OPEN YOUR BIBLES TO Daniel 1 & 2 Peter 3:1-13
1. As you survey the world today, reading the newspapers, watching the latest news, seeing the times in which we live.
a. You’ll probably be grasped with a strong sense that Jesus may come back soon!
b. I really believe that we are the, THAT generation that will see Jesus. He could come even before this study is over!
NOTE: GUYS, The promise of Jesus stands stronger today than any other time in all recorded human history.
• And what we’re seeing is not only the fulfillment of prophecy, but also exactly what Peter wrote in his letter.
• Let’s look at 2 Peter 3:1-13
THE QUESTION in V11 burns through our hearts this morning.
• If not, it’s needs to. It’s a probing question!
• What manner of persons ought we to be?
• Seeing all these things, what are we to do?
#1 – We are to be men and women of THE BOOK.
• This book is to be in our hearts, in our minds, lived out daily.
#2 – We are to be men and women of HOLINESS & PURITY.
#3 – We are to be men & women who live with a sense of urgency for the gospel to be preached and shared.
#4 – We are to be men & women who occupy ourselves with the work of kingdom knowing God has given our lives great purpose!
NOW THAT’S where things get exciting. Because you’re here today, by God’s design and plan.
• You were born on a certain day, into a certain family, in a certain part of the world, so that you’d be where you are right now, by God’s plan, purpose and design.
• Your life is not an accident but is filled with great purpose!
• And each part of your life is designed to prepare you for today.
BUT YOU THINK, “Look, I’m not this. I’m not that. I can’t overcome this. I’ll never, no way, can’t happen… ”
• Instead of the encouraging me, the great heroes of the faith discourage me. I can’t be like them.
• But don’t forget… please understand, they were men and women just like us.
THEY FACED the same struggles, the same issues of life, the same wrestling’s with their flesh… all of it. Just like us.
James 5.17-18 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
And as we study through Daniel in the coming weeks, what made him strong, what made him overcome, was a strong faith in God, relying upon Him, trusting in Him.
DANIEL… there’s an old Sunday School song about Daniel.
• It goes like this:
“Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known.”
The world BACK THEN needed Daniels. Men, young men, who would stand for God even in the face of serious persecutions.
• OUR WORLD TODAY needs more Daniels, men and women just like you who stand strong for the things of God resisting the pressures of this world.
The BOOK OF DANIEL is one of PURITY & PROPHECY.
• Because Daniel was a man of PURITY, this book will be extremely practical to us and for us as a church family.
• As we study the life of Daniel and his friends, we see in their lives a real commitment, a real conviction, and real courage in standing up for the Lord their God in trying times.
• Our study over the next few months will inspire us and give us tremendous lessons on how live in our world today!
BUT since Daniel was also a PROPHET, the book is also very prophetic, it’s a Book of PROPHECY.
• Really, Daniel is one of the MOST IMPORTANT books in all of the Bible, if not THE most important one.
• Daniel is the key that unlocks REVELATION for us.
• Daniel is that book that inspires trust and hope because our God knows all and reveals to us those things we must know!
AND SO we find Daniel, the book, under attack today.
• NOW Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den by King Darius,.
• But today, we find Daniel being thrown into the CRITIC’S DEN.
• It confounds the critics. They don’t know what to do with it so they decide to minimize and ridicule it.
PERHAPS the largest accusation against Daniel is that he didn’t write it.
• That it really wasn’t written by him predicting the future, but rather by someone else looking back on human history.
NOTE: A 3rd Century HERETIC declared the Book of Daniel was a forgery written during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees which would date it around 170 BC almost 400 years after Daniel lived.
• And since then, the liberal scholars have battled to make Daniel irrelevant & unimportant!
• Why? Because if Daniel didn’t write it, then God is not God.
• He didn’t send His Son Jesus Christ so then there would be no accountability for our lives. But Daniel did write this book!
GOD through Daniel predicted the rise & fall of world empires with amazing accuracy. So amazing they were 100% accurate!
• That’s what confounds them the most.
Josephus, the Jewish historian (Antiquities of the Jews, Vol. 1, p. 388), tells us how in 322 BC Alexander the Great was coming down through the Middle East conquering the known world. He was absolutely unstoppable.
• He came to the area of Israel and right into Jerusalem.
• He was approached by a priest with a scroll of Daniel in his hand.
• He tells Alexander that’s he’s mentioned in the Bible.
• He showed him how he fit into the prophetic picture.
• Alexander was so moved & touched that he would be mentioned in the Bible that he spared the city of Jerusalem.
• Secular history records this event. Daniel is accurate.
EVEN THE BOOK ITSELF claims to be written by Daniel.
• No less than 15 times Daniel is mentioned as the author.
Daniel 7.2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
Daniel 8.1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me--to me, Daniel--after the one that appeared to me the first time.
Daniel 9.2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel 10.7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
Daniel 12.4 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."
• It certainly sounds like he wrote it! In fact as you read thru, it sounds as if anticipated the criticism that was to come!
But even more important than all this, Jesus Himself validates the book of Daniel and tells us who wrote it.
Matthew 24.15 "Therefore when you see the ’abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand),
• Friends, that settles the matter for me!
Daniel, a book of PURITY, a BOOK OF PROPHECY!
PROPHECY is the calling card of God. Only God can predict with 100% accuracy the things which happen, before they happen.
Ezekiel 12.25 "For I am the LORD. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it," says the Lord GOD. "
• AND LOOKING BACK ON GOD’S PROMISES…
1 Kings 8.56 "Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.
PROPHECY often makes many scratch their heads…
• They will hear a word from Revelation, a warning, an encouragement and say, “How do you really know that?”
• I’ve heard about that all my life but I just don’t believe it!
WELL, you can take them to the Book of Daniel and show them.
• Show them how the Babylonian Empire ruled, only to be overthrown by the Medo-Persians, then the Greeks, and finally the Romans.
• This was all predicted 100’s of years before they came to pass.
• Prophecy has been confirmed in the past, so that we can trust God when He says something will happen in the future.
2 Peter 1.19 (KJV) We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
That’s why the book of Daniel is so COMFORTING to the Christian.
• It confirms our faith, warms our heart, settles our mind!
• So much has already been worked out that you cannot deny it unless a person simply dismisses it altogether at their own risk!
PROPHECY is very important. It’s a vital piece of understanding the Word and understanding the times in which we live.
• Sometimes we’ll be accused of being obsessed with prophecy.
• But over 1/4th of the Bible is prophecy.
• And 1/5th of the Scriptures was PREDICTIVE at the time of their writings.
APP: It’s really not possible to have a full understanding of the Scriptures, of the heart of God without a firm grasp on ESCHATOLOGY. -- Or the study of end times, prophecy.
• The neglect of the study of prophecy has produced all sorts of problems within the church and outside of the church.
• Many cults have gone off the deep end with prophecy and many have followed them wholeheartedly. Why?
• Because the church hasn’t taught the people prophecy!
NOTE: So if you’re going to study the Scriptures, and teach the Word, we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about prophecy.
• Really, it’s the ONLY HOLY BOOK that dares to do so!
• No other religious writings dare to jump into that arena with such startling clarity & pinpoint accuracy.
• The first message Jesus ever taught was one on prophecy.
• In Luke 4.16, Jesus takes the scroll in the synagogue, opens to Isaiah 61 and teaches that it was prophesying of Him!
• It’s just plain exciting to see God in this light, predicting and telling us things before they come to pass!
THE KEY PREDICTION to hang on to today is that Jesus Christ is coming back, at any moment, at any time!
1 John 3.2-3 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
If we really believe and hope in the coming of Jesus, it’s going to affect what we do the rest of this day, and week, and life!
• Prophecy affects our lives powerfully. We’ve seen what God’s said in the past come to pass which leads us to trust that what He says will happen still yet in the future will come to pass too!
NOW… why all the teaching on prophecy today? It seems like there is an increased urgency in our day like never before!
• Even just 2 or 3 or 4 generations ago, prophecy was not the popular subject as it is today.
• Look at Daniel 12:4.
SO DANIEL is told that there will be an EXPLOSION OF KNOWLEDGE, in the last days.
• Not just educationally or in technology, but in prophetic things.
• Daniel, you won’t completely understand it, but those living in the last days will see it. It will make sense to them, to us!
• Then notice in v9, go your way, seal up the book.
• It’s sealed until the end. That’s why there’s so much teaching and learning in the realm of prophecy today.
• We are indeed living in the last days.
• Suddenly, so much of these prophetic mysteries are making sense to us…
• The thought of a worldwide religious system, a worldwide economic system, power vested in one man, a chip that can make it impossible to buy or sell without it…
• All of this stuff makes sense now! It’s all before us!
• THE KEY VERSE in Daniel is 2:44
Daniel 2.44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
The coming Kingdom of God, under the rule of Son Jesus Christ is certain and sure to come!
• We find that Daniel brings together the ‘times of the Gentiles(12:4, Luke 21:24)
• And the ‘time of the end (8:17, 11:35)’ for the nation of Israel in the Great Tribulation period.
• This coming crisis brings up the Millennial Kingdom and the rule and reign of Jesus Christ!
SO OUR STUDIES will look at prophecy and at purity.
• Daniel was a young man who refused to COMPROMISE under some of the most severe pressure a man can endure.
• How did he do it? Well, I think 3 words will help us there.
FIRST: PURPOSE (1:8) – he was one who purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. He was determined to please God and obey Him at any, at all costs!
SECONDLY: PRAYER (6:10ff) – He was a man of prayer. He knew how to pray and was a man who often did pray!
THIRDLY: PREPARATION – Daniel was ready, in season & out of season to be used by God any way, anywhere, on any assignment!
As we focus on those 3 areas in our personal lives and prayer time, we will find great changes taking place. For sure!
• Lord, make us the men & women who purpose & pray always ready to be used of you, knowing the times in which we live.
APP: Be sure to read ahead and get this book into you each week, ready for the Spirit to speak directly to your hearts… 2 Peter 3:11
