Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS025025S
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00:10 ♪♪♪ 00:13 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:15 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:17 We're glad you're with us today. 00:18 We're looking at how to study Bible prophecy. 00:21 There's a right way and many, many wrong ways. 00:24 We're going to focus on the right way, 00:25 especially as it pertains 00:26 to the stories of the Old Testament, 00:28 helping us to understand 00:30 what's going on in the New Testament. 00:32 This week, we are looking at, actually, lesson number 12. 00:35 We're almost to the end of our 13-week journey. 00:37 We're not quite there yet, 00:38 but we're looking at precursors today. 00:41 Gonna spend some time in the book of Daniel, 00:43 as well as some other places, 00:45 to understand the book of Revelation. 00:47 Let's begin with prayer. 00:49 Father, we're grateful to be here again today 00:51 as we delve into Your Word 00:53 and learn new things about You and Your plan for our lives. 00:57 We ask that You will bless us abundantly as we do so, 00:59 and we thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:03 We're blessed once again to have the author 01:05 of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson with us: 01:07 Pastor Shawn Boonstra. 01:09 Shawn, we're glad that you are still here. 01:12 You haven't left us yet. 01:13 >>Shawn Boonstra: It's probably a small "b" blessed, 01:14 you know, and not a capital "B" blessed, 01:16 but I'm the one blessed. 01:17 I get to be here, still chained to the chair 12 weeks later. 01:21 I'm not allowed to leave till this is done, 01:23 but it has been enjoyable. 01:24 Eric, you've been a lot of fun to hang out with. 01:26 >>Eric: Likewise, Shawn. It's been a real blessing. 01:28 We are in week 12. 01:30 We've covered a lot of ground to get here. 01:33 It's given us a great foundation. 01:35 And we're pulling together some final few pieces 01:38 this week and next week. 01:40 One of the things that we really want to focus on 01:43 in this week's lesson is the book of Daniel. 01:46 >>Shawn: Yeah, and inevitably, we're going to end up there. 01:48 >>Eric: We are. We have to. It's a beautiful parallel 01:50 with Revelation. Walk us through some of what's in Daniel. 01:52 >>Shawn: We've been spending time looking at stories 01:56 that prefigure last-day events. 01:58 I think I want to throw in a proviso, though, 02:00 just a little caution. 02:02 Sometimes when we see this, we get really, really excited. 02:05 And you start drilling down, 02:07 and you try to make every single detail 02:09 and every story match with something, 02:11 and that's not entirely appropriate either. 02:12 You can end up going down rabbit trails 02:15 that leave you in really weird places, 02:17 and I've seen people become obsessed 02:19 with some tiny detail, 02:21 and they build a theory on the detail. 02:22 What you want to always make sure you're doing 02:25 is broad-based, big picture. 02:28 And so, yeah, we looked at last week Ruth, 02:31 and we looked at Esther. 02:33 But I'd be cautious about making every single word 02:36 and every single detail try to line up with something. 02:39 Look at big picture, broad themes 02:41 because that's the way the Bible works, 02:42 and it gives you so many repetitions of broad themes 02:45 that you start to get a clearer picture as you go. 02:48 >>Eric: Good, good. Okay, Shawn, so with that background, 02:51 that little bit of warning, let's kind of dig into this. 02:54 In Sabbath's lesson, you're indicating 02:56 that sometimes converts to Seventh-day Adventist Church 02:59 find prophecy more hopeful or less frightening than others. 03:02 How does that background-- how does a person's background 03:05 help us to view Bible prophecy? 03:08 >>Shawn: I don't have empirical evidence 03:09 for this observation, I just don't, it's all anecdotal, 03:12 it's 30 years working in churches all around the world, 03:15 and I've happened to notice that sometimes, 03:19 or many times, people who come into the Adventist church 03:23 from another background 03:24 find prophecy far more exciting and hopeful 03:27 than some of the people who are raised in it. 03:30 And I've never quite figured out exactly what's going on. 03:32 I think sometimes, say, in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, 03:36 some people were raised being scared with prophecy. 03:41 "You'd better fall in line. 03:42 "You don't want to end up here, hiding in the dark, 03:44 hiding in the woods." 03:46 And I think sometimes for converts--I'm one of them, 03:49 so let me speak broadly. 03:51 I came into this movement 03:53 already knowing the world's a big mess. 03:55 You didn't have to teach me the world is messy and scary. 03:58 I didn't grow up isolated. 04:00 And then I find that you guys have hope in your message. 04:03 There's something to hang on to. 04:04 And what I discover when I come in to that message is like, 04:07 "Oh, wait a minute, 04:08 "as much chaos as there is in this world, 04:11 "as much suffering as there is, 04:12 "there is a God who saw it all coming. 04:15 "None of it's catching Him by surprise. 04:16 And there's actually a plan at the end of this." 04:19 That's relief. That's hope. 04:21 If you grow up a little isolated 04:23 or somebody sort of basically emotionally abuses you 04:26 with prophecy and tries to make you toe the line 04:29 by scaring you, I can understand how prophecy is like, "Oh, no. 04:32 No, no, no, too scary." 04:34 For me, again, 04:36 it's the fact that somebody who sees the chaos, 04:39 the mess that we've made in this world, 04:40 the wind whipping up the waters in Daniel 7, 04:42 and there's a plan at the end to stop all of this. 04:46 That's hope. That's hope. 04:48 >>Eric: Okay, so there is hope that should be found there. 04:50 Let's touch a little bit on Matthew, chapter 24. 04:53 What's the hope there? 04:54 >>Shawn: Right, a lot of people read that, 04:55 and they say, "Oh, no, world's going to fall apart-- 04:58 "famine, pestilence, earthquakes, 05:00 religious persecution, false messiahs." 05:04 And there's one way to look at it. 05:06 It's like, "Oh, this is going to get to be 05:08 a really scary place." 05:10 On the other hand, you can look at it like this: here we have 05:12 a perfect human being, Jesus, fully God, fully human. 05:18 And finally, we have somebody 05:20 who's honest about the situation. 05:22 Mere human beings try to cover up their sins. 05:24 They try to make it look not so bad. 05:26 It's kind of like, I don't know, if government-- 05:29 I'm not trying to get political-- 05:30 but if government goes $40 trillion in debt, 05:32 someone will come out and say, "It's not all that bad. 05:34 We'll never have to pay the bill, relax." 05:36 Jesus is honest, and there's something about honesty. 05:39 You know, there are cultures where people are polite, 05:41 even if they hate you, 05:42 and I have a hard time navigating those cultures. 05:44 I'm "sweetie" and "darling," 05:46 and no matter how much they hate me, they're being polite. 05:49 I can deal with blunt. 05:52 The Dutch are the bluntest people on earth. 05:54 People get warnings. 05:55 If you're going to go to the Netherlands, 05:56 you're going to get your feelings hurt because 05:58 we prize bluntness and honesty above all else. 06:01 We figure we're doing you a favor 06:02 by telling you what we're thinking. 06:04 So there's a big part of me--maybe it's cultural-- 06:06 I look at Jesus saying here's the way it's going, 06:09 and I think, "Finally, somebody's telling the truth." 06:11 I can live with the truth. 06:14 But then He couples that warning, again, with comfort. 06:17 How often does Jesus say "fear not" 06:20 when He's talking about His return in John 14? 06:22 "Let not your hearts be troubled." 06:24 At His resurrection in Luke, chapter 24, 06:27 "Why are you troubled? 06:28 "Why do doubts arise in your heart? 06:30 "See my hands and feet? It's me." 06:33 So I have to try and take that over 06:36 into my own realm of worries 06:38 about the way life is going and my own anxieties. 06:41 And do I fear? Yeah, inappropriately. 06:44 I think it was Mark Twain said, 06:45 "Half of what you worry about never happens"-- 06:47 or more than that. 06:49 But, you know, how do I learn to live in "fear not"? 06:52 It's that Jesus says, "I see the way the world is. 06:54 I've got it. I've got it." 06:56 Now, if He was covering up and saying, 06:58 "The world's not all that bad," I'd start to doubt 07:00 that He can protect me, that He got my back. 07:02 He tells the truth, and then He says, "I've got you." 07:05 >>Eric: And part of that truth that He tells 07:06 we find in the book of Daniel. >>Shawn: Oh yeah. (laughs) 07:09 >>Eric: Daniel is just an amazing book. 07:11 It's a beautiful parallel, a twin to the book of Revelation. 07:14 And in Sunday's lesson, you talk about Nebuchadnezzar 07:16 and the dream of Daniel 2, 07:18 and then you start going into Daniel 3. 07:20 So bring us through this experience. 07:22 >>Shawn: Yeah, Daniel 2, the dream that Nebuchadnezzar has, 07:27 not great for him from his perspective. 07:29 It's like, "Oh, you're the head of gold." 07:30 And it's like, I'd be excited at that point. 07:32 And Daniel says, "No, wait a minute." 07:34 And this story, by the way, is why I'm a believer today. 07:36 I could not get past Daniel 2, 07:38 and I had to accept that God has got to be real. 07:40 There's no explaining it otherwise. 07:42 He says, "Another kingdom inferior to yours"-- 07:44 well, there, that's not great, you know? 07:46 At least if I get beaten, 07:47 I want it to be somebody better than me. 07:49 Nope, Medes and the Persians are gonna take it. 07:52 And it just deteriorates from his moment forward. 07:56 Every emperor wants to think that they're gonna build 07:59 an empire that lasts a thousand years, 08:01 lasts forever, that they're going to make 08:03 this mark in this world that lasts forever, 08:05 and he watches it deteriorate. 08:07 The metals become more brittle and less valuable as they go, 08:10 and finally the whole thing crumbles, 08:12 and it's all replaced by Christ. 08:14 That hurts his pride. 08:16 So his first reaction, instead of bowing the knee to God-- 08:19 we know he eventually does that in Daniel, chapter 4. 08:22 He becomes a believer. He gets the message. 08:24 God has to deal with him pretty sternly 08:26 to get him over the line. 08:27 But in Daniel 3, his reaction is, 08:29 "All right, here's a new statue. 08:31 This statue is all gold." 08:33 In other words, 08:34 "Babylon's not going to fall." 08:37 That attitude, unfortunately, carries forward 08:40 to his grandson, Belshazzar, later. 08:43 The city is surrounded. 08:44 They know--you can't tell me Belshazzar had never heard 08:49 that Babylon was going to fall because it was such a big part 08:52 of his famous grandfather's repertoire of belief. 08:57 And he brings out the temple vessels, 08:59 "We can't fall, our gods beat the God of the Jews," and so on. 09:03 So he builds this entire statue, saying, 09:06 "Nah, not going to pass away." 09:08 And the lesson for us is be really careful 09:10 before you build an entire life. 09:12 Jesus says in Luke, chapter 12, 09:13 it doesn't matter what you build. 09:15 >>Eric: Okay, Shawn, there's a question there, 09:17 a thought that shows up in Sunday's lesson. 09:19 How can we be sure that we're not deluded 09:21 by the mirage of our own greatness? 09:23 Nebuchadnezzar thought he was something big. 09:26 Eventually, he realized he wasn't. 09:28 But how do we avoid that mistake? 09:30 >>Shawn: Yeah, I think pride is our-- 09:32 is the weakest link in all of our human traits. 09:35 And sometimes we're blind to it. 09:38 Living honestly will-- even if you're not a believer, 09:41 living honestly, starting a family, 09:43 having your kids assess you, 09:44 that'll help you figure out how great you are. 09:48 But as believers, we've got this gift in Scripture. 09:51 It reminds me of what my place is. 09:54 I can read a psalm that says, 09:56 "What is man that You are mindful of him?" 09:58 All right, so all of humanity, 10:00 even if I happen to be at the apex of humanity, 10:02 I'm nothing in comparison to the rest of the universe. 10:06 But in particular, what I'm invited to do as a Christian 10:10 is to compare me to Christ. 10:15 And every time I do that, I fall so far short of the mark. 10:20 And I think it's one of the ways 10:22 that a lot of Western modern Christianity 10:25 has begun to fail people, 10:27 because there's one particular evangelist, 10:30 and he's really famous. 10:32 Names aren't really going to matter. 10:35 But he's famous for waiting for a particular moment 10:38 to step out on the stage, 10:39 and this guy draws massive, massive crowds. 10:42 He puts on a perfectly white suit. 10:44 He has the choir sing "How Great Thou Art." 10:46 And he steps into the spotlight on that line, 10:48 "How great Thou art." 10:49 And I'm thinking, "Well, please." 10:52 And I've met the guy and his team, 10:55 so I happen to know that he kind of is puffed up, 10:58 and he really does think that. 11:00 He might say, "No, that song's about Jesus." 11:02 But why does he step into the light at that moment? 11:04 If you're comparing yourself to Christ, it's pretty obvious 11:07 how far short of the glory of God I fall. 11:10 And as a minister, I want to always be doing that. 11:13 I never want to draw people to me. 11:16 We have such a consumer mentality 11:18 about Christianity in North America 11:20 that we run it like a self-help seminar 11:23 or a Tony Robbins self-improvement seminar. 11:25 And if we're standing up front, the thought is, 11:28 "Wow, I'm going to pattern myself after this guy." 11:31 And that is a horrible thing that has crept into Christianity 11:36 through its commercialization here in the West. 11:39 We're to draw people to Christ. 11:41 It's okay to be flawed. 11:42 And I'd say that about witness, too. 11:44 Nobody wants you to be perfect. Nobody needs you to be perfect. 11:48 And as a matter of fact, you're not believable 11:50 because they know in their gut you're not perfect. 11:53 And if you pretend to be, you've lost them. 11:55 The perfect one is Jesus, and if you live in His light 11:57 and you're daily in the Word, 11:59 it's almost impossible to get a big head. 12:02 >>Eric: Yeah, you've got to work pretty hard to do that 12:04 and to really take your eyes off of Christ. 12:06 The more that we learn of Him, 12:07 well, hopefully the more we realize we fall short of that. 12:10 We're looking at precursors in this week's lesson. 12:14 We're not covering everything, we wish we could, 12:17 but there is a companion book for this quarter. 12:19 Tell us about that. 12:21 >>Shawn: They've titled it "How to Study Prophecy," 12:23 and it looks at all of these themes in more detail. 12:25 I mean, we're barely touching 12:27 the tip of the iceberg together here, 12:29 and even the quarterly just gets you started 12:30 on some of these themes. 12:32 I've put supplemental material in the book 12:34 so that maybe it'll help enrich your study and your class time. 12:37 >>Eric: And you'll be blessed if you pick that book up. 12:39 Whether you are teaching the class 12:40 or participating in the class, 12:42 you'll want to pick this book up. 12:43 It is found at itiswritten.shop. 12:46 Again, itiswritten.shop. 12:48 Just look for the companion book 12:50 to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 12:51 We're going to be right back. 12:53 We're going to delve into Daniel, chapter 3 12:56 and Revelation, chapter 13 12:57 and see some incredible parallels, 13:00 and we're going to cover some more ground as well. 13:02 So don't miss it. 13:03 We'll be right back here on "Sabbath School," 13:05 brought to you by It Is Written. 13:06 ♪♪♪ 13:11 >>John Bradshaw: In one of the most dramatic stories 13:13 in the Bible, the world's mightiest kingdom 13:15 gives way in a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy 13:19 as a bloodless hand appears from out of nowhere 13:21 and the writing is on the wall for a king and an empire. 13:26 Don't miss "The Writing on the Wall" 13:29 as we study Daniel, chapter 5 13:31 in our ongoing series on the book of Daniel. 13:34 An irresponsible king parties while a fierce enemy 13:38 is literally at the gates of his capital city. 13:41 And after his brazen display of blasphemy towards God, 13:45 heaven declares he has "been weighed in the balances 13:48 and found wanting." 13:50 "The Writing on the Wall," Daniel, chapter 5. 13:53 God's prophetic word is fulfilled 13:56 in a faith-building story that gives us insights 13:59 into the final days of earth's history. 14:01 "The Writing on the Wall," Daniel, chapter 5, 14:05 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 14:11 >>John: You know that at It Is Written, 14:12 we are serious about studying the Word of God, 14:15 and we encourage you to be serious as well. 14:18 Well, here's what you do 14:19 if you want to dig deeper into God's Word. 14:21 Go to itiswritten.study 14:23 for the It Is Written Bible study guides online, 14:26 25 in-depth Bible studies that will take you through 14:29 the major teachings of the Bible. 14:31 You'll be blessed, and it's something 14:33 you'll want to tell others about as well: 14:34 itiswritten.study. 14:36 Go further: itiswritten.study. 14:41 ♪♪♪ 14:45 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:47 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:48 We're looking at precursors 14:50 to help us understand Bible prophecy. 14:53 Shawn, let's dig into the book of Daniel here 14:55 and parallel with the book of Revelation. 14:57 You spent some time looking at the story in Daniel 3, 14:59 a favorite story of mine. 15:01 Daniel 3 and the parallels with Revelation 13, 15:04 walk us through this. 15:05 >>Shawn: Well, obviously, you know, if you don't bow down 15:08 to the image in Daniel, chapter 3, 15:10 there's a death penalty for it. 15:12 And the same thing happens 15:13 in the latter part of Revelation 13. 15:15 The second beast demands worship of the first beast, 15:17 and if you don't comply, there's persecution. 15:20 There's deplatforming, 15:22 to kind of throw a modern spin on it. 15:24 There's demonetization. 15:26 And then there's the death penalty at the end. 15:29 And with the three young worthies, 15:31 using an ancient term 15:32 for the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I got that right. 15:35 You ever hear people say "Abendigo"? 15:37 >>Eric: Yes, all the time. 15:38 >>Shawn: And, you know, God forgives you 15:40 if you say "Abendigo," but start to say Abednego. (laughs) 15:46 They get in the fiery furnace, and what I find interesting is, 15:48 "Even if our God doesn't save us, 15:50 we're not going to do this." 15:52 That's a remarkable attitude, and I have to ask myself, 15:55 is that where I am as a believer? 15:58 "Even if God doesn't spare me, I'm not wavering." 16:02 And that's the point that God can bring us to. 16:05 I don't think I can get to that point 16:06 of my own initiative whatsoever, Eric. 16:09 Like, okay, no matter what happens here, I'm fine. 16:12 You know, I--as a human being, 16:13 I want to cling to the hope on the other side. 16:15 But then I remember, "Well, that was also the attitude of Jesus." 16:17 We've been counseled that He could not see 16:19 through the portals of the tomb. 16:21 He did not, at that moment, at least emotionally, 16:24 have a guarantee that He's coming out 16:27 the other side of the cross, and He goes there anyway 16:29 for the joy that's set before Him. 16:31 "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" 16:34 And we're called to follow in Christ's footsteps. 16:37 "And let this mind be in you," Philippians 2. 16:39 He humbled Himself all the way to the point of the cross, 16:42 and I see that in the three young men in this story. 16:47 The story also reveals a lot about the devil's mindset 16:50 and how worldly kingdoms operate. 16:54 And here's the way that the world deceives us: 16:57 the nations keep people and pull them in. 16:59 Everybody wants to be cared for, wants to be led. 17:04 Yeah, on the one hand, we all crave power. 17:06 We all kind of crave power, 17:08 even if it's just in your own little dominion. 17:09 You'd like to be king of your little kingdom. 17:12 We crave power, but we also, most of us, 17:15 crave leadership from somebody 17:18 who offers us the promise of a false Eden, 17:21 and that's the way I've been talking about 17:23 the nations in the Bible, these city-states. 17:26 It's a counterfeit of Eden. 17:28 We've got food in here. We've got protection. 17:30 We can replace Eden on our own. 17:32 We want leadership from somebody who offers, 17:34 well, to use prophetic language, peace and security. 17:38 So, a strong man shows up. We hope it's true. 17:41 We think if the guy at the top 17:42 finds everything that we're looking for 17:44 and he gets all of his power, 17:45 it's gonna trickle down to all of us. 17:47 It pulls us in. 17:49 The problem with the whole system 17:51 is that when somebody rises to the top, 17:52 a Nebuchadnezzar or Gilgamesh/Nimrod 17:56 in the Old Testament, 17:57 they're also broken, selfish human beings. 17:59 And they may have made all these promises, 18:01 they may have even had 18:02 good intentions at the beginning, 18:04 but when they rise to the top, 18:06 everybody becomes a means to their end. 18:10 We know that historically about Gilgamesh. 18:12 When you read the tablets-- and we think he was Nimrod-- 18:15 he builds the city of Uruk, 18:17 and he enslaves his own people in the end. 18:20 "Well, we need to build these walls. 18:21 Don't forget, you'll be protected too." 18:23 But he makes slaves out of the men, 18:24 and while they're busy building the wall, 18:25 he steals all their wives. 18:27 It's still about a grand--that's where the system falls apart. 18:31 And because pride is always hungry, 18:33 the more powerful that ruler becomes, 18:35 the worse the system becomes. 18:38 And we have seen that play out over and over and over and over. 18:42 I mean, do we think Stalin rose to power by saying, 18:45 "You know what, I'm going to subdue 18:46 20 million people, put them to death?" 18:48 No, that's where it ended. 18:50 It's the promise of, "I can hold this empire together. 18:53 I can give you." 18:54 And what they're offering is what we crave in Jesus, 18:57 if you really want to put it bluntly. 18:59 We want that peace and security and a future, 19:01 and we're turning to the wrong people. 19:03 That's part of the lesson there in Revelation 13. 19:07 It's going to end badly. 19:09 If you're trusting the governments of this world 19:11 to solve your problems, God says, "Here's how that ends: 19:15 "it's going to end the same way it always has, 19:17 except this time." 19:18 I mean, what you have in Revelation 13, in particular-- 19:21 you've got all these separate kingdoms 19:23 in Daniel, chapter 7-- 19:25 the empires that come and go and fight over territory, 19:27 and there's conflict. 19:29 In the end, there's the final amalgamation. 19:32 It's like, all of those beasts, all in one thing? 19:34 Yeah, this is the end result of running the world ourselves, 19:38 and God holds it out, saying, 19:39 "If this is where your peace and security is, 19:43 it's going to end the same way it always has." 19:45 I think that's one of the reasons 19:47 that the themes repeat over and over and over 19:49 in the Bible so we can see, 19:50 my goodness, it ended this way every single time. 19:52 It ended that way in Daniel 3. 19:54 "Okay, I'm not going to bow down." 19:56 "I'm going to kill you." 19:58 There's no peace and security for believers in this empire. 20:01 Same thing happens in Revelation 13. 20:03 >>Eric: Shawn, let me ask you this question. 20:04 In both Daniel and in Revelation, 20:08 we see that God allows some persecution. 20:11 Why does He allow this persecution? 20:13 >>Shawn: Right, it bothers us, it really does bother us 20:15 at a human level, which, again, we mentioned this earlier. 20:18 It's one of the reasons I think people cling 20:20 to this falsehood we concocted in the 19th century, 20:23 that there is a secret rapture, or there is a pre-trib rapture 20:27 and we're out of here when the problems start. 20:29 We crave that 'cause, I mean, really, 20:31 who really wants to go through it? 20:32 I--you know, I know I'm going to die, 20:34 but I don't particularly want to be tortured to death. 20:36 You know, I'm a human being. 20:38 So why does God allow it to get that bad? 20:42 I think there's a number of reasons, 20:44 and I don't have the mind of God. 20:45 All I have is what He reveals. 20:48 But I think God puts the truth about us on full display. 20:52 If we don't see the end result of our choices, 20:55 that human pride, following after the prideful angel 21:00 ends very, very badly. 21:02 I think if we aren't allowed to run the entire course of it, 21:05 would there be a--I mean, we're always gonna have free will, 21:08 even in the kingdom. 21:10 Would there be a nagging question like, 21:11 "Maybe it wasn't all that bad. 21:13 "Maybe that could have worked out. 21:14 "Did we really need to eliminate all those people 21:17 causing all those problems?" 21:18 God puts the truth on full display. 21:21 And also, by letting people run all the way to the end zone, 21:24 nobody can plead ignorance. 21:25 "Well, I wasn't going to get that evil." 21:27 Yeah, you were. 21:28 And we're not the only parties to this thing. 21:31 Angels were in heaven when the rebellion started, 21:34 and I'm guessing-- because they're also not, 21:37 you know, omniscient-- they've got some questions, too. 21:40 You know, like, "Okay, those angels are gone. 21:42 "We understand why. We saw the cross. 21:45 "Satan's no longer welcome here in the kingdom of heaven. 21:47 We understand all that." 21:49 But do you think they have every question answered, 21:51 or does God let evil play out until everybody can see it 21:56 for themselves and say, "All right, enough, 22:00 "I get it, I finally get it. 22:03 "It's true; this is wickedness. 22:05 this can't be allowed in God's universe"? 22:07 >>Eric: Good, very good. 22:09 Daniel 12, you point us to the crisis in Daniel 12. 22:14 What is that passage of Daniel 12 22:17 teaching us to expect? 22:19 >>Shawn: Yeah, big topic, but here it is. 22:21 It's Daniel 12, verse 1. 22:23 "At that time shall arise Michael." 22:25 If we had an extra hour, we could study 22:27 that figure there as well, 22:29 but, "At that time shall arise Michael, 22:31 "the great prince who has charge of your people. 22:35 "And there shall be a time of trouble, 22:38 "such as never has been 22:40 "since there was a nation [until] that time. 22:42 But at that time your people shall be delivered"-- 22:45 see, again, shows the truth 22:47 about where humanity on its own course is headed, 22:49 and then here comes the hope: 22:50 "At that time your people shall be delivered, 22:52 "everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 22:54 "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth 22:57 "shall awake, some to everlasting life, 22:59 ...some to shame and everlasting contempt." 23:01 There we have, in summary form, 23:03 the two resurrections separated by a thousand years. 23:05 If you read the whole Bible, 23:06 you realize this doesn't happen at the same moment. 23:09 Again, this is why it's so important 23:10 to always read the whole thing. 23:14 "At that time your people shall be delivered, 23:15 "everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 23:17 "...Many...who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 23:19 "some to everlasting life, 23:20 "...some to shame and everlasting contempt. 23:22 "And those who are wise shall shine 23:25 "like the brightness of the sky above; 23:28 "and those who turn many to righteousness, 23:30 like the stars forever and ever." 23:32 There is so much in there that we-- 23:34 I mean, we've touched on all these themes already. 23:36 Number one, we mentioned this a moment ago: 23:39 God is going to allow wickedness to run its entire course 23:43 so there are no more lingering questions. 23:46 There's nobody saying, "If only we'd waited another year, 23:49 that would have fixed itself." 23:52 The cross, we discussed this a moment ago, 23:54 settled the entire matter for the angels. 23:58 Revelation 12 has Satan kicked out of heaven twice, 24:00 if you read it carefully. 24:01 He's thrown out at the war, but then in the book of Job, 24:04 he still shows up saying, 24:06 "Hey, I'm representing Planet Earth now. 24:08 Adam couldn't make it." 24:09 You know, that's kind of what's happening there. 24:10 At the cross, the angels say, 24:12 "All right, we are done with that. 24:14 We can see the truth of the matter." 24:16 You and I, not so much yet, not so much yet. 24:19 It's interesting, years ago, Charles Spurgeon said, 24:22 "I can't preach the cross without hearing people 24:27 quietly crying in the congregation." 24:31 And I thought, "I still see that once in a while, 24:33 but he said that happened all the time." 24:36 And I think that the absolute onslaught 24:40 of our entertainment industry 24:42 has numbed us to some things. 24:45 And, you know, people say, 24:47 "Well, why is television so evil so often?" 24:49 "Oh, the devil just wants you to do bad things." 24:51 I think there's more to it than that. 24:52 If you can flood the airwaves, if I can get used 24:56 to a steady diet of violence-- and that's what it is. 24:58 Let's be honest. We criticize the Romans. 24:59 They went to the theater 25:01 and watched people stab each other? 25:02 Yeah, because they didn't have a special effects department, 25:05 but you and I are doing exactly the same thing. 25:07 We have exactly the same appetite, right? 25:10 And so, after a diet of violence 25:14 and we become numb to wickedness, 25:16 even the story of the cross might not hit us 25:18 like it hit somebody back in the 1800s. 25:21 And we downplay sin and we downplay sin 25:24 and we downplay sin, and God says, 25:25 "I'm going to let it run its whole course 25:27 "till you get to the point 25:29 "where there's no denying what you've done 25:32 and why it cost the life of my Son." 25:34 >>Eric: And that's powerful. 25:36 I want to ask one more question. We don't have too much time. 25:38 We have very little time to address it, 25:40 but there is a discussion question on Friday 25:42 that I wanted to ask you personally. 25:44 What kinds of things disturb your peace of mind? 25:47 >>Shawn: Coming on TV, really. 25:49 No. (laughs) No, honestly, I'm weird this way, 25:53 and maybe it's a quirk. 25:56 Small things set me off. 25:58 I tend to be really calm in a major catastrophe. 26:00 If you and I are in a car wreck 26:02 and I have to walk down the highway 26:03 and find Eric's arm, I'm pretty calm. 26:06 But I can't make my Ring doorbell work, 26:09 I'm awake at 2 in the morning, like, anxious about it. 26:12 I have constant insomnia. 26:14 I'm obsessing about things all night. 26:17 There's the honest truth. 26:19 But I'm starting to learn-- it's been decades-- 26:23 that if you leave it with God, leave the answer with God, 26:27 I start to actually let go of stuff. 26:29 It's like, well, He's big enough to handle my sin. 26:31 I bet He's big enough to get me through to my casket. 26:34 There's the number one concern. 26:36 Like, when I get old, am I gonna be in a trailer eating cat food, 26:39 or am I gonna be okay? 26:41 And God says, "Don't you believe I've got your back?" 26:44 So I worry just like everybody else. 26:45 Preachers worry, too. 26:46 We've got the same anxieties, and we're all learning together. 26:50 You know, Jesus talks about, 26:52 "You have enough to worry about today. 26:53 Leave it, the rest, to me." 26:56 And I'm learning to do that. 26:57 I'm learning to say, "All right, just today, then, Lord? 27:01 All right, just today." 27:02 And leave Him with the future. 27:04 I think that's one of the messages of prophecy, too. 27:06 I don't have to obsess about what's coming. 27:08 Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, "Live today. 27:11 I got the rest." 27:12 And then when tomorrow comes, I'll live tomorrow. 27:14 And the day after, I'll live in the present 27:16 and trust God with the future. 27:18 >>Eric: And that's something that we can-- 27:20 in fact, we need to do-- 27:21 not just can, not just should, 27:23 but need to trust Him with the future 27:25 because He has the future in the palm of His hand. 27:27 So we can live with that kind of encouragement. 27:30 We're going to continue; we've got one more lesson, 27:31 one more week left as we look 27:33 at how to study Bible prophecy. 27:35 We're going to find more encouragement, 27:37 more strength when we get together again next week. 27:39 We invite you to join us. 27:40 We'll see you again next time here on "Sabbath School," 27:42 brought to you by It Is Written. 27:44 ♪♪♪ 28:24 ♪♪♪ 28:26 [Captions by Aberdeen Captioning www.aberdeen.io] |
Revised 2025-06-11