Egypt to the south 19:03 and you had this growing neo Babylonian Empire, 19:08 they're getting stronger and stronger 19:10 and spreading their wings as it were, 19:12 Nabopolassar... the father, Nebuchadnezzar... the son. 19:17 So, again we see a sandwich, 19:21 you got Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon to the north, 19:25 you got Pharaoh Necho and Egypt to the south 19:30 and there... stuck in the middle was Judah or what was left, 19:37 so, Babylon, Egypt... and there's your sandwich. 19:40 Babylon... Israel is the veggie burger... 19:46 and Egypt to the south... 19:47 pause... 19:49 Judah, like the now defunct ten northern tribes, 19:54 had fallen into sin and disobedience 19:56 and listen, Ladies and Gentlemen, 19:58 when you look at the history of the Old Testament 20:00 and God's dealings with Israel, 20:01 they can be boiled down to two things, 20:04 Sabbath breaking and idolatry 20:07 and really, if you look at the church today, 20:12 the world today... 20:14 that's pretty much what we find ourselves. 20:16 Sabbath breaking and idolatry. 20:20 Sabbath breaking means not only breaking the Sabbath 20:22 but refusing to keep God's Ten Commandments 20:25 and then, idolatry means substituting other things 20:29 in the place of God and His Commandments. 20:31 It was a problem then 20:34 and I daresay, it is a problem now, 20:37 so, Sabbath breaking and idolatry, 20:40 so, let's now look at the geo-political situation 20:46 that we find as a state of play 20:49 in ancient Israel. 20:51 Judah was a political- social- spiritual wreck. 21:00 That's the only way you can say it. 21:02 Spiritually... they were... can I say, "a mess" 21:07 pause... 21:09 socially... not doing well, 21:11 politically... not doing well, 21:14 if you look at the counsels and the warnings given by Isaiah 21:19 and later by Jeremiah... 21:21 Judah is a spiritual basket case, 21:27 now, I know that there are those who are outside America 21:29 who may not know what a "basket case" is... 21:31 that's a kind of a U.S. kind of term, 21:33 but a basket case is a... 21:35 is a situation that is really on life support, 21:38 it's just... just a mess... 21:39 things are not going well, 21:42 Isaiah was giving counsel, 21:44 Jeremiah was giving counsel, 21:45 but they were headed in the wrong direction. 21:50 Jeremiah's ministry covers the last five kings 21:55 of the nation of Judah 21:58 and the truth is... the truth is... 22:02 only one of those kings was really worth anything 22:05 of the last five, only one was worth anything 22:09 from a spiritual standpoint 22:11 and that's Good King Josiah. 22:13 Now why do we call him, "Good King Josiah?" 22:17 Well, because he was good, he was a king 22:21 and his name was Josiah. 22:24 So, he's good king Josiah 22:26 but he is the last of the really good Hebrew kings. 22:32 The interesting thing about Josiah 22:35 is that Josiah was killed fighting a battle 22:41 that was not sanctioned by God 22:43 pause 22:45 and that's the important point 22:47 he was killed fighting a battle not sanctioned by God. 22:51 Pharaoh Necho... on the way to assist the Assyrians 22:56 in fighting against the Babylonians 22:57 said, "You know what? 22:58 Let me take a shortcut through Judah" 23:01 and Josiah... a Godly man... didn't want that heathen nation 23:08 taking a detour through his country 23:12 so, he went out and fought against Necho 23:16 he didn't ask God... 23:18 he didn't pray about it, 23:20 he just determined, 23:21 "I don't want these foreigners on my land, 23:23 let's go and fight them. " 23:27 You see, Josiah was a good king who made a bad decision. 23:32 Pause. 23:34 So, he went out to fight, 23:36 he was 39 years of age, 23:38 he was defeated 23:40 and at 39 years of age, Josiah lost his life. 23:45 Here's... here's... here's the side bar... 23:48 here's the message that comes from this, 23:52 "You cannot put God or your faith... on autopilot" 24:00 amen... 24:01 amen 24:03 you can never dial-in your religion. 24:07 You can never think that you have the answers 24:15 unless you ask God for those answers. 24:18 "You can't put God on autopilot even when you have 24:22 a fully functional relationship with God" 24:25 I mean, you're praying... you're trying to serve the Lord, 24:28 pause... 24:31 the way to strengthen it... your relationship with God 24:34 is by bringing God into every... 24:37 and I put it down three times, 24:39 "every, every decision large or small!" 24:42 Amen. 24:43 Even if you are a Christian... even if you are serving the Lord 24:46 you can never put it on autopilot, 24:49 you got to bring God into every decision 24:53 whether it be great or whether it be small, 24:56 whether it be, how to spend your last dime 24:59 or what to do with your million-dollar inheritance, 25:03 whether it's who to marry or where to live 25:07 or where to work 25:08 or what house to buy 25:10 or what car to buy 25:12 bring God into every decision great or small. 25:16 Josiah was a good king, he was a good person 25:21 but he made one fatal decision 25:23 and he didn't ask for God's counsel 25:26 and it cost him his life. 25:28 So, in 605 B.C., Pharaoh Necho cuts through Judah 25:36 on the way to fighting Babylon 25:39 and good king Josiah loses his life. 25:44 Great text... 25:46 "... there is a way that seems right unto a man... 25:49 the Bible says, "the end thereof are the ways of death. " 25:53 It may seem good... it may seem right... 25:56 it may seem logical... 25:58 but if you don't ask God, you have no guarantee. 26:02 Pause. 26:04 Jeremiah 10:23... 26:06 "... it is not within man to direct his steps... " 26:10 and what's important about that particular text, 26:14 Ladies and Gentlemen, 26:15 is that we all have brains... 26:18 amen. 26:19 Yeah... and sometimes, we like to use our brains... 26:25 amen... 26:26 and you figure, 26:29 "I don't need the counsels of God... I can do this" 26:31 pause... 26:32 "I can... I can... I can... 26:34 I can add one and one and get two... 26:36 I can... I can buy that... 26:37 I can go there... I can do that" 26:39 but the secret has been, is now and always will be... 26:44 surrender... 26:45 even though you... you got a brain... 26:47 and God gave you a brain... 26:49 check with God... 26:52 amen... 26:53 every decision... even little decisions... 26:55 and certainly, in the big ones. 26:58 Make no move... without God. 27:01 Now, that's awfully simple... to understand 27:05 yet simply awful... if you don't. 27:09 It's pretty profound... yet it's profoundly simple. 27:13 Awfully simple... 27:14 simply awful... if you don't 27:17 bring God into every decision. 27:20 Now, let me share quickly how bad things got. 27:23 This is Judah's final four... 27:25 we talk about the final four... 27:26 this is Judah's final four... 27:28 King Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah 27:33 the last four kings of Judah... 27:35 their final four... 27:37 these last four... served at the pleasure of outside entities 27:44 in other words... God didn't put them on the throne, 27:47 the people of Judah didn't put them on the throne, 27:50 they were placed on the throne of Judah 27:53 by somebody else... 27:54 Jehoahaz was the son of Josiah, 27:59 he was taken off the throne and into captivity 28:04 by Pharaoh Necho... 28:06 so, Necho is in-charge of who sits on the throne of Judah. 28:10 Necho puts Jehoiakim on the throne 28:15 he doesn't stay very long... 28:20 Jehoiakim is a son of Josiah 28:25 but he is a puppet king... he's not a real ruler 28:29 he's there at the behest of Necho. 28:31 Jehoiachin is Jehoiakim's brother 28:38 and another son of Josiah, he lasts a short three months. 28:44 Nebuchadnezzar comes back in 597... times have changed... 28:50 Necho is no longer in-charge, 28:52 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jehoiachin off the throne 28:56 and takes him back to Babylon. 28:57 Now, the balance of power has shifted in these ten years. 29:01 Nebuchadnezzar puts Judah's final king on the throne, 29:08 now, here's what's important 29:11 we read in the book Patriarchs and Prophets, 29:12 or rather... Prophets and Kings... 29:14 God told Zedekiah, 29:18 "You're going to be suffering as a people for your sins" 29:22 "if you... " and I will use this term 29:25 "behave yourself... I will make your captivity pleasant. " 29:30 He said to Zedekiah, "Yield to Nebuchadnezzar, 29:35 Nebuchadnezzar is going to be my... my whip... 29:39 because you need a spanking, Nebuchadnezzar's going to do it 29:42 what you need to do is just obey... be docile... listen 29:47 and it won't be bad for you. 29:48 But Zedekiah rebelled... 29:49 he didn't listen to the word of the Lord, 29:51 so, what happened to Judah's last king? 29:53 Zedekiah's two sons were slain right before his eyes 29:58 and then Nebuchadnezzar put his eyes out 30:01 and marched him back to Babylon 30:03 and he died on the way. 30:05 Why? 30:06 Because he refused to listen to the counsel of God. 30:11 So we date Babylon from the year 605 B.C. 30:18 that is the year 30:20 that Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho. 30:23 Pause... 30:26 Daniel and the three Hebrew boys were taken in that year 30:30 Babylon became the unrivaled and preeminent power 30:36 in the Middle East. 30:38 Pause. 30:40 Josiah was really Israel's final king. 30:44 The other four were puppets of other Governments. 30:48 It occurs to me... that when you don't listen to the Lord 30:56 and obey the voice of the enemy, 30:59 do you know, Satan will take you out, 31:03 destroy your life... 31:05 and then turn around and laugh at you. 31:08 Pause. 31:09 And that's what happened to Zedekiah. 31:12 He listened to the wrong voice... 31:14 he lost his children... 31:15 he lost his eyesight... 31:17 he lost his life... 31:18 so there's much counsel for us today 31:22 in the book of Daniel, 31:24 now, I've got to move around kind of quick 31:26 because my time is getting away from me. 31:27 So, what we need to understand 31:31 is that, Israel was playing the political game. 31:35 For many years, they had Babylon to one side, 31:38 Israel... or rather Egypt to the other side... 31:41 they would go to Egypt and sign treaties with Egypt 31:44 then they would leave Egypt and go to Babylon 31:46 and sign treaties with Babylon, 31:48 they tried to play this political game, 31:50 it didn't work then and it does not work now, 31:52 it never works, it has not worked, 31:56 and it never will work 31:57 so in 588 B.C. Zedekiah dies. 32:00 The Bible says this, 32:02 "Blessed is the man who putteth his trust in... " who? 32:05 in God... 32:06 "whose confidence is in Him. " 32:08 Diplomacy doesn't work, 32:11 you got to put your trust in God. 32:13 Pause... 32:15 I like this, this is kind of cute, 32:17 this is... this is something that... 32:19 that Jeremiah told the last kings of Judah 32:23 that they really didn't listen to... 32:25 he says, "Now look! You are trusting in this staff 32:28 of this broken reed... Egypt 32:31 on which if a man leans 32:33 it will go into his hand and pierce it. 32:35 So is Pharaoh... king of Egypt to all who trust in him. " 32:39 "Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is a big noise... " 32:42 and if you look up the... the translation, 32:46 it's saying he's a big win... he's a big blowhard... big noise 32:49 his time has passed his... his... 32:52 "... he has passed his appointed time. " 32:54 What Jeremiah is saying is, "You're trusting in diplomacy 33:00 and you're leaning on Pharaoh, 33:02 sounds like a stick with a sharp point 33:04 and when you lean on a stick with a sharp point, 33:07 that point's gone to go into you and... and... and pierce you. 33:09 You're so afraid of Pharaoh 33:12 that you're trying to appease him, 33:13 Pharaoh... is a big noise, 33:15 he's all talk... 33:17 he has passed by his appointed time 33:21 so the day for Egypt is passed it's over... 33:25 so don't trust in Pharaoh, trust in God. " 33:28 Ladies and Gentlemen, I daresay, 33:30 that's good counsel today, isn't it? 33:32 Don't trust in Pharaoh, don't trust in man... 33:35 trust in God... 33:36 blessed is the man who putteth his trust in God 33:41 because Pharaoh's just a loud noise. 33:43 Here we go, two quick ones, 33:44 "... cursed is the man who trusts in man... " 33:47 that's Jeremiah 17:5 and notice, it's Jeremiah talking 33:50 so, he's talking to those last five kings 33:53 "... cursed is the man who trusts in man... " 33:55 two verses later, 33:58 "... blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord... " 34:02 so, if you trust in man, you're not going to get anywhere 34:05 if you trust in God, you are a blessed person, 34:08 can you say, amen. 34:10 So, this now is the story of... of pre-exilic Israel, 34:13 it is a lesson in the absolute futility 34:18 of trying to accomplish anything 34:20 outside of the will of God 34:23 and trying to do anything... any other way 34:28 than God's way... 34:29 Babylon... Egypt... a dying Assyria... 34:33 they're going to be... 34:34 but God's people didn't have to be... 34:38 can I say, "the baloney in that sandwich?" 34:42 if those of you who remember back in the old days, 34:47 baloney is kind of a cheap meat, it's beef... it's pork... 34:49 it's lots of stuff kind of thrown together 34:51 and it's... it's baloney... 34:53 sometimes they call it "phony baloney" 34:55 you know, 34:56 God's people didn't have to be the baloney in that sandwich. 35:00 Proverbs chapter 14 verse 34, the Bible says, 35:06 "... righteousness exalts a nation... " 35:09 that's powerful... righteousness exalts a nation 35:15 but sin... sin is a reproach to any people. 35:21 So, in 605 B.C., Daniel and several others 35:27 bright, handsome, intelligent, spiritual young men 35:31 are spirited away to Babylon. 35:34 They are to be acculturated... assimilated... manipulated... 35:40 into Chaldean customs and culture. 35:44 Pause. 35:46 And so, their considerable talents 35:48 were to be used in the service of the king. 35:51 Nebuchadnezzar was not... was a pretty smart guy... 35:53 his mindset was, "Get the best... 35:56 get their smartest, get their youngest, 35:57 get their brightest and then make them Chaldean 36:01 and then I can get service from them. " 36:02 So, he's a thinking guy... 36:04 let's look at Daniel chapter 1 verse 4. 36:07 Pause. 36:10 "The young men in whom there was no blemish, 36:14 but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, 36:18 possessing knowledge and quick to understand, 36:21 who had ability to serve in the king's palace, 36:24 and whom they might teach 36:27 the language and literature of the Chaldeans. " 36:31 So, think of Daniel when he first came to Babylon. 36:35 He is young, he is tall, he is handsome, 36:39 he is good looking, he is blemish free 36:42 and that can also be said of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego 36:47 Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael... good-looking guys... 36:51 who the king cast his eye on and said, 36:54 "I can use those guys in my service" 36:56 and so, that's why they are spotted, 36:58 and that's why they are taken into the service of the king, 37:02 that's what Nebuchadnezzar wanted 37:05 and before we close, 37:06 we will look at how that reflects back on Israel 37:10 and how things would have been 37:14 had they gotten it right. 37:16 You know, it's interesting to think... 37:20 pause 37:22 God chose Israel... His people... 37:25 to be the head and not the tail, isn't that so? 37:28 The Bible says, 37:30 "Israel was placed on the crossroads of the nations" 37:33 if you're going to go from Africa to Asia, 37:36 you had to go through the Middle East... 37:39 you had to go by... or near... or through Israel. 37:42 God put them there for a purpose. 37:44 Pause. 37:46 They were sandwiched in 37:48 between these two great continents... for a reason 37:51 and that reason was to show the goodness 37:55 of the God that they serve 37:58 but the truth is, they never got it right. 38:04 Pause. 38:06 How sad that they never got it right. 38:10 Now, you've got these world empires, 38:12 you've got Babylon, before them, you had Assyria, 38:14 you had Egypt... 38:15 and Israel is there throughout all of this... 38:19 what would the history of the Middle East been like? 38:22 What would the history of the world have been like 38:25 if Israel had fulfilled its purpose for God. 38:28 The history of this planet could have been re-written 38:33 if they just stood up for the Lord. 38:35 If they could have found a way 38:37 to obey God and to listen to God 38:41 and not get drawn in to the sins and idolatry 38:44 of every culture that came near them, 38:47 if they could have just stood for God, 38:49 what marvelous things could God have done for Israel 38:54 even in the face of the Babylonian Empire, 38:57 even in the face of the Egyptian country 39:00 and the Assyrian Empire, 39:02 what could God have done? 39:04 And if we ask that question, 39:06 then, perhaps we ought to also ask the question, 39:09 what would it be like if God's people today 39:12 really got on fire for Him. 39:15 What would it be like if God's church 39:19 really moved at the frequency 39:22 and the resiliency that God desires. 39:25 How powerful would this church be if every member... 39:30 if every person lived out the precepts of God 39:34 in their own life. 39:37 How could the history of the Middle East 39:40 and indeed, all of mankind 39:42 have been changed 39:43 had God's people consistently lived for God. 39:49 If Jehovah could have fulfilled His promises 39:52 through His people, 39:54 what a wonderful, wonderful world... this would have been 40:01 so, Daniel is a gifted, Godly, good-looking teenager 40:08 we figure about 18... 40:10 he is the recipient of many, many miracles 40:15 and the singular expositor of a prophetic vision 40:21 that ran from his day 40:23 all the way down to the end of time. 40:26 Now, we're told that Enoch got glimpses of the end of time, 40:31 there are others who got glimpses of the end of time 40:34 but no one was given the kind of vision that Daniel was... 40:39 Daniel saw intricately and intimately... 40:42 the things that were going to happen 40:45 before Christ comes again 40:48 and that's what the burden of our study is 40:51 in the book of Daniel. 40:53 The cosmic consequences 40:55 and the importance of those things that are going to happen 40:59 in God's time. 41:01 Daniel's name, as we mentioned, is "God is my judge. " 41:05 He was not the only prophet to see down into the future 41:10 but none of the prophetic views in the Bible 41:15 are as extensive and as protracted 41:20 and as detailed as the book of Daniel. 41:25 So, it pleased God to show Daniel these things. 41:30 Now, let me take another side bar. 41:32 Here it is. 41:36 God is... 41:38 never has... 41:41 never will be without a spokesman, amen. 41:45 Down through history, from the days of Adam and Eve, 41:51 Cain and Abel and Seth... 41:55 God has always had somebody to stand up for Him, amen. 42:00 Audience: Amen. 42:01 Always, he's never been without a spokesman... 42:04 it could be a person, it could be a church, 42:06 it could be a nation, it could be a group of people, 42:10 but throughout the 6,000-plus years 42:13 of recorded history of mankind on this planet, 42:16 there's always been somebody to stand up for God 42:19 and in these last days, there's going to be a people 42:22 stand up for God, amen. 42:24 That's why we've got the prophetic landscape. 42:27 Prophecy shows you the future, 42:30 but it also establishes you in the past, 42:33 so, we look back and see, 42:36 "Yeah, there's always been somebody standing up the Lord. " 42:39 There's somebody standing up for the Lord now. 42:42 There will always be somebody standing up for the Lord 42:44 in the future, 42:46 the only question is, "On which side, will I stand?" 42:50 Amen. 42:51 Somebody's going to be saved, don't you think so? 42:53 Christ is coming back to get someone... 42:56 he's not coming back in vain, 42:59 am I going to be in that number? 43:01 God is... never has... 43:06 never will be without a spokesman for Him... 43:10 a flesh and blood witness to his grace 43:14 and His glory. 43:17 Somebody's going to stand up for the goodness of God. 43:20 Somebody's going to stand up for the glory of God. 43:23 Someone's going to stand up for the majesty of God. 43:26 He's always had that and He always will. 43:29 Pause... 43:33 Abel... Seth... Enoch... Abraham... Lot... 43:38 Noah... Israel... the Apostolic Fathers... 43:41 Christians in the catacombs, Waldenses, 43:44 the Reformers... 43:46 the Albigenses... the Cathari... 43:48 pause 43:50 Manuel de la Cumsa 43:52 Joseph Wolff... 43:53 Ellen White... William Miller... 43:55 the Adventist Church... 43:57 3ABN... 43:58 God has always had a voice 44:01 and even in the darkest hours 44:04 God has a voice... 44:06 even in Babylon... God had a voice. 44:09 Later on, we're going to see in Medo-Persia, 44:12 God's got a voice... 44:14 in Greece... God's got a voice... 44:17 in Rome... God's got a voice... 44:20 during the days of the Papal Church, 44:22 God's got a voice... 44:23 during the days of the Reformation... 44:25 God's got a voice... 44:27 during the days of the Counter Reformation, 44:29 God's got a voice... 44:31 during the days of the beginning of the Adventist Church 44:37 and the coming of age in the 1800s... 44:43 God's got a voice... 44:44 into the 1900s... God's got a voice... 44:46 and God will have a voice up until the end of time. 44:51 Can you say, "Amen. " 44:52 Audience: Amen. 44:54 So, even in Babylon, in this cradle... 44:56 this cauldron... this cistern... 44:58 this cesspool of evil and decadence 45:01 and idolatry... 45:02 God had a people and those people had a message. 45:06 On the next presentation, 45:07 you will see God do some things with Nebuchadnezzar 45:12 that he did with no other king 45:15 of no other empire 45:17 of the four major empires that we will study. 45:19 God did some very special things 45:22 in this most evil and decadent of... of empires 45:26 God did something very, very special... 45:29 and God pulled a brand out of the fire 45:32 in an idolatrous kingdom. 45:35 You know, we serve a mighty God... 45:37 a mighty God... 45:38 and one of the things that you can take heart in 45:41 in these last days is nobody... 45:44 the fact that nobody can run too far... 45:49 can run too fast... can sin too much... 45:54 can be too bad... 45:56 pause... 45:58 amen... 45:59 pause... 46:01 for God to save you... 46:03 Audience: Amen. 46:04 Amen, no matter how fast your feet move, 46:07 you can't outrun God, amen. 46:10 No matter how bad your life has been, 46:13 it's not too dirty to clean up. 46:17 Amen... yeah. 46:19 No matter how many times you sin, 46:23 there's no sin that you can sin 46:26 that Christ hasn't seen before. 46:28 Amen. 46:30 The Bible says, "nothing new under heaven" 46:33 you can't invent anything that Christ hasn't seen before. 46:37 Amen. 46:38 Two: You can't invent anything that Christ hasn't cured before. 46:45 Amen. 46:47 So, don't drop your head in sadness and silence 46:51 "Woe is me... I've gone too far... 46:54 I've sinned too much... 46:55 Christ can't help me. " 46:57 No Sir, one of the things that the book of Daniel tells us 47:00 is that, regardless of how bad you think you are, 47:05 where iniquity abounds... 47:08 grace abounds much more. 47:12 So, even in Babylon, they're suffering for their sins 47:16 make no mistake about it, 47:17 they're in Babylon... because they turned their backs on God. 47:21 They're in Babylon 47:23 because they refused to listen to the prophetic voice, 47:26 they're in Babylon 47:28 because they liked the things of the world 47:30 more than they liked the things of God 47:34 and be not deceived, God is not mocked, 47:37 what you sow... you... hmmm... hmmm... 47:41 and even in Babylon, suffering for their sins... 47:46 Jesus is there. 47:49 Amen. 47:50 So, when you're worse at times... 47:52 Satan will tell you, 47:54 "You can't do that again, 47:56 you can't go to God with that sin again, 47:57 you know how bad you are, 47:59 you... you haven't even improved... " 48:00 pause... 48:03 but God says, "No... come as you are... 48:05 come as you will... 48:07 and I will heal you, 48:09 I will not cast you out I will cleanse you. " 48:13 Ladies and Gentlemen, that's good news. 48:16 They've got a 70-year prison stretch 48:20 in Babylon... 48:21 and you know who's right there in jail with them? 48:24 Jesus. 48:26 Hadn't left them alone, 48:28 and we see this over and over again 48:31 in the coming... the coming chapters... 48:35 so, God always has a voice 48:36 and even in times when you're suffering for your sins, 48:40 we got a sermon coming up called: Schlemiel Schlemazel. 48:45 Now, if you're from New York, 48:47 that's Yiddish... it's... it's Hebrew 48:49 and in New York, there's a lot of Hebrew in the English 48:52 and there used to be a television show called, 48:54 Laverne and Shirley years ago, 48:56 they had Schlemiel Schlemazel 48:57 Schlemiel is a person who suffers for their own sins 49:00 a Schlemazel is a person who suffers 49:01 because of the bad decisions of other people. 49:03 Schlemiel... Schlemazel 49:04 we're going to be talking about that, I think, 49:06 the 4th or 5th sermon 49:07 but even the... the Schlemiel... 49:09 even the Schlemiel who is suffering 49:11 because of mistakes that he made, 49:13 is not beyond the goodness... the grace... 49:16 the redemptive power of God 49:19 even when you do stupid stuff. 49:21 How many have ever done "stupid stuff?" 49:24 Raising hand... 49:27 be honest... done stupid stuff, 49:30 sometimes you... you do things 49:32 and you wonder, "Is that me?" 49:34 "How could I be so dumb?" 49:37 "How did I think that was a good decision?" 49:39 Have you ever had that? 49:40 You question yourself, "What... what was I thinking?" 49:43 Pause... 49:45 And you suffer for it 49:47 and God does... 49:48 God does not let you pass by the suffering... 49:50 He allows you to go through the suffering 49:53 for two reasons... 49:55 one, it keeps you from doing that again... 49:57 amen... 49:58 yeah, and you think and you pray before you had... 50:01 and two: when you get on the other side, 50:04 you know that was God who got you through. 50:07 Amen... 50:09 So, even when you do stupid stuff, 50:12 when you are what the... the Hebrews call a "Schlemiel" 50:16 God is still there with you 50:19 and that's what the entire Babylonian experience says, 50:22 it says, "They're suffering because of their own mistakes 50:27 but even when they go to jail, God is in jail with them. 50:31 Amen. 50:32 God is standing right by their side. 50:36 Pause... 50:40 God has a people and God's people have a message 50:45 and that message came through 50:48 in the darkest hours of Babylon, 50:51 because a man named Daniel stood for his God 50:56 his entire life. 50:59 From the days when he was a young man 51:02 to the days when he was a bearded old man, 51:06 he always stood for the Lord 51:08 and Ellen White says this, 51:10 "He stands an example for every one of us 51:13 in these latter days 51:14 that even in the darkest hours 51:17 when you're in a place you don't want to be... 51:18 having to go through stuff you don't want to go through, 51:21 you can still stand for Jesus 51:23 because Daniel did... all his life 51:26 and wherever he went... wherever he went 51:29 wherever he went, men and women saw Christ in him 51:35 pause... 51:36 and were led to Jesus... 51:39 and were led to God. 51:43 Now, there were some tricks played on him, 51:44 we're going to talk about those too 51:46 because when you serve the Lord, 51:48 everybody's not going to love it... 51:49 amen... 51:51 when you serve the Lord, 51:52 everybody's not going to be your friend, 51:54 when you serve the Lord, 51:56 everybody's not going to praise you, 51:58 in fact, when you serve the Lord, 52:00 there are some people who are going to hate you 52:03 simply because you're doing right. 52:05 Anybody know what I am talking about? 52:06 Not doing anything wrong... 52:08 not bad... just serving the Lord 52:10 and there are some people who will hate you 52:12 and plot against you... just for doing right, 52:15 we see that in Daniel also 52:18 but always there was a people... 52:20 always there was a message... 52:23 and always there was the love of God 52:26 that shone so very brightly. 52:29 Daniel and his three Hebrew friends 52:31 as we will see in the coming chapters, 52:34 stood for the Lord. 52:36 Oft times they did not have many 52:39 but you know the God we serve 52:42 is not a... a hostage to numbers, 52:45 you know what I mean? 52:48 Pause... 52:49 You don't need a lot of numbers 52:50 when you got God on your side 52:53 because one plus God is majority 52:55 so I took this from the Hebrew contemporary... 52:58 the Jewish Contemporary Bible 53:00 pause... 53:03 1st Samuel 14:6 53:05 "... ADONAl" you always see that in the Hebrew Bible, 53:10 "ADONAl" that's the Lord... 53:12 "can rescue with a few... 53:15 a few people as easily as with many" 53:20 now, I'm going to tell you a quick exegetical trick, 53:22 see the word "ADONAl" there, ADONAl 53:25 when the writers of the Septuagint 53:27 were looking for a word to deal with that, 53:31 they came up with the word, "Jehovah" 53:35 which they took... Y H W H 53:38 just the vowel... and they took the... 53:41 just the consonants rather... 53:42 they took the vowels from ADONAl... 53:44 they took the "A" Je 53:46 o... ho... a... vah... 53:49 so, Jehovah and Adonai are the same 53:51 but the Septuagint people 53:53 in not really understanding how to translate 53:56 took ADONAl... put the vowels back into Y H W H 54:00 Yahweh and came up with the word, "Jehovah" 54:02 so, Jehovah is... dare I say... an invented word... 54:07 it's not an original word, 54:08 it is the confluence of Yahweh and Adonai 54:12 and we come up with the word, "Jehovah" 54:16 but the Bible is telling us, God doesn't need a number, 54:20 He just needs a few faithful people. 54:24 God just needs individuals who will stand for Him 54:29 and love Him and serve Him 54:35 and follow Him wherever He leads. 54:41 God can save by many... 54:43 God can save by few... 54:46 but the good news, Ladies and Gentlemen is 54:49 that God can save. 54:54 and as we look at the book of Daniel, 54:56 we will see how God saves again and again and again 55:02 and again 55:03 and there are tentacles going into the book of Esther 55:05 that we will pull together, 55:06 there are tentacles going into the book of Isaiah 55:08 that we will pull together, 55:10 there are tentacles going into the book of Zachariah 55:12 that we will pull together, 55:14 there are tentacles going into the book of Luke 55:16 that we will pull together, 55:17 there are tentacles going into the book of Hebrews 55:19 that we will pull together. 55:21 Daniel is such an encompassing book 55:23 and such a wide-ranging book 55:25 and has so much to say to God's people... and for us today 55:31 that... it is a book that, again, Ellen White says, 55:35 we need to study again and again and again and again. 55:39 Our next topic will be: Dream Catcher 55:43 we'll take a look at the dream 55:46 and the ramifications of that dream 55:48 and we're going to give you 55:52 some interesting contemporary applications 55:54 to that dream 55:56 particularly what happens down in the toes of that dream 55:59 which is our day... 56:00 and we'll see some things that God has for us. 56:03 Until then, the message for this night is simply this, 56:08 "Wherever you find yourself... 56:11 even if you're suffering for your own mistakes, 56:16 know that you serve a God who loves you 56:21 with an everlasting love, 56:23 know that you serve a God 56:25 who will hear and answer your prayers 56:28 and even in the darkest of hours, 56:31 in the toughest of situations, 56:34 in the bleakest of circumstances, 56:37 you are never alone... 56:40 Audience: Amen. 56:41 God is by your side. 56:43 When we were young, 56:45 we used to sing a song, "Dare to be a Daniel" 56:48 if you're an old-time Adventist, you remember that song? 56:50 "Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, 56:53 dare to have a purpose true, 56:55 dare to make it known. " 56:56 That was oh... three or four hymnals ago, 57:00 I don't think they have that anymore 57:01 but that's what the young people used to sing. 57:03 Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, 57:05 dare to have a purpose true 57:07 and dare to make it known. 57:09 Daniel did all of those things 57:10 and as such, he stands as an example for all of us. 57:14 We can stand as he stood... 57:18 we can be victorious even as he was victorious 57:21 and God will see us through 57:25 even as God saw him through. 57:28 That is the message, again tonight, we've just begun, 57:32 we've got a lot to cover 57:33 and many, many miles to go before we rest 57:36 but this is a good book with good lessons 57:39 for you and for me. 57:41 Shall we pray, "Father God, 57:42 we thank you 57:45 for this opportunity to look into the book of Daniel 57:49 and to see in this book, 57:51 those things that you have for us 57:54 teach us Lord... and then fill us with your Spirit 57:59 that we may do your will... your way... and your work. 58:03 Open up the truths of the book of Daniel to our understanding 58:08 and help them to apply... apply them to our lives 58:11 and we thank you Father, in Jesus' name, amen. 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Revised 2018-07-18