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All scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation.
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On Thursday after school a couple of junior high girls, whom I had never seen before, came to the church office door to ask me to pray for their friend who was in the hospital because someone had given her
a bad dose of the drug ecstasy.
That was the same day that we found out the North Koreans have been secretly building nuclear weapons, in spite of their agreement to abandon their weapons program.
And, of course, we’ve all been consumed with the news about this sniper person in the D.C. area. He sot a 37-year-old man in Virgina last night.
The US is massing a Naval presence in the Persian Gulf in preparation for war against Iraq.
By the way, the results of last weekend’s election gave Saddam Hussein an overwhelming victory. He received 100% of the votes cast by the 11.4 million Iraqis – an improvement over the last election where he received something like a 99.9% approval.
You know, there is no shortage of crazies out there – people who give drugs to kids – and tainted batches at that --
Leaders who feed their egos by playing the world power game.
Many people have just quit reading the news – and some are annoyed with me because I bring this stuff up on Sunday mornings. They prefer something more inspiring and uplifting.
But, really, no matter how hard you try you can’t hide your head in the sand – and continue breathing for very long.
It comes at us on a daily basis and it’s frustrating that things seem so out of control – so downright crazy.
And our passage in Daniel 11 only reinforces that point – except it’s not written from a point of despair.
Now, Daniel, himself found all of these visions and dreams extremely troubling – but by the time that they were all put together the undercurrent of hope and faith becomes pretty strong.
This morning I want to make three observations rooted in the 11th chapter of Daniel. And I think that these things should actually recharge our batteries so we don’t feel swamped by everything that is happening around us.
The first thing that I want you to see in this passage is that EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IS ON GOD’S RADAR SCREEN.
This appears to be the point of all of the information dumped on Daniel in chapter 11. Specifically, I’m talking about all the list of kings and their activities.
This is sixth century BC – but the vision contains detailed information about kings and happenings on into the second century BC – and beyond. There is so much detail in here that a lot of scholars think it couldn’t have possibly been written down in the sixth century BC.
The kings are never named but there are lists and lists of kings coming from the south and the north and defeating such and such other king – lots of detail.
The first 35 verses of Daniel 11 read more like history than prophetic vision. And there are some people that are bothered by the amount of detail supposedly given hundreds of years in advance. I’m not one of them but I can understand how this is really a stretch.
However, there is a point in all the detail here. Daniel 11 is conveying the sense that nothing is happening without the knowledge of God. After all, he is the source of Daniel’s vision.
None of this is happening without God’s knowledge – even if it is hundreds of years in the future. It’s all on God’s radar screen.
We have a friend who is a professor of electrical engineering at a university in Texas. And one of the long term experiments he’s been working on is the use of radar in measuring ice. You know...icebergs.
Us normal folk – we’d look at an iceberg and say – "Wow, that’s a lot of ice. You could make a lot of snow cones with that!"
But Jonathan looks at an iceberg and he can tell you how thick it is, how deep it goes, how much it weighs, how much water it contains. And this is because it’s on his radar screen.
He sees things that other people can’t see. How much more so is God operating from that unique perspective. And if he sees and knows things that no one else sees and knows then he is able to work those things toward his long-term purposes.
Alas, we end up back at the overarching message of the whole book of Daniel – in spite of present appearances, God is in control.
My second observation from Daniel 11 is this: DON’T WORRY -- THE CRAZINESS CONTINUES.
And I’m being facetious here when I say "don’t worry". This is for all of you who are concerned that you might miss out on all the action.
Hey, there will be plenty of trouble to go around.
In addition to all of the kings and armies listed at the beginning of chapter 11 there is an interesting scenario that shapes up in verses 36 and beyond. The story line appears to be about the Greek king Antiochus IV.
He’s the nasty dude who looted the Jewish Temple, halted the daily sacrifices, set up an idolatrous object there – and sacrificed a pig to it. Not because he was religious -- but because he wanted to annoy the Jews.
This was commonly called the “Abomination that causes desolation.”
Verse 36 – “The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every god there is, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed — until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place. He will have no regard for the gods of his ancestors, or for the god beloved of women, or for any other god, for he will boast that he is greater than them all."
That is, he’s going to be worse than a pagan. He won’t have any god other than himself and some foreign God called the "God of the fortress".
Verse 38 – "Instead of these, he will worship the god of fortresses — a god his ancestors never knew — and lavish on him gold, silver, precious stones, and costly gifts. Claiming this foreign god’s help, he will attack the strongest fortresses.
I wonder if the god of fortresses is really a veiled reference to his military machine.
All of this fits Antiochus IV very well – however, it appears that God was talking about someone else, too.
Yes he was probably talking about Antiochus – but it’s like when it comes to this king in the story line the whole thing hits warp speed.
You know, like in Star Trek. when they go to warp speed and all the stars on the screen become a blur because of the instant speed. Suddenly it appears that the whole thing fast forwards. The prophecy has a double meaning and it is talking about some kind of antichrist figure that will have similar power at the end of human history.
For example, the language of Matthew 24:1-15, where Jesus is talking about a future desolation – that’s from Daniel 11.
Now, it may be that Jesus is just borrowing the language to make a point. But it may be that there is a sense in which some future antichrist figure will follow a path parallel to Antiochus IV.
Now, if all of this sounds confusing – welcome to the club!
This is one of those passages which scholars debate endlessly – and there are all kinds of theories out there – which is fine – as long as we don’t miss the point of it all.
Before God wraps things up, and Jesus returns, and his followers reign with him, there will be no shortage of craziness out there.
Armenians, Assyrians, Cambodians, Jews and Christians – and countless other groups others have been subjected to acts of genocide.
Alexander the Great, Antiochus IV, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Mobutu, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden -- all ruthless killers who exhibit the madness that accompanies power gone array – except they aren’t the only ones.
The madness on a grand scale is manifest with countless crazies on the more local scale – drug dealers – snipers – cereal killers – even school bullies (if you want to become really local).
There is no shortage of craziness out there and the temptation for godly people is to disengage and head for the hills – literally or figuratively.
I suspect that a lot of us no longer feel the need to escape to the hills because we’ve got some pretty powerful home entertainment centers which make it really convenient to do a virtual escape.
Folks, in spite of the insolation we have developed for ourselves and our families – we live in a truly crazy world. The very fact that you have developed forms of insolation makes the point.
How many of you locked your car doors when you came in here this morning? How many of you locked the doors of your home? Set an alarm?
These are all insulating activities.
And still I know that many of you have been victims of crimes -- burglaries, assaults, financial scams, discrimination...
This isn’t the way God designed things to be. The world has been spinning wonky ever since the Fall – ever since the first man and woman chose to eat the forbidden mango in the Garden of Eden.
And what’s really scarey is that we see some of the craziness manifesting itself in our own lives – relationships that are wiped out for no good reason other than selfishness.
Perhaps you find yourself cutting corners.
And it seems like the craziness continues to grow with time. And that is the point in the vision. You’ve got this long line of kings and their antics.
Verse 21 contains a classic understatment – “The next to come to power will be a despicable man...”
And it just gets worse and worse over time. There is no shortage of crazies. However, and this is #3 –
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE CRAZIES ARE ALL RUNNING ON FUMES.
Verse 44 – "But then news from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in great anger to destroy many as he goes. He will halt between the glorious holy mountain and the sea and will pitch his royal tents there, but while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, and there will be no one to help him."
I think I’ve run out of gas once in my life – and it was on Golden State – a block away from a gas station. I was pushing my luck just a little too much.
But one of my paranoias is running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Have you ever done that?
I get really nervous when I think I’m running on fumes and I’m 30 miles out of Winnemuca, Nevada.
If you run out – you’re stuck – you can’t move and your trip comes to a sudden and frustrating halt. And you have a lot of extra time to yourself.
Well, in the vision, even the most obnoxious ruler – the craziest of the crazies – runs out of gas at some point "between the holy mountain and the sea."
This means that they’re all running on fumes now. His time will suddenly run out, and there will be no one to help him.
And this is the good news. This is the point of the vision. Things may not look so good now – but really the enemy army – as nasty as it looks – as massive as it is – it’s all running on fumes and it will all grind to a halt as they run out of gas.
It’s like the Soviet Empire – scarey and massive – but it just ran itself out of gas.
God is in control – and thru the cross and resurrection he shuts down the enemy’s distribution system – choking the fuel supply – so that in the end he wins.
Right now they’re just running on fumes – left over gas from previous distributions. But it will run out.
So, indeed take caution. In Matthew 24:16 Jesus says: “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills...”
There will be sometimes when you have to take extreme action to avoid the activity of the doomed army – but you don’t have to despair – because you know that ultimately the enemy army is doomed.
It runs out of gas between the mountain and the sea.
So we can trust God knowing that the future is completely on his radar screen and that the love of God for his people wins out.
This is the point of the affirmation of faith that I’ve chosen for this morning. It’s from Romans 8 and it’s printed in the bulletin or you can follow it on the screen.
I know that for at least a few of you this is your favorite section of scripture. Some of you have memorized this – and that would be a good thing to do – especially when you’re feeling like the crazies have the upper hand.
Let’s read it together –
What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today,
our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
