How Can You Preach From Daniel 12 On Mother's Day?

Passage: Daniel 12:1-13

Intro: Vaccinations have become quite a controversy in our day.

1. when I was a kid, no one questioned the requirement for MMR, Polio, etc.

2. but today, some evidence connects vaccinations with Autism. And that’s enough for some to refuse.

3. parents are funny that way. As soon as that baby is placed in Daddy’s arms, he becomes a fearsome warrior, and together with Mom become a force to be reckoned with.

PP Mom and Dad protecting baby

4. No one messes with that kid if they can help it!

5. gluten-free, vaccine-free, safe from stranger-danger, bacteria-free

6. but so often, wide open to the lies of the enemy that can destroy them for eternity

7. on this Mother’s Day, let’s look at the most important call on our lives as parents, friends, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

8. so people big and small will grow up understanding and believing the truth, trusting God.

9. and here at a powerful passage of Scripture that spells out the results of that task in stark detail.

10. as this passage makes clear, everyone has a personal “end times”, whether they live to see that actual end or not. We, and our kids, can be ready.

I. The Antichrist Becomes Very Powerful

1. we saw this in chapter 11, and this is a general summary.

2. spiritual warfare will commence, and at risk are the souls of men and women.

3. this “distress” in v1 is fleshed out more powerfully in Revelation.

4. the whole world changes! Common grace is withdrawn and Antichrist rushes into the vacuum of fear of provide answers.

5. he builds a corrupt empire through intimidation and bribery, and things are terrible

6. and this all plays out in an atmosphere of the intensifying judgment of God.

7. but “your people” will be delivered. V1.. 2 issues

8. first, who are these people.

9. answer, those whose names are in the book.

PP Psalm 69:28

PP Malachi 3:16

10. believers. No stated nationality or race, and in Revelation it includes everyone who has trusted in Christ.

PP Revelation 20:15

11. 2nd, “delivered” from what?

II. Antichrist Abuses God’s Children

1. since God’s children have already been delivered from God’s wrath by the death of Christ, there is one option.

2. this time of “trouble” is direct persecution of believers by Antichrist. V7 “power broken”

3. this is the other use of plural “saints” in OT, never used of Jews as a people in the rest of OT

PP Daniel 8:12

4. see it in chapter 12 of Revelation, with an interesting side note.

5. many see the persecution directed at the Jews, while the Gentile believers have been raptured.

PP Revelation 12:6,14, 17

6. then Revelation tells us about being forced to take the mark of the beast, etc.

7. Daniel 12 and Revelation together tell a powerful story of terrible testing.

8. in these passages, it is spiritual deliverance that is promised, not physical.

9. we are finally delivered by rapture or death from Satan’s hatred. Because…

III. God’s Children Are Victorious Through Persecution.

1. v3 is powerful, because there is a clear distinction between two groups.

2. first group is “wise”, and they shine like stars eternally.

3. they have been transformed, and in the process have become proclaimers and livers of the life-changing truth of God.

4. they are people touching people with God’s love and truth. That is their passion.

5. moms and dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends, this is us!

6. our very first responsibility is that our own children know the truth to be vaccinated from the lie.

7. let this not be said about us…

PP Judges 2:10

8. and this is not just end times stuff.

9. the lie and the liar are always here, the spirit of antichrist is always present.

10. identify it! Shine in your home as bright examples of the life-changing power of God.

11. try as we might, we cannot protect our children from disease or accident or any other ill unless we put them in a bubble until they are 21.

12. certainly not saying we shouldn’t try to protect our children. But prioritize!!

13. what is eternal, what is spiritual, what will make a real difference in their life.

14. and as a church, to be teachers and examples and encouragers and prayer- warriors and Bible memory listeners!

15. we shine because we are different, and the darker it gets, the brighter we shine!

16. that is how we are victorious, how we are delivered. We overcome the enemy not by military might but by Holy Spirit initiated life-changing faith in the living God.

IV. God Defeats Satan in Both Realms

1. there is a certain calm about this passage.