Tribulation and Resurrection
Notes
Transcript
Tribulation and Resurrection
Daniel 12:1-3 sermon notes
I. Intro: A Good Resurrection
“I’m not suffering from anything a good resurrection can’t fix.” That’s a line I
picked up from an Australian Old Testament Hebrew scholar by the name of
Francis Andersen, who died in 2020 at the age of 94. At least 15 years before
his death, that statement is how he had begun answering the question, “How
are you doing?” “I’m not suffering from anything a good resurrection can’t
fix.”
Can I invite you, this morning, to think about your own suffering? Make a
mental list of your bodily ailments, your relational struggles, your work
frustrations, your grieving losses, your anxieties, your anger about the culture.
Maybe you’re over some of those things; maybe you’re healthier than you’ve
ever been; maybe your relationships are strong right now. Add to your list
hurts of the past, illnesses of the past; add to your list fears about the future:
the scary cancer diagnosis, the loss of a beloved spouse, the deterioration of
aging. Now, can you say with Dr. Andersen, “I’m not suffering from anything
a good resurrection can’t fix”?
Think about the resurrection promised to us in Scripture. Can you see how
that resurrection to come, that glorious guarantee will solve all of your
problems, will fix all that’s broken and all that’s ever been broken in your
life? If you have trouble thinking about your future resurrection in concrete
terms, perhaps a summary review is in order.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul seems dumbfounded that there could be people in
the church of Corinth believing and teaching that there would be no
resurrection to come, and he provides some instruction to shape our
understanding of what the resurrection will be like. He uses analogies and
comparisons. He uses the image of a seed that produces a plant. Our bodies
right now are like a seed; our resurrected bodies are like the plant that grew
from that seed. The plant looks a lot different and functions a lot differently
than the seed, yet it was the seed that became the plant!
We pick up his explanation in verses 42-44 of 1 Corinthians: “42 So it is with
the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is
imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a
spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” Paul
characterizes our bodies right now as perishable (they wear out and die),
dishonorable (they fail in ways that can embarrass us), and weak (they start
weak, and they end weak). By contrast, our resurrected body will be
imperishable (unable to wear out and die), glorious (unable to fail and bring
shame), and powerful (able to do things that we probably can’t even imagine).
But, in verse 44, Paul’s contrast is harder for us to understand and
conceptualize. He speaks of our current bodies as “natural” and our
resurrected bodies as “spiritual.” We have a tendency to use the word
“spiritual” as an opposite to “physical.” But that is definitely NOT what Paul
means. When you read the word “spiritual” in your Bible in Paul’s letters,
almost every time Paul certainly means something associated with the Holy
Spirit, and that may or may not include some physical reality. Paul’s “spiritual
body” here doesn’t mean a nonphysical body. Theologian Wayne Grudem is
helpful here; he explains, “Such a body is not at all ‘nonphysical,’ but it is a
physical body raised to the degree of perfection for which God originally
intended it.” Grudem paraphrases verse 44 like this: “It is sown a natural body
subject to the characteristics and desires of this age, and governed by its own
sinful will, but it is raised a spiritual body, completely subject to the will of
the Holy Spirit and responsive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.” Now, I think
Paul means more than this, but certainly not less. That Paul defines our
resurrected bodies as “spiritual bodies” implies that it is the Holy Spirit
specifically who transforms our bodies into this new state in which all that we
are is totally submissive at all times and in every way to the Holy Spirit’s
continued, eternal involvement in our eternal lives.
In Philippians 3:20-21, Paul indicates that Jesus will initiate this
transformation when he returns: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it
we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 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.” This likeness to Jesus’s glorious, resurrected
body provides other information that we can use to fuel our hope. What was
Jesus’s resurrected body like? We can summarize from the four Gospel
accounts, and we can recognize points of continuity and also discontinuity.
There were ways his resurrected body was like his body before he died and
ways his resurrected body was different from his body before he died.
First, some points of continuity: his resurrected body was definitely physical;
he could be seen with human eyes and touched with human hands, and he
ingested food. He retained scars from his death; we might wonder if that is a
unique feature of Jesus’s body; his scars have a unique purpose, to
permanently mark him as the man who had been crucified for the salvation of
the world. He also had memories of life before death; he spoke to the
disciples, reminding them of conversations they had had earlier, and he knew
the Scriptures.
But there were definitely some remarkable differences. Paul described his
resurrected body as “glorious” in Philippians 3:21, and in 1 Corinthians 15:43
he speaks of believers being “raised in glory.” At bare minimum, we can
conclude that Jesus’s body was now visibly indicating his worth, that he
deserved worship. Our glorified bodies will be that splendid, as well. C.S.
Lewis famously challenged us “to remember that the dullest and most
uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw
it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” Jesus was unrecognizable
even to his closest friends, except by some revelation, and he seems to be able
to appear and disappear. This is a glimpse of what resurrection will provide
for all who trust in Jesus, the resurrected king.
This will be a good resurrection, indeed. May the Lord grant us all the grace
to remember and believe the promise of this good resurrection to come,
especially when we are confronted with suffering in all of its forms in this life.
The reason we start this morning with a reminder of the resurrection is
because Daniel 12:2 contains the clearest, most straightforward announcement
of this event in the whole Old Testament. And I am convinced that this
announcement is given right here for Daniel’s readers, ancient and modern,
for the very purpose of fixing our hope in the right place, the only place that
can really fix all that ails us, the resurrection to come. But the hope of a good
resurrection is accompanied by a warning of a bad resurrection as well. So,
let’s consider carefully the first three verses of Daniel chapter 12.
You’ll recall that these final three chapters of Daniel’s book record the final
visionary experience of the wise man Daniel, the prophet Daniel. In chapter
10 verse 1 through chapter 11 verse 1, Daniel recorded the setting of his
visionary experience, explaining how an anonymous angel revealed to him
some mysterious information about heavenly combat between angelic beings
that seems to have some bearing on the earthly events of history. Then, the
rest of chapter 11 sketched out in vague but impressive detail earthly conflicts
that would span several hundred years, starting in Daniel’s own day, during
the reign of the Persian kings, moving through the near-constant warfare
within the Greek Empire between the north and the south, with the Jews quite
literally caught in the crossfire, and then climaxing with a prophetic sketch of
events in the Roman Empire, highlighting the destruction of the Jewish
Temple in Jerusalem. At least, that is how I understand the historical
fulfillment of the angel’s prophetic words.
As these final chapters are unified, we can draw out a summary message.
What is the point of this final visionary experience, as Daniel has written it
down for us? God rules over the details of the future, even as that future
consists of “wars and rumors of wars,” great tribulation for God’s
people, and the increase of wickedness, all leading, however, to the grand
climax of God’s judgment and the salvation of the remnant in the
resurrection of the dead. The interplay of great tribulation and the
resurrection of the dead concerns us today. Follow along as I read verses 1-3
of Daniel 12.
1
“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; and those who turn
many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
First, let’s consider the rise of Michael.
II. The Rise of Michael (Dan. 12:1a)
The most unclear part of this passage is the first three words: “at that time.”
Does that mean, “after the events just described”? Does that mean, “at the
same time as the events just described”? Or does that mean, “during the
timeframe related to the events just described”? This first line of verse 1 is
interesting because it does shift our attention, for a brief moment, to an event
in heaven. And, just as quickly, our gaze is brought back down to earth! When
does Michael “arise” or “stand up to act” in relation to the events just
described? I don’t think we have enough information in this passage to be
sure.
The phrase “at that time” is very general; it can definitely refer to a time
period that started before the events just described. As an example, consider
Judges 14:4, speaking of Samson’s request for a Philistine wife: “His father
and mother did not know that it was from Yahweh, for he was seeking an
opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over
Israel.” The Philistines didn’t just begin oppressing Israel in conjunction with
Samson’s desiring a Philistine wife. No, they had been oppressing Israel
probably for about 20 years before Samson found his Philistine wife.
So, here in Daniel 12, I’m inclined to suggest that “at that time” might mean
“at an earlier period of time” before the specific event just described. And, as I
tried to demonstrate last week, since I see a tight connection between the
prophecy detailed in 11:40-45 and the prophecy of 9:26-27, I am inclined to
connect Michael’s rise with Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension. For
support, I look to the other references to Michael in Scripture. Jude 9 doesn’t
help us, as it refers to some unknown conflict between Michael and Satan
having to do with Moses’s dead body, presumably long before Daniel’s day.
But Revelation 12:7-9 could be helpful. John had just seen the vision of a
woman giving birth to the Messiah, with the threat of a hideous dragon right
outside the door. John saw the successful birth of the baby boy, and then he
saw that boy taken up to God’s throne in heaven. We looked at this passage in
detail this past Christmas, and I suggested that what John sees next, described
in verses 7-9, reveals what actually happened in heaven after Jesus the
Messiah ascended to heaven to take his rightful place on the throne at the right
hand of God.
7
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the
dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and
there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was
thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the
deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels
were thrown down with him.”
I believe Daniel 12 and Revelation 12 line up right here. Michael was given
the privilege of booting the devil out of heaven, so that he can no longer
accuse God’s people of sin in God’s courtroom. Never again! Jesus paid the
penalty of our sin, erasing the record of debt that stood against us, so that the
“big gun” of the rulers and authorities has been forever taken away. That
happened in heaven 2,000 years ago because of what happened on earth 2,000
years ago, when Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to
sit on his glorious throne.
As in Daniel 9:25-27, the Seventy Weeks prophecy, where the death of the
Messiah was connected tightly with the destruction of the temple, so here we
shouldn’t be surprised if Daniel’s final vision focuses on the destruction of the
temple, while still having reference to the death and resurrection of the
Messiah. Daniel and his immediate audience would not have been able to
have made any sense of the reference to Michael. The angel simply says
Michael will stand up, but the angel didn’t describe what he would do or why
that is important for people to know. He leaves it mysterious. I believe John’s
vision in Revelation 12 fills in what Michael would do. Yes, the rise of
Michael in heaven took place before the destruction of the temple on earth, by
some 30 years. But, if Michael’s rise in heaven connects with the death and
resurrection of Jesus on earth, then we can see the angel here merely
connecting the events of the death of the Messiah (with its heavenly
aftermath, the rise of Michael, in victory over Satan) with the destruction of
the temple. This is more cryptic and mysterious from Daniel’s vantage point
than the way Jesus connects his own impending death with the judgment and
destruction of the temple, but it is the same thing.
Thus, what comes next? The time of trouble.
III. The Time of Trouble (Dan. 12:1b)
In the next part of Daniel 12:1, we read: “And there shall be a time of trouble,
such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.” When Daniel
11:36-45 is taken to refer to the aggressive actions of the final Antichrist
figure, it is usually speculated that he will turn his animosity completely
against the Jews, after having befriended them and made a covenant with
them three and a half years earlier, revealing himself as the enemy of God and
God’s people that he always was. At the mid-point of this seven-year period,
then, Michael’s rise would take place, Satan would be, at that time, cast out of
heaven, and the period referred to as “the great tribulation” would begin. I
have already indicated several reasons I do not see this summary as fitting
what the Bible actually says.
If Michael’s rise took place in connection with Jesus’s death and resurrection,
then this “time of trouble” must begin sometime after that. I don’t think we
should take the phrase “time of trouble” to be a title for a specific period of
time, and I don’t think we should take the phrase “great tribulation” as a title
for a specific period of time. This particular phrase appears 10 times in the
Old Testament, and it always very clearly refers to a generic “hard time.” The
Hebrew word translated “trouble” is a term that has a physical reference to
pressure or stress. It is very much parallel to its Greek equivalent, usually
translated “tribulation” in our English New Testaments, which conveys the
image of being squeezed in a vice or crushed under a weight.
Often, Jeremiah 30:7 is brought into connection with Daniel 12:1. Jeremiah
had said, “Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress
for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.” It is very strange to me that this
verse gets used to support this idea of a period of tribulation at the end of
history that is supposed to be a time of suffering particularly for the Jews. The
reason it seems strange to me is because those who think that’s what Jeremiah
is announcing also believe that the church will be “saved out of” this period of
tribulation, by means of a rapture whereby God snatches the church off the
planet, so that believers will not experience the tribulation of this period. I am
not questioning the possibility of that being taught in the Bible, though you all
know I personally don’t see it that way. The strangeness is that Jeremiah 30:7
promises that the Jews will be “saved out of” this “time of distress,” but those
who believe Jeremiah is announcing a period of suffering for the Jews at the
very end of history also believe that the Jews will live through the whole
period (at least those who survive). In any case, it seems far more likely
contextually that the “time of distress” Jeremiah is describing is the exile in
Babylon, which the Jews were “saved out of” when they returned to the land
of Israel under the Persian king, Cyrus. But I digress…
The angel announces to Daniel that there will be a time of distress or trouble
or tribulation, “such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.”
I believe this describes the season you and I are living in right now, and I
believe it started either when Jesus left the planet, or in connection with the
Jewish Revolt culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and
it will not end until Jesus returns. How does one measure the severity of
suffering? Can we use the pain scale familiar from emergency room visits:
“On a scale of one to ten, how bad is your pain?” Or do we measure it by the
number of dead bodies, casualties of warfare or pandemic or so-called
“natural” disaster? More than 20 times in the Bible something is described in
these extreme terms or similar terms to indicate the greatest or worst of
something. Much of the book of Daniel was written to prepare the Jewish
people who would go through intense suffering to know what to expect and to
trust God all the way through it. Could it be that these extreme comparisons
are figures of speech meant to convey the incalculable suffering God’s people
are to expect, especially as history moves toward its final climax, without
intending to specify a time-limited sense of a specific period of time? I think
that is very likely.
But then, the angel provides a promise of deliverance for Daniel’s people.
IV. The Deliverance of Daniel’s People (Dan. 12:1c)
Look at the end of verse 1: “But at that time your people shall be delivered,
everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” There’s that “at
that time” phrase again. The angel says that tribulation is coming, but Daniel’s
people will be delivered. But then the angel narrows the definition of Daniel’s
people. We may too quickly assume that when we read, for example, in
Daniel 9 that Gabriel tells Daniel about seventy weeks being decreed for
“your people” that that means the prophecy only deals with ethnically Jewish
people. Here, in Daniel 12:1, we get a specific definition of who Daniel’s
people really are. They are “everyone whose name shall be found written in
the book.” What book? Certainly, this must be “the book of life” referred to
several times in the book of Revelation. If “Daniel’s people” are those whose
names are recorded in the book of life, then that must include the Jewish
remnant of Daniel’s own day, those who trusted the promises of the coming
Messiah in the Old Testament, and all Jews and Gentiles throughout history
who have since trusted the Messiah, Jesus, for salvation. We are Daniel’s
people!
Thus, the angel tells Daniel and all those who would later read Daniel’s book
that God’s people will suffer, many will be killed, but they will all be saved,
delivered, rescued. And, the angel says, they will be delivered “at that time”!
How will they be delivered? The only other time in the Old Testament this
exact verb for being saved appears this way is in Joel 2:32a: “And it shall
come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved.”
You may recognize those words as being quoted in the New Testament. On
that first Pentecost after the death and resurrection of the Messiah, Peter drew
from Joel’s prophecy at just this point to explain their being indwelt by the
Holy Spirit and the availability of salvation for all who would believe. This is
the time of salvation! Yes, “that time” is a time of suffering and tribulation for
God’s people, but “that time” is also the only time available for the salvation
of sinners.
Paul also would quote these words from Joel in Romans 10:13. How do you
know if your name’s in the book of life? Have you called on the name of the
Lord Jesus for salvation? Have you believed in the one who died and rose and
ascended? Have you experienced the powerful work of the Holy Spirit
transforming your life as you trust Jesus? That’s the only evidence we’re
offered in the Scriptures for how you can know if your name has been
recorded in the book of life! Trust him now! The alternative is not pretty;
Revelation 20:15 makes it clear: “And if anyone’s name was not found written
in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” For God’s people, this
season of tribulation is limited. Oh, it may last your whole life; you may suffer
tribulation for 100 years in this life, if you’re a Christian that long. But even
100 years of suffering is not even a blink of an eye when compared with an
eternity of joy and pleasure and happiness in the presence of our Savior.
But the ultimate good news comes in verse 2, where we get the clearest, most
straightforward announcement of the future resurrection of the dead in the Old
Testament.
V. The Resurrection of the Dead (Dan. 12:2)
Look at verse 2 again: “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.” This is the only place where the Old Testament speaks of two
separate final experiences for two different groups of people. It is also the
only place in the Old Testament where the precise phrase “eternal life”
appears. For whatever reason, however, the angel doesn’t speak in universal
terms. He speaks of “many” who will wake up from their sleep of death. Not
having any prior biblical revelation about the nature of the future and final
resurrection, perhaps the angel condescends to human limitations and only
provides a partial picture. In any case, Jesus alludes to this verse but expands
and clarifies the picture in John 5:28-29: “28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour
is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out,
those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done
evil to the resurrection of judgment.” The angel had said “many”; Jesus
specifies “all.”
Jesus also clarifies the nature of the two groups. Those who will experience
eternal life are “those who have done good”; those who will experience
“shame and everlasting contempt,” as the angel had said, or “judgment” as
Jesus says, are “those who have done evil.” The relationship between “doing
good deeds” and eternal life is complicated and need not detain us today.
Suffice it to say that God’s grace is determinative in our salvation, enabling
our faith in Jesus and our good deeds along the way. As I like to say often,
“Our effort is necessary, but not decisive; God’s grace is decisive.” Everyone
on the planet has “done evil,” so Jesus is certainly implying that “those who
have done good” are those who have had their “evil deeds” forgiven by his
grace. Similarly, in Acts 24:15, Paul speaks to his Jewish audience about their
common hope “that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the
unjust.”
The “everlasting contempt” awaiting “those who have done evil,” those who
do not receive the forgiveness offered by Jesus, will be experienced in the lake
of fire. The word the angel uses translated “contempt” only appears in one
other verse in the Old Testament, the final verse of the book of Isaiah,
describing the aftermath of God’s final judgment: “And they shall go out and
look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their
worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an
abhorrence to all flesh.” The word translated “abhorrence” is the word the
angel uses in Daniel 12:2. But you probably also recognize the middle of this
verse from several of Jesus’s statements describing hell. This term “contempt”
or “abhorrence” here in Isaiah describes burning, rotting, and deformed
resurrected bodies after God’s final judgment. Those who don’t trust in Jesus
during their lives will be raised from the dead, but their resurrected bodies
would make us turn away in horror if we could visualize them.
As it turns out, even Jesus doesn’t tell us everything there is to know about
this final, universal resurrection of the dead. On this topic especially, the
phrase “progressive revelation” is appropriate! The angel in Daniel 12 and
Jesus himself in John 5 and Paul in Acts 24 all make it sound like this
resurrection will all happen at one time. It is only in Revelation 20 that we
finally learn that “the resurrection of life,” what John calls “the first
resurrection” in Revelation 20:5, will occur 1,000 years before “the
resurrection of judgment.”
It is common for those who believe in the rapture and resurrection of the
church prior to a seven-year tribulation period to suggest that this reference to
resurrection in Daniel 12:2, as well as Jesus’s comments in John 5, should be
limited to Old Testament saints, which would happen after the tribulation
period. Then, saints who would be martyred during the tribulation period will
also be resurrected at that time. These two groups—Old Testament saints and
so-called “Tribulation saints”—being raised from the dead is said to complete
“the first resurrection” of Revelation 20:5. For them, “the first resurrection”
includes four separate stages, at three or four separate times. “The first
resurrection” includes the resurrection of Jesus as the firstfruits, which
occurred 2,000 years ago now, the resurrection of “Church saints” before the
tribulation period begins, and also the resurrection of Old Testament saints
and “Tribulation saints” after the tribulation period ends.
This seems to me overly complicated. Jesus’s resurrection is, indeed,
presented as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” in 1 Corinthians
15:20, but in verses 22-23 Paul then adds, “For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” I see only two
stages reflected here, and I don’t see good reason to add in two or three or
even four extra “stages.” Rather, “those who belong to Christ” ultimately
includes Old Testament saints and New Testament saints, and their
resurrection will occur all at once, when the Messiah returns.
This seems to fit with what we see in Daniel 12:2 and John 5:28-29. Jesus’s
resurrection is the firstfruits which guarantees the final harvest of the
resurrection of the righteous, what John calls “the first resurrection” in
Revelation 20:5. Also, Revelation 20:5 fits with 1 Thessalonians 4:16, which
says, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first.” Daniel’s angel implies that those who awake
“to everlasting life” are “everyone whose name shall be found written in the
book,” and, in verse 3 of Daniel 12, we’ll see how he characterizes this group
as “those who are wise.” Jesus refers to “those who have done good.” Paul
speaks of “those who belong to Christ” and “the dead in Christ.” John sees in
his vision “the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of
Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or
its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.”
These different descriptions, I believe, all describe the same group of people.
The angel in Daniel 12 provides this promise as a word of great hope for
God’s suffering people. Even though we suffer in this life, the resurrection
will be our vindication! We will be shown to be in the right, justified, for
having believed in a crucified Messiah! And God himself will be vindicated as
well, for in the resurrection of life God’s suffering people are rewarded for
their faith and their faithfulness, and in the resurrection of judgment God
executes perfect and final justice on all who rejected him or ignored him and
lived for other things during their lifetime on earth.
Then, finally, in verse 3, the angel encourages wisdom for this life by
speaking of the shining of the wise.
VI. The Shining of the Wise (Dan. 12:3)
Consider verse 3: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of
the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars
forever and ever.” The wise ones, a word used to describe Daniel in the
opening chapter of the book, are encouraged to maintain their wisdom in the
face of great tribulation in light of the promise of resurrection. But I suspect
that the “shining” described here is not only referring to the shine of our new,
glorified bodies. Since he describes the wise further as “those who turn many
to righteousness,” he seems to be speaking of what we do in this life. We lead
others to righteousness by pointing people to the Righteous One, Jesus Christ,
who offers the verdict of “righteous” to guilty sinners! I can hardly do better
than commentator J. Paul Tanner, who writes, “They are wise…because they
have set their minds on the Word of God and have learned to apply it to life’s
situations, especially in times of crisis. By their instruction they help bring
many to righteousness, i.e., they instruct them about God’s way of being
righteous and point them to Messiah Jesus in whom one is made righteous by
faith.”
The apostle Paul seems to pick up this language in Philippians 2:14-15, where
he writes, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be
blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the
world.” Paul highlights grumbling and disputing, complaining and arguing as
something that could be demonstrating our blameworthiness, our guilt.
Whining and fussing, particularly in the face of suffering, casts a shadow over
the light that God intends we shine in this world. When we are complaining or
arguing with each other, refusing to pursue unity and peace, you can be sure
that we are not looking like God’s children; we are not reflecting the wisdom
that God intends to shape our lives. Instead, we look like fools. Later in
Philippians, Paul gets specific with a couple of women, pleading with them to
agree, and he describes them as among his “fellow workers, whose names are
in the book of life” in Philippians 4:3.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives the positive instruction on what
“shining” should look like. In Matthew 5:16 we read, “In the same way, let
your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give
glory to your Father who is in heaven.” There is a tension in the Sermon on
the Mount on this point. Later in the Sermon, Jesus will say don’t pray to be
heard, don’t give to be praised, don’t fast to be seen. Motive matters. But it is
important that people see us obeying God in public. How will people see our
good works and draw the right conclusion? How will people not just see our
good works and praise us? Well, I suppose it also matters how we talk about
the good deeds we do. Our instinct might be to not talk about what we do at
all, fearing a prideful drawing-attention-to-ourselves. But we could also talk
about good things we do in such a way that points to God, gives credit to the
Lord, explains how he is the ultimate cause of the good we do. That seems to
be part of our responsibility as well, to deflect people’s attention from
ourselves, from praising us, to the true source of every bit of our goodness and
our righteousness, the Lord himself.
We could put Daniel’s point simply like this: shine now, during this life, in
your wise behavior, and you will shine later, in your glorified bodies.
VII. Conclusion: The Fifth Kingdom Has Come!
As we conclude, let’s remember that the fifth kingdom has come! Remember:
the book of Daniel depicts five kingdoms, not four. Nebuchadnezzar’s statue
depicted four human kingdoms, but then the whole thing was destroyed by a
stone that grew into a mountain. Daniel’s vision of chapter 7 depicted four
beastly kingdoms on earth, overcome by the arrival in heaven of “one like a
son of man” who was enthroned at the right hand of God and shares his rule
with the saints on earth. The fourth kingdom was the Roman Empire, and
Jesus invaded the Roman Empire with an invasion like no other in history, and
he conquered with a victory like no other in history. We are citizens of that
fifth kingdom! Jesus was forthright and direct about what his followers, his
subjects should expect, in John 16:33b: “In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The victory has been
won! And yet tribulation continues! Paul and Barnabas likewise encouraged
their churches by reminding them of the necessity that we go “through many
tribulations” before we will enter our full, resurrected experience of God’s
kingdom.
Jesus told the disciples of the great tribulation to come because they would
experience some of that. The apostle John, the final living apostle, opened the
book of Revelation, addressing real churches full of believers at the end of the
first century, and he identified himself this way in Revelation 1:9: “I, John,
your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient
endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” He said he was a partner, a
fellowshipper, a sharer in the tribulation with those churches in the Roman
province of Asia Minor. And “the tribulation” overlaps with “the kingdom”;
citizens of Jesus’s kingdom experience the tribulation, and they do it with
patient endurance. Thus, the call of the book of Daniel is the same as the call
of the book of Revelation. John makes it clear when he pauses the record of
his mind-boggling visionary experiences to address the churches directly. At
the end of Revelation 13:9, he says, “Here is a call for the endurance and faith
of the saints.” And again, in 14:12, he expands, “Here is a call for the
endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their
faith in Jesus.” Are you among the number of the saints? Has your name
“been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the
Lamb who was slain,” as John titles it in Revelation 13:8? Are you trusting in
Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, living a Spirit-empowered life of
repentance and obedience, following the Lamb wherever he leads? Today is
the day of salvation! While he is still speaking, do not harden your hearts!
There will come a day when he will speak a word of final judgment; when he
returns on the white horse, he will slay all who remain in rebellion against him
by speaking a word. But today, and on until that day, he speaks a word of
salvation. He offers grace and mercy to all who will have it!