The Beast and the Son of Man

The scripture reading comes from Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.

Starting in verse 1, we read,

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed.

Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter.

Daniel declared,

I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea,

and the four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings.

Then, as I looked, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man,

and the mind of a man was given to it.

And behold, another beast, a second one like a bear.

It was raised up on one side.

It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and it was told,

Arise, devour much flesh.

After this, I looked, and behold, another like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back.

And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.

It had great iron teeth.

It devoured 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.

I considered the horns.

And behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots.

And behold, in this horn were the eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.

As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.

His throne was fiery flames.

Its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued and came out before him.

A thousand thousand served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.

And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.

As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

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.

As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me.

I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this.

So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things.

These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth, but the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.

Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying with the horn that had eyes.

As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.

Thus he said,

He said,

Here is the end of the matter.

As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.

This is the word of God.

Thank you, Celeste.

Oh, feels a bit loud.

Thank you, Celeste.

That was great.

Those of you who don't know me, welcome.

My name's Chris.

I'm one of the leaders here.

And we're going through this series in Daniel.

Today we're going to come to the last of our series.

We're going to stop in chapter 7.

But before we do that, what I'd love to do is just pray, because we need Jesus, right?

So let me just pray for us as we engage with God's word.

Father, I thank you that when you speak, we need to listen.

And thank you that you are a God who wants to speak to us.

Thank you you're a God who doesn't just speak abstract things which bear zero relation to our lives,

but you know each one of us.

You know where we're up to.

You know our thoughts, our dreams, our desires, our fears.

And you want to speak to each one of us this morning.

And I pray, Lord, that you give us hearts which are open.

I pray that you give us hearts which don't just go through the motions,

but really want you to open up our hearts and our lives so that we're changed by you through your word.

So, Father, we just please speak through my word.

So, Lord, remove anything that is not from you, but let your name be honored this morning, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Great.

So, as I said, we're coming to the end of our series in Daniel.

And we're finishing at Daniel 7.

And Daniel 7 is a bit of like a mountain peak.

You know when you climb up a mountain, there are many different paths which get there.

And through Daniel, through chapters 1 to 6, we've seen lots of different themes of the sovereignty and the faithfulness and the deliverance of God throughout there.

But actually, as we come to chapter 7, it's going to draw those themes together in one peak of this book.

And this is a little bit of a crazy chapter in many ways.

And so, we're going to kind of get through into some of what's going on here.

But to start with, on Monday, I was actually walking home near where I lived.

And I just looked over and there was a big guy with his girlfriend in the middle of the road.

And kind of crossing the road.

And he was pushing her into the road.

And he kind of, she stood up and he kind of manhandled her across.

And I was so mad, I went over and confronted him.

But at that moment, the lady, she was clearly under his spell and just intimidated by this guy.

And she kind of didn't want any help.

And the guy kind of calmed down for a little bit.

And the last thing I saw was him walking off, him roughly holding her arm.

And inside of me, I just felt powerless.

I felt angry and I felt powerless that there was nothing I could do.

And before we start actually getting into this passage,

if any of you actually have experienced any kind of abuse,

whether it's spiritual, emotional, verbal, physical, whatever it is,

we want you to know that in Watermark,

this needs to be a place where you can just come and tell,

whether it's an elder, a staff, anybody, a CG leader,

because don't stay silent.

Start today.

But I tell you that story because that is exactly what this passage is doing.

It is telling us, it is trying to get into your heart and your soul and your emotion.

And it's meant to show you that this is what ungodly power is like.

This passage is going to contrast two kingdoms, two operating systems in the world.

One is an abusive, intimidating, beast-like power of ungodly kingdoms.

The other is a humanizing, true, faithful kingdom of God.

There is beasts and there is the Son of Man.

And that is what this passage is going to be talking about.

And through the book of Daniel, we've seen some of the beasts in the fiery furnace.

We've seen it in the lion's den.

But today, Daniel's going to give you some visual imagery.

It's what's called apocalyptic literature.

Literally, you know, like the book of Revelation is written in this.

And actually, Revelation uses some of the imagery from Daniel.

And we get a bit weirded out by it.

But actually, it's meant to be like this visual CGI feast for your eyes, which is not just trying to get into your logical mind.

It's actually trying to capture your imagination and your emotions to both feel the fear of what's going on,

but also to see the glory of who Jesus is and what he's doing.

That's what Daniel's trying to do in this passage, okay?

So if you've got your bulletin with you, we're going to kind of walk through this passage together.

And we're going to look in three aspects.

We're going to look at the terror of the beasts.

We're going to look at the justice of the judge.

And we're going to look at the crowning of the king, okay?

So the terror of the beasts.

You know, Genesis 1 tells us that humans were made in God's image to rule over beasts of the earth.

But in this passage, powerful human kings and kingdoms have become beasts.

And Daniel goes back into the reign of Belshazzar.

Remember, he's the guy with the writing on the wall.

Remember that?

And he has this dream where he's on the beach.

And he sees the sea is chaotic and churning like in a typhoon.

And out of this sea, four beasts arise.

Each one is representing a self-exalting, abusive kingdom or dynasty or king which rejects God's rule.

You see, there's this lion with eagle's wings.

There's a bear which has got three rib bones in its mouth.

It's just eaten from the kill.

And then it's going back for more flesh.

It's been invading places.

Then there's a leopard which is fast.

And it's got four wings.

And it heads to sea and move wherever it goes.

It's got the power to extend over huge territory.

And then there's a fourth beast.

And this fourth beast is different from the others.

This fourth beast is more powerful.

It's ferocious.

It's intimidating more than all the others.

And it's got ten horns, which are actually ten kings.

And ten is a complete number.

So it's showing their total power.

And then there's this little yapping king, a little yapping horn with a big mouth there.

And it's this beast, number four, that Daniel focuses on.

And I don't know about you, but that's a little bit weird.

But actually, my wife and I, we watched this documentary called The Grizzly Man the other day.

It's a very old documentary.

I don't know if you've seen it.

It's about this guy who lived in Alaska for 13 years with grizzly bears.

And there's one point in this, it's real footage of this guy.

And he's standing next to this bear beside him.

And he's filming.

And suddenly you see the bear stand up on his hind legs and tower over him.

And with just one claw, he could just rip him to pieces.

And your heart is in your mouth.

It's like terrifying.

This is what Daniel is trying to do with this image.

This beast that he's talking about isn't friendly.

That's the point, okay?

And so, who is he talking about?

Well, there's lots of speculation about the different kingdoms.

But in the book of Daniel, we've had and we know that he talks about Babylon,

the Medes and the Persians as kingdoms and Greece.

These are all clearly represented here.

Just as in the statue of chapter 2,

They're the same kind of kingdoms that are matched on there.

But this fourth beast is kind of intentionally vague.

You know, you don't actually know what it looks like.

And I think that is the reason why Daniel is doing this.

The reason why he's different from all the others is he's trying to resonate with the readers in their current circumstances.

And he's trying to show us that actually human rule,

that beast also stands for human rule in every single generation,

which rejects God,

is both frightening and powerful and abusively destructive.

Now, verse 21 tells us that little big mouth horn,

he goes and makes war with the saints and he prevails over them.

Now, what's he talking about?

Well, actually, throughout history, you'll see this has occurred multiple times.

In the second century BC, there was a guy called Antiochus.

He was the king over an area including Judea, Palestine.

And he called himself God Manifest.

He had a bit of an ego complex.

And he got angry at some Jews who opposed his regime.

And he took revenge by mercilessly killing Jewish men, women, and children

and forcing those who didn't submit to his rule to either eat unclean pork or be killed.

He's not a nice guy.

In the first century AD, Revelation 13 describes the imagery from all the four beasts in Daniel.

And he's referring to a Roman emperor called Nero,

who actually persecuted Christians and set them alight just to assert his power.

And we could go on throughout the whole of history to show how beastly kingdoms work.

Even today, you see across the world, governments are clamping down on churches and believers.

And we don't know how long before that's here.

In the UK, where I was just talking to my parents,

they were saying that the cultural pressure regarding a fluid sense of identity and gender

and all these kind of things is so strong that anyone who disagrees

is labeled a bigot and is shunned and can have even worse consequences.

The media bombards us with sexual imagery, with pornography,

with ideas of a perfect body image that you've got to fit in,

and it oppresses and it intimidates and it enslaves us if we don't fit in.

There's pressure to live a consumer lifestyle where you are defined by what you eat,

what you live, what you wear, where you go to work, the car you drive, the schools you go to.

In our workplaces, I speak to many of you who feel intimidated by demanding bosses

whose thirst for power and success can just drive you into the ground.

We could go on, but all of these are examples of when human power rejects God's rule,

we become beastly.

You know, an author, Aime Cesare, or César, actually,

who was writing about colonialism, he said this.

He said,

The colonizer, who in order to ease his conscience,

gets into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal,

accustoms himself to treating him like an animal,

and tends objectively to transform himself into an animal.

Do you see what he's saying here?

He's saying when human beings seek power apart from God,

we end up using our power and justifying our power

to dehumanize other people.

And as we do that, we actually end up dehumanizing ourselves

and become like animals.

That's what Daniel is trying to show us.

And, you know, I hear many Christians saying nowadays,

you know, that Christianity and Christian values are under threat like never before.

Some of us feel the intimidation.

But actually, Daniel would say,

actually, every generation, there's been many generations in history

that have felt this.

And do you know why?

It's because there's a war up.

There's a war between kingdoms.

That is why.

The beast is at work in every culture, in every period.

Sometimes there's a lull.

But actually, Daniel's trying to say,

wake up and see,

behind the beauty of what's there,

that actually there is a beast.

And actually, Daniel's also showing something else.

He's also pointing out the beast is not just out there.

The beast is also in here.

Because, you know, King Nebuchadnezzar,

Belshazzar, Darius,

all the guys we've seen,

what characterizes their rule?

Well, it's pride.

It's trying to be in control of life.

It's jealousy.

It's contempt for God.

It's all those things which actually,

if you're anything like me,

don't they just characterize us at times?

And so, what Daniel is trying to show us

is that the beast is not a lovely kitten.

You know, when Nebuchadnezzar sees in chapter 2

the four kingdoms as four statues

with gold and silver and bronze and clay,

those are beautiful metals.

But Daniel, who is a believer,

sees the opposite side

and he sees the same things

and he sees the beastly nature of them.

If you don't see at any point in your life

the pressure to live following Christ in this city,

then it may be because you've already been taken by the beast.

Because the beast wants you to submit to it.

But Daniel's going to say something.

Because the beast is not just chaotic,

it's not just beastly,

it's also temporary.

Because he shows you every kingdom comes and goes.

None of these kingdoms,

none of these beasts lasts.

And you know,

just when you think this beast is so powerful

and so strong that you feel so frightened,

Daniel calls you to keep looking.

And here's the second point.

The justice of the judge.

So, this is looking through

into verses 9 through to 12.

You see, as he keeps looking at this vision,

do you know what he sees?

It's kind of like the matrix

where he kind of goes behind the scenes

to what is actually going on

into the courtroom of heaven.

And I don't know if you've ever been into a court,

but they say,

would you all stand and all rise

and the judge walks in.

And then when the judge sits down,

the trial's about to begin.

And here what you see is

the thrones are wheeled out

and the Ancient of Days,

God himself,

comes and he sits down

and books of judgment are open.

But you see,

this judge,

his authority is not temporary like the beast's.

It is eternal because he's ancient.

He's the source and the sustainer

and the beginning of history

and the end of all history.

He has holy fire coming from his throne,

which can consume any beastly rule

with a click of his fingers.

The armies of heaven

fill the place in front of him.

His hair is white like wool

of the wisdom that he has.

And his clothes are white,

showing that his judgments are not beastly,

but they are pure

and they are perfect

and they are good.

He is majestic.

He's the one who's on the throne.

He's in control of everything.

And behind all the powerful corporations,

all the powerful governments,

all the powerful bosses,

all the things that sometimes intimidate us in this life,

he says there is a true seat of power

and the one who's sitting on it

is the Ancient of Days.

You know,

when Jesus was going to the cross

and he comes before the pilot,

and pilot is the epitome

of ruthless Roman power.

His life is at stake.

And do you know what Jesus says?

What he does?

You know,

he could kind of bargain for his life with pilot,

say,

hey,

like,

get me out of jail free here,

please.

But he doesn't.

You know what he says?

He says,

you've got no authority over me

except that which has been given to you.

That's courage.

And he says,

I could call down legions of angels right now

if I wanted to.

You're not in charge here,

pilot,

because there is a higher judge

who's in control at this moment.

And you see,

what happens here

in the vision

is the judge

then pronounces this verdict on the beast

and it's a death sentence.

His rule is over.

Finished.

There is freedom

and liberation.

You know when,

do you know when Harvey Weinstein,

who was that once all-powerful mover

and shaker in Hollywood,

who his word

either made or broke careers.

I don't know if you saw,

but when he came into court

to be convicted

of sexual abuse and rape,

he looked just a pathetic sight.

He was sick.

He was a shadow of his former self.

And every person

who had lived under that shadow

of intimidation

and being bullied

and all the other things abused by him,

if they had known

where he would end it up,

would that have encouraged them

to persevere

when it seemed like he was strong?

I think it would.

Because they would have hope

that justice was going to be done.

And God,

as the supreme judge,

even in the places

where we feel injustice,

where we feel the pressure,

where we feel the intimidation,

he says he will bring justice to bear

in the same way

and it will be a liberation.

It will be a freedom.

It will be a place

where there is true justice.

And so for us as God's people,

he calls us to stay faithful to him.

That even though

other people may ridicule you

when you speak of Jesus,

even though

if you draw boundaries

around your work

that actually

mean that when you have

unreasonable bosses

who try and force you to work

even when you don't actually have to

so that you feel like

you can't even engage

on church on Sundays

or in CG,

but actually

you are called to say

I'm going to draw those boundaries

because I'm going to

keep my eyes fixed

on a higher judge

regardless of the consequences.

When you feel the cost,

Daniel tells you

to keep looking.

Keep looking behind

the bear that seems

in front of you

and to see the one

who is on the throne

because he's the one

who will bring judgment

and he's the one

who will bring justice.

Can you trust his timing

wherever you are today?

You see,

beastly rule is intimidating

but it's temporary.

God's rule

is eternal,

authoritative

and liberating.

And you think,

that's great.

But that's not the end

of the vision

because Daniel says

you've got to keep looking

because he says

I then saw

and it's the word

actually I kept looking

because we don't just see

the terror of the beast,

we don't just see

the justice of the judge,

but actually you've got to see

the crowning of the king.

And here we see

verse 13 and 14.

Because as Daniel

keeps looking,

he sees a human

and divine figure.

He's divine

because he's coming

with the clouds of heaven.

He's not taking Uber.

He's,

the divine figures,

they come on clouds.

That's how divine figures move.

You see,

it stands for the presence of God

like at Mount Sinai.

You see,

this divine figure,

he's also called

one like a son of man.

And in scripture,

when you say

the son of someone,

you're actually talking about,

the next word

is actually about

their character.

So do you remember

like James and John

in the Bible?

Jesus calls them

sons of thunder.

Now he's not talking

about their bowel movements.

He's talking

about their fiery personality

and character.

And so when he says

he's one like the son of man,

what is he saying?

He's saying

this is the truly human one.

This is the one

that all humanity

was supposed to be like.

This is what you and I

were created

to image

in our humanity.

It's what we're supposed to be.

And what's going on here?

He says

with the clouds of heaven,

he is presented

before the ancient of days.

What's going on?

This is a coronation ceremony.

You know,

my dad,

he still remembers

the coronation

of Queen Elizabeth

of England.

And on that day,

yeah, I know.

It's a long time.

But on that day,

crowds line the street

and she goes

into Westminster Abbey

in London

and the Archbishop

of Canterbury.

She kneels before him

and he puts a crown

on her head

and invests her

with authority.

Although the Queen

of England

doesn't have much authority.

But that's the idea.

It happened to King

Nebuchadnezzar,

Belshazzar,

Darius.

It's the same ceremony.

But here,

what's happening?

The Son of Man

is being crowned

the king

and he's not

a temporary reign.

It's not a reign

like King Nebuchadnezzar.

It's not a reign

which finished

like Darius

or Belshazzar.

It's not a reign

like Queen Elizabeth

who will at some point

soon die

and be replaced

by somebody else.

This king

will never be replaced

because he says

he has an everlasting dominion.

His dominion

is everlasting.

Shall not pass away.

His kingdom

is one that

shall not be destroyed.

He's always there

no matter how strong

the beast seems.

And the question

that comes out is

who is this

Son of Man?

And you know

we're kind of Christians

so we kind of know Jesus.

But actually

this exalted

divine king

who is also

the truly human one

is actually

an individual figure

who also stands

and represents

a whole community

of God's people.

Do you notice

in the interpretation

it says

the saints

will receive the kingdom.

Do you notice that?

and that actually

sounds like

a kind of priest

someone who stands

on behalf

of the people.

Well Jesus

after his arrest

he stands

before the high priest

that individual

who's supposed

to stand before God

and represent

the people.

And Jesus

comes before him

and as you

see him

coming before him

you realize

that this high priest

is not a son of man

but is actually

more like a beast.

By the way

you know

religious people

can be beasts.

So that's why

actually

don't put

don't exalt

any church leaders

above what is due

to them

because they are not

God.

but as Jesus

comes before

the high priest

who is seeking

to crush him

seeking to oppress him

seeking to intimidate

the innocent

holy one

he asks Jesus

are you the son

of God

and Jesus says

yeah

yeah

you can say that

and then he goes

this

he says

but I tell you

from now on

you will see

the son of man

seated at the right

hand of power

and coming

on the clouds

of heaven

where's he got

that from

Daniel

you see

do you know

what Jesus

favorite title

for himself is

it's not

son of God

it's not

Messiah

it's the son

of man

it's everywhere

and what is he

saying

he's saying

my coronation

is about

to take place

and how does

the high priest

respond

he goes

kill him

and Jesus

dies

slain

by the beast

in fact

it's a collaboration

of human beasts

all of us

who are trying

to assert our rule

who try and keep

our status

who are out of

jealousy

out of pride

out of fear

of losing

our own reputation

turn and resist

Jesus' rule

that's what nails

Jesus to the cross

and it puts a crown

of thorns

on him

we didn't expect

that kind of

coronation

but right at that

moment in the

darkest hour

who was truly

on the throne

God was

the ancient of

days was

because he was

executing his

plan

to destroy

the power

of beastly

rule

but also

Jesus was

dying for the

very beasts

who would

execute him

those people

like you

and me

who reject

his rule

and he rises

again and ascends

and is seated

at the right

hand of God

do you know

why

for many reasons

but Daniel's

going to tell you

he died

to give beasts

back their

humanity

do you remember

that first beast

the lion

with the wings

who actually

historically

we think it's

actually Nebuchadnezzar

and what happens

to him

his wings get

clipped

he gets humbled

and at the point

of his humbling

do you see what

happens to him

he's then

given back

his humanity

you see this is

what the gospel

is all about

this is why

God calls us

to repent

and confess

and to come

before him

from all of our

beastliness

it's not to try

and be miserable

repentance and

confession is a way

to learn how to be

truly human

because when

Jesus is on the

throne

and we're

worshipping him

at the centre

that's when we

become fully

who we were

created to be

and that's why

God wants

to create

out of him

that this new

community of

saints

who receive

his kingdom

that in the

midst of

intimidation

of fear

we respond

to beastliness

not by being

beasts ourselves

you know actually

how beasts

respond to

beasts

we just end up

trying to fight

and being

passive aggressive

and doing all

that other kind

of stuff

we try and

force our way

we get bitter

or we just

cower in fear

but actually

when you know

that the son

of man

is the one

who is giving

us back our

humanity

what that does

it fills us

with love

with kindness

and truth

that we're called

to have godly

courage to forgive

to bless those

who persecute us

and to do

what Jesus

does

because when we

submit to him

and surrender

to him

do you know

what happens

he begins to

make us look

more like him

which makes

us more

human

you know

what the beast

says

he says

I deserve

better in life

I'm entitled

to some respect

I should get

my own way

the beast

says

I came

to be served

not to serve

but Jesus

says

the son of man

did not come

to be served

but to serve

and to give

his life

as a ransom

for many

including us

here

every one

of us

that is

true humility

that is

true humanity

a life

laid down

for God's

kingdom

to love

and serve

God

and others

but in a world

that is

filled with

darkness

and challenge

where do you

get the courage

to be like

that from

where do you

get that courage

you know

Nelson Mandela

the famous

South African

activist

he said this

he said

I learned

that courage

is not

the absence

of fear

but the triumph

over it

the brave man

is not he

who does not

feel afraid

but he who

conquers that

fear

that's absolutely

right

so just be like

Daniel

right

you know

he is the

ultimate courageous

guy

goes into

lion's den

right

but do you

notice

in verse 15

and verse 28

even this

amazing

courageous

Daniel

he is

frightened

he is

alarmed

he is

anxious

his courage

has failed

him

why

because Daniel

doesn't know

who this

son of man

is

godly courage

isn't the

loudest voice

in the room

it's not the most

confident personality

you can be brave

just to prove

yourself

godly courage

sees Jesus

as bigger

than whatever

beast you're

facing in your

life right now

he fills

your windscreen

why do we

get intimidated

and fear

people

or circumstances

around us

because it

feels like

our life

is in their

hands

it feels like

your boss

holds the key

to your career

it feels like

your kids

lives

are in the

hands of a

culture

that you

don't know

how to

fight against

sharing the

gospel

could lead to

rejection

and we feel

afraid

that that

might ruin

our lives

but whatever

the beast

tries to take

Jesus says

they can never

take

your soul

because he

says in this

world you'll have

trouble

but take

heart

I have

overcome

the world

why

because at

the moment

when it

looks like

death is

hardest

is the

moment

when Jesus

is bringing

resurrection

life

the moment

when you

feel the

pressure

of the world

against you

and you don't

know where to

look

is the moment

that when you

look up you

see the one

who is already

overcome

who has already

got the victory

and he's

taking you

through to

resurrection

glory

you know

someone

I chatted

with someone

in watermark

a little while

ago

and they had

their name

put forward

to lead the

the LGBT

initiative for

their company

and there was a

lot of pressure

on

boss said

this is a

great career

opportunity for

you

and there's

that pressure

between the

values of what

they felt like

God was calling

them to do

but also

the fear of

what's going to

happen

if I resist

saying no

could mean

they get fired

and they knew

that

and they felt

that

and they talked

to people in

the community

who prayed

who encouraged

them and they

went to their

boss and said

hey no I've

got other church

responsibilities

I can't do

it

and the boss

said

that's fine

that's fine

that's okay

you see God

shut the lion's

mouth at that

moment

but actually

what helped

them because

they said to

me you know

this is where

I know God

will provide

for me because

I know that

he's where my

life is found

that's how

you can stand

I have another

friend who was

constantly battered

by their family

members just

always commenting

on their

appearance and

weight

and it was

crushing to

them

they lived under

this fearing

feeling of

will I ever

be loved

will I ever

find value

and so they

were tempted

to look

anywhere

for somebody

who would

just validate

them

but as

they began

to share

in community

and as

they learned

the gospel

which tells

them that

their identity

is not found

in their

appearance

or what

anybody else

tells you

but it's

found in

what the

son of

God

the son

of man

has done

for you

that you

are loved

that you

are saved

that you

are forgiven

that you

are secure

that you

belong

that the

risen

crushed

ascended

Christ

has done

everything

so that

you can

be his

and his

love will

never be

taken away

that he

says to us

do not fear

little flock

because he's

been pleased

to give you

the kingdom

do you know

what it

meant

for them

they still

wrestled

and battled

whenever they

met family

members

but they

had this

new

courage

and confidence

to not let

it crush

them

because Jesus

became bigger

in their

windscreen

than any

other

beasts

and they

experienced

the resurrection

life of

Jesus

giving them

a new

confidence

to walk

into the

world

knowing

that he

is both

the judge

on the

throne

but he's

also the

savior

who's

with us

and the

one

who's

risen

from the

grave

that

is what

Daniel

is about

I'm going

to stop

here

but I

don't

know

if you

realize

this

but actually

Daniel

12

which we're

not going

to talk

about

it ends

with

resurrection

let me

just read

this to

you

and many

who sleep

in the

dust

of the

earth

shall

awake

some

to

everlasting

life

and some

to shame

and everlasting

contempt

that's about

which kingdom

you're going to

be part of

and those who are wise who choose to submit to the son of man

shall shine like the brightness of the sky above

and those who turn many to righteousness

like the stars forever.

That's the promise of everyone who puts their trust

and who is in the son of man

and refuses to submit to the beast.

I want us to just close by thinking

how are you going to respond right now, right today?

Where's the beast in your life?

Where's the things where you feel intimidated and afraid?

Where are the areas where,

how big is Jesus in your windscreen right now?

And I have on the screen just three ways

that actually you can respond in this moment.

We're going to take communion in a few minutes.

But I want you to respond in one of three ways.

Sometimes some of you may just have to praise God

and thank him that he truly is on the throne.

When you look at the news,

when you look at the things that are going on,

you realize you can praise and thank him.

That we don't have to stand in fear.

Some of us have to actually repent and confess

because there are areas where maybe we have actually,

we don't realize the beastliness in us

or we've actually lived under that intimidation and fear

and we've just given in

because we fail to see who Jesus truly is in our life.

Some of us, God is calling you,

you're in situations where you know God is calling you to respond

and you're struggling to trust him

because you feel afraid.

And God is going to call you right now

to respond in obedience and trust.

So I want you just to take a minute by yourself

and just to respond,

which of those three ways is God calling you to respond right now?

God bless you.