Well, hello church, if you would open to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12, we will be finishing the book of Daniel tonight. Let me read this passage for us. Daniel chapter 12, starting in verse one. This is the word of God. It says, 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 has never been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time, your people shall be delivered and everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 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. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the appointed time. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, how long shall it be till the end of these wonders? 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 the 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. I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, oh my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things? He said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 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. 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. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days, but go your way until the end. and you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days. Father, what an awesome passage before us. And as Brother Tim just prayed, we do need your words and certainly not mine. Only your spirit could illuminate such things. These are your words for us at this time. And Lord, we pray that we would understand them, and we pray, Father, that they would bear good fruit in each of our hearts and lives, and we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we will finish the book of Daniel today, and we are not ending on an easy passage, I can tell you that. I was joking to our city group on Wednesday that I don't know if we had an easy passage in 2020, but if you've only been at the church for a year or so, you probably think we only study difficult passages or topics, because we've talked a lot about the law this year, we've talked a lot about politics and the ideologies that surround it, and then we've done our share of studying eschatology, and all of those topics actually are in this passage tonight, and it's a good way to end it, I guess. All of this comes in the fifth vision that we've been studying for the last few weeks. So remember, chapter 10, chapter 11, and chapter 12 are all one vision that Daniel is receiving, I believe, from the pre-incarnate Christ. And let me just remind us of a few of the other visions, because I say this is the fifth vision. There's a few others that I think are helpful to remember in order to understand this one. The second vision in Daniel 2, you remember there was a large statue and there were four different metals that came in this statue, iron, bronze, silver, and gold, and they were representing Babylon, Greece, Persia, and Rome. And then we had a stone that was not cut by human hand, it says, that came and crushed all those four precious metals, and that stone was the kingdom of God. And then we saw a third vision in Daniel 7. Many think it's the same vision as the one in chapter 2, although there's different images, but it was four beasts, and the four beasts represented the same nations, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. And you remember that Christ then came and inaugurated his kingdom and overpowered those four kingdoms. And then there's this fifth vision now that we're looking at. And chapter 10, 11, and 12. And last week we saw this amazing vision of God's sovereignty in the fact that one word was used 120 times, shall. And it was used in relation to historical events that are happening in the nations of Persia, in Greece, in Rome, and all these events and leaders that shall do this or shall do this, and the overtaking of each of these nations by the other, and then their attack on Jerusalem in particular, in the temple in Jerusalem. And that's what chapter 11 ended with. And I think based off of the flow of all these other visions, that what we see here is at the end of chapter four, we have those four kingdoms, and then we have chapter 12, the fifth kingdom, which is about the kingdom of God. I think chapter 12 is a vision that Daniel's getting about the messianic kingdom, which I do believe is the central theme in the book of Daniel. So I want to talk about it for a moment. to intro us into this. It's worth taking a minute. We know this is a significant thing to understand as Christians, the kingdom of God. Jesus, the first thing he said when he stepped onto the scene in his ministry was what? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And then John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, who shows up in the New Testament, but he isn't a prophet, his message was the same. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And so we know this is massively significant, that Christ has been prophesied to come, a Christ would come, and he would set up his kingdom, and then we know Jesus did that in the totality of his life. And you don't set up a kingdom without doing one thing in particular, overthrowing and conquering the previous kingdom that occupied that space. And so Jesus comes and he destroys all our enemies of sin and death in the world and Satan. And then he inaugurates his kingdom as he ascends to the Father and sits at the right hand of the Father. And that word inaugurate, does that mean anything to you this week? Some of us this week watched the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States. Like it or not, agree or not, he is our president at the inauguration. That's how our country works. You inaugurate a president, and at that moment of inauguration, he is now, wears the crown, and has the office of president of this nation. And I bring that up to say there was a decisive moment that Christ received the crown, that he sat down at the throne, that his kingdom was inaugurated, and that is the moment that he ascended to the Father and sat down at the right hand of the Father after conquering all of his enemies and doing all the work that he had to do on the earth. And as I watched the inauguration this week, Not all of it, obviously. I don't know who could watch all of it. It was like eight hours or nine hours. I mean, I don't care who's becoming president. Nobody's watching that whole thing. But I can't help but think when I watch these. I try to watch it every time we have a new president and at least catch parts of it, the more meaningful parts. And I just remember, like, we live in a superpower nation. You realize that? I mean, you compare America for the last century to the Egypts and the Babylons and the Persias and the Rome and Greece of the world. America is a superpower nation. And when we inaugurate a president, that's not a small, petty thing for a superpower nation, you would think. But I find myself watching these and just at some point just going, really? I mean, this is how we do this? I mean, I know it's meaningful to a lot of people, but I guess it doesn't land that way on me so much because I've seen Christ's inauguration. And I've thought great thoughts about the true king and the eternal kingdom and how he was inaugurated. And I want to think about that for a minute. I think it's very significant that we remember the inauguration of Christ. If you'd go back to Daniel 7, chapter 9, I want to read a passage for us. We obviously studied this before. Daniel sees Christ's inauguration in this vision, and look at what he sees. He says, I looked and thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and his hair of his head was like pure wool, and his throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. The stream issued and came out from before him. A thousand of thousands served him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him and the court set in judgment and the books were opened. Now think about the difference. Okay, Daniel's looking out. He is not seeing a few people sitting in fold-out metal chairs with masks on. I mean, I don't know, there was a weird moment where they walked in one room, I don't remember what it's called, and they just stare at this painting. I don't know if y'all saw that part. They just look at this painting. I'm sure there's some sort of meaning and symbolism to this, but they just stood there and looked at a painting. I thought, that's very odd. I don't really see the purpose in this. It's some sort of tradition that everybody does. I don't think Daniel saw the Obamas walking up. or Lady Gaga singing, or Garth Brooks singing Amazing Grace, or, you know, Barry Sanders sitting there, I won't do the thing that's been everywhere, and his little mittens. You know, you just picture just what happened in any presidential inauguration, and then you think of this, look at what Daniel sees, thrones were placed. And the Ancient of Days took his seat on a throne of fire. Its wheels were burning fire, a stream of fire issued and came out from before him. It's an incomprehensible heavenly scene. The Ancient of Days is sitting on fire, unharmed by the fire. And thousands of thousands served him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. And the court set in judgment, and the books were opened. And you jump down to verse 13, still in the same chapter. We get another picture of this. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. Here he is. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. That is the inauguration of Christ. It is not a transition of power. It is a receiving and eternal delegation of power from the Father to the Son. This is not a giving of power to a man with a sketchy past who's been in politics and has sketchy policies. This is not a man who may have conservative values and who could help our economy. This is the Son of Man returning from conquering our enemies of sin, and death, and Satan, and the world, and ascending back to the Father. for no four-year term, but verse 14 says, he was given a dominion and a glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him. And his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. And people can say, not my president, not my leader, And may God be true, and every man a liar. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. There has been a king put on the throne. His office is an eternal office, and only a fool would not happily submit to that. I was thinking about how even Israel inaugurated a king, and one of the things that they would have the king do back in the old covenant is they would have the king centralize the word of God to his kingship by not just reading the Bible annually, but writing it out, writing out the scriptures every year, and how central the Bible was to the king ruling justly. And I thought about the best that we're doing in our nation at this point is that we'll have someone, we'll have the president and the vice president put their hand and make an oath to uphold the Constitution on a Bible. And so we saw that this week. At least symbolically, we still have the Bible somewhere in this whole process. And so we saw Joe Biden put his hand on a, it looked like it was from the Middle Ages, Locked up, you couldn't even open it up if you wanted to, this old archaic Bible. And he puts his hand on there. We saw Kamala Harris had two Bibles. I don't know what that was about. She put her hand on two Bibles. I told Priscilla, it's the King James and the Queen James. And I'm glad it's a Bible. I'm glad it's not a Quran. It needs to be a Bible. And so we're thankful for that. But Jesus Christ, when He takes office, He doesn't have to put His hand on the Bible and promise to rule justly. He is the Word of God. He is the Word of God. He embodies the Word of God. He is the Logos, the eternal Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. And so he can swear by his own name that he will rule justly and righteously. We need to think greater thoughts of our king. He is a true king. And you think about when he was on this earth, he was dealing with real people. And you think of him entering into a room like this, and people would swarm him. And they had agendas, they had wants and desires. People wanted to overthrow the Roman Empire. That's what they wanted a messiah to do. Will you give us back Jewish sovereignty? Our rights and freedoms that we once had? We hate the Romans and how they suppress us. The taxation's ridiculous. Can you overthrow this Christ? That's what they wanted Jesus to do for them. And what did Jesus say? My kingdom is not of this world. But here's what you're to do. Seek first my kingdom and my righteousness. And then how good is this? Jesus said, children, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, to give it to you. And by the way, when he said, seek first my kingdom and righteousness, what is the promise that comes after that? And all these things will be added to you. All of the earthly comforts that you want so badly, and you want human leaders and kingdoms to give to you, seek first my kingdom and I'll give those to you. It's his welfare system, one that works. Seek first his kingdom and I'll provide for all of your needs. The ones that are really needs, even when we don't realize it. And here's what's interesting in this passage, is that Daniel doesn't know any of this. He doesn't understand any of this. It's almost humorous, verse 8, you know, this glorious depiction of the kingdom, and it says this, I heard, but I didn't understand. I mean, you've got to love his honesty. I think sometimes in church we should be a little more honest like that. Pastor, I'm hearing you. I'm hearing you every week. You're talking a lot, but I don't understand. I really don't understand what you're saying. You know, we should be more honest about that stuff. I don't understand a lot of things. I spent most of my week not understanding things and having to say that to books that I'm reading and commentaries, but Daniel doesn't understand and it's actually not for him to understand and he's told that two times here, verse four, it says, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. And I believe that's the end of the old covenant. Daniel told again in verse 9, go your way Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. So it wasn't for Daniel to understand what was written and what he was seeing in this vision until the old covenant was done and the new covenant had come. We see this even in Isaiah 29 11, it says the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. And when men give it to one who can read saying, read this, he says, I can't for it's sealed. And so here's my question. When are the seals going to be broken and the scroll opened, who is worthy? Who is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals? And we better know the answer to that because we sang it last week. I think you know where I'm going with this. Revelation chapter 5, John sees a vision of Christ's inauguration. He sees what Daniel saw in Revelation 5 verse 1. I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll. written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven and earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. Seven, you remember, were in apocalyptic literature. It just means fullness. And so the fullness of the spirit falling, I believe this is at Pentecost. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Now I watched when the lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a loud voice like thunder, come. And I believe that's the beginning of the New Testament era. The Spirit is sent out at Pentecost. The gospel is no longer just for the Jewish people to enter and abide by the law, but now it is to go to the nations. And I believe the kingdom has inaugurated, and now the church has been sent out to tell everyone there is a king enthroned. Bow to his sovereign lordship. And the first thing that I think we need to see about his kingdom is that this kingdom is not a comfortable kingdom for the people that are in it. There is suffering for those in Christ's kingdom. It's not even a normal type suffering, it's a specific type of suffering. That's what I think Daniel 12, one is about. There shall be a time of trouble. I mean, Daniel chapter one, or chapter 12, verse one, there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. So I believe this is talking about the tribulation. Hebrew and Greek words translated for this mean trouble, hardship, suffering, affliction, distress, pressure. The word tribulation takes on two kind of meanings. When you study this out, one time Jesus used tribulation and he was talking in a very general way. So he said, for example, in this world you will have tribulation. but take heart, I have overcome the world. It's a very broad use of the word tribulation, but there's another time that's very different in Matthew 24, 21. Jesus says this, there will be great, and he modifies the word tribulation with great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. So I believe the fact that he modifies the word tribulation with great shows this is something different than just a general tribulation or difficult time. That is confirmed in Revelation 7 14 when in heaven a few angels are watching all of these nations gathered before the throne and one angel says to the other, who are all these people? And the other angel said, these are the people who have been delivered from the great tribulation. Great tribulation. And so guys, I think it is very possible that we have entered into, the Great Tribulation. I think that is very possible, and I say that because it is well known at this point, it really can't be disputed, that in the last hundred years, the church has experienced more persecution than the last 1,900 combined. Talk about every other cultural thing you want, but that's a significant, if that's true, that's significant. Let me just put my cards on the table and tell you two beliefs I don't personally hold. And I'd be happy to have a conversation later with anybody who wants to talk these out. And I believe many godly believers believe differently on this and are free to believe differently and will come to different conclusions. But I don't hold these. And I want to clarify what I'm teaching here by identifying these. So I don't hold to a pre-tribulation rapture. I believe that the church will be raptured. I do believe in a rapture. I believe it'll be visible, not invisible. And I don't believe that Christians will escape the tribulation. I believe Christians will endure the tribulation until the second coming of Christ, when he delivers us and sets up the eternal state. I also don't believe in a preterist view that would say that the tribulation was only for the Jews up until 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. There's a lot of people that believe that, by the way. That the whole tribulation ended at 70 A.D. And I'll be honest, there's some decent weight behind that, and there's a lot of good, good scholars that believe that. I don't. I hold a position that would often be called a historicist. or a partial preterist view, that the tribulation is for the persecution of the saints, for the church. I get this from Daniel 7, Daniel 12, Revelation 12 and 13. Many of the reformers, to the Puritans especially, believe this, almost all of them. up until the 19th century, William Tyndale, Isaac Newton, John Knox, John Calvin, Martin Luther, many other Puritans you'd recognize. And it has been the dominant view, which I don't think it makes it right. I just think it means you should stop and say, okay, hold on. Maybe I should think about this particular view if this many people who were filled to the spirit, who were probably more biblically literate than most of us, did hold it, I should probably consider it. And this is what they believed. They believed that verse one, a time of trouble such as never been until that time was a tribulation for the church, for the messianic kingdom. And they also believe in verses like the end of verse seven, that the holy people being shattered was a reference to the tribulation of the church, and that that shattering or that persecution would last a time, times, and half a time, which we see two places, Daniel 7.25 referring to an Antichrist or even a final Antichrist, which I do believe there very possibly could be a final Antichrist. I think that's very possible. but he shall wear out the saints of the Most High and change the times and the law, and they, that is the saints, shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time." That's in Daniel 7. Now we're seeing the same thing again in Daniel 12, and listen to Revelation 12. It's talking about the dragon and the woman in the wilderness, okay? This is where, I hope I don't lose anybody here. I believe this is referencing the tribulation. This is Revelation 12, 14. It says, she, the church, will be nourished, I believe, in this tribulation for a time, times, and half a time. So you say, how long will this tribulation be? And I'm happy to say, I don't know. I don't know if we're really given enough information to nail it down perfectly. But what we do know is verse 11 says this. Daniel 12, verse 11. 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. So many, many people are very confident, I'm less confident than many on this, they would be very happy to say that the Great Tribulation, it will last seven years, period. And they would go to their death on that probably. Because 1,200, And 90 days is three and a half years, which is half of seven. And Revelation also gives a period of time that I'll get into in just a moment, and they put those together and they come up with seven years. Now here's a hermeneutical principle that I think is important to use at this point. When we're seeking to understand a passage of Scripture, it is very important that we let Scripture interpret Scripture. And so if we come across a number like 1,260, we should go, okay, that's odd. Is that said anywhere else? Where else in scripture is that said? And that could help us understand what it's meaning in our passage. And so look at Revelation 11, two through three, it says this. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. That's 1,260 days, that's three and a half years. and I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy for 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth." 1,260 days is three and a half years, and it's the amount of time that Titus, as a Roman general of the Roman army, it took him to destroy Jerusalem and the temple by 70 A.D., from 66 A.D. to 70 A.D., three and a half years. So a lot of people believe that, and there certainly is something significant to that number. But here's something I want to point out. 1,290 days is what it says in Daniel. 1,260 days is what it says in Revelation. Which is it? And my answer is they're both three and a half years, depending on which calendar you're using. If you use a 365-day calendar, That's 1,290. If you use a 360-day calendar, that's 1,260. It's still three and a half years. And I'm gonna appeal to G.K. Beale here and let him say this a lot simpler than I could try to explain it. By the way, if you're looking for a commentary on Revelation, I would suggest G.K. Beale's. But he says 1,260 days are the time of the tribulation, predicted by Daniel in Daniel 7, 25, and 12, 7, which started at Christ's ascension to the Father and continues until the second return. Undoubtedly, here the limited age extends from the resurrection of Christ to the Father until his final appearance. So that's what I believe, that this is talking about the church age, that we are living in the tribulation, that we are the woman in the wilderness. In fact, it seems the apostle John might have believed that when he said in Revelation 1.9, I, John, your brother, partner in the tribulation and the kingdom. I look back again. Quickly, this is important, I wanna not lose this. Verse 11, Daniel 12, verse 11. From the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up. What does that mean? Now here's what's crazy. You might think that's a verse you just, okay, we're just gonna have to make a guess, because that's kind of obscure, I don't know. But actually, Jesus talks about this passage. Many of you know in Matthew 24, Jesus actually references this exactly. He's standing in front of the temple, it seems, with his disciples, and they're talking about, look how amazing this temple is. And Jesus says, this thing will be, not one stone will be left upon another before it's thrown down, referring to in 70 AD that the temple would be destroyed. And then in the same speech, he says this, a few sentences later in verse 15, he says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, he's talking about our passage, when you see that, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. And then he goes on and describes this great persecution. Now here's what's interesting. He says, truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. So Jesus says, all of you hearing me right now, watching what I'm saying about this temple being destroyed, that's going to happen in your generation. That's 33 AD, the temple's destroyed in 70 AD. In their generation, that temple came down. And Jesus is saying, that's what Daniel's talking about. So at least the tribulation started at that point. And here's what's significant. This is the deeper, more important thing I want us to see here. I sent this out actually to the men's group. I sent a documentary that me and my son watched the other night. and said, y'all should watch this. It's about the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It's done really well. It's interesting. You should watch it. And a few of the men watched that and responded to me. And one of the things I pointed out was, when did the old covenant fall? When did the law change so that we don't obey the law like they did in Israel? When did that happen? Well, it happened when Jesus died on the cross. When He became the sacrifice for sin, there's no need for sacrifices for sin. When He resurrected as the temple, and He says in three days, I will resurrect, this temple will resurrect, we don't need a temple anymore. When He became the priest, we don't need priests anymore. So in the work of Christ, we know the old covenant was done, the new covenant has now been placed in motion. But here's the thing, even after that happened at 33 AD, for at least 40 years, people still think the old covenant's in place. They're at least still trying to offer sacrifices. Will these things get rid of my sins? Should we go to the temple? They think this still honors the Lord. Until 70 AD, when physically the temple is destroyed, you can't offer a sacrifice if you want to. It's done. The whole old Mosaic system, the whole old covenant is done at that point. You can't obey the law if you wanted to. That's massive. And Jesus says it is, and he says that's what Daniel's seeing. I want to say this as respectfully as possible, but I have a, there are beliefs There are people who teach that there will be a temple that will be built again in the future, in the millennial reign, and that there will be sacrifices offered at that temple, lambs, goats. That's inconceivable to me. that the resurrected Christ, who is the temple of God, who is the priest, who has made the once and for all sacrifice of God, would be standing in the presence of people offering lambs and goats. Why would we reverse the whole thing like that? I understand how you can come to those conclusions. I get it. I get it. I just don't think it's right. And I don't think it makes much of Christ. And I think Hebrews 8 is significant as well. It says, in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. It became obsolete in his death and resurrection. It is becoming obsolete at 70 AD. A few years after Hebrews would be written, it would finally pass away. And I think that's what Daniel's saying. Now I want to end with two questions. Now, these questions come from chapter 11 and chapter 12, and then we'll be done with this book. But I wanna put this word before us. It's the word understand. And it's used in chapter 11 and it's used in chapter 12. Understand, understand. Here's the first one in chapter 11, Daniel 11.32. He says, the wise among the people shall make many understand. The wise among the people shall make many understand." Kent was talking to me, we were talking this week, and he mentioned something he was listening to. And they were talking about all that's happening in the world right now, and that Christians are really having to take two approaches to all of these things. And he said there's the endurist and the escapist approach. So some people are looking at the world, they're looking at what could be the tribulation, and they're going, To hell with it. Forget it. It's done. This world is done. You know, I'm gonna huddle up with the kingdom of God, people, and we're gonna just, you know, hide away from all of this evil. They're escapists. And then there's endurists, those who have a different approach. And these are the people that we've studied church history enough, and we've studied the Bible enough to not get too concerned because we know there's work to do. And so if anything, the intensification of the tribulation would, if anything, make us train more diligently our children, and more diligently make disciples, and more diligently preach the gospel, because we know the end is near. And Daniel says, the wise among the people shall make many understand. And so I think in the tribulation, the members of the kingdom of Christ, we have a mission from our King. He said, what? All authority has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and then what? Teaching, teaching, teaching them to observe all things I've commanded. How do people enter the kingdom of God? Teaching what He has commanded. Repent, believe the gospel. All of the things it means to know and follow Him. Our mission is to get people into the kingdom that lasts forever. We have a mission in this tribulation and Jesus gives us this promise that I will be with you until the end of the age, the age, the age of the Messianic kingdom, the age of the church, until his second coming, he will be with us. And this is the great reality that looms over our minds as we do this. Daniel 12, two, it says, those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. some to everlasting life and some to the 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." So what are the ones that will one day shine like the stars? What are they doing during the tribulation? They're helping many turn to righteousness through the gospel. through pointing them to the exalted King. So here's the second question. Do you understand? Verse 10 says, none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. Do you understand? Not all the difficult eschatological things that I said there in the middle, not that. Do you understand what the wicked don't understand? that a king has been inaugurated 2,000 years ago, and he received the crown because he won the victories over sin and Satan and death in the world. Do you understand that only one was found worthy to open the scroll and to unfold the rest of human history? in the salvations and judgments of God. Do you understand that the members of his kingdom must suffer? John said in Revelation 1, 9, I, John, your brother and partner, in the tribulation and the kingdom, that there is a Christ and he's worthy to suffer for. And if we follow him and enter his kingdom, there will be suffering until he comes again. But he's taking us into a kingdom that will have no suffering. And do we understand that he's purifying a bride? Revelation calls her the woman who was attacked in the wilderness. Daniel calls her the holy people that must be shattered before the end. He's purifying a bride. You say, why would he leave his people in a tribulation? Well, it tells us to purify them, to make the bride beautiful so she shines. She will be glorious and beautiful for Christ on that day. And that's why he leaves her here for a time. Do you understand? May God help us. to understand. You know, Daniel understood, and you know what Jesus, or what the pre-incarnate Christ said to him in verse 13? He says, go your way till the end, and you shall rest, and shall stand in the allotted place at the end of the days. If you understand, you enter the rest. Daniel understood. He endured persecution. He endured suffering for the sake of the kingdom. And he was promised he would enter the rest. He would receive his inheritance. It'll all be worth it. But the vision is not for you, Daniel. It's for us. It's for the messianic kingdom. We're privileged people. We're so privileged to hear who Christ is and what he's done and that we have access to come into that kingdom that will last forever. Let's pray. Lord, I want to pray for whoever here might. In this moment. Believe it necessary for them to enter into the kingdom of God. Maybe they fear that they would be outside of the kingdom of God. And Lord, we pray that they would repent. And that they would enter in by faith. Believing that you are this resurrected King. that you have conquered their enemies. Lord, for us who have received you and who believe these things, deepen our confidence in our King and in the kingdom. And Lord, put resolve in our hearts to stand firm, to endure what hostility comes our way in these coming days. We pray for fresh oil We pray for resolve and conviction and boldness and passion and zeal to advance your kingdom and that the fear of man would flee from us. And Lord, we just ask you to do this for your namesake. And we long for the day that you will allow us to enter into that rest. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.