Gooding, David: Days Yet to Come

Now shall we read from the prophecy by Daniel, beginning in chapter ten. The prophecy by Daniel, chapter ten. And we begin to read there in verse four. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river which is Hidical, I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to burnish brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the voice of his words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground. And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, thou man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou did set thine heart to understand and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words' sake. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for the vision is yet for many days. Chapter twelve, please. 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 hour. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, there stood other two, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, how long shall the end of these wonders be? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever, that it shall be a time, times and a half. And when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. And I heard, but I understood not. Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the issue of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but they that be wise shall understand. From the time that con- the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest and shall stand in thy lot at the end of the days. May God use his holy word to give us that wisdom of which it speaks. I cannot tell you for sure in what mood Daniel the great prophet eventually found himself standing by the bank of the great river Hiddekel. I fancy there could have been a tinge of melancholy in his heart. It was no little canal like the canal Ulay at which he had had a previous vision. This, the River Hittical, was the great River Tigris, one of the two great and famous rivers that ran through that part of the Middle East and run to this day. For Daniel, they represented the great world empires, as he had known them from the beginning of his day. These were the nations that had, in earlier times, overflown their banks, so to speak. Or you will have noticed how the Hebrews used to speak of nations like rivers. In Isaiah, for instance, Isaiah being used of God to prophesy the coming up of the great Assyrians with their massive, almost uncountable armies, how they came campaigning through Palestine and destroying every leaf in their way. The great prophet talked of it as the river overflowing its banks and flooding the whole land of Judea, and prophesied that one day there would come a time when the great armies of Assyria should so flood the land of Judea even, that it would rise even to the neck of little Jerusalem city as she stood there on her elevated mountain. In the vision that was now given to Daniel, he is warned that on another occasion, the great armies of the Seleucid emperor will come overflowing through their land, leaving terrible destruction in their ways. As a young man, Daniel had seen the unthinkable happen. The great armies of the imperial Babylon had come into the land and besieged Jerusalem, and what Assyria had never been able to do, to take and destroy Jerusalem, that Nebuchadnezzar was given to do. And he destroyed the temple, and he destroyed the city, and took off the cream of the people, Daniel included, and as a youth he eventually found himself in Babylon. Now, as an elderly man, he was standing by the banks of Hiddikon. I remember how in the year uh nineteen fifty eight I came for the first time to stand on the banks of the River Rhine in Germany. And I have to confess the kind of feelings that, uh, ran through my mind and memory and heart that day. So this was the Rhine, was it? So this was the great Germany that had sent its doodlebugs past my bedroom window and scared the life out of us with the V two and devastated our cities. Now I was standing by their big and noble and kingly river. I imagine Daniel might have been feeling a little like that. And as he stood by that river, allow me, theologians, my imagination, won't you wake up after I've done? Uh, uh. I suspect he did what we've been doing this evening. Now an elderly man, thinking how much water had flown under the bridges since he'd been in that part of the world. What memories of Jerusalem besieged and taken for a boy that could remember perhaps still the sound of the great Jeremiah and his stir, his stirring prophecies. And they had come true. Jerusalem taken. Daniel taken off with the prisoners down into the prisoner camps. And the marvelous experience he had had of God, he and his young colleagues, as they'd entered the university and took their first stand for God at the cost of I don't know what, faithful to the Lord and refusing the king's food. Those stirring stories when three of his colleagues defied the emperor of Babylon himself and refused to bow down to his old golden image, got thrown into the furnace for their trouble. Oh, what stirring days they were. What stories of the Lord's presence with them in the flames and how they'd come out. And in the middle year, when Daniel had risen to eminence in the civil service of Babylon, and now as a more elderly man had become head of civil service in the imperial, uh, civil service of Medo-Persia. Ah, what days he could remember. And yet, as he stood now an elderly man, and in the course of nature much, not much longer time given him, watching the waters of the river go by until they disappeared over the horizon. I can't help imagining that thoughts would have been in his mind. Where go the waters? What lies over the horizon? Not merely for himself, but for his nation. For many years, you'll see he had had visions of glorious hope. How one day the great stone cut out without hands would fall upon the image and smash it to smithereen. In other words, the Messiah would come, and the Gentile imperial empires would fall before him and be removed. And the Messiah himself should fill the earth with his glorious kingdom. He had that stirring vision. The four beasts, their wild array, fuming and tearing and destroying and stamping the earth, one after the other, until there arose the supreme beast of beasts. Fourth great beast. How God had intervened in his divine wisdom. He of the ancient of days and the hoary hair as white as snow, with the throne and the books of records and rationality to deal with the beasts, those irrational forces. And there had come one like unto the Son of Man, and dominion had been given to him. Oh, in those early years, in his middle age of vision, what wonderful hopes have been given him of the coming of Messiah. And though he pushed his pen in the civil service and did his best for the help of his fellow citizens and the amelioration of their lot, he had a bigger hope than all the civil service combined. Not by their pushing of pens or computers would the millennium come, but by the coming of Messiah. More recently, there come a great shadow of a pain across his life. Diligently for years he had counted the years by, according to Jeremiah's prophecy, that after seventy years the exile would be over. Hadn't Jeremiah said it in the name of the Lord? And Jerusalem restored, and the land restored, and the temple rebuilt. He searched the books and found the time was nearly come, and he took it to God in prayer, asking about the restoration of Jerusalem, and was given that devastating answer. Yes, God would keep his word. Jerusalem would be restored at the end of the seventy years. Not fully. For Israel continued still in their blindness and disobedience. Jerusalem should be restored, but in troublous time. Things would go from bad to worse. In the end, when Messiah came to them, so blind would they be through their sin. The Messiah himself should be cut off. And after that, wars and desolations unto the end. As he stood an elderly man now on the brink of the river, perhaps also on the brink of the grave. Maybe it wasn't his own personal con- uh, uh, uh, pain that was troubling him, but what should happen to his dear beloved people? Where were the waters going? What lay over the horizon for them? And perhaps tonight, we cannot going to be Daniels, can we? We have human hearts like he had, and I'm sure nobody is going to blame us if we indulge in a little looking back and then a looking forward. Ah, my brothers, if this youngster here has spoken to the young men and women, allow this, uh, venerable s- uh, to talk to you all. As you stand on the brink of your river. Ah, I see your faces brighten. What days you can remember, can't you? Of triumph for God. Those early days in your teens, in your youth, in your twenties, when first upon, first you were called upon to stand for God, and you dared to take courage in your hand at school, in the factory, in the shop, in the university, and you stood for God. Some of you dared risk the sacrifice of everything for it and paid the price, and God has honored you. Oh, what triumphs you've seen since, haven't you? You and your colleagues in the Sunday school, in your preaching, in your eldership work, and in your families, maybe. And there's a sense you'd love to live those years again. But the water has gone passing under the bridges. Will not come again. And we stand tonight, looking forward and asking ourselves where the waters go. What lies over the horizon? We must feel a somber shadow falling over us, surely. In three weeks time, the whole Middle East could go up in flames. Or it mightn't. Who knows? In these last fourteen months, the face of the world has been changed, has it not? And now, all unexpected, this crisis blows up. A million men confronting each other in the Gulf. And what if Saddam Hussein should choose to land a rocket on Tel Aviv, if he could do such a thing? And what would happen then? And if he does, who can tell the implications? Would scarce leave any of us untouched, would it, even if it's only our pockets they tell. With the soaring prices of oil and difficult economy. And what should we say about people who's may lose loved ones? What lies over the horizon? What lies over the horizon for that dear nation whom Daniel loved so much? Now Daniel was to be told. And when it was told him, it was almost more than the venerable Daniel could bear to hear. It's a good thing that God doesn't give us all to be prophets, isn't it? And to see the future. God holds, for most of us, God holds the key of all unknown, and I am glad if other hands should hold that key, or if he trusted it to me, I might be sad. But God was pleased to reveal to Daniel, and therefore through him to us, what was going to happen to his loved people, Israel. Briefly put, it was this. That after the Persian Empire, there should arise the Hellenistic Empire set abroad by, set about by Alexander the Great, after whose death it should divide into four parts. Two parts of that empire would become exceedingly strong. We call them the part in the north, the Seleucid Empire, the part in the south, the Ptolemaic Empire. These two giants would, over the period of the decades and some centuries, be forever, uh, lastingly at each other's throats, trying to extend their empire and to grab land, the one from the other. It's a game they still follow in that part of the world, as you'll see. Little Israel lying between those two gigantic empires would be now controlled by the one, and then subsequently by the other. And as those two empires would war against each other to gain control of more territory, their great armies would come like veritable rivers in flood, particularly through the coastlands of Israel, to fight each other, passing through and gaining their victories or defeats or whatever, and then eventually subsiding like a flood will back to their country. And when they had gone, what a devastation they would leave. The thing to remember, isn't it? You know, when those armies set out, oh, how, how romantic they looked, they what? The generals in their armor, the colors, the medals, the tremendous latest inventions of siege weapons, the mass troops, and every young corporal turning the hearts and eyes of all the little girl, the young ladies around them, you know, what dashing fellows they were. As the great battalions marched tramp, tramp, tramp through these countries, how impressive was the strike of their thousands of feet in unison on the ground. Ah, but that's when they came. You think of what it was like when they'd gone. The trees broken, the land ruined, the houses burned, broken bodies, crazed minds. And all for what? Who cares now who won the battle between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids? What was all the slaughter for? How many times it's been repeated down the ages, hasn't it? Who cares now what Napoleon won or didn't win? Think of the thousands of lives that were destroyed through him. Being in Russia, in Moscow, here, I saw, as we all do, don't we, the great portraits of Lenin hanging skyscraper high to the ground. The man who said that you can't make an omelet unless you smash a lot of eggs. Well, he smashed eggs, didn't he? He and Stalin, millions of them. And now? Not only the walls have fallen down, thank God, but the communist theory that they based their smashing of eggs on has been shown to be utter nonsense. You say, why does rational men, why do rational men behave like it? Tonight we focus our attention on its effect on Israel. You'll say, the prophet is told that as these armies come in four distinct periods, marching through the land, they shall be perceived as being a threat to Jerusalem city. So much so, that there would be some, as the armies came through and threatened the city and the great sanctuary of God in that city, that many would think this was the beginning of the end time. It wouldn't be, the floods would subside and Jerusalem would survive. The prophets, of course, was told, and the other prophets add their quota to the story. But one day, there will come a great Gentile power, and not just one, but all the nations of the earth, says God, will come against Jerusalem's city. Why? Daniel is given to see behind the scenes that helps to give the answer to the question why. A thing was revealed to me, he says, even a great warfare. As the veil was gently pulled a little aside, and he was given to understand the battles that surge in the heavenlies, as the great world rulers of this darkness strive for the angelic powers that are loyal to God. Center to the great field of their campaign is the city of Jerusalem. Why so? Because it is the city where Almighty God was in time past pleased to put his name. Capital of the city of that nation whom God chose, whose King David was chosen not only for his own time, but to be the ancestor and prototype of the blessed Messiah himself. That city holds a fascination for the great powers of darkness in their determination to blot it from the face of the earth. Or else, here comes an exceedingly dark thing. Daniel was told that one day there would arise a willful king, who not content to ban religion himself, would put himself in the very place of God, and set up in the temple of God the abomination that makes desolate. Satan's great beast, aping God. Well, this is the battle of the ages. At his heart lies the struggle between Almighty God and his inveterate rebel foe, his satanic majesty. The battle for the hearts of men. The battle for the dominion of planet Earth. Yes, eventually the Messiah came, and such was the hold of the power of darkness upon the minds of men, that Israel officially, not all of them, but officially, rejected their Messiah, and the son of David was cast out of his own capital city. My friend, don't you think that was the end of it? I tell you straight that when Christ rose from the dead and went back to glory, he didn't slink out of this world. But in resurrection life, he came to Jerusalem City. And took his departure from heaven to heaven from Jerusalem City and the Mount of Olives outside. And commanded his apostles that they were to preach the gospel worldwide, beginning at Jerusalem. It matters where the gospel started from. For our Christian gospel is based on that great movement that God took in centuries before the blessed Lord Jesus came. And amongst those purposes was the establishment of David's city, city of Jerusalem. And forever, and forever, and forever, to the remotest times of eternity. Salvation will, and the gospel will be concerned with and based on the events that took place just outside Jerusalem. Hence the venom of the enemy. So Daniel was told what must happen. Israel, in their disobedience and straying, must eventually be chastised. There would come a time of trouble for Israel, such has not been from the beginning of time till now. What was told to Daniel was reiterated by our Lord Jesus, of course, and it shall happen. How would you have felt? If you had been Daniel, you wouldn't have felt merely like having a very pleasant theological discussion in a Bible reading about the exact date of it, would you? You would have said, but about my people, oh my people. Is it true that there must be a time of absolute unparalleled trouble for them, oh my people? Did not the Lord Jesus, when he thought of it, and stood looking over the city, did he not break his very heart and say, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would? But he would not. It would have been an insufferable load for one little human heart to carry, were it not for the wonderful thing that happened that day by the stream of the waters of the river of Hillegan. As he watched the waters pass by, thought of the past, thought of what must lie over the horizon where the waters were going. He looked, and over the water there stood a man. Not in the water being carried with the tide. Not on the bank watching the river, but over the water. And all glorious as was his appearance, how wonderful his knowledge. For as he starts to talk to Daniel, you perceive that he could see beyond the horizon, not only the geographical horizon, but beyond the horizons of time. But as he talks to Daniel, he begins to talk about the great time of trouble that shall be, as we now know, distant to Daniel by thousands of years. And talk beyond that even, to the time of the resurrection, that many, allow me, you theologians, when many that sleep in the dust shall rise. That even pierce the great eternity and tell Daniel that when it was all over, his lot stood secure forever. In the first place, it must have been of immense comfort to Daniel's heart to see this figure standing over the river. Like in another sense it was to the twelve apostles as they toiled one dark night with stormy wind and waves, and saw a man coming amidst the wind-blown spray of the breakers, coming to their boat above the waters and stepping into the boat, demonstrating his control of those waters. So for Daniel. And if I might turn aside for a moment, shall I not add, and so for us? We haven't the burdens to bear that a great prophet like Daniel bore. We too have them, don't we? When things happen, shocking. My heart went out to the mother the other day, reported on the news, out for a walk with three children by a canal, and two fell in and were drowned. As she tried to save them, the baby fell in as well, and that drowned. Oh, what things could happen. Ah, this is no fairy story. But what happened to Daniel, what happened to the twelve in the boat, happens surely to us when through the mist of tears, when through the howling of the storm and the rage of the torrent, we may see no flash of lightning, no wonderful vision, but sense the approach of a savior, and we bid him into our boat, and there ensues the calm of knowing that even sorrow and the ways of men and the politics of earth and the seeming accidents of life stand under his gracious control. Who was it, you say? Well, I belong to the innocent amongst the theologians. There is another group, and they are the sophisticated. You'll say, I find the description here given of our Lord, uh, given of this angel is given of our Lord elsewhere, makes me think they're the same. No, say the theologians, because this great figure above the river had to confess that when he was fighting the Prince of Persia, uh, uh, nobody was there to help him except Michael your prince, and Michael your prince came along to help him. So they say, that cannot be the Lord Jesus. They say, you know, he doesn't need anybody's help in fighting anything. Oh, doesn't he? You don't get out of school so easily as that, my friend. You better listen to, uh, Deborah, uh, celebrating Barak's victory, and she commends all those who, who took a part and helped in that. And then she uttered a dire curse. She said, curse be Meros, for they came not to the help of the Lord. Oh, my brothers, my sisters, we need your help. I can't explain to you how it is that he who prayed in Gethsemane, that an angel came and ministered to him, such was his condescension, though risen in glory, calls upon us as soldiers in the fight to stand with him. We wrestle too, not with carnal weapons, but with spiritual weapons. We fight the great fight of the ages as we wrestle against principalities, powers, mights, and dominions in the heavenly places in Christ. We may fight on a different battlefield from what Daniel fought, but the war is the same. Let us hear then the comfort that this glorious figure gave to Daniel on that marvelous occasion. First of all, he said, Daniel, there's coming a time of tribulation, of trouble, such as never have been before. But he said, on the other hand, at that time shall thy people be delivered, all that are written in the book. There's a bit of a bogey gone round about the tribulation, hasn't there? Every place where it's mentioned, from one end of scripture to the other, it is accompanied more times than not by an assurance that God's loyal people of that day shall be delivered. God is not going to be defeated by his foes. Time of trouble, says the Lord to Daniel, but at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that is written in the book. They say we fight on a different battlefield. May we not take that promise and apply it to ourselves. What lies in the future, my brother? What lies for you, my sister? I can tell you on unimpeachable authority in this world, you will have tribulation. So what? You say, fold your hands and die. No, no. But be of good cheer, says the Lord Jesus. I have overcome the world. Oh, we've got to be realist, haven't we? God has not promised skies ever blue, but our blessed conquering Lord has given his assurance that he has overcome the world in him too we shall overcome everyone that's written in the book. Ha ha. Don't vex me now with too deep theological questions. This isn't the time of year to do that, you'll say, nor the time of night. Ha. But if Daniel's people were allowed to think that they were written in the book, I may be allowed to be, surely, and you. Oh, let us get life's proportions right. The Gospels tell us that after one successful gospel campaign, the apostles came back to the Lord Jesus full of excitement. Who wouldn't be if they'd led I don't know how many to faith in the Lord Jesus, and they came back with great excitement, and they said, Lord, you know, even the demons are subject to us in thy name. And that was a something for Peter. He he was used to a few fish, a few old cod being subject to him in the nets, but demons, this was a new level to Peter. Even the demons, he says, Lord, are subject to us in thy name. Oh, marvelous, says Christ, but that's not the thing to rejoice in, not really, Peter will say. Rejoice in this rather. Oh? Something bigger than victory over demons? Yeah, indeed. Rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. Oh, my brothers, my sister, you stand by the river and asking yourself what's over the edge. I give you full leave to rejoice, even to smile. I mustn't say laugh at this juncture, but you know, to let your heart be merry in its inside. Rejoice in this. Your name is written in heaven. Never shall it be erased, to borrow another metaphor, from the palms of our blessed Lord, on which it is engraved in indelible grace. Then somebody by the river asked, natural question, isn't it? How long shall the end of these wonders last? In other words, how long shall the tribulation period be for Israel, the nation? He says, Daniel, I heard and I saw. When the man above the river confronted with that question, how long shall this terrible period last, raised both hands to heaven. And did what is the most sacred thing perhaps any could do. He swore an oath by God Almighty that the time of trouble should be oh so small, three and a half years at most. When he came at last incarnate and talked to his disciples of what should happen to Jerusalem city and the nation of Israel. He repeated the promise, didn't he? Said he, the tribulation shall be so severe, except those days had been shortened, none should be saved. Oh, but hear the divine compassion. The days have been shortened, and his elect people shall come through. Some may be to a martyr's crown, that's another story, but to die a martyr for the Lord is to be victorious, isn't it? And is to be a conqueror at the end. I say we fight on a different battlefield, but the assurance is given us too, isn't it? There's no temptation happen to you, but such is common to man, and God is faithful. God is faithful that will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able. It's not always the terrible, sharp, fierce temptation, is it, that bears us down most. What about the long years of trial and pain that seemingly promises no end through life? Our blessed Lord does not play with the feelings of his people. He still lifts both hands to heaven and says, God is faithful. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able to bear, but will with the temptation make a way of escape so that you bear it. His oath, all watch his hands risen to heaven, his oath, his covenant and blood support me in the whelming flood. Though all around my soul give way, he then is all my hope and stay. It shall come to its end, said the angel to Daniel, when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the holy people. Hard word, surely. Shall they do it? Yes, indeed they will. Part of Jerusalem city, according to Zechariah, shall fall to the great hosts of the nations as they gather against Jerusalem. They shall break in pieces the power of the holy people. But then you'll see, said the angel, the purposes of it is to purify Israel, and many shall purify themselves and make themselves white. If there were another way, God would use it. But if this be the only way, then God in his love will allow there that nation to be broken, that in that brokenness they may find their coming Messiah. And we, if we be human, if we be believers, find an echo in our heart, do we not? For on times, God must allow circumstances that would appear to us to break us, but not to destroy us. They too are designed that they may purify our faith and bring us forth as pure. And the moment the Lord has reached the desire then, then the pressure will be removed because the product is finished. Marvelous God. No sentimentalist is God. God is love, but God is tough. He is designed and purposed to conform us to the image of his son, be it through furnace or through flood, he will bring us to that end is achieved. Now go your way, Daniel, he says. For beyond all the turmoil, the coming and going of armies and the history of the centuries. When it's all over, Daniel, there's a lot, an inheritance reserved for you in that coming glorious future, and you shall stand in your lot in the coming day. There's many things that we do not know. All but of this we may be sure. There is an inheritance, a lot incorruptible, undefiled, fades not away, and a part of that great inheritance has your name on it, my brother, my sister. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you will stand in your lot in the day to come. And after that, Daniel went home, back to his office, maybe, and eventually to glory. Ah, what it will be to stand in our lot at the last day. Do you allow yourself sometimes to think about it? You do well, because it's real. And when I've explored mine, it won't be all that big, I'm sure. I hope you'll give me permission. When you see me then, you'll have to look twice, I shall be very different. Ah, but when at last you see me, you'll give me permission now and again to spend a Tuesday afternoon on your lot to see the wonderful things that God has achieved through his redemption and through his discipline of you through the difficult years of life. And now, to your eternal satisfaction and his eternal glory, you are there to enjoy it with all the saints of God. The Lord use his word to encourage our hearts, for his name's sake.