Participants: James Rafferty & Ty Gibson
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB00013A
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00:21 Hello friends and welcome to
00:23 Books of the Book. 00:24 We are continuing our study 00:26 in the book of Daniel. 00:27 We are in Daniel Chapter 12. 00:29 My names is James Rafferty. 00:30 James, this brings us to our 00:33 final study in the book 00:34 of Daniel. 00:36 In Chapter 12 and there 00:37 is so much material here. 00:38 There is no way we are going 00:39 to be able to exhaust all 00:41 the material, there are time prophecies for example. 00:44 We really do need to direct our viewers to LBM.org so 00:51 that they can get the detailed studies and time prophecy 00:54 chart that explains the time prophecies of Daniel 00:57 Chapter 12 as well as the other time prophecies in the 00:59 book of Daniel in detail. 01:01 Having said that, let's cover as much as we can in 01:04 Daniel Chapter 12. 01:05 Well Daniel 12, verse 1 is really a continuation of 01:09 Daniel Chapter 11. 01:11 We have looked at the Chapter before it as a summation 01:16 of all of all the different prophetic visions of the book 01:19 of Daniel 2, 7 and 8 and at the same time we recognize that 01:22 this prophecy in Daniel 11 takes us all the way down to 01:25 the very end of time. 01:27 In a time when all the powers of this earth unite 01:31 economically, militarily and in the contrast when the gospel, 01:35 the good tidings, the new covenant message is being 01:38 preached to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people. 01:41 There is a time when this power establishes itself between 01:44 the seas and glorious mountain, "he comes to his end and" 01:47 "none shall help him because at that time," verse 1 of 01:50 Chapter 12, "Michael shall stand up. " 01:52 Who is Michael? 01:53 He is the great Prince which "stands for the children of" 01:56 "your people and there shall be a time of trouble such as" 01:59 "never was since there was a nation. " 02:00 Even at that same time, "at that time shall thy people be" 02:04 "delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the" 02:08 "book. " Powerful! 02:09 Well first of all let's revisit the subject of Michael. 02:12 In our study on Chapter 10 of Daniel we identified Michael and 02:17 were very careful to identify Him as the pre-incarnate 02:23 Jesus Christ, and yet to carefully point out that by 02:28 identifying Michael as Jesus, before His incarnation, 02:32 this in no way indicates that Jesus is a created being, 02:36 or one of the angelic host but rather the chief of the 02:38 Angels, the one under whose charge are all the angelic 02:42 armies of heaven. 02:44 We know that Michael is Jesus for a number of reasons. 02:48 Among them Michael, the name means one who is like God. 02:55 Jesus when He came to this world was identified as One 02:59 who is like God. 03:01 He is the perfect radiant, beautiful Revelation of the 03:04 character of the Father. 03:06 He has brought that Revelation into our world in His 03:10 person, in His sacrifice on the cross, in His resurrection, 03:13 His ascension to the throne of heaven, 03:16 and His mediation in the heavenly sanctuary. 03:18 The entire ministry of Jesus communicates to us the 03:22 character of God, Jesus is Michael for that reason. 03:26 But also we know that Michael is Jesus because He is 03:30 identified throughout the book of Daniel as the Prince 03:33 of the host, the Prince of the covenant I should say. 03:37 Prince of the people of Israel. 03:40 And Messiah the Prince, and right here the great Prince 03:43 which stands for the children of Your people. 03:45 We know that is pointing to our Savior, our Messiah 03:49 Jesus Christ and we see Him standing up. 03:52 Which means that He is now going to take His place, 03:55 His position as ruler of the kingdoms of this world. 03:59 The kingdoms of this world are going to fall, as it has 04:01 been depicted in the image of Daniel 2. 04:04 Michael is going to stand up and these kingdoms are going 04:07 to become God's kingdom. 04:09 They are going to again be reestablished and God's throne 04:13 is going to be established upon this earth. 04:14 It will be reestablished under the leadership, 04:16 the headship of Jesus Christ. 04:18 Anything and everything that happens on this earth 04:21 from this time on is going to be fully controlled 04:24 by Jesus Christ. 04:25 This is referring back to Chapter 7 where it says that the 04:29 kingdom will be delivered into the hands of Jesus, the Son 04:33 of man, in Chapter 7. 04:35 The Saints of the most high God will participate in that 04:39 victory and will become the processors of the kingdom of 04:43 God with Jesus. 04:45 Revelation 3 says we will sit on thrones with Him, we will 04:47 rule with Him, so we have this beautiful picture of the 04:52 establishment of God's kingdom. 04:53 We have in the context of Daniel Chapter 12 a happy ending. 04:58 The happy ending to intense struggle that has taken place 05:00 over the years, over the centuries and all the way down 05:04 to the time at the end. 05:05 The time in which we live, time future to our time. 05:08 We do not know how much future it is to our time. 05:10 A time when the struggles between a religious liberty and 05:14 the trust and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ is 05:17 contrasted with another gospel, another Jesus, another 05:22 message and that battle takes us all the way down to the 05:25 time Michael stands up to deliver us. 05:27 Before the happy ending, 05:28 verse 1 of Daniel 12 says, 05:30 the point at which Michael 05:33 stands up is a time in history 05:35 when there is a time of trouble such as never was since 05:39 there was a nation. 05:41 That sounds like a pretty serious time in history. 05:44 It is an intense time and I 05:47 do not think there is a person 05:48 in the world today who would 05:49 not recognize that we are 05:50 heading to that kind of time. 05:52 We are heading to a time of trouble such as never was. 05:54 It's going to get worse before it gets better according 05:57 to Matthew Chapter 24, it's going to be like a woman 05:59 travailing in pain to give birth. 06:02 We are going to see it intensify and become more frequent, 06:06 intense with natural disasters, with wars and rumors of 06:08 wars, we are going to see the leaders, the presidents, 06:11 the rulers of this world seeking to work together more and 06:15 more to try to alleviate in some way the economic downfall 06:20 and all the different factions that are developing and 06:24 crises that are developing all over the world. 06:26 We are going to see everything they try to do utterly fail in 06:29 the end and the only solution, the only bomb, the only hope 06:32 for us is to put our complete trust in the kingdom and power 06:35 of Jesus Christ. 06:37 James this time of trouble such as never was since there 06:40 has been a nation referred to in Daniel Chapter 12 is 06:44 brought to view in Matthew Chapter 24, that you were just 06:47 quoting from. 06:48 I want to point out that as these signs of the times, 06:52 as we often referred to them in Matthew 24, unfold it says 06:57 there is going to be war, kingdom will rise against 07:00 kingdom, nation against nation. 07:01 It says there's going to be famine and pestilence in 07:04 verse 7, it says there's going to be natural disasters, 07:07 earthquakes increasing obviously because verse 8 says 07:11 that this is the beginning of sorrows, or birth pains, which 07:15 the original language indicates that this is like 07:19 a woman who has gone into labor. 07:22 The symbolism is that her contractions become more and 07:26 more intense and more and more frequent. 07:28 So Jesus is telling us that there have been these things 07:32 all through history, wars and rumors of wars and 07:35 pestilence and earthquakes etc.. 07:37 All of this stuff has been going on throughout human 07:39 history but it is going to become more intense, more 07:42 frequent as we near the end of time. 07:44 Then Jesus says in verse 9, "they will deliver you up to" 07:48 "tribulation," that is to trouble. 07:50 "They will kill you and you will be hated by all nations" 07:54 "for my namesake. " 07:56 I think that it is interesting that Jesus says you will 07:59 be hated by all nations. 08:01 It sounds there are like there is going to be an alliance 08:05 between nations. 08:06 We see all the present situation in the world, 08:10 we see history moving toward a unification of 08:15 powers in the world. 08:17 A unification economically first and foremost. 08:21 Unification ultimately it seems is going to involve 08:26 military and maybe legislative unity, this is a uniting 08:34 of powers to persecute God's people at the end of time. 08:37 Hated of all nations for My namesake. 08:41 Absolutely, in fact you look at this and there is another 08:44 word that pops out at you and that is the word name. 08:46 For His namesake, the name, the character of God. 08:50 The person of God, the person of Jesus Christ. 08:52 You look at another prophecy that I think is really 08:55 interesting and it is found in Malachi. 08:57 This one really parallels what we are reading here in 09:01 Daniel Chapter 12, because Daniel 12 verse 1 closes with 09:06 this statement. 09:07 It says, "and at that time your people will be delivered" 09:10 "everyone that is found written in the book. " 09:12 In what book? 09:14 Will look at Malachi Chapter 3 in verse 16. 09:17 It says here, "then they that fear the Lord spoke often" 09:23 "one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it," 09:26 "in a book of remembrance was written before him for them" 09:30 "that feared the Lord and thought upon his name. " 09:35 "They shall be mine said the Lord of hosts in that day" 09:38 "when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man" 09:40 "spares his own son that serves him. " 09:43 Here is the people who were serving God, a people who are 09:46 meeting together often and speaking together often about 09:50 the Lord and our thinking upon the name, 09:53 and the character of God. 09:55 These people are written in a book, they are the ones that 09:58 are found written in this book and therefore will be 10:01 delivered in this time of trouble such as never was. 10:04 So what this is telling us Ty, is that the key element, 10:08 the most important aspect of preparation for what is ahead, 10:12 the crises that we are in and are moving deeper 10:15 and deeper into, is spiritual preparation. 10:19 It is spending time in the word of God and focusing on 10:22 the Lord of the word of God, on Jesus Christ our Savior. 10:26 Becoming more like Him in character. 10:28 Having His name written in our foreheads. 10:30 That is what is going to carry us through this time of 10:32 trouble such as never was. 10:34 It is logical and it makes sense to prepare ourselves for 10:40 this end time crisis, economically. 10:43 It would be very wise for us to strategically put ourselves in 10:49 a position where during this time of trouble 10:52 we are not indebted heavily so we are not a part of it. 10:56 We are not drastically affected by the economic troubles 11:01 that are going to come. 11:02 But that is not really what Bible prophecy is pointing 11:04 us to, I mean that is just wisdom, but not what is 11:07 spoken of here. 11:08 Daniels prophecy is telling us that we need to be 11:11 absolutely certain that our names are written in 11:13 the Book of Life. 11:15 We need to be partakers of the grace of God and put ourselves 11:20 in Christ by faith, and be certain that eternity is ours 11:26 by God's grace through faith. 11:29 That is what is going to carry us through this time of 11:32 trouble into eternity future. 11:34 Absolutely, when you look back on the 11:35 life of God's people. 11:37 When you look back on the life 11:38 of His followers of not only 11:40 the New Testament followers and 11:42 believers, but the Old Testament 11:44 followers and believers. 11:45 Over and over again they 11:46 went through trials and 11:47 persecutions and mockings and misunderstandings. 11:50 They lost their goods and had no certain place to dwell. 11:54 You look at the early church, and look at Paul, he was in 11:57 prison, he was beaten, he was jailed, he was stoned, 12:00 and he was shipped wrecked. 12:01 But he was able to endure all of that, Why? 12:04 Because he had his focus on Jesus. 12:06 He knew nothing among the people but Jesus Christ 12:09 and Him crucified. 12:10 He was embedded and saturated in the gospel of Jesus Christ 12:14 and that is what God is calling us to friends. 12:16 God is calling us to put our entire focus, our entire trust 12:19 in Jesus Christ and His righteousness. 12:22 To trust in Him with everything we have. 12:24 To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness 12:27 and all these other things will be added unto us. 12:30 This is why we see this specific warning, 12:35 this specific directive given to us in the context of 12:38 Michael standing up. 12:40 Only those who are found written in the book and parallel 12:42 that with Malachi Chapter 3. 12:44 Those who think upon and focus upon the name and character 12:47 of Jesus Christ. 12:48 It is interesting to note James that when we come to 12:51 Chapter 12 of Daniel through verse 3, this is a 12:55 continuation of Daniel's vision in Chapter 11. 12:59 Everything that we have been told so far up to verse 3 is 13:02 Daniel in vision receiving instruction, words directly 13:06 from the angel, Gabriel. 13:08 This means friends that we need to give special attention 13:12 to these words and point by point unpack what it is that 13:16 Gabriel has been instructing Daniel. 13:19 And through Daniel to us who live at the time when this 13:23 vision is to be fulfilled. 13:25 So when we come back after the break, we are going to 13:27 continue our study of Daniel Chapter 12. |
Revised 2014-12-17