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00:00 of God. Uh we are almost we have almost come to the end of our series on uh the
00:06 book of Daniel. In fact, this morning we are at the end of Daniel as we will be
00:11 looking at the last two chapters, chapters 11 and 12. And next Sunday we
00:17 will backtrack a little and Dr. Peter will uh deliver the last sermon of the
00:22 series on chapters 9 and 10. I'm sorry we cannot keep to the sequence
00:28 strictly uh because I have to swap my slot with Dr. Peter as I will not be around next
00:34 Sunday. In any case, the uh title of today's sermon is Daniel's final vision
00:40 of the future. And without exaggeration, this is uh one tough sermon to prepare
00:47 as and as brother Arnold pointed out last Sunday. Daniel chapters 7-2
00:53 uh the second half of Daniel contains some of the most difficult passages in the Bible
01:00 as they are packed with a apocalyptic visions and all kinds of bewildering
01:06 imageries. Now to be realistic uh it is impossible to go through both uh Daniel
01:12 11 and 12 two chapters to any degree of depth uh within the short span of a
01:17 sermon. What I propose to do uh is that I will um uh provide a a summary of uh
01:24 chapter 11 because chapter 11 is a really long and and uh and and and confusing uh piece of text. But we will
01:31 focus more on chapter 12. And as we do that, we will make uh cross references
01:37 to Revelation, the parallel book to Daniel in the New Testament. But before
01:43 we begin, uh let's commit this time to the Lord in prayer. Our father in
01:48 heaven, how should we conduct ourselves as your people in this age of increasing
01:54 darkness and gloom? How should we respond as your children when we are
02:00 confronted with personal trials and challenges? Open the eyes of our faith.
02:05 And as we examine this portion of scripture from the last chapters of Daniel,
02:11 reveal to us your truth so that our lives may be shaped accordingly. For we
02:17 ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. As I sometimes do uh at the beginning of
02:24 my sermon, uh I like to show you a short uh video clip. Not because the content
02:30 has anything to do with our text. Uh in fact, there's no connection whatsoever.
02:35 The purpose is to help prepare our mind as we face some hard questions uh from
02:42 the ending chapters of Daniel. Uh the video is a a Chinese New Year promotional uh ad from Petronis
02:50 uh ad sometime I think in the 2006. You will see what appears to be a a home
02:58 for the elderly and you will see four ladies talking about uh their grown-up
03:04 children and what they do. Uh, can we have the video, please?
03:23 Yeah.
03:51 Doctor specialist.
04:12 Foreign
04:25 speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.
04:44 Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.
05:08 Okay, thank you very much. Now the conversation that we have just
05:13 heard uh although it was just an act, it can happen anywhere in a coffee shop
05:19 over a game of majong. It's I think a reflection of uh how
05:24 people think in general. The takeaway message may be different for for for
05:29 different people. Petronaut's angle was to promote the idea of of family love as
05:35 as evident from the last the final scene. Some see this as a as an object lesson
05:41 in fal piety or duty to our parents. Now to me it's about how how warped or or
05:51 twisted our thinking can be sometimes. We have the first three ladies bragging
05:56 about their children to the extent that they soon become engaged in a kind of competition to see whose son or daughter
06:03 is the most successful. And this is brought into sharp contrast
06:08 with the son of the fourth lady who doesn't appear to be so rich by their standards
06:13 driving only a humble proton car but he is the one who shows up.
06:20 And so what is the point of of of boasting about a highly successful son
06:25 when he he doesn't have the time to call you much less visit you?
06:32 What's the point of of taking pride in in someone or something that brings you
06:37 little or no benefit? And to me to put it in a strange way,
06:43 the point of the video is what's the point? What's the point of it all? the
06:49 son who appears to be the least successful turns out to be the best. You could see the the envious looks on on
06:55 the faces of the other three ladies as the as the car pulled away. In preparing our our mind as as we
07:02 examine the the the verses in our text today, perhaps we should also be asking ourselves this question. What is the
07:09 point? have have we been taking pride in or or deriving joy from or even finding
07:16 meaning in things that uh don't bring us any benefit
07:21 at the same times have have we been ignoring or or neglecting or even rejecting
07:28 the real treasures of life I think it's downright stupid to treat unimportant
07:34 things in life as very important and vice versa to treat the really important
07:41 things in life as unimportant. Now, if your priorities in life are
07:46 poorly or even wrongly arranged, then it's my prayer that uh the lessons from
07:53 the final vision of Daniel will compel you to think again about the things in
07:59 life that really matter the most. Now, so what did Daniel see in his final
08:05 vision? Now to make a a really complicated situation even more complicated,
08:10 Daniel started to record uh this final vision from chapter 10 of Daniel, which
08:16 means that this final vision spans three chapters long from chapter 10 through
08:22 chapter 11 and to chapter 12. Now, I'm not sure how much of chapter 10 uh Dr.
08:29 Peter will cover next Sunday when he preaches from chap uh chapters 9 and 10.
08:34 In any case, uh let's start our discussion from chapter 10. In in early in chapter 10, when Daniel began to see
08:42 his final vision, uh he was uh he was standing on the banks of river Tigris
08:48 and he first saw a man dressed in linen wearing a golden belt from 10 verses 4
08:57 and five. Now the next verse verse six uh gives uh gives further description of
09:03 this man. His body uh was like topaz, face like lightning, eyes like flaming
09:11 torches, arms and legs like the gleam of a burnished bronze and his voice like
09:17 the sound of a multitude. But Daniel didn't identify this person.
09:23 Just who is this man dressed in linen which are underlined?
09:28 In all likelihood, Daniel himself doesn't know. The answer is give was
09:34 given several hundred years later uh when the apostle John wrote the book of revelation. In revelation chapter one,
09:41 John saw this vision in which he saw Jesus standing among seven lampstands uh
09:48 representing seven churches. And in verses 13- 16 of Revelation chapter 1,
09:54 John described Jesus using almost the same language as Daniel's. A golden sash
10:00 around his chest, eyes like blazing fire, feet like bronze glowing in the
10:06 furnace, voice like the sound of rushing waters, face like the sun, almost
10:11 identical language. And hence what Daniel saw at the beginning of his vision in chapter 10 was the figure of
10:20 the pre-incarnate Jesus. I use the word pre-incarnate because at
10:25 that point in time, the second person of the Holy Trinity hadn't yet taken human
10:30 form. And this final vision that that uh that began in uh in chapter 10 with with the
10:37 vision of Jesus soon unfolded uh in chapter 11 into a complex prophecy of
10:43 kings and wars which I mentioned just now is very confusing and it finally ends here in chapter 12 with the
10:51 reappearance of this man dressed in linen. Now before I I give you a summary
10:57 of the part of the final vision in chapter 11 and before we focus on the concluding part in of the final vision
11:04 in chapter 12, it will be very useful for us to do a quick recap of all the
11:09 visions in the in the book of Daniel. They all together uh five visions in the
11:16 entire book. Now this is a summary of the whole series. Okay. Uh the first uh
11:21 is a is the vision of the statue from Daniel 2 on which I preached in early
11:27 September and then the vision of the tree from uh Daniel 4 on which brother Arnold preached later in September. The
11:34 third is the vision of the four beasts uh Daniel 7 uh delivered by pastor
11:40 Masimo uh two Sundays ago. And number four is the vision of the ram and goat
11:45 uh Daniel 8 uh which we heard from brother Arnold last Sunday. I will run
11:51 through each of uh them quickly especially where it relates to Daniel's final vision which is our topic today.
11:58 But I will exclude the uh the vision of the three for the sake of time also because that vision uh is mostly about
12:04 what would happen to King Nebuchadnezzar and so it is kind of isolated but the other four visions are linked to each
12:11 other. Now it is worthy of note that a large part of of these four visions
12:18 uh is prophecies about future events but future to the people in Daniel's time to
12:25 us at this point in time when we what we read in these four uh visions is a lot of history past events that have already
12:33 happened from our point of view and and Bible scholars and and and historians
12:39 have been able to to connect the various aspects text of of these prophecies to specific events or persons in history
12:47 especially during the Babylonian uh the Persian and the Greek empire. In other
12:52 words, these prophecies have been largely fulfilled to a high degree of
12:57 accuracy. And here I would like to digress to say that if this book does contain many
13:04 prophecies like in Daniel that have already been fulfilled accurately,
13:10 then this is no ordinary book. It is nothing less than the very word of God.
13:17 And that being the case, it would do you a lot of good to take the Bible very
13:22 seriously and to see what else it says, especially about prophecies that are yet
13:27 to be fulfilled and consider your response uh to them. Remember what I
13:33 said just now that it will be utter foolishness to treat what is really important as unimportant. Now, let's
13:41 quickly run through uh visions 1, 3, and 4, and then we will look at the final vision. Actually
13:48 the first vision in chapter 2, this slide I show you the during my sermon in September, it was first given to
13:54 Nebuchadnezzar as a dream but God also granted uh uh Daniel the same vision
14:00 plus also its interpretation. Now in this vision we see a huge statue
14:06 made of different material from head to head to toes. Each part of the statue down to the lake cor uh represents a
14:13 specific empire. uh first the Babylonian then the Persian then the Greek and finally the Roman Empire. Now the feet
14:21 and the tentos are made of slightly different material mixture of iron and clay and they seem to symbolize the
14:28 current uh geopolitical system in the world in which we live. But what is of interest to us is the
14:35 rock at the end of the vision. The rock that flew in and smashed the statue to
14:41 pieces. And this is the the part of the vision in Daniel 2 that has not been
14:47 fulfilled yet and it will surely be fulfilled. The rock represents Jesus who will establish his eternal kingdom here
14:54 on earth when he shall return soon. And this is the link uh to the uh final
15:00 vision of Daniel which is our topic for today. If you remember uh the man dressed in linen from chapter 10.
15:08 The second vision uh in Daniel 7 here we see four terrifying beasts coming out of
15:15 the sea and once again each uh these creatures uh represent the four empires
15:20 from the Babylonian to the Roman one after another. And so this vision in in Daniel 7 is an
15:28 almost parallel to the vision of the statue in Daniel 2. You can see the the
15:33 the corresponding uh elements here. And the last beast on the right, the most
15:39 frightening and powerful of the four, has 10 horns, as you can see on the slide, corresponding to the 10 toes in
15:47 the statue in Daniel 2. Now, what is of interest to us here is is that out of
15:52 the 10 horns comes a little horn which we shall discuss uh in more detail shortly. Just
15:60 keep in mind this little horn coming out of beast number four. If you cannot remember how each of these beasts uh
16:07 looks look looks like, just remember this little horn uh coming out of uh the fourth beast. And then at the end of
16:15 this vision, you know, Daniel sees someone uh he used the term like the son of man. And we see uh him receiving uh
16:23 authority and sovereign power from God. And this is recorded in Daniel 7 13 and
16:29 14. A very important text in the Old Testament. Again, in all likelihood,
16:35 Daniel doesn't know who this person is in Daniel 7. Uh but when we link this to
16:40 Daniel 2, the rock, remember, and also link it to Daniel 10, the man uh dressed in linen, uh he's Jesus, uh this this
16:50 term son of man refers to Jesus. In the third vision
16:55 uh in Daniel 8, we see a ram and a goat and the goat overcomes the ram and they
17:02 symbolize the Persian and Greek empires which means that this vision in Daniel 8
17:08 is a partial parallel to the first two visions. The goat has a large horn as
17:14 shown here. Uh but that is soon broken off to be replaced by four horns. And as
17:20 brother Arnold explained last week, the large horn is uh Alexander the Great and the four horns are his four generals who
17:28 succeeded him. Uh but what is of interest to us here is that out of one of the four horns that replace uh the
17:36 large horn comes a little horn. Again, the little horn uh which we saw in
17:43 Daniel 7, but we will come back to this shortly. Now this brings us to the fourth and
17:49 final vision in Daniel chapters 10 to 12. Now I promised to give you a summary
17:54 of chapter 11 which is a big part of this final vision. We've already seen
18:00 how the vision how this final vision started with uh with appearance of the man dressed in linen in chapter 10. But
18:08 before we do that, let's spend a couple of minutes uh to look into what could have been on Daniel's mind as he was
18:15 about to receive uh the final vision in early in chapter 10 because there is something we can we can learn from this.
18:23 The first few verses of Daniel 10 tell us that he was in mourning. He says in
18:29 verses 2 and three, at the time I Daniel mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice
18:35 food. I no meat uh or wine touched my lips. All the wonderful food you know uh
18:43 he gave up because he was so troubled in spirit uh that he he he refrained from
18:49 eating uh what he normally eats and for three weeks he confined himself uh to a
18:55 simple vegetarian diet. And this begs the question why was he in distress?
19:02 What was bothering him? You see by this time Daniel was already 90 years old. You can see him very old
19:09 here. He he had been in exile since he was a young man. He was taken to exile. I think in his late teens and the 70
19:16 years of exile uh was already up and as God promised the Israelites had started
19:23 to return to their homeland but Daniel was not part of the first group of uh
19:28 returnees which must have saddened him. But it is not this that caused him much
19:36 distress. Rather, it was the fact that the future of his people uh back home would not be
19:43 one of peace and prosperity. Their future would be marked by hardship
19:49 and wars. And this was told to to Daniel by the angel Gabriel at the end of
19:55 chapter nine before uh the vision in chapter 10.
20:00 Now if you recall the little horn in in in Daniel 7 and 8 and this is what uh
20:06 the two visions says about what uh this little horn or the person represented by the little horn would do to God's people
20:12 soon. Daniel 7:25 he will speak against the most high and oppress his holy
20:19 people. That's from the vision of the four beasts. Daniel 8:24 he will destroy
20:24 the holy people. That's from the vision of the ram and goat. Daniel must have remembered these two
20:30 visions well and hence he was greatly troubled because he knew that his people will be in great trouble soon.
20:37 A person represented by this little horn will persecute and torment his people.
20:43 There will be pain and suffering on the part of God's people. And this was Daniel's state of mind uh in chapter 10
20:51 as he was about to receive the final vision. And this is why it is highly significant
20:58 that as he received the final vision from from chapter 10 onwards. The first thing he he saw was the man dressed in
21:05 linen. It is as if the pre-incarnate Jesus was telling Daniel, "Daniel, I know what
21:12 you're going through, but look at me. Focus on me. Not on your fears and
21:18 worries about the future, but look at me. I know exactly what is going on and
21:24 I'm in full control. And soon after this, an angel came to
21:29 touch Daniel and said to him in verse 11 of chapter 10, Daniel, you who are
21:36 highly esteemed, and this is repeated in in chapter 10 19. Now the King James
21:42 version uh renders this verse a little differently. It says, "Oh Daniel, a man greatly beloved."
21:49 And I think it is also highly significant. And somehow I get this sense that God was like trying to tell
21:54 Daniel, Daniel, regardless of what's troubling you, regardless of what you
22:00 fear about the future, I love you so much. You are my beloved.
22:09 And this reminds me of our son Jeremy who is now in Dublin, Ireland. And during my last sermon, I I told you how
22:16 we sent him off for his further studies. And tomorrow, you know, time passes so fast. Tomorrow will mark exactly two
22:22 months since he he left. Many of you have asked me, how's Jeremy doing in in in Ireland? And and my answer is, I
22:29 guess he's doing okay. And how do I know? Because his WhatsApp messages are getting fewer and fewer.
22:37 As they say, no news is good news.
22:43 This is one of the very few photos that he has sent uh taken during a trip to the coast that he went on last weekend.
22:50 If you ask me where this is honestly speaking, I also don't know. Anyway, whenever he calls on on
22:56 WhatsApp, which is not often mostly the Lean will be the one talking to him on
23:02 the phone, you know, a mother's love for her child. And at the end of every conversation,
23:09 I would hear my wife say, "Jeremy, I love you."
23:15 While our son may not be in any situation of distress, he certainly look very happy here.
23:21 But as parents, we we we we do have our concerns whether he's okay over there.
23:26 And Jeremy is not the kind of person who would tell you, you know, if or when he has a problem. We wonder if he's eating
23:33 well. We wonder if he's doing well in his studies or coping well with the weather and this coming winter will be
23:41 the first winter in his life. In any case, in whatever situation he might find himself, we want him to know we
23:48 love him. And some of you seated here may be going through various kinds of challenges.
23:55 Some of you may be experiencing anxiety or fear over something that seems to be so daunting. Some of you may be
24:02 undergoing trials and sufferings which are that are weighing you down.
24:08 I know personally a few of you who are going through tough times. If you're one
24:14 of them, God is also saying to you, I love you.
24:19 God is also telling you, look at me. Focus on me.
24:25 Which also brings to mind when I was a boy growing up in Joho when our family
24:31 faced a great difficulty my late father would repeatedly remind us God's grace
24:38 is sufficient for us.
24:45 This word still rings in my mind. And this is a phrase from 2 Corinthians
24:51 12:9. Jesus is speaking to to Paul. My grace is sufficient for you for my power
24:57 is made perfect in weakness. If you're feeling weak and and
25:04 downhearted, Jesus is saying to you, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is
25:10 made perfect in weakness." Now, later we will look at the main lessons towards the end of the sermon, but this is a
25:15 useful site lesson from Daniel's final vision.
25:21 We are ready for the summary of Daniel 11 which contains a large part of the final vision. As I me as I mentioned
25:26 earlier this final vision unfolds into a complex scenario of kings and wars in
25:33 chapter 11 which stretches 45 verses uh almost uh more than three times the
25:39 length of chapter 12. Now in chapter 11 uh in the second verse it talks about
25:45 four kings uh of the Persian Empire and then the next verse verse three talks about Alexander the great that's the
25:52 easy part but after that it gets very complicated the the problem is that when
25:57 Alexander the great died he didn't name a successor and there was a fierce power
26:02 struggle following his death eventually his huge empire was divided into four
26:09 parts among four of his generals or leaders. If you recall the four horns uh
26:15 in the in the vision of the ram and goat in Daniel 8, this is the outcome.
26:20 And this character Cassenda took control of the western region in Macedonia uh which is marked in green. Uh and a
26:29 general lysmakers uh rule in parts of Asia Minor now modern day Turkey and
26:34 also parts of northern Macedonia marked in brown. And there is this general uh
26:40 Tulami who became king in the south in Egypt marked in purple and another
26:47 general uh Salucas became king in the east in what used to be the Persian
26:52 Empire marked in yellow. Now of the four
26:58 the Seucid kingdom and the Tulimic kingdom were clearly the strongest uh
27:05 one in the east and one in the south. Now these are names that are not familiar to us but if I mention
27:12 Kuropetra then you will know that she is she was actually a descendant of the
27:17 tomic kings. Now in chapter 11 we we read of the king
27:23 of the north uh he actually refers to to the solucid kingdom uh to the east uh
27:30 since they are north of Jerusalem. So they are called king of the north. There's also the king of the south
27:35 mentioned in chapter 11 referring to the Tmic kingdom in Egypt in the south. But
27:41 these two kingdoms they never lived in in in peaceful coexistence and there was uh intense rivalry between them and that
27:48 explains the complexity in chapter 11. Chapter 11 describes confusing back and
27:55 forth battle between them and sometimes they forged alliances between themselves and other times they fought each other
28:02 bitterly. Now the complexity aside chapter 11 is actually a detailed
28:08 prophecy of events during this time this period of rivalry between these two kingdoms.
28:14 It was also an occasion when the when the king of the of the north the salucic kingdom tried to make war with the two
28:20 other west smaller western kingdom. So you may say that chapter 11 is a detailed expansion of the verses uh in
28:27 in chapter eight on the four horns on the goat. Now, this chart shows you a
28:33 blow-by-blow account of what happened during that period in that part of the world with with with with each verse in
28:39 chapter 11 tied to a specific historical event or person.
28:44 In fact, chapter 11 is so historically accurate that they have uh dug up uh the
28:50 coins of many of the kings mentioned in these verses. But of course we will not find the names of these kings uh in
28:56 chapter 11 uh uh uh because chapter 11 is is just a prophecy what would happen.
29:02 They just it just says the king of the north or king of the south but it is very very accurate historically.
29:09 Remember what I said earlier about the bible being no ordinary book. Anyway from this slide you would appreciate
29:15 that why I don't wish to get too deep into chapter 11 because it gets very dry after a while. uh not only that I also
29:21 got very confused halfway through and that's why only chapter 12 was read
29:27 to us during scripture reading as our focus will be on on chapter 12 if I speak on chapter 11 you will go to sleep
29:36 we'll focus on the the the part of the final vision in chapter 12 but still
29:41 chapter 11 here is part of the final vision we cannot just disregard it and
29:47 so you may ask and rightly so how then can we integrate the confusing verses in chapter 11 into the lessons that we we
29:54 want to draw from the final vision. And this brings me to the bridge between
29:60 chapter 11 here and chapter 12 our focus. And this bridge is uh this name
30:09 this last name on the left of the chart Antiocus I or Antiocus Epiphanies which
30:16 brother Arnold mentioned last Sunday. And this is how he looked like uh from
30:22 more coins that have been unearthed. He is he was one of the was one in a long line of of the of kings who ruled the
30:30 seus kingdom in the east. And if you were here last Sunday, uh brother Arnold
30:36 said that he this he is the that little horn in the vision in Daniel 8 and also
30:42 in Daniel 7. So we now know who the little horn is. is King Antiocus IV, an
30:49 evil, a cruel ruler who tormented the people of God.
30:55 Now, I don't need to add more to what brother preached last Sunday. Our focus is on on on chapter 12. You'll agree
31:02 that our our our interest uh should be on the final vision of the future from our point of view and not future from
31:08 their point of view, which is history to us. But how is Antiocus IV a ruler in
31:14 the 2n century BC connected to our future? Uh this is where Bible study can
31:20 get very intriguing. You see going back to the chart by the
31:26 time we get to verse 35 in in chapter 11, this king of the north would would
31:31 be firmly in power by this king whom we now know is Antiochus the fourth. He is the little horn. He's that little horn
31:37 in the in Daniel 7 and 8. But from verses 36 to 45 in chapter 11, the the
31:44 last part of the of chapter 11, the description of this king of the north goes beyond what we know about Antiocus.
31:52 He is certainly Antiocus, no doubt about it. But the picture of this person depicted in the the closing verses of
31:58 chapter 11 is much bigger than Antiocus.
32:03 Sounds like Antiocus, but seems bigger. What is going on? Now Bible study
32:09 sometimes requires to dig deeper to look beyond what is apparent. On the surface
32:14 the last king of the north uh in chapter 11 is Antiocus at the bottom of the
32:20 list. On the surface the little horn in chapter uh seven and 8 is Antiocus
32:26 but he's actually merely a foreshadow of another person to come in our future.
32:33 On one layer we see a seus king in the second century BC on a deeper level he
32:39 is really another more frightening future figure future to us. So who is
32:47 this person of whom the evil antiocus is merely a foreshadow? Now when we study
32:53 Daniel side by side with revelation the the parallel book the identity of this
32:59 person becomes clear. Daniel chapters 13:17 19 depict him as
33:06 the beast. In the letters of 1 and 2 John he's called the antichrist.
33:13 In second Thessalonian chapter 2 he's referred to as the man of lawlessness
33:18 and he will be the right-hand man of Satan when he appears.
33:23 Now since it's often said that we are now living in the end times, is there a way of knowing who this person is?
33:32 Now this has been the subject of intense speculation and and much debate.
33:38 Some say in America especially that uh Barack Obama is the antichrist
33:44 and there are others who are so sure that Pope Francis is the antichrist. You can get tons of articles in the internet
33:51 that gives you proofs why the pope is the antichrist. But let's not go there.
33:57 Okay. All I can say is that he has not yet appeared and it is possible that he is alive
34:03 today living somewhere in this world. What we can be more certain from the
34:09 pages of scripture is that he will likely be a world leader with unmatched
34:14 levels of intellect and and and and knowledge of charisma and appeal. Let's
34:22 see what the Bible how the Bible describes him so that perhaps we can recognize him when he appears. What is
34:29 he going to be like? What kind of character will he have? There are many there are many many Bible references but
34:35 I picked mostly from the book of Daniel. Daniel 7 uh 9 and 20. And a mouth that
34:44 spoke boastfully. A mouth that spoke boostfully.
34:49 Donald Trump.
34:56 Daniel 8:23:24. A master of intrigue will arise. He will
35:01 become very strong. Vladimir Putin.
35:08 Daniel 8:24. He will cause deceit to prosper and he will consider himself superior. deceit to prosper Hillary
35:16 Clinton. Daniel 11:36, he will exalt and magnify
35:22 himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods. Daniel uh Revelation 39, the beast
35:30 was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies. The main feature about him will be his
35:37 mouth. He will use his words, his eloquence, his clever persuasions to
35:45 mislead and to deceive many. He will also use his mouth to speak against God.
35:50 But what is more important to us is what will happen to God's people under his rule. Unfortunately, the picture is not
35:58 pretty. If you remember the earlier slide I showed that described what the little
36:04 horn would do to the Israelites, the same thing the antichrist will do to
36:09 God's people from these two verses in Daniel 7 and 8. And this brings us to
36:16 Daniel uh uh to Daniel chapter 12 because we have now enough background knowledge to unpack and and and to
36:22 understand the 13 verses in Daniel 12. uh we will cross check of course with uh revelation for a for a more complete
36:28 picture. The middle of verse one uh says, "There will be a time of distress
36:34 such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then." Which confirm what I just told you that the
36:39 future will not be a pretty sight. A time of distress for who? Do you realize
36:45 it's talking about you and me if we are still around at that time? During his
36:50 reign, the antichrist would persecute and torment the church and all followers of Jesus. And the two verses from Daniel
36:57 7 and 8 which I just showed you, they are just a glimpse into the into this time of distress for the saints. If you
37:03 can get uh more details from from Revelation chapter 13, frightening
37:08 details. Now, every now and then we here we we we get alarmed by by the uh growing
37:16 opposition to the practice of our faith in this land. Bibles are seized. We are not allowed to use a certain word from
37:21 the Malay Bible. uh applications for permits uh to build new churches are
37:26 mostly rejected. Even a cross was was forced to be taken down from a church building and and the church was once
37:33 firebombed. But what we now face is nothing compared
37:38 to the persecution and hardship that we will have to endure under the antichrist. If you want an accurate
37:45 picture of what what it will be like, look at what the Christians are going through uh in Syria and in Iraq under
37:53 ISIS. And next, a question is asked in the middle of the text as to how long this
37:59 period of distress for the saints will last. Daniel sees two angels uh standing on both sides of the river. In verse
38:07 six, one of them asked the man clothed in linen uh this question, how long will it be? Remember the man dressed in linen
38:14 in chapter 10. He he's back here in the in chapter 12. And he answers it will be
38:19 for a time times and half a time. Time is one year times is 2 years. Half a
38:27 time is half a year for a total of three and a half years which is 42 months or 1,260 days which have been uh discussed
38:35 in previous sermons. And this three and a half year period will be terrifying times for believers under the
38:41 antichrist. Jesus called it uh the great tribulation in Matthew 24:21. For then
38:48 shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time. Jesus was in fact quoting
38:55 from Daniel 12:1. And why will it last only three and a half years? He explained in the next
39:01 verse, if those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be
39:07 shortened. And Jesus gave more details in Matthew 24 about this period of
39:13 distress for the saints. And so you can read Matthew 24 together alongside with
39:19 Revelation 13. And so far it has been bad news. Like
39:24 they say, first the bad news and then the good news. And so here comes the good news. But before that, why do you
39:31 think that God allows believers to go through so much pain and suffering?
39:38 Why do you think God made in such a way that you know we have to go through so much pain and suffering?
39:45 The answer is in verse 10.
39:50 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined. It is for the purification
39:58 and refinement of his people to be made spotless.
40:04 The Bible teaches that God often uses trials and tribulations to transform his
40:10 people. And you can read more about this in James 1 or Romans 8.
40:17 There is purpose in the pressure. And yet some people try to find purpose
40:24 in pleasure. For the truth of the matter is that when things are smooth sailing,
40:29 when everything is wonderful, people often forget about God. But I've often
40:35 seen how material success can puff up an individual and draw him away from God.
40:42 On the other hand, my own from my own experience, the challenges of life have drawn me closer to God and made me more
40:49 dependent on him. As someone once put it, don't suffer
40:54 over your sufferings. Now, I won't say that sufferings are good. Nobody wants uh suffering. Nobody is looking for
41:01 suffering. But they are often necessary tools of spiritual refinement.
41:08 God does not promise us a bit of roses. If becoming a Christian means your problems are over, then this church will
41:14 be packed. All churches will be packed. God never promises us a life free from
41:20 trouble, but he promises us his strength and his comfort during our troubles.
41:27 He's watching over you in your time of distress. Which is what is happening
41:32 here in the first verse uh in the first line of first uh verse one it says at
41:37 that time Michael the great prince will protect your people would arise. I see God is sending his archangel Michael to
41:44 watch over his people during the great tribulation.
41:49 And now the good news, there will be deliverance for God's
41:54 people at the end from the end of verse one. But at that time your people,
42:00 everyone whose name is found in the written in the book will be delivered. Everyone whose name is found written in
42:06 the book will be delivered. Verses 2 and three then describe kind of
42:14 a mass resurrection of all humanity. But you there are two kinds of destiny for
42:21 everyone who has ever lived. One is redemption and the other condemnation
42:27 because it says here some to everlasting life others to shame and everlasting
42:33 contempt. And we, the people of God, whose names are found in the book of life,
42:38 we will shine like the brightness of the heavens, like the stars forever and ever
42:44 from verse three. What a glorious day it will be. If you want uh a better picture
42:51 of this day of glory for us, you can read uh the closing chapters of uh Revelation, Revelations uh Revelation
42:58 chapters 21 and 22. And here are some verses I picked up to to give an idea. Revelation 21:4, he will wipe away, he
43:05 will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. 21:5 He who was
43:13 seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. 216 To the thirsty, I
43:18 will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 22:14
43:24 blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life.
43:32 But all this that we have seen appears to be too much for Daniel to take in. He
43:38 laymans in verse 8, I heard but did not understand. And so he asked also in
43:44 verse 8, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?"
43:50 He couldn't take in all this. And the man dressed in linen
43:55 replies him in verse 9, verses 9 and 13, "Go away your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the
44:02 time of the end." Daniel has already been told to roll up and and seal the
44:07 words of the scroll in verse four. What the pre-incarnate Jesus is telling
44:12 him is this. Daniel, you don't have to understand everything now. You will get to understand fully later. The scroll
44:21 which is sealed up now will be unsealed by me at the end of time. Then
44:26 everything will become clear. In the meantime, just go your way and do your stuff. And this is to paraphrase verses
44:32 49 and 13 here. By the way, if you want to find out more about the unscrolling
44:38 unsealing of the scroll by Jesus, you can read uh more in the revelation 5.
44:44 And coming to the conclusion and application part of the sermon, I think it is very significant that Daniel was
44:51 told to seal up the scroll. It is not a physical scroll to be sure. The scroll is just a metaphor for God's
44:59 eternal plan from eternal past to eternal future with every detail because no physical scroll can fully contain
45:05 God's plan. And when the time comes, Jesus will unseal the scroll as outlined
45:12 in Revelation 5. And the great tribulation will start. At the end of the great tribulation, he will return as
45:18 the rock as foretold in Daniel 2. And he will start his eternal kingdom here on earth as foretold in Daniel 7. In the
45:27 meantime, when we read a prophetic book like Daniel, we get snippets of uh God's
45:32 eternal plan. God reveals his plans to us in part. He doesn't tell us
45:38 everything. It wouldn't be nice to know about the future in all its in all its
45:44 entirety with all with all the details. But God doesn't grant us that because of this principle that I want to propose to
45:51 you today. This important principle that I want to share with you that knowing about the future is not as important as
45:58 preparing for the future. Let me repeat that. Knowing about the future is not as
46:05 important as preparing for the future. And that is why I I started the sermon
46:11 with a video clip to impress upon you that if you have been truly preparing for the future, then what was important
46:18 to you before will not be so will become less important and what was unimportant
46:24 to you before will become more important.
46:29 If you have been preparing for this glorious future, to quote the lyrics of a song, the things of earth will grow
46:37 strangely dim. You will focus on your eternal inheritance from the last verse
46:44 of chapter 12. But that is not to suggest that you should neglect everything, your
46:50 business, your career, and whatever you're doing. Daniel is told to go his way, meaning to continue his work as a
46:56 prophet. God is also telling us go your way uh uh continue with your life. But
47:02 if you have a right perspective of the final vision, your priorities will be reordered because your goals and
47:09 aspirations will be very different. And when that happens, your love for God
47:14 will transition from a decorative mode, decorative from the word declare,
47:20 decorative mode to a more demonstrative mode. Meaning that you will not only
47:25 declare your love for God, but you will also demonstrate your love for him.
47:31 Every Sunday we sit here happily singing, "Lord, I love you. I adore you." But how many of us really mean it?
47:38 It's just like once in a while I will tell my wife, "I love you." And she would she would say to me in return,
47:44 "Ay, you talk."
47:50 But whenever she says I love you to Jeremy in Dublin, she really means it
47:56 because she demonstrates it. Okay, I confess I'm still learning about, you
48:02 know, the demonstration of love. Okay, the other important takeaway from the
48:08 final vision is is the living hope that all believers should breathe. And this is the last part.
48:15 The living hope of a glorious future, of a blessed future. And I've tried to paint you this this picture from the
48:21 closing chapters of uh Revelation 21 and 22. If you're still around when the
48:27 antichrist appears on the world stage, you will suffer as a follower of Jesus.
48:33 But this living hope is that is what that will keep you going faithful and
48:38 loyal to the cross. Is the same living hope that has kept the Christians in
48:44 Syria in Iraq under ISIS. But some of you may think I'm already so old. I may
48:50 not be around when the great tribulation starts. Well, to make uh this final vision and Daniel 12 more relevant to
48:57 you, let me conclude by saying this. If you are carrying a heavy load,
49:03 if you are burdened by a great difficulty, if you are weighed down by pain and sorrow,
49:08 may this living hope sustain you. At the same time, Jesus is saying to
49:14 you, "I love you." He's saying to you, "Look at me. Focus on me."
49:23 Please feel free to approach any of the pastors or church leaders if you want to
49:28 be prayed for over an issue or a challenge because we would like you to
49:33 share our your burdens with us. Shall we close in prayer?
49:39 Our Father in heaven, oh, if you can if we can only imagine more the glory and
49:44 victory awaiting us when we shall pass from life here to life eternal with you.
49:51 May this living hope resonate in our hearts. May this final vision cause us
49:56 look at Jesus more and more. Teach us to trust you as we face the challenges that
50:02 life throws at us. We may not know what the future holds, but because Jesus
50:07 lives, we can face tomorrow. Because Jesus lives, all fear is gone. And we
50:13 pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
