Turn with me, if you would, to
Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12. We are continuing our study through
Daniel this morning. This is the last chapter in the
book of Daniel. And I believe we'll end up having
a few messages from this chapter. Today's message is going to come
from verse one. We just had a Bible study from
one line in verse one. And we're taking our time with
this because this declares something that We really need to understand
concerning God. This declares something that
we really need to understand concerning God. Before we get
into it, I just want to point out as a little recap. that the Lord God prophesied
to Daniel how time was going to go. He prophesied to Daniel
from Daniel how the rest of time was going to go. And Daniel did not understand
everything that was being said to him, and that's understandable.
We don't understand what was being said to him, but Daniel
didn't either. If you look at verse eight, Daniel said, I heard,
but I understood not. Then said I, oh my Lord, what
shall be the end of these things? In this book, the Lord declared
to Daniel, he revealed to Daniel, number one, the deliverance of
Israel's 70 year captivity to Babylon. They were in captivity
at this time. The Lord declared to Daniel exactly
how long it would be before Christ would come into the world. All
of the Old Testament said Christ is coming. He is coming. The
Messiah is coming. And then Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John say He's here. And the rest of the New Testament
says He came and He's coming again. And the Lord revealed
to Daniel this is exactly how long it will be and Christ will
come into the world. The Lord declared exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ would do when He came into the world.
If you look back at chapter 9 with me, Daniel 9 verse 24, God sent a
messenger to Daniel And he said in verse 24, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon the holy city to finish the transgression. He said, this is what's going
to happen. This is what Christ is going to do when he comes.
He's going to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and
to make reconciliation for iniquity. and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most
Holy. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks
and threescore and two weeks the street that shall be built
again in the wall, even in troubleless times. And after three score
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself,
for his people. And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and
the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the
war desolations. are determined. He said at this
exact moment in time, Christ will come to die for his people
and he will put away their sins forever. And that's what he did. In Daniel chapter 10, the Lord
declared what spiritual wars would take place. In Daniel chapter
11, the Lord declared what physical wars would take place and how
all of time would go until the end of time. This king is gonna
reign over that king and this is gonna happen and that's gonna
happen. This is how it's all gonna go until the end of time. The Lord declared all of that
to Daniel. And that's where we are here in Daniel chapter 12,
all right? We're at the end of time. The
last day, the day that the Lord returns. Back to Daniel 12, verse
one says, and at that time shall Michael
stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of
thy people. As you know, Michael is called
the archangel, one of the chief angels. And either Michael the
archangel here is a representative picture of the Lord Jesus Christ,
or his name is being used to refer directly to Christ, as
David's name is used to refer to Christ, and Joshua's name
is used to refer to Christ. Either way, Christ is the one
who stands for his people. Jesus Christ is the one who stands
for his people. He stood on this earth in righteousness
for his people. Aren't you so glad to know that?
I'm going to tell you something. In order to enter into glory,
we need righteousness. We need a righteousness as perfect
as God's righteousness. Well, God's righteousness himself
stood on this earth for his people. He stood right here on this earth
in righteousness for all of his people. Our Lord stood before
the judgment and condemnation of God for his people. We're
all sinners. We're all sinners. I wish we
weren't, but we are. And we deserve judgment and condemnation
from God Almighty because of that. Well, Jesus Christ stood
before the judgment and condemnation of God for all of his people. And he will stand in that day
that he receives every one of his people to himself. He will
stand in that day. Hold your place right here and
turn over to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, the disciple
Stephen is about to be stoned to death here for preaching the
gospel of truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He's about
to be stoned for preaching Christ. And his final words of condemnation
to these religious people and religious leaders who rejected
Christ were, if you look at verse 51, Acts chapter 7 verse 51,
He said, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so
do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom you have
been now the betrayers and murderers. who have received the law by
the dispensation of angels and have not kept it. When they heard
these things, they were cut to the heart. They got angry and
they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he being full of the
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory
of God. and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God. That is not a place, that's a
position. That is a position of honor.
Verse 56, and Stephen said, behold, I see the heavens opened and
the son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they
cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran
upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and
stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they
stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. And he, kneeling down, cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. As Stephen was being
stoned, God stood up there at his throne and received him to
himself. That's beautiful, isn't it? That's
beautiful. In that day, Christ is going
to be the one standing on behalf of all of his people. Go with
me back to Daniel 12. Daniel 12 verse 1, it says, and
at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth
for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of
trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that
same time. On that day, destruction will
come to this earth like this earth has never seen. We need
to understand this. We need to understand this. I
don't want us to be ignorant of this. You know, the Apostle
Paul kept saying, I would not have us to be ignorant of this
brethren. On that day, the day that Michael
stands up, and says, that's it, no more. On that day, destruction
will come to this earth like this earth has never seen. It'll
be so great, the scripture says, the heavens and the earth will
be dissolved because of it. Dissolved. Not just that one
city, like Jerusalem. It's not just that a place is
gonna be leveled to rubble. Everything will melt with a fervent
heat. And here's what I want us to
understand. Christ is the one who's going
to melt it. That's what we need to understand.
Jesus Christ is the one who is going to melt it. Hold your place
again and go to 2 Thessalonians 1. 2 Thessalonians 1. Verse 6, seeing it is a righteous thing
with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. Seeing
it is good and right with God to recompense tribulation to
them that trouble you. Verse 7, and to you who are troubled
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance. Vengeance is the Lord's. He said,
vengeance is mine. Taking vengeance on them that
know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired
in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed
in that day. I want us to understand this
about our God. We need to understand this about
God. Christ is the one who is going
to bring that destruction with Him. Jesus Christ, the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Christ is the one who's going
to bring that destruction with him. Look at 2 Peter 3 with me.
2 Peter 3 verse 1, it says, this
second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which
I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you
be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord
and Savior. Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust,
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens which were of old and
the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water perished."
What he's saying is many women are willingly ignorant of the
fact that God who created this world is the one who destroyed
this world with a flood. He wiped it out with a flood.
Verse 7, but the heavens and the earth which are now By the
same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any of the usward
should perish. but that all of the usward should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness? looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. On the day that Christ returns,
all of this is going away. It's all going away. Everything
this eye can see is going to be destroyed. All right, now
go with me back to Daniel 12. Verse one says, and at that time
shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the
children of thy people. And there shall be a time of
trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that
same time. And at that time, thy people
shall be delivered. Before that destruction comes,
every single one of God's people are going to be, as the military
calls it, extracted. Every single one of God's people
are going to be pulled out. They're going to be delivered,
liberated, carried away to safety. I had
a great uncle, my dad's uncle, Harold Stoniker. He lived in
Tupelo, Mississippi. I grew up in Franklin, Tennessee.
My family tree lives in Alexandria, Louisiana. We would go see them
a couple of times a year. And normally we would take the
Natchez Trace Parkway down there, which runs right through Tupelo,
Mississippi. And quite often my dad would
want to stop and see his uncle. We would just pop in for a minute
and they would have coffee and all that. We would sit and listen
to the adults talk. And when you went to Uncle Harold's
house, there was only one conversation. And I mean what I'm saying. They
only had one conversation. They only talked about one thing
every single time I ever went. I heard this same conversation
every time we went there. Uncle Harold was the tail gunner
in a B-24 bomber in World War II. He was the tail gunner. And they were flying over Germany. And two German fighters came
down on top of their bomber and shot out one of their engines.
And the plane started going down. And he was there at his tail
gun. And his buddy came and tapped
him on the shoulder and made the gesture, we're jumping out.
And every time I was there, he said, I made two jumps that day. My first jump and my last jump.
I could finish that sentence for him. My first jump and my
last jump. So they parachuted out. They landed behind German
lines. They became captured and prisoners
of war, POWs. And those men were treated horribly. I mean, they were treated horribly.
They were beaten. They were interrogated. They
were barely given enough food to survive in those prisoner
camps, POW camps. In his, they grouped eight men
together. around a garbage can, that was
your group, eight men around a garbage can, and every day
or however often they fed them, they would throw a few rotten
potatoes and one loaf of molded bread in that garbage can. And
those men had to divide that out amongst themselves. He was
there for two years, not two weeks, not two months. Think
about that, two years. After a while, don't you start
to think, I'm going to die here. He was there for two years in
this miserable, miserable condition. And he said, one day. But it
was a day we knew not. One day, on that day, all of
the sudden, as a thief in the night, American troops stormed that
camp and set every prisoner in that camp free. They led captivity
captive. They took the captors captive
and they set every prisoner there free. And he said, all of us
made it out alive. Every man in my bomber made it
out alive. Every single one of us. And until
the day that man died, He only wanted to talk about one day.
That's all he wanted to talk about. How horrible his captivity
was and the day he was set free. The day of his deliverance. And
that's all that a child of God wants to talk about. We understand
that fully because that's all we want to talk about. Deliverance
is coming. It's coming. Deliverance was
secured and forever settled in heaven through the cross of our
Lord. Deliverance was accomplished
on the cross of our Lord. And because of that cross, because
of the finished work of that cross, for every soul that was
crucified with Christ on that cross, deliverance is about to
be experienced. It's about to be experienced.
It has been accomplished. It has been finished. It is forever
settled in heaven and real soon it's going to be experienced
as a thief in the night. It's going to be experienced.
Verse one says, At that time shall Michael stand up, the great
prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And he's
going to say, That's it. No more. Today's the day. There
shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was
a nation even to that same time. And at that time, thy people
shall be delivered. Our Lord described it in Matthew
24. He said, on that day, two will
be in the field. One shall be taken and the other
one left. He said, two women shall be grinding
at the mill. One shall be taken and the other
one left. What will make the difference
on who's taken and who's left? What will make the difference?
The end of verse one says, at that time, thy people shall be
delivered. Everyone that shall be found
written in the book. Everyone that shall be found
written in the book. God has a book. God has a book. A book that God
the Father placed in the hands of God the Son. A book concerning
the will and the decree of God in salvation. Now, we just had a Bible study
a moment ago, right before this, all right? We had a Sunday school
lesson Bible study on that book. That Bible study and this message
go hand in hand. I wanted, when I got here, all
right, this is where I went to the Bible study. You can see
why. I wanted to put everything we just looked at in that Sunday
school lesson, I wanted to put all of that into this message,
but it was just too much, so I divided them. But this is what I want us to
take from everything that is said in Daniel 12, verse one. Everything that we've looked
at so far, when we leave this place in just a minute, if we've
gotten a hold of anything, let's make sure we get a hold of this.
I pray that this truth will consume the minds and the hearts of every
soul here. We are in God's hands. We are in God's hands. That's what we need to understand
about God. From election, to creation, to
destruction, to salvation. We are in God's hands. From start
to finish, we are in God's hands. God is not in our hands. God is not in our hands. Let's
leave this place having no doubt of that in our minds. God is
not in our hands. What will you do with God? What
decision are you going to make to do with God? God is not in our hands. We're
in God's hands. Verse one says, at that time
shall Michael stand up, the great prince, which standeth for the
children of thy people. There shall be a time of trouble
such as never was, since there was a nation even at that same
time. And at that time, thy people
shall be delivered. Every one that shall be found
written in the book. Every elect soul that the Father
purposed to save and gave to Christ to save is going to be
saved. Every single one of them. Every
soul whose name was written in that book. Every one of them
is going to be saved. Dear God, in whose hands we are
in, Oh dear God, in whose hands we are in, let us be found written
in that book. Let us be found written in that
book. Lord, we acknowledge the truth that we're in your hands. We're in your hands to do with
us as you see fit, to do with us whatever you're pleased to
do with us. We acknowledge that we are sinners before you. We acknowledge that it is a fearful
thing for sinners to fall into the hands of the living God. But we acknowledge that you wrote
a book. You wrote a book of mercy, a book of grace, a book of forgiveness
for sinners like us. By way of the blood of the Lamb
of God, a book of life by way of death. A book of life by way
of death. A death that you provided for
your people as a sacrifice for their sin, a redemption. We acknowledge
that you provided a redemption. We acknowledge your sovereignty
in choosing who you would redeem. We acknowledge that you're actually
God. We acknowledge your mercy in
choosing sinners. You were so merciful to choose
sinners. We acknowledge your grace in
choosing us, even though we would have never chosen you. You're
so gracious. We acknowledge that your will,
your decision, your work is our only hope. Your will, your work,
it's our only hope. We acknowledge that we're in
your hands. We acknowledge that we're at your mercy because we're
in your hands. Judgment or mercy, we're in your
hands. Saved or lost, we're in your
hands. Isn't that what David said in
Psalm 51? Life or death, we're in your
hands. As we just said in our Bible
study a moment ago, every soul that has been given that knowledge,
every soul that God has revealed that to through his word, every
soul that has received faith to believe that, and every soul
that has received a desire for that mercy from him, a desire
to be found in that book, Every soul who has been given a need
to be in that book, a need to be in that blood, the blood of the lamb of life,
the lamb who died that God's people might have life. Every
soul who has received a need for Christ. That need to come to Christ.
I need to come to Jesus Christ. I'm a sinner in need of mercy.
I'm a sinner who needs to be found in the book of life. I need to be in Christ. Every sinner who has received
that need, that's a soul whose name is in that book. Our Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me, every soul that the Father wrote in that book and
handed to me, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, will
come to me, will come to Christ. They will be given a need. They
will see that they're in my hands. They will need mercy and they
will come to me for it, all of them. And he said, him or her
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I will, if
they come to me for mercy, for grace, for forgiveness, for acceptance,
if they come to Christ, not the law, not their doctrine, not
their thoughts or their personal beliefs, Christ, his way, his
will, his word alone. He said, I'll in no wise cast
them out. Why? Their names are in that book.
They come to me in that way. Their names are in that book.
That's the father drawing them. No man can come to Christ except
the father draw a man or woman to Christ. He said, I will not cast them
out because I took their book of sin and gave them my book
of righteousness. Again, in the Bible study a moment
ago, we looked at the books that were open, the record of all
of our sin that's been written down. Christ said, I took their book
of sin. I took their record of sin. I gave them my book of righteousness. When the books were opened before
the judgment of God, I was holding their book of sin on the cross
of Calvary. They were holding my book of
righteousness. I was blotted out that they might
be welcomed in. Do we see that we are in God's
hands? We're in God's hands. Do we see
that our salvation is in God's hands? Do we bow to that? Do we believe that? Is that our
hope of glory? Is that our hope of glory, that
we're in your hands? Has God given us faith that hopes
totally in the will of the Father and the work of the Son and the
subduing, convincing call of the Spirit? believing on Christ, bowing before
Christ, casting our all on the fact that he pled our name before
the Father. Our Lord said, every soul that
comes to me without hope, that's the evidence that that soul's
name is written in the book. And I will raise that soul up
at the last day. Lord, give us that faith. Give
us that hope. We're in your hands, and this
is what all of God's people will see. There's nowhere safer to
be. We're in your hands, and there's
nowhere safer to be. That's where we cast it all.
Cast it all on you. Amen.