Like the Stars

Introduction

We’ve been studying the book of Daniel for a while and one theme has come up more than any other: God is the King of kings and He rules in the affairs of men.

From the very beginning of Daniel’s story we find God‘s fingers in the middle of everything—helping Daniel and his friends with their troubles, troubling the king and wooing his heart, revealing his plans for the future, and guiding the course of history.

Paul said it this way:

Acts 17:26 NKJV

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

God has determined the times and boundaries of nations. Which is why we saw the Babylonian empire grow and then be conquered by the Medes and Persians just like God said it would be. And then we saw the Persian empire grow, and then be conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great just like God described. And then the Greek empire divided into four pieces after Alexander’s untimely death, just like God predicted it would. Then Rome conquered Greece with its iron military. And then Rome assisted the Jews in killing the Messiah, just as Daniel 9 predicted.

All the big players and time frames for this story were predicted and determined by God. He is the one who rules in the affairs of men.

Today we’re going to explore the last three chapters of Daniel in a big-picture finale to this amazing book.

Prayer Warrior

There are very few things that Daniel is described as doing. One of the most prominent is prayer. As much or more than anything else we find Daniel in prayer. We find him praying for an answer to the dream in Daniel 2, and praying in Daniel 6 despite the death decree, and praying again in Daniel 9, and again in Daniel 10.

If the central theme about God in Daniel is the fact that He guides the course of history, then the central theme about people in Daniel is our need to humble ourselves to God’s rule and surrender our needs to Him in prayer.

And the amazing thing Is that God actively answers Daniel’s prayers. We saw that in Daniel 2 when Daniel faced death, and again in Daniel 6 when he was going to be thrown into the lion’s den. But in Daniel 9 and 10 he prayers for a different reason. Look back at Daniel 9:

Daniel 9:2–4 NKJV

in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

now skip forward to verses 16 and 17

Daniel 9:16–17 NKJV

“O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.

The vision that Daniel received in the previous chapter was all about the sanctuary and desolation and Daniel interpreted that vision to mean that the sanctuary wouldn’t be repaired for another 2,300 years. That thought was devastating to Him, and so he prayed that God would honor his 70 year prophecy from Jeremiah. He prayed this for “the Lord’s sake.” Not for his own needs, but for the sake of God’s mission.

The conclusion to Daniel’s prayer is the ideal that we all want when we pray—an angel came to talk to Him And show him God’s plan. It didn’t take long. He started praying, and by the time he was done there was the angel, dispatched from God’s throne.

Now skip forward to Daniel 10.

Daniel 10:1–2 ESV

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks.

He goes on to describe how he was fasting and seeking God. This wasn’t a single prayer, but three weeks of prayers. And notice that he was praying about the vision that he had in Daniel 9 because the angel had revealed to him that the promised Messiah would be “cut off,” and killed.

So Daniel prayed and fasted and prayed and fasted. Day after day, with no answer. The last time he prayed like this was just a little over a year ago, and when he prayed the angel came right away. But this time, no angel. And so he persists in prayer. And still no angel.

Every difficulty is a call to prayer.

If you‘re having trouble at home, pray.

If you’re fighting to have victory over a sin, pray.

If you’re dealing with doubt and discouragement, pray.

if your finances are a mess, pray.

If you’re feeling lonely, pray.

if you’ve just had a fight with a friend, pray.

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But there’s something different about Daniel’s prayers in Daniel 9 and 10. He’s not praying because HE himself is having trouble, he’s praying for the bigger concerns of God’s kingdom. He’s praying the way that Jesus taught his disciples to pray,

Matthew 6:9–10 (ESV)

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Daniel’s chief concern is for the glory of God, and for the fulfillment of His covenant promises. And at the same time, he’s praying for wisdom and understanding. He’s saying, “Lord, for your name’s sake forgive and have mercy, and please help me understand what your doing.”

We need to pray because it puts us in the place of surrender to the will of God, and because it gives God the opportunity to give us understanding and peace.

God will do more in answer to the prayer of a believing person than He could have done if they hadn’t prayed.

But what if God doesn’t answer your prayer?

It’s far too common for God’s people to fall into doubt and cynicism when God doesn’t answer their prayers in the time or in the way they want Him to. Let’s examine two important principles from Daniel’s experience:

Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 reveals his ignorance of God’s plan. We don’t come to God with great wisdom and knowledge, we come to Him in prayer recognizing that He sees the master plan, and we don’t. We pray in ignorance. We have a few of the big picture prophecies, some grand principles to guide our lives, and the promises that God is just and merciful and loving. But we don’t see the details. Which means its not wrong for us to feel uncertain or even question our circumstances or the things we find in Scripture. But instead of wallowing in our doubt And uncertainty, God invites us to take our difficulties and questions to Him in prayer. and it’s important for us to recognize that we don’t know the right outcome to our prayers. Which means we need to submit ourselves to God‘s best plans for our lives.

Daniel’s experience in chapter ten shows us that God is dealing with a much bigger struggle than we can comprehend, and far beyond our present concerns. And yet, he’s still very interested in our prayers and wants to help us with our problems.

Let’s see how that plays out in this story:

Daniel was praying for three weeks and then, on April 23rd, while he was praying by the Tigris river he saw a vision of a messenger from God. What he saw was a being clothed in brilliant white and wrapped in gold. His skin shown and his face was like looking into a lightning bolt with eyes shining even brighter than his face. He looked around him and all his companions fled in fear for what they heard, but they didn’t see the being Daniel saw. Even Daniel had a little fear and he fell to the ground without strength. The angel reached down and lifted Daniel up off the ground and gave him supernatural strength.

Daniel 10:11 NKJV

And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling.

And then he said something amazing…

Daniel 10:12–13 NKJV

Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

The moment Daniel started to pray this messenger was sent from the throne of God to answer Daniel’s questions, but he was delayed along the way. Who can delay an angel? Can swords or bullets or magical spells prevent an angel? No. Only another angel, a wicked angel, could withstand one of God’s messengers. And notice how God intervened to ensure the answer to Daniel’s prayer got to him. Michael, the archangel, the chief over all the armies of God, the co-eternal 3rd person of the godhead, and the one who would one-day become God incarnate in Jesus Christ, came to assist His angel messenger.

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Do you understand what this means for you and me? God knows no delay and no haste, but we are so impatient. We pray once or a few times, but quickly lose heart and stop. If we could just see the bigger picture and wait on the Lord, praying persistently for God to reveal His plan, then God will answer our prayer. Sometimes He will answer immediately, like he did in Daniel 9, and sometimes it takes him a while because there are evil forces at work, battling against us, and God himself must intervene to bring us the answer. God always answers our prayers. Sometimes it takes a while, and sometimes we get an answer we don’t like. but God always answers our prayers.

We have so much to learn about prayer.

Prayer is like the breath of our soul, and we need to explore how to have a healthy spiritual life through the study of prayer. Starting this Wednesday we’re going to do 10 days of prayer, every night at 6 pm. Next Sabbath I’m going to be preaching about prayer. And then the last sabbath of February we’re going to have a prayer emphasis weekend. I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to learn and practice prayer.

Comparing Daniel 8, 9 and 10-12

As we keep reading in Daniel 11 we discover that the vision in Daniel 10-12 is another parallel prophecy with Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 and Daniel 8-9. Babylon is gone already, so this prophecy starts with Persia in the time of Cyrus.

Daniel 11:2 NKJV

And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.

Some would compare the 4th king in this prophecy to the king that married Esther. While its difficult to match the details of this prophecy to history beyond a shadow of a doubt we can still see the broad strokes of the progression from Persia to Greece. Keep reading In verse 3:

Daniel 11:3–4 NKJV

Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be uprooted, even for others besides these.

Who is this mighty king? This is Alexander the Great who we saw in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8. And just like we saw in previous prophecies, after Greece conquered Persia and after Alexander had died an untimely death, Greece was divided, not among Alexander’s children, but among his four generals.

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Daniel 11 continues with lots of intriguing details. There are so many different interpretations of this chapter and I’m not going to attempt to add version to the mix. I can say this however, most of the confusion comes because of the very detailed descriptions of events. In previous chapters we could broadly connect an animal, such as the bear, to a nation—Medo-Persia. But in Daniel 11 the details don’t have that kind of a one-to-one connection. It’s describing micromovements. Many take each detail literally and they connect the first half with the Greek empire under Antioches II, and then they split off the last half of chapter 11 as a prophecy about the end-time antichrist power. But that’s not how any other prophecy in Daniel has worked so it doesn’t make sense to do that. Others go all the way to jesus death under the Roman rule in Daniel 11 and then they jump forward to some future battle between Islam and Israel. We can debate about the minute details forever, but the broad strokes are a little easier to define.

Like other apocalyptic prophecies in Daniel, this one begins during the time of the prophet and extends to the Time of the end during which Jesus will come again.

Look at this comparison between Daniel 8/9 and Daniel 11.

Notice how things line up so nicely from persia to greece to rome and to the crucifixion of Jesus. And then skip forward to Daniel 12:2 where God describes the 2nd coming, or to the last few verses of Daniel 12 you’ll find references to the same time periods that we can read about in Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 such as the 1,260 year time period that ended in 1798 (see me afterwards and I can show you how to find the fulfillment of that prophecy). These indicators show us definitively that this prophecy in Daniel 10-12 is parallel to Daniel 2, 7, 8 and 9. It would probably be helpful to study into the details of Daniel 11, but the big picture we need to understand is that God rules in the affairs of men. The details are intended to be an after-the-fact confirmation to show us that God was able to do what He set out to do.

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Most of us are not theologians and don’t know every facet of every prophecy in the Bible or even have access to the historical information to study out the fulfillment of these prophecies. We’re left to believe what the preacher is telling us, or what we read online. But we don’t need to catch every facet of the prophecy to understand what is essential for us so that we can be ready to meet our Lord When He comes.

Like the Stars

Turn to Daniel 12:2-3

Daniel 12:2–3 ESV

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. 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.

Look at what is at stake at the end of this prophecy—everlasting life, and everlasting death. This is the essential story of salvation. From ancient times God has been saying,

Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

In Daniel’s story we see a young man who prayed for his own personal challenges and needs. And we also see a mature man who prayed for the big stuff — for mercy for the promised people and for the fulfillment of God’s covenant of salvation. His prayers are so noteworthy that we find one of them written out in Daniel 9.

I think God is calling us on the same maturing path that Daniel was on. It’s absolutely OK to pray for anything and everything on your mind. God wants that and we need that. But God is also inviting us into a special work that can only be categorized as angel work.

Let’s read it again In Daniel 12:3 “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.”

Last week we explored the journey of the wise men who saw bright angels as though they were a star. These angels had announced Jesus’ birth and then multitudes of angels showed up to sing His praises. Together they shone like a star in the sky and led the wise men to find Jesus And worship Him.

Jesus told his disciples that they were each like burning candles

Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV)

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ... 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.

And Peter picked up this theme when he talked about the Community of believers in 1 Peter 2:9-10:

1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV)

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Jump to verse 12

1 Peter 2:12 ESV

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

The angel talking to Daniel was saying this exact thing: Daniel 12:3 “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.”

God is inviting us to be like the mature Daniel who prayed for and sought out the mission and purposes of God. He wants us to join Him in turning people to the Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ. And when we do, we are just like that group of angels in Luke 2 whose brightness shone into pagan hearts and drew them to Jesus.

If we need to learn anything from this prophecy it’s that we are totally dependent on God and we are living in the framework of His divine plan. Today we find ourselves in the time of the end that this prophecy pointed to. Jesus‘ greatest desire is to save people, from every walk of life and every nation of the earth. Wise people will join God in His mission and turn people to the Son of Righteousness.

Year of Welcome

This is the beginning of a new year and the beginning of an intentional development process for our church family. As a group we have a mission to shine the light of God’s love and the truth of the Gospel of His grace into our community. If we are going to join Christ in His work of redeeming people, we need to have some time of intentional surrender to His Spirit and leading. That is why we’re going to be starting this year with 10 days of prayer and then 6 weeks later we’re again going to go to God in prayer as a church family. We cannot shine except that the Glory of God shines through us.

We also need time as a church family to learn how to be effective witnesses for Christ. This year we’re going to focus on all things that have to do with hospitality and welcome. After that we’ll pick something else to grow in, but for now we’re going to try and become experts on being welcoming.

2022 is our Year of Welcome.

In two weeks we’re hosting what will hopefully be a large group of new people that don’t regularly participate with our church community. They will be long-lost friends who we haven’t seen in a while, and brand new friends who are curious about our church. We need to relate to them in a way that will shine the glory of God into their hearts and lead them to Jesus.

So here’s my first training session on being a welcoming church family.

Have you ever been on the way out of a friends house, grabbing your coat and shoes and your fried say, “come back when you can’t stay so long?” Because you know them so well, you know they’re just joking. People who are visiting our church family don’t have the benefit of deep relationships with us, so they don’t know if we want them here or if we feel like they should come back when they can’t stay so long. We have to be intentional about showing our desire for their company or they will think they are unwanted.

Here’s two things that we can do:

First, Pray each week as you come to church and ask God to show you someone He wants you to get to know. Stop and talk with them in the foyer for a bit, exchange contact information. Then give them a call or send them a text in the next day or two letting them know you are glad to have met them and would like to know them better. Maybe sometime soon you can get together at one or the other of your homes and start developing a new friendship.

Second, If you know of someone who is sick, or if you’ve not seen a family for a while, send them a note. Starting this week we’re going to make this really easy. If you want to send someone a note, just grab one of the post cards on the entry table and jot a few words of encouragement down and then put the name of the person in the address line. Put that card in the _____________. One of our ministry leaders will make sure it gets the proper address and postage and gets dropped in the mail on Monday or Tuesday of the next week.

You may have had the benefit of a generous church member who sent you a get-well-soon card, or a note to say, “we miss you.” It really makes you feel welcome when someone says, “you’re missed.” And it only gets better when more than one person says it. So don’t excuse yourself by saying, “someone else is going to send them a card.” When you notice someone is missing, that is God’s Spirit nudging you to take action. No one else can do what God has asked you to do.

Will you make a commitment with me as we begin this new year? It’s a simple commitment, but one that I expect will make a big impact on our community. Let’s commit to learning how to be great at welcoming people into our church family. Will you do that with me?

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Closing Hymn: Seeking the Lost (373)