The Story Is Not Over

Well good morning again. It’s great to be here with you. If you have a Bible go ahead and open to Daniel chapter 12. That’s where we’re gonna be today. If haven’t met and you came in after announcements then let me introduce myself, my name is Chase. I serve as the Lead Pastor here. And I’m excited to open up God’s word with you this morning.

Can we give a warm welcome to any first time guests we have this morning. We’re gald you’re here. And for our elementary students in service with us for this whole summer.

Two quick announcements and then we’ll dive into the Word.

- Next Sunday is the start of Missions Month.

o Joint service, joint worship in different languages, outdoor but under tent

o Potluck after

- Kids in service during month of August – something we’ve always done.

o Way to honor our Corners Kids workers with rest

o Way to worship together as families

o Promotion Sunday will be September 7

12 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above;[a] and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. 6 And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream,[b] “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. 8 I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” 9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

PRAY

Well this morning we are concluding our summer series through The Nicene Creed. (pause) As a church, we dedicated the months of June and July to examining this ancient document not just because this year is the 1700th anniversary of its inception, but because the Creed articulates deep thruths that are rooted in scripture that we have to understand if we’re calling ourselves Christians.

Just as a review, 1700 years ago there was a guy named Arius, and he was going around trying to convince everyone that Jesus wasn’t fully God. That he was like God, but that God the Father created God the Son. (pause) And his teachings started to get some traction, which created some division...and there were other guys like the African Bishop Athanatius, like the man we call today Saint Nicholas who were like nah...your wrong...Jesus is, and was, and always has been just as much God as God the Father and God the Spirt.

And so, the Emperor Constatne in the year 325 AD called this Council together in what’s now Modern Day Turkey called The Council of Nicaea where all these leaders in the church from around the known world came together to examine what does the Bible say about this debate. Is Jesus fully 100% God...no beginning...just as much God as the Father...or was the Son created later. Right, so this was their objective to say what does the Bible say...they weren’t just like what do we want to believe...or what makes sense to us...but what does the Bible say.

And out of this council came this document called the Nicene Creed...a statement of faith that many churches recite on a weekly basis, some like ours just from time to time, but a statement that unites us across cultures, and across centuries with the Global church.

The Creed, as we’ve seen, is broken down into four statements about what We believe. It starts with God the Father, and then the longest section is on Jesus. And you might remember, when we looked at the section on Jesus, I said there’s two really important statements about Jesus that are hard to understand, but if we remember nothing else about the creed to remember that it tells us that Jesus is begotten not made. Everybody say “begotten not made.”

Right, he wasn’t made, but the bible tells us he’s God’s only “begotten son.” How’s that work? I don’t know. It’s a mystery we’ll never understand on this side of heaven, but that articulation is helpful for keeping us in the boundries of orthodoxy...he’s “begotten not made.”

So the Creed helps us there, and it also tells us that Jesus is of the “same essense as the father”...everybody say “Same essense.” Some people say “Same substance”....the version we read says “Same being...” but it’s getting at the point that what makes God the Father God....Jesus as the same exact Godness if you will. Again, we can’t wrap our finite minds around it. But you remember Jesus is begotten not made, and he’s of the same essense or being as God the Father...you’re not only on your way to grasping the root of what was being addressed at Nicea, but your on your way to understanding the nature of Jesus at least as best as we can.

Next the Creed talks briefly about the Holy Spirit, and then this final “We Believe” clause addresses the Chruch and the Life to come.

And let me say real quick, I hope this series has been an encouragement to you in that this hasn’t just been a history lesson...or that you haven’t seen this as just deep theology that has no real application to your life. Because each of these things here...what we believe about them is what separate’s us as Christians from every other belief system in the world.

There’s room for disagreement within our faith. Right, how exactly does the Spirit work today with regards to spiritual gifts...what is the method of baptism we’re supposed to use in the church today. How exactly should we celebrate the birth of Jesus...right, Christians accros the world and throughout the ages have had disagreements about those things, and that’s fine....but when it comes to understanding the nature and work of Jesus, there’s very little room for disagreement within orthodoxy.

Right, if you I think Jesus had long hair, and you think he had a fade, Ima gonna think you’re wrong, but we can still be brothers and sisters in Christ. But if you think Jesus was just a man and didn’t really rise from the dead...suddenly that’s a major disagreement where we can’t just agree to disagree because now you’re outside the bounds of orthodoxy, right?

And so...these issuses addressed by the Creed, they are important...and while we can’t understand them all entirely, they help us...or remind us....of the boundaries of our faith.

Well this morning, we’re gonna look at the final sentence of the Creed, and it’s the part that has to deal with the life to come. Here it is, let’s actually read this out loud together. “...And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

Some translations of the Creed say “hope for...” some say “look forward to...” But here’s what what I want you to know...most of us having grown up in or around a Christian culture...this isn’t shocking to most people. Like....we don’t read this and think...wait what...thats crazy.

And that’s because the belief in the resurrection...it’s a Christian belief. But catch this...even when this Creed was written...and definitely when the Bible was written...this claim would have been wild! Like people believed in an afterlife. That’s not a uniquely Christian belief.

But the belief that our bodies will physically resurrect...that would be absured to most people. And even today...we don’t always stop to really think about what this means. “The life to come...” we like that part. But the resurrection...of our bodies? That’s what the Bible teaches! Listen to this quote from Matt Perriman who’s an author for DesiringGod.com. He says.

The Christian belief is that our bodies will be raised not spiritually or ethereally, but physically and materially. Our souls will be reunited with our transformed physical bodies, brought back to life from the dead. Scripture teaches this in many ways.

This is what the apostles were teaching and people were like that’s crazy! I mean look at this verse in Acts...this is when the Apostle Paul is preaching at Mars Hill...he’s giving this powerful sermon and look what it says: 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” Some people were like no this is to weird.

But brothers and sisters, what I want you to know this morning is that the belief that we will be resurrected physically is not just a matter of opinion...it’s just as foundational to our faith as the other beliefs that we’ve looked at that are stated in the Creed. Okay, let me just show you three verses that support this and then we’ll turn back to Daniel.

Romans 8 verse 11. Paul says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Okay, that really spells it out right there...not only will our spirits enter into the new life...but life will be given to our mortal bodies...and Paul goes on in this chapter to talk about "the redemption of our bodies" (v. 23). In other words our one day are going to be renewed, revitalized, and glorified.

A couple more...Philippians 3. Paul writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

So don’t raise your hand...but anybody wake up any morning this week with some new ache or pain? Every person in here over like 26 can probably relate. Right? I saw something this week that said when you do legs at the gym in your 20’s your sore the next day. When you do legs in your 30’s you contemplate ever doing them again. And in your 40’s you contemplate calling 911 to be airlifted out of the place.

Aging is hard, right? But what this means is that if you’re citizenship is in heaven...which means if you’re a Christian...than this means that your body with all it’s aches...it’s pains...it’s sickness, it’s problems whatever they may be...will be transformed and our lowly bodies...will be like his...like Jesus’ glorious body!

What exactly does that mean? I don’t know. Some theologians throughout church history have looked at moments in Jesus’ post resurrection appearances where it seemed like he could walk through walls or even teleport...or how he ascended after his resurrection and said you know in heaven we’ll be able to fly, we’ll be able to teleport, and walk through walls. Is that true? I have no idea. And neither do they! It sounds awesome. And I hope it’s true. But it’s not a main or a plane thing in scripture so we can’t take a hard stance on that...and there’s room for disagreement there.

But where we have to agree is that our body will be resurrected and glorified!

One more verse here. From Thessalonians. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

Again, showing that our hope in a future resurrection is rooted in our belief in Jesus’ resurrection. We already talked about in past weeks that a belief in the physical and literal resurrection of Jesus is essential and crucial to the faith...well that belief is tied to the belief in our future resurrection as well.

So when we’ve established that...when we know there’s a resurrection coming and that God will make all things new...and we think about heaven and the hope we have that we’re headed there...here’s the inevitable question...how’s all this gonna play out. When is it gonna happen?

As a pastor I get asked a lot of questions related to the bible of course...and one of...if not the most common queston I get asked has to do with current events and the timing of the end. Like when we watch the news and see the events unplaying nationally and globally...with the conflicts in Israel and Iran, and Russia and Ukraine, and all the natural disasters we see everywhere...like we’re looking forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life to come...well are we almost there? That’s a question on a lot of people’s minds right now. And it's a good question to ask.

And as Christians living in the age of the New Testament, our tendency is to jump to the book of Revelation, right? And look at what it says about the end. And that’s great...we as a church family worked through the book of Revelation last year. And we looked at the prophesies and chapters about the beasts and the tribulation, and the antichrist and all that...and there’s so much that we can learn there.

But I think one of the most helpful books for focusing on the end, and how we should look forward to this resurrection and life to come, is the book of Daniel.

Now, with about half our time already gone, we’re not going to dive deep into this book...this was actually the first book we as a church studied back in 2020...the first series we did as a church, but here’s what I want to do with the rest of our time...I want to look quickly at three lessons we can learn from Daniel, specifically the last chapter in the book of Daniel, which we read...and then what it means for us today. Okay, and we’ll go quickly through this don’t worry.

THREE LESSONS FROM DANIEL ABOUT THE END

Here’s the first lesson. God has a plan for how everything will end. (repeat)

Okay, so the book of Daniel is divided into two halves. The first six chapters are many of the stories we learn about in Sunday school. Daniel and the Lions Den, Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego. All of those where if you grew up in church you’ve heard those stories...if you didn’t that’s okay. But there’s all these great stories, and its very...kid friendly If you will..well kind of Nebuchadnezzar tells people he’s gonna turn people into a pile of limps if they can’t interpret his dream...they usually leave that out in Sunday school...and people get burned alive while throwing people in a furnace..so maybe not...but then you come to Daniel 7 through 11 and all of a sudden it feels like you’re reading the book of Revelation. Theirs beasts, and animals with multiple heads and numbers and all sorts of prophesies that just leave your head spinning. And We’re not gonna get into really any of that this morning. But the biggest thing to take away from these hard to explain chapters, and even those in the book of Revelation, or Matthew or any prophetic books or passages in the bible is that God has a plan for how everything will end.

Check out this verse in the book of Isaiah. Okay, this whole chapter is amazing. God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah and comparing himself to the idols of Babylon, and he’s like...look all these other idols are nothing. In fact, he even says at the start of the chapter, listen the Babylonian idols – they have to get caried around...like the idols are basically in captivity! Like Babylon thinks they’re all big and bad and God’s like...no your idols are nothing! And then he says this in verse 9 and 10.

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Okay, listen, I know this seems basic, and it can be easy for us to be like...okay I get it, but I want to know the exact details. I want to know how it’s gonna end so I can watch the news and track the movements and...you know...we want to be able to make sense of the brokness of the world, and of wars and all that...but this has to be our starting point!! That God is in control, and that he knows the end of everything from the beginning!

And this isn’t just talking about end times, but in our lives! Like....if we believe this verse...that that means absolutely nothing catches God off guard! (pause) If you lose your job...if you get a bad report from a doctor...if you lose a loved one...God is still in control.

See...i’ve used this picture before...but so many people think this is how the world operates. That God and devil are fighting for control, and sometimes the devil wins and...you know a child dies, or a war breaks out...but sometimes God wins and theres a miraculous healing or someone gets saved...but then someone walked away from faith or a marriage falls apart and the devil one that one...but then....you know and its goes back and forth.

But listen, either God is in control of all or he’s not in control at all!

And understanding,and believing, and fully resting in the fact that God has a plan, that he knows the end from the beginning and that he knows how all things will end, will help us understand and rest in the fact that God’s plan involves righteous judgment.

Turn back to Daniel 12. Daniel 12 follows off the heels of Daniel chapter 11...that’s the deep knowledge you came to church for, right....but Daniel 11 is this super detailed prophesy about the kings in the north and the south, and just this incredibly detailed prophesy...so detailed that biblical skeptics will say there’s no way this was written before these events took place because it’s so detailed. But that’s for another sermon. Look at chapter 12.

12 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.

You say okay here we go...Michael is an archangel, so now we’re talking about heavenly beings..but check this out...

And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above;[a] and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

What’s this saying, well lets look closely at verse 2, and then we’ll look at the rest of the context. Look at verse 2 here on the screen. “And who sleep in the dust...so it’s talking about those who died...shall awake. Okay...makes sense. The dead will rise. But check this out. Some to everlasting life. Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Okay, so this means there are two outcomes. (pause) Only two. And both are everlasting!

See catch this...what should bring joy and hope to our hearts if we’re in Christ...should bring fear and trepidation in the heart of the unbeliever, because what this is saying...is that if the bible is to be trusted...the resurrection of the dead includes a warm welcome into the eternal, heavenly family of God, but also condemnation and eternal damnation for those who are not in Christ! Because those who have not put their faith in Christ are on the righteous receiving end of God’s judgement. Listen, I want to talk about heaven....I want to talk about Revelation 21 and the fact that every tear will be wiped away, and that there will be no more death, and the scene of every tribe and nation an tonged bowing before the throne...that’s good news, right? But listen it’s not universal! What is universal is that there are only two outcomes.

So I have to ask...if you were to die, today...which one of these groups would you be in?

Can you say, like Paul in the New Testament as he’s actually quoting Hosea in the Old Testament, “O Death, where is your sting,” because you know that while yes, death is sad...yes death brings tears, and we feel the pain...we know that pain isn’t the end of the story if we’re in Christ, and if our loved ones are in Christ because we while we may sleep in the dirt, one day we’ll be raised to everlasting life! Can we say that with confidence.

Because if not, brothers and sisters...all you have to do to have this assurance is to recognize your need for a savior...to say my sin...even the smallest is enough to put me in this other camp... I deserve God’s judgment. I deserve this everlasting contempt...but Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross covers my shame! And so I want to live for him and make him the Lord of my life!

See, if you put your trust in him...then when you die, you’ll be raised to new life! And if not...you’ll still be raised...but to everlasting condemnation and punishment! That’s it! Two paths...heaven...or hell.

But what about the other surrounding verses. Right, verse 1’s talking about Michael, and time of hardship, and all that...when’s all that gonna happen, and how’s it gonna happen.

Well, when we went through the book of Revelation last year, I said there’s a lot of views – within orthodox Christianity on all of this, right...and so there’s room for disagreement amongst brothers and sisters within even the same church family...what matters, however, is that your beliefs on the end...are rooted in scripture, and not just...because it seems right to me...or because another view seems weird. Scripture is our guide, right?

So when I read, Daniel, Revelation, Mathew...the Old Testament prophetic books all of that, here’s the camp I land in...I want to show you the view I hold, and then I’ll show you what’s most important that we all need to hold.

Alright...first...remember, last week, I talked a little bit about the difference between the local and universal church...right, the local church is this in here...and all the local assemeblys that gather regularly across the world, each one is a local church...but all together we make up the universal church. And so here’s the definition that I gave for the universal church last week....I said, the universal church consists of “all believers in Jesus regardless of time and location during the Church Age.” Okay so the church age...and I said last week, the church age began when? Pentecost!

Well, the church age, I believe will go all the way until the rapture of the church. What’s that, it’s when God will “snatch up”...that’s what the word rapture means...the Greek word harpadzo...God will snatch away his church. What does that look like? Will people vanish from their clothes, will we ascend into the sky, like Jesus did or like some movies make it seem like? I don’t know. But I believe that this event will usher in the end of the “the church age.”

And after that, will come a time of tribulation on the earth. I take it to be a literal 7 year period, and like the first verse of Daniel 12 says, this will be the worst period in the history of the earth up till this point! It’s during this period that the antichrist will come to power.

So... people will ask me all the time...do you think this person’s the antichrist or that person....I don’t plan on being here when the antichrist is revealed! And again, this isn’t just my wishful thinking, this is after years of studying this stuff.

But then after the tribulation, I believe Jesus will return, the antichrist will be defeated, and this will usher in Jesus’ millennial kingdom on earth. And I’ve underlined millennium here, and again if you were here when we went through revelation we talked about this....this is where a lot of the division in different end times positions is centered...around the placement and exact nature of this millennial kingdom. And if you’re like what are you even talking about...you lost me back at rapture...hold on...we’re almost out of the weeds here.

But I believe after Jesus has reigned on the earth for 1000 literal years, Satan will be released, there will be a final rebellion against God, but God will squash it like it’s nothing, witch will lead to a final judgement...this is called the white throne judgment. And this will usher in the new heavens and the new earth,as all things are made new, and those whose names are found in the book of life will go to heaven forever, and those who names are not will spend eternity in hell separated from God forever.

Okay...and one last things...so when we ask the question “when” are events in Daniel 12 gonna take place...there’s a lot in just even the three verses we read just now...it talks about the tribulation in verse 1 which is down here...it talks about the radiance of the redeemed in verse 3 which is up here...and it talks about the resurrection we talked about in verse 2, which I believe is talking about this Great White Throne Judgment right here.

Okay, this is the end times view I hold. It’s called pre-millennialism. But I know some amazing godly men and women who land in a different place. And it’s fun to talk about...i love talking about it, and there’s so much more...this is just scratching the surface...there’s so much more we could talk about...but here’s the thing we have to realize...and this is the third and final point under our first heading: We don’t need to know every element of God’s plan.

We don’t have to know it all! And we can’t know it all! Because knowing every detail isn’t the point. The point is that God knows, and we should rest in the fact that he knows...and that that which is clearly spelled out should give us hope...and the rest...let’s not neglect it...but let’s not over fixate on it!

Like...going back to this chart...again, I think all of this can be derived from scripture, and I think it’s plain reading of the text, and it makes sense when you look at scripture as a whole...and while I don’t have all the answers...but there’s only three things on here that are hills I’m willing to die on....and here they are.

Jesus is coming back. There will be a day of final judgment, and my eternal hope lies in God making all things new for eternity! If you take away any of those you’ve left the realm of orthodoxy! (pause) We can talk about the rest over coffee or anytime...I’m not saying it doesn’t matter....but what matters most are these three right here!

And look at what Daniel says in chapter 12...again...this is 5 and half chapters of prophesy...just back to back to back. Like some of you might just be stressed looking at this slide...well look at what Daniel says in verse 8. I love this...Daniel says: I heard, but I did not understand.

Daniel’s like what are you talking about? This is too much. I love Daniel...all throughout the second half he’s constantly just saying he doesn’t get it or just passing out because the visions are crazy...like that would be me. He’s like I don’t get it...and he says, what shall be the outcome of these things. And look at how the Angel answers him...this is incredible...verse 9...the angel says: “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. He just says go your way. Everybody say Go Your Way. That’s the angel’s instruction! Like you would think after this God would set up a Q&A...you know....okay so what don’t you get, let me explain it all...Nope. He says go your way! And then...the final verse of Daniel...after all the prophesy...all the challenges in Daniel’s life...all of it...look at how Daniel’s remarkable story ends...verse 13. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

I think this is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. (pause) Because this...is the call of the Christian.

See, I know this isn’t a series on Daniel...we haven’t spent weeks in Daniel or read through all 12 chapters in this series....but it’s kind of crazy that this is the end of Daniel's story. We're not told how he died or when he died or where he died. Daniel's mentioned in the Book of Ezra and First Chronicles. He's mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel, and Jesus mentions them in the Book of Matthew. And interestingly enough, the prophet Daniel is also mentioned in some Islamic writing. But there's no real conclusion to his story. It just kind of comes to an abrupt conclusion. Well, I think the abrupt ending of this book actually serves as an instruction for us the readers!

Because follow me...while we can engage in talks about end times and we can watch the news and get our prophesy charts out and try and figure out what’s going on and we can debate this and debate that, our main focus in this life is to be spurred on not by knowing exactly how things will play out, but by knowing that they will play out in perfect alignment to God’s sovereign plan!

It’s that hope...the hope that we have in the future return of Jesus...the hope in the fact that in the end death will be defeated...our hope in the fact that Jesus will return and that Jesus will reign and that when he comes back, every knee will bow before him, it’s in light of that hope...that we’re looking forward to the resurrection of that dead and the lift to come... that should spure us on to live as committed followers of Jesus and to finish well, as we just go our way...just like Daniel was told to!

See life is not just about the mountains and valleys, right? Like most of life isn’t spent just in the low moments or just the high’s, right? Like when we’re in the valley it might feel like it is...but most of the time we’re somewhere in between.

Like...let me give what might be one of the worst sermon illustrations of all time. Okay, like I almost deleted this this morning, and this might flop, or it will help. I don’t know. Let’s see. Anybody recognize this?

This is a screen shot from an Instagram account where a guy is eliminating US counties every day.

The Wheel spins and then a county get eliminated.

Now, why am I mentioning this…because most days nothing exciting happens. Most days it’s like middle of nowhere county in Idaho. But every once in a while it’s a big one. Like LA or Nashville or something and Brock and I will call each other and we’re like yo Detroit got hit!

And we’re rooting for Summit and Cuyahoga and when those get knocked out we;’ll be sad.

But most days it’s just ordinary. Sometimes boring even. And I think that’s like our life…most days nothing really memorable happens. But sometimes there’s big moments…sometimes there’s high points…sometimes there’s low points. Life is lived between the laughs and tears…and when we wake up…we might have a plan…we might think we know how it’s gonna go…but like we have no control over the wheel…we have no idea ultimately how life is gonna go! Like tragedy has struck in the lives of many who woke up with the happiest plans for the day, right?

But listen…what gets us thorough the low points of life and allows us to to truly ahve the most fulfilling joy in the high points…is knowing that unlike the account that’s randomly eliminating counties…our life isn’t dictated by random chance!

And by knowing how to live in the ordinary…that’s how we go about our way.

So what’s that look like?

- Worship

o Henderson quote

- Urgency

o Dakota

o Do you know you’ll have these rewards.

Well that’s the Creed. We’re gonna stand and repeat it in just a second, and then we’ll sing one final song together.