Turn with me to Daniel chapter
12. Daniel 12, this will be, I believe,
our last message from this study through Daniel. And really, this
is just a starting point. I'm claiming another, I'm claiming
Hebrews 6 for a text also. I'm not going to recap what all
is said right here. We just had a Bible study on
the whole chapter. But I want to look at something
glorious from verse seven. Daniel said, I heard the man
clothed in linen. That's Christ. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Linen was the garment of the
high priest. That's what the garment was made
out of, linen. And that's Christ, our high priest. That's what he is for us. A high priest was the one who
went in to make intercession for the sins of the people, the
one who brought blood in. And that's what Christ is for
us. He is our high priest that offered
the blood in appeasement. Verse seven, I heard the man
clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, the
river of death, the river of judgment that all men and women
must enter. I heard the man clothed in linen,
which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his
right hand and his left hand unto heaven." In Daniel's time,
holding up the right hand was, and I know that looks left to
you, the right hand was a common gesture in swearing, making promises. It is in our time too. It is
still a common gesture in swearing still to this day. If you go
into a courtroom and you have to testify, they're going to
ask you to raise your right hand. Do you swear? So that's still
a common gesture in our day. Well, the lifting up of both
hands was an emphasis of what was being sworn to. Emphasizing
what was being sworn to. Let no mistake be made. Let all
eyes see this. This is a covenant promise that
shall not be broken. It shall be fulfilled. Verse seven says, I heard the
man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river,
when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven
and swear by him that liveth forever." Who is that? Who did he swear
by? Who did he swear to? Revelation 4 says, the one who
liveth forever is the one who sits on the throne. And that's
Jesus Christ. He is the one who sits on the
throne. He is the one who swore a covenant
promise. What was that covenant promise?
What did he swear to? The end of verse one says, it's
that his people would be delivered. Every soul that was written in
the book He swore to that. The end of
verse 13 says it's that his people would rest and stand in the lot
of their inheritance, the lot that was promised to them for
the rest of their days. It was a promise of redemption. It was a promise of deliverance. It was a promise of acceptance. It was a promise of security
and love and peace. That's the covenant that Christ
swore to. And I quoted this verse in the
Bible study from Hebrews 6. I asked our brother to read that
a moment ago. After studying for the Bible
study, I just couldn't get my mind off of that. And I thought
we could look at it for our message this morning. I'll read it to
you. Go to Hebrews 6. I love this verse so much. Hebrews
6 verse 13 says, for when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself. Don't you love that? I love the
fact that he would swear, that he would make a promise. And
I love the fact that the, Only one he could swear to was himself. He swore to himself because he
could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. He is the only
man who could say, I swear to God. I swear to God. You and I should
never swear. Promise. We should never promise. People say, I promise. We should
never promise. We should especially never promise
God. We should never swear to God
because we will never be able to keep any promise that we make
to Him. Never. We will not do it. And He holds every soul who breaks
a promise accountable. Look with me at Matthew chapter
5. Matthew 5 verse 33, it says, Our Lord said, again, you have
heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt
not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not
at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by earth,
for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city
of the great king, neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because
thou canst not make one hair white or black, but let your
communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than
these, cometh of evil. No mortal man or woman should
swear to do anything, because all that we sinners do is lie
and break our word. And God will not let that go
unpunished. But there's one man who could
swear, and he did. And the reason he did is because
it is impossible for him to lie, and it is impossible for him
to break his word. And that was the God-man, Jesus
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in Isaiah 46, if I have
spoken it, I will do it. If I have promised it, I will
bring it to pass. I will. David said in his last
words, these were the last words of David. He said, this is my
hope right here. It's that the Lord hath made
an everlasting covenant concerning me. And he said, it's ordered in
all things and sure. That means everything that God
promised concerning me, he'll do it. Everything God promised,
he'll do it. Jesus Christ made a covenant. He made a promise concerning
his people. And because he could swear by
no greater, because there was no greater being, no higher being,
he swore by himself. Go with me back to Hebrews 6. Verse 13 says, For when God made promise to
Abraham, what was that promise? What did God promise Abraham?
Well, look at verse 14. saying, surely blessing, I will bless
thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. He promised to
have a chosen people, a covenant people, a people who he would
set his love and his favor on, a people who he would show mercy
to and show forgiveness to. And he said, it will be a people
as the sands of the seashore and as the stars of the sky. He said, I will choose them.
I will deliver them. I will redeem them from their
bondage. I will give them a land of inheritance. I will draw them to myself. I will be their God. They shall
be my people. He said, I swear, I swear. Verse 15 says, and so after he
had patiently endured, after Abraham patiently endured, and
after Daniel patiently endured, the Lord made the same promise
to Daniel and he told him that he was going to have to patiently
endure. And what he said at the end of the chapter there, Just
patiently endure, be still. He said, go that way till the
end be. And he said, cling to the promise
that you're gonna rest and you're gonna receive the inheritance
that I've promised you. Trust that, believe that. After Abraham patiently endured,
verse 15 says, he obtained the promise. And after Daniel patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. And the same thing applies to
you and me. If we belong to Christ, if we were included in his covenant,
if we were included in his covenant, after all of God's people patiently
endure, every one of them will receive the promise. And it's because of who it is
that made the promise. That's why, who made that promise?
Verse 16 says, for men verily swear by the greater, and an
oath for confirmation is to them an end of all stripe. With men,
usually men swear by a greater than themselves. Somebody they
consider to be greater than them. And the fact that there's a greater
than them proves they may not be able to fulfill their promise. But this man, this man, verse
17 says, but God, wherein God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel. That's saying, but God. being
willing to prove to every soul he made a promise to how unchangeable
that promise is. He said, I am the Lord. I change
not. Does God change? Good answer. Amen. No. Wisdom. out of the mouth of babes. Amen. Has God ever changed? No. That's right. He's the same God
now that he's always been. This God that we're reading about,
he's the same God now he's always been. He's the same God yesterday,
today, and forever. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because of
my immutability, that means unchangeability. He said, because I don't change
my promise concerning you, the promise of my blood covering
all of your sin. Does that sound good to anybody? The promise of my righteousness
supplying all of your needs before God. You need to be good. And you're not good. But I am. And I'm gonna robe you in all
of my goodness. because I don't change my promise,
my covenant, my oath that I swear concerning your salvation and
your acceptance into glory that will stand forever. Verse 17 says, wherein God willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. That word confirmed. Do you have a center margin in
your Bible? It means he interposed himself. That means he put himself between
his people and the judgment that was coming to them. He interposed
himself to prove that his promise to them of deliverance and salvation
would stand. He interposed himself. He stood in the way of. He solidly positioned himself
between his people and the judgment that was coming to them for their
sin. Just like that story of Big Johnny
and Little Billy. And I was not going to tell the
story, but now I am. Years ago, in a one-room schoolhouse,
all ages and all grades, there was a kid named Big Johnny,
and he got his lunch stolen. And he was upset about it. And the next day, he got his
lunch stolen again. And he was upset about it. And he told the teacher, he said,
somebody's stealing my lunch. And the teacher made an announcement
to the kids, whoever is stealing Johnny's lunch, confess. And nobody confessed. And the teacher said, make sure
it doesn't happen again. Whoever it is, make sure it doesn't
happen again. Well, it happened again. And Johnny said, that's it. We're
going to do something about it. And the teacher said, OK, Johnny,
what do you want to do about it? He said, I want there to
be a punishment. And the teacher said, what do you want the punishment
to be? He said, I want it to be 10 lashes across the bare
back. Whoever's caught stealing lunches,
10 lashes across the bare back. OK, that's what it'll be. It happened again. And the teacher said, OK, who did
it? Who is doing this? And nobody would fess up. And
the teacher said, if somebody does not confess, this whole
class is going to suffer. This whole class is going to
get in trouble. And this little kid in the back finally raised
his hand, little Billy, and he said, I did it, teacher. Just
scrawny little kid. And the teacher said, Billy,
why did you do that? And he said, I'm sorry, Johnny.
I just couldn't help it. I was so hungry. I have not eaten. We don't have food at my house.
And I was so hungry, I just couldn't help it. He said, I'm sorry. And the teacher said, OK, Billy,
take your shirt off. Come on up to the front. And
when he took his shirt off, he was about the scrawniest, hungriest,
most malnourished kid that Big Johnny had ever seen. And Big
Johnny had compassion on him. And he said, it's okay, teacher,
don't give him his lashes. And the teacher said, no, I have
to, Johnny. I have to, these rules cannot be broken. We got
here because rules were broken. And Johnny said, please teacher,
I'm begging you, please don't do it. And the teacher said,
if I don't give him the lashes, sin will be committed again.
And that cannot be, he must receive his lashes. So he said, Billy,
lean over my desk. And Billy leaned over the desk,
and the teacher raised the rod, and Johnny cried, wait! And Big Johnny got up from his
desk, and he walked down to the front, and he wrapped his whole
body around Little Billy. And he said, OK, teacher, let
him have it. And that teacher unleashed on
Little Billy. Big Johnny interposed himself. That's what happened. He firmly
positioned himself between his own and the judgment that was
coming to him. That's what Jesus Christ did
for all of his people. Verse 17 says, wherein God, willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable
things, two unchangeable things, his promise and the fulfillment
of his promise. that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within
the veil. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. What is that consolation? Where
have we fled? What are we holding on to for
our hope set before us? It's Christ. It's the one who
interposed himself for us. It's not just the promise that
was made, it's the promiser. That's who we're holding on to.
He is our hope. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support us in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is our hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Because Christ
interposed Himself, Because he put himself between the sin of
his people and the judgment of God on that sin. Because he went
into the holy of holies first as the forerunner. And that's
what that said. Our high priest went in first. Carrying blood, the appeasement
sacrifice for sin. He went in as the high priest
offering the blood. He went in as the sacrifice of
blood. He was all. Because God accepted
him and God accepted his sacrifice, God is now satisfied with us. And he accepts us in him. Christ
opened the way for all of God's people to freely, peacefully
enter straight on into glory. That is the hope that's set before
us. That is the anchor for our soul. And if you look at chapter seven,
I'll close with this. Chapter seven, verse 19, it says, for the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh to God. And in as much as not without
an oath, he was made priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
All of those priests in the Old Testament, they were representing
someone. They were not our high priest
and they didn't continue. They would die and the next one
would come along. Verse 24 says, but this man, because he continueth
ever. hath an unchangeable priesthood,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them." What a hope. What a promise. What a gospel
of good news. All thanks and praise be unto
Christ because he interposed himself. He said, I swear I'll
do it. And he did it. All glory be to
Him, now and forever. Amen.