November 25, 2012
Last Sunday of the Church Year -- Christ the King -- Series B
Grace mercy and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Text Daniel 7:13-14 ESV
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Background:
To better understand these verses it is helpful to review a little ancient history. In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar , (Neb‘-uh-kud-nez‘-zur.) leader of the Babylonians, defeated Pharaoh Neco (Knee’koe) of Egypt at Carchemish. The balance of regional power shifted to the Babylonians at this point. He then laid siege to Jerusalem and the Lord gave Jehoiakim ( Jih-hoy’uh-kim’) ,the King of Judah into his hands. Nebuchadnezzer then, among other changes and a little plundering, ordered that some of the people of Judah be taken to Babylon. This included members of the royal family, other nobility, youths without blemish, who were skillful in all wisdom and endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning and competent to serve in the King’s palace. In other words he took some of the elite back with him to Babylon. Daniel was part of this group. Additional captives were take to Babylon in 597 BC and again in 587 BC. At this time the Temple in Jerusalem, and significant parts of the city were destroyed and only the poorest people of the land were excluded from captivity.
Essentially, the entire nation was relocated to Babylon.
This is a very significant event in the religious and secular history of the Jewish people. Life in Babylon wasn’t that bad by worldly standards. They were not prisoners. This was not a Soviet style gulag or a Nazi concentration camp. They were relatively free to live their lives but it wasn’t home and at times their rights to worship only the God of Israel were compromised. ---- Psalm 137
They analyzed their situation. Why did this happen? They asked, can we worship God here or is he confined to the promised land? They came to the conclusion that they were being disciplined due, in a large part, to their failing to even attempt to live according to God’s law given to them by Moses at Mount Sinai over eight centuries earlier. They determined that when they were allowed to return they would “get it right” this time. From this thinking came the extreme legalism of the Pharisees which Jesus confronted during his ministry. This is also the time that Synagogues came into existence as meeting places for scripture study and worship. Synagogues, provided convenient sites for Jesus, and later Paul, to preach and teach. These along with the widespread use of the Greek language and Roman roads helped to pave the way to spread the Gospel. .
Chapter seven of the book of Daniel tells us about Daniel’s vision of the four beasts. He states that four great beasts came out of the sea. The first was like a lion yet it had eagles wings. He saw the wings plucked off and it stood on two feet like a man and the mind of a man was given to it. The second, like a bear, was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in it’s mouth between its teeth and was told , ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ The third beast was like a leopard, it had four bird like wings on its back. This beast had four heads. A fourth and final beast appeared. It was terrifying, dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It crushed and devoured it’s victims and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns. As Daniel looked a little horn emerged which plucked out three of the original Horns by their roots. The little horn had eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things.
These four great beasts represent four different Kingdoms that will arise from the Earth.
Naturally there are plenty of Bible scholars, students and preachers who spend a lot of time trying to identify these kingdoms in history. It is not necessary for us to attempt this. There is plenty of speculation about the little horn -- the anti Christ --arising out of the fourth kingdom that made war with the Saints and prevailed over them until his dominion is take away to be consumed and destroyed forever. (7:26).
I can suggest a few candidates for this role myself!
We need to understand that these Kingdoms and the little horn all have experation dates. Their dominions are take away when God is through with them They are not eternal. History has been full of Empires that have come and gone -- both good and bad. And we have certainly heard many mouths speaking great things.
Unlike the kingdoms portrayed by the different beasts, the Kingdom described in verses 13 and 14 is of a heavenly origin --- the Son of Man comes from the clouds -- rather than the from the sea like the others. His kingdom consists of people, nations, languages. This kingdom does not take shape in the physical world. It exists in the hearts and minds of believers who inhabit earthly countries and kingdoms. The Son of Man is commissioned by the Ancient of Days as our Lord and Savior. His dominion is everlasting -- it will never pass away --it will never be destroyed. These verses describe His enthronement as King..
Daniel sees “one like a Son of Man” coming from heaven not earth who is given eternal rule over the whole earth. We know this King as Jesus, fully divine fully human, whose Kingdom will never end. As He told Pilate “My Kingdom is not from the world”. And Pilate, like a lot of people didn’t understand.
The book of Daniel would have been seen by many as underground, inflammatory, resistance literature at the time of Jesus’ ministry. It would have been well read by the Jewish generations sick of Babylonia, Persian, Greek and Roman rule. They would have found great comfort in knowing that the pagan invaders’ control would be temporary and that a permanent Kingdom would replace them. When Jesus called Himself “Son of Man” they would recognize this as a Messianic claim -- pointing to Daniel 7:13. Jesus’ favorite title for Himself in the Gospels is “Son of Man” ---fully divine and fully human.
Kingdoms of the world have entrance requirements. We are born into citizenship or we become naturalized citizens by fulfilling requirements. We may need to live in a country for a number of years, pass an entrance exam, learn to speak, read and write a new language. We may need to provide references from other citizens in good standing.. There are some countries that set the bar for citizenship very high.
God the father set His requirements for citizenship extremely high. So high if fact that no human could ever possibly meet these requirements. God requires that we must be totally without sin to approach His throne.
Humanity sinned. Humanity is now full of sin. We live to take care of ourselves first. With sin comes death. (Romans 5:12, 6:22-23) God put into effect a plan to draw people back into a relationship with Himself and each other. (Eph 1:3-12) God united Himself with humanity when He became incarnate --that is in the flesh -- in the person of Jesus the Christ -- the anointed one. Jesus lived the life that we were meant to live but can not. Jesus lived the perfect sinless life for us. He left the throne room for each of us to offer us His sinless life to possess in faith as though we ourselves lived this life. (Phil 2:5-11.
Jesus suffered the death we deserve to die as punishment for our sins. (Romans 3:21-28) His crucifixion was also His coronation as is depicted on our prcessional cross. He did His best work when His opponents did their worst to Him. He did it for them --He prayed “father forgive them for what they are doing“. He did it for us. He prays for us today father forgive them for what they are doing. Jesus lived a sinless life for us, took the beating and death by crucifixion that we deserve and rose again from the grave as King and Lord of creation, life. death and eternity. (Eph 1:17-23; 2:4-10)(Col 1:15-20)
Jesus remains among us through the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26) The Holy Spirit working through the scriptures - a means of Grace -- assures us that our sins are forgiven and that death is no longer a fearsome event. Death is now seen as a doorway leading to Christ’s eternal home.(Psalm 116:15) In faith we can see what lies beyond death. (1 Cor 15:50-56)
The law is still in place. It serves us as a mirror, a curb and a guide. God desires that we strive to live according to His original plan. We strive not out of any impossible attempt to save ourselves but out of a desire to please God.
The sacrificial system has been replace by Jesus’ one perfect sacrifice for all sins for all time. (Hebrews 10:12) He desires Mercy not sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6, Mathew 9:13) He calls us in Romans 12, as a spiritual act of worship, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. We are told: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will. He died for our sins and our salvation is one hundred percent from Him. We add nothing to the process. We are indebted to the Holy Spirit to bring us to saving faith. We read in 1 Cor. 12:3 that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
We, in co-operation with the Holy Spirit, can lead more God pleasing lives. This requires us to use the means of Grace --God’s written word and Sacrament -- regularly to facilitate the process. We may need to find new playgrounds and new playmates as the Holy Spirit unfolds God’s will before us. As an extreme and somewhat obvious example: if we were professional bank robbers when we came to faith, we need to find a new profession immediately.
We are bombarded daily with worldly values to the extent that we are desensitized to God’s law. We see behaviors and worldviews --directly opposed to God’s will -- everywhere every day. Only by intentionally seeking His will in scripture and prayer will we be able to discern God pleasing behavior. We stumble and we fall. We get dents and bruises. We sin. God is a God of new beginnings. His word clearly says “repent and I will restore you” (Jer. 15:19). I ask, If the Lord of the universe can forgive us, who or what is it that keeps us from forgiving ourselves?
Finally in the life to come God will restore all things so that they will conform to His original plan. In eternity we shall live to praise God and serve others.
We will sit in our robes made white in the blood of the Lamb before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And He who sits on the throne will spread his presence over us.
Never again will we hunger; never again will we thirst. The sun will not beat upon us, nor will there be any scorching heat. The Lamb at the center of the throne will be our shepherd; He will lead us to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. (Rev 7:14-17)
References:
The Lutheran Study Bible, Concordia Publishing House, 2009
The Divine Plan, Crossways International, 2002
