Who Are You | Life in the Waiting | Daniel 9 - November 10

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Daniel chapter 9. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent,

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign,

I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of years which was revealed as the

word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet from the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem,

namely, seventy years.

So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications,

with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, Alas,

O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness

for those who love Him and keep His commandments.

We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled,

even turning aside from Thy commandments and ordinances.

Moreover, we have not listened to thy servants, the prophets,

who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers,

and all the people of the land.

Righteousness belongs to thee, O Lord, but to us opens shame,

as it is this day, to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel,

those who are nearby and those who are far away, and all the countries to which

thou has driven them because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against thee.

Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes,

and our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.

To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled

against Him, nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His

teachings which He set before us through His servants and prophets.

Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not obeying thy voice.

So the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written

in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have sinned against him.

Thus he has confirmed his words which he had spoken against us and against our

rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity.

For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us,

yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity

and giving attention to thy truth.

Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us.

For the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all his deeds which he has done.

But we have not obeyed his voice. And now,

O Lord our God, who has brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty

hand, and has made a name for thyself, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have been wicked.

O Lord, in accordance with all thy righteous acts, let now thine anger and thy

wrath turn away from thy city Jerusalem.

Thy holy mountain, For because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers,

Jerusalem and thy people have become a reproach to all those around us.

So now, our God, listen to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications,

and for thy sake, O Lord, let thy face shine on thy desolate sanctuary.

O my God, incline thy ear, thine ear, and hear.

Open thine eyes and see our desolations in the city which is called by thy name.

For we are not presenting our supplications before

thee on account of any merits of our

own but on account of thy great compassion oh lord hear oh lord forgive oh lord

listen and take action for thine own sake oh my god do not delay because thy

city and thy people are called by thy name.

Now, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my

people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord,

my God, in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel,

whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness

about the time of the evening offering.

And he gave me instruction and talked with me and said, O Daniel,

I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.

At the beginning of your supplications, the command was issued,

and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.

So give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish

the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity,

to bring in everlasting righteousness,

to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.

So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore

and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.

It will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

Then, after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,

and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary,

and its end will come with a flood.

Even to the end there will be war.

Desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.

But in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offerings,

and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate,

even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.

Thank you, David.

It's going to bother me the whole time. Well, hey, family.

It's so glad to be with you again here today. It's so wonderful that we can just be together.

We can worship together. We

can sing a phrase of the Most High God together, that we can be together.

And just very encouraging and just uplifting for me to hear as David was reading

just this reality that not only is he reading Daniel chapter 9 for us all to

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

hear that we're reading these extensive parts of scripture together on Sundays, but we're also reading,

many of us are reading those throughout the week together as well.

So it's just like this repetition of God's word that's filling our lives is super encouraging.

And that's at least some of my thoughts that I dwelled on as he was reading.

So thank you so much for that.

I know, you know me,

so you know I'm not going to dwell on political things, but I know that this

past week has been difficult for many in our nation,

in our country, just since the fact that authorities and powers want to separate

and divide at this point in time, and they lie and they belittle just to gain some sort of position.

I know some people were affected much more by them than others of us.

And it's really just a time to try and highlight for some reason,

our differences rather than what it should be is a call for unity.

So I know it's been difficult for, for many, I guess the one consolation is

that we don't have to endure any more political ads. So that's a good thing.

And just think about this last election, 60,000 votes went to Kanye West. So there's that.

So, you know, you just think about that and

the implications that that would have would have brought but i wrote

most of what we're going to talk about today i i

wrote down my thoughts before the election i didn't know

who had won i you know there's still a good chance that i don't but you know

maybe i'm just kidding it was chester a arthur right that's who won or benjamin

harrison millard fillmore is that who were cleveland who cleveland grover cleveland,

If any of those names sound made up or if they weren't presidents,

then there's far worse drastic things happening in our educational system than I had believed before.

Those are all real presidents, believe it or not.

And of course, I'm kidding. I did have the thought though that I wonder how

long I could go without knowing who the president is.

And I was like, I'm pretty sure I could go a long time.

And then I woke up at like 6 a.m. Wednesday and Jenny was like,

you know who won? I was like, no, I don't care.

And I know me saying that kind of gets the heart of some people in the sense

that there are real ways in which it doesn't matter.

And we can disagree about that, but whoever the president is and whoever it

may be in the future, I'm just so thankful that our hope doesn't lie within earthly kingdoms.

And that's kind of the turnaround for us today that.

That our hope is not in a president. Our hope is not in a king.

It's not in an earthly empire.

And we'll hear that from Daniel chapter nine. Jenny told me that when some acquaintance

of ours, I don't know who it was, shared some verses from Daniel nine on election day.

So I guess it's pretty fitting that we find ourselves in this chapter this week.

And most of you have no problem believing that the election didn't cross my

mind for a moment when I felt that the Lord was leading us to be in Daniel during

this season more than a year ago, but God knows what he's doing, of course.

And to be honest, I didn't even know it was an election year.

So God definitely knows what he's doing.

And I had no role to play in that other than just hopefully to listen and be faithful.

But I am reminded in this time of Daniel's words in chapter two and four,

he says, praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power.

He controls the course of world events. He removes kings and sets up other kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.

He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in the darkness,

though he is surrounded by light.

And so I just pray that the words of Daniel today in Daniel chapter nine would

do what they were written down to do, that they would fill us with hope,

that they would remind us that God is in control.

No matter how people use scripture short-sightedly, no matter what verses they

pull out to prove whatever point they want to make in this world,

that we would just cling to the fullness of God's revealed word and just cling

to the fact that he's in control and nothing escapes his grasp and we can rest

confidently in that hope.

So with that, let's get in a bit to Daniel chapter nine.

I would ask of you that maybe you would all close your eyes to begin with.

If you trust me, and if you don't trust me, you just close them anyway.

I just want you to engage your imagination. I am thankful that I looked as soon

as I said, close your eyes, that like a handful of you were already closing

your eyes. So there is some trust there. I'm thankful for that.

I just want us to engage our imaginations for a little bit.

Imagine if you will, you're just living life. You're doing your thing in some

empire, some world power comes along invading and they take you to another place.

They remove you from your home, everything you know, and the life that you had found comfort in.

So Daniel's one of the royals. He was smart. He was elite.

And he was among the best of the best. I know there are many of us who are pretty

good, pretty smart, pretty intelligent.

Let's not fool ourselves. We're not going to be hanging out in palaces with Daniel.

So imagine, more likely, we're with Ezekiel.

We're living next to a canal in a Jewish refugee camp, surrounded by displaced

families, living each day in the dust of Babylon.

How would you feel? How would you feel knowing that the place you once called home lies in ruins?

What would you long for?

Perhaps you would yearn for justice, for a return, for a rescuer who could bring

hope to a world in shambles. Can you picture it?

Probably not. You can open your eyes, unless you're like engaged in the imagination.

But whatever we can imagine, it probably doesn't quite measure up to the reality.

And certainly there are people in this nation who have come here under similar

circumstances, not that we've brought them, but seeking escape from a similar

thing, right? So there are people who can imagine it.

But if we haven't gone through that, it's difficult to try and picture it,

trying to put ourselves in that place.

But in the midst of this loss, in the midst of this loss, God gives Daniel a

prophecy, a vision that is so detailed, so precise.

He gives him a timeline. So, in the shadow of Babylon, Daniel records this prophecy

of the coming anointed one, the king who would one day come and save.

So, he's riding from this place, even though he's in a palace,

he's riding from a place of loss, a place of desperation, a place of longing.

And God gives him this prophecy.

So check this out, verse 25, it's Daniel chapter nine. If you don't have Bibles,

there's some at the end of the row. If you wanna flip through the pages with us.

It says seven sets of seven plus 62 sets of seven will pass from the time the

command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler, the anointed one, comes.

Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses despite the perilous times.

And after this period of 62 sets of seven, the anointed one will be killed,

appearing to have accomplished nothing.

So that's the interpretation or that's the vision that we have in the end of

Daniel chapter nine. So if we, this is 69 sets of seven years.

So if we add that up, that's a total of 483 years.

Both the Hebrew and the Babylonian calendar consisted of 360 days, unlike ours.

So if we multiply 483 years by 360 days, anybody, anybody?

No, no. Again, 173,880. If you had your phones looking at your Bibles,

like I discourage, you might've been able to get that quicker,

but good thing you got your physical Bibles in your hands. I'm much more proud of that.

Now, if we can translate those days into our calendar, which again is a Gregorian

calendar of 365 days per year.

And so if we start counting from the decree made by Artaxerxes in March of 444

BC, some people may say January, February, 457.

We're not gonna squabble about what the actual time was, but the decree,

this is the decree that allowed Ezra and Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild, right?

If we start counting that timeline.

173,880 days from that moment, that decree that brings us directly to AD 33, which is the exact year.

The same month. And for all intents and purposes, we should believe the exact

day that Jesus shows up riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday,

presenting himself as the Messiah.

The math works out incredibly well.

Interestingly enough, this is something I just learned this week,

actually. The word Messiah, of course, it shows up a few times in the Old Testament.

Usually, it is most commonly associated with the anointing of priests and kings.

But the only time that it shows up in reference prophetically to the coming

savior, the coming king that we are most familiar with it is Daniel chapter nine.

This chapter is the only time in the old Testament that the word Messiah is

used prophetically for a coming rescuer, a coming savior.

And yet that's the word, the way that we understand Jesus the most,

the Christ, which is just the Greek word Messiah, the Messiah.

So it's interesting. This is the only place it shows up in the old Testament.

Okay, so what happens next?

We got the very day that Jesus comes on the scene.

Prophecy goes on. We read that after the 62 sets of seven, the Messiah will

be cut off appearing to have accomplished nothing.

So days after Palm Sunday, Jesus is crucified. He's killed. He's cut off physically.

Fulfilling Daniel's prophecy, as we said, down to the day.

So think about this. Nearly 500 years before Christ, I'll see you next time.

God gave a detailed timeline through Daniel. This isn't a vague or open to loose

interpretation kind of deal. It was specific.

It was precise. And it points us to a God who shows up, a God who remembers

his people, a God who keeps his promises, a God who brings a savior exactly

when he says that he will.

And in that, we find a God that is in control.

And because of that, a God that we can rest our hopes in.

And yet here's the funny part. not ha ha funny, but here's the funny part.

For all that precision, for all of that exactness, the importance of these words

is not found in the length of time.

The timing doesn't make the day special. It's the arrival of the King.

It's the event. It's Jesus's death and resurrection.

It's God breathing life into the dry bones. And all the times you've heard that

Ezekiel 37, right? Or 35, 37.

All the times that you've heard that prophecy of the dry bones,

speak to the dry bones, that was written about people in exile waiting for a

savior to come and breathe life into them.

That's the event that makes this day special. Just think about your birthday, right?

Like there's nothing special about the day itself, except for the fact that

that's the day you were born on. That's what makes it a special day.

What makes this timing special is the fact that Jesus arrives,

the Savior, the anointed one, the Messiah that had been waited for for so long.

It's the times being evil, but the anointed one coming. It's about you stepping

in and inheriting the kingdom.

These are stories about exiles coming home.

And exile is probably one of the most important themes to understanding the Bible.

Probably one of the most important and yet least talked about themes to understand

the Bible because the Bible, the experience of exile is where the Bible began to take shape.

Of course, all of these, there's all these stories with Moses and Abraham that

predate the exile, but the people who collected these works,

these into one library, the people who began to take shape what we see as the Bibles that we read,

these are the people that are experiencing the exile, the people that are following

the exile and still living in this oppressive rule of earthly kingdoms.

So exile deeply influenced them as the Bible began to take shape.

And it's reflected in the narrative too, right?

If we start at the beginning, we have Adam and Eve who fall into sin in the

garden and they are driven out of the garden to the east. We're going to say

this represents the east, okay?

So they're driven out of the garden to the east.

They're exiled is another way that the Bible, being driven out is another way

that the Bible talks about exile.

And in this story, this narrative continues with their children,

Cain kills Abel, right? And then he is driven out of the land,

wander to wander further east.

He moves further away, further east. And then civilization is formed and it's

developed and it pushes people further east to the point of Babylon.

Now, certainly there's things past Babylon. There's stuff past Babylon.

But in the Bible, the biblical narrative, it symbolizes Babylon as the extent,

as the farthest away, the furthest movement away from Eden, the furthest movement

away from the garden, the furthest movement away from God.

And Daniel prays in this chapter, he prays, so now the solemn curses and judgment

written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down on us because of our sin.

You have kept your word and done to us and returned to us. What did I say?

Our rulers, exactly as you warned, never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem.

Every curse written against us in the law of Moses has come true.

So Babylon is the furthest of the far, the worst of the worst,

right? It is the symbol of God's divine judgment in the Bible.

Which is interesting because when Abram comes on the scene, it says that he

is from Ur, the land of the Chaldees.

So if you were to look up Ur on a map, it's in modern day Iraq.

It is near the mouth of the Euphrates River, just downstream from Babylon.

It's actually contained within the Babylonian empire, this land of Ur that Abraham starts out on.

So when God calls Abraham to leave Babylon, he calls him to head west.

Both figuratively and literally.

Again, if you look on a map, and then the promised land are directly west from

each other. So he's moving back. He's returning.

He's moving back towards God.

And when he arrives in the land of the promise, the land promised to him by God,

which is where we get the term promised land for in case that has escaped your

connection all of these years, when he finally arrives, the only place that he actually owns,

the only place in the promised land that Abraham ends up owning is a plot,

a burial plot that he purchases for his wife.

That's the only spot that he actually owns in the promised land.

It says in Genesis chapter 23, when Sarah was 127 years old,

Genesis 23 · chapter mention

she died at Kirith Arba, now called Hebron, which is directly west of Ur, in the land of Canaan.

There Abraham mourned and wept for her. Then leaving her body,

he said to the Hittite elders, here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you.

Please sell me a piece of land so I can get my wife a proper burial.

So when he's negotiating the purchasing of this plot of land,

he calls himself a stranger and a foreigner.

Abraham is in the land that God has promised him. He is home for all intents and purposes.

He's returned from exile in the East and he's made his way home.

But it is his home, but it's not his home in a way, right?

And so Abraham describes himself as a stranger, as a foreigner,

not at home, even though he's in the land that God had promised him.

And for 2,000 years, more than 2,000 years, the people of God,

This has been the story of God's people, a wandering,

a not-at-homeness, so that when we get to the point that Israel begins to repopulate

Jerusalem, they've returned from the exile during Daniel's time.

They returned home, but they're still exiles.

Isaiah is a prophet following the exile. They're already returned home.

But Isaiah uses all of this language addressing the Israelites as if they're still in exile.

So much so that critical scholars of the Bible say that Isaiah could only have

been written by three different people spanning years from during the exile

to far after because of the language that he uses.

It is so much full of hope for a people that are still in exile.

And at the end of the Old Testament, we reach the end of the Old Testament,

we find that God's people are still in exile.

The Bible leads us in the Old Testament on a cliffhanger, a waiting.

You might be familiar with that show Lost, right?

Every episode ended on a cliffhanger. And so that every new episode started

with previously on Lost, right?

I never got into that show partly because of that reason.

But I do I did remember I had an internship after

after college where CNN and

Weather Channel and shows like that were playing all the time and you

know how those those news anchors always give like a

more when we come back kind of thing I the best one I ever heard Rick Sanchez

was the best at this I was watching one day CNN there was a video of a pack

of dogs behind him and this was his statement before cutting to commercial it

was all of you see these dogs behind me they're all dead now.

Find out why when we come back.

That was the best one I ever heard. But the Old Testament leaves us at a cliffhanger, a waiting,

people in exile waiting to know, are they going to be able to find themselves

and home, waiting God's deliverance, waiting the coming of the kingdom,

because this is humanity's condition,

that we are displaced in our homes, waiting for the anointed one waiting to inherit the kingdom.

It's not an exile in a place so much like we see in Daniel.

It's not an exile in a place as much as it is an exile during a time,

an age the Bible uses, the Bible refers to it as an age.

So even following the arrival of the anointed one, we are still in exile waiting his return.

We are still waiting our homecoming.

It is one of the most important themes, one of the most important ways of seeing

ourselves as believers, a people in exile.

So much so that Peter begins his first letter by writing this.

He says, I'm writing to God's chosen people who are living as foreigners in

provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

God, the father knew you and chose you long ago. And his spirit was, has made you holy.

As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

So that's how he starts first Peter.

And then he ends first Peter chapter five with these words.

I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas,

who might commend to you as a faithful brother.

My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing

is truly part of God's grace for you. So stand firm in his grace.

Your sister church here in Babylon sends you greetings. So does my son, Mark.

Greet each other with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.

So God, may God give you more and more peace. So Peter wrote this letter, not from Babylon.

Peter wrote this letter from Rome. Yet he calls it the church in Babylon.

He calls the church that he's at in Rome, church in Babylon.

He writes it to believers, many of whom are Gentiles living in their own homelands.

And yet he calls them exiles. He borrows from the words of Abraham,

says that they are strangers and exiles.

So can you imagine receiving this letter from Peter? Like, what are you talking about, Peter?

I'm still living in my parents' basement. What are you talking about?

I'm at home. I'm not an exile. I'm not a foreigner. I'm not a stranger.

But this is the way that Peter addresses them. He uses that word.

He talks about Babylon and he uses the word exile or foreigner,

strangers that Abraham uses.

In some ways, we don't have to imagine this because this letter is to us as well.

It reaches out across the centuries to call us strangers and foreigners to this

day because everyone's story, Everyone's story is a story of exile.

And you know this feeling, it's an experience that we have never experienced

yet always believe and felt that we should experience.

It's the world existing in a way that we've never experienced it.

And yet knowing that it should be different, knowing that there's a different

way that we should be experiencing this life.

It's being in our own skin, being in our own homes, but not feeling quite at

home, feeling that there's something not quite right, that there's still something

more to come, a fullness,

that it's these saints in Turkey that Peter's writing to who have shifted their allegiance.

They were still in their homes, but now they've given their allegiance to Jesus.

And so we are in our homes, in exile, still waiting for our homecoming.

So what should we do? What should we do in the meantime? What should we do in the waiting?

And if Daniel chapter 9, the second half of Daniel chapter 9 is a vision about

Daniel 9 · chapter mention Daniel 9 · chapter mention

the coming of the anointed one, then the first half of Daniel chapter 9 is most

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

assuredly about what we do in the waiting.

At the very least, the letter that Daniel is responding to from Jeremiah is

definitely about what do we do as we wait for the arrival of the anointed one?

What do we do as we wait for this precise timeline to be completed?

And just to remind you of Jeremiah's words, he writes these instructions from the Lord.

This is what the Lord of heaven armies, the God of Israel says to all the captives

he has exiled in Babylon from Jerusalem.

Build homes and plan to stay.

Plant gardens and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children.

Then find spouses for them so that you may have grandchildren,

multiply, do not dwindle away and work for the peace and prosperity of the city

where I sent you into exile.

Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.

And if we are still in exile, as Peter supposes, then these are instructions

for us as well of how to live in the waiting, how to remain faithful in the waiting.

So I just want to spend sort of the rest of our time leaving you with six instructions,

six quick instructions of how to remain faithful in the waiting.

This is the way of the exile as Jeremiah and Daniel presented to us.

So number one, lose your identity.

Now, wait a second. Isn't Daniel a book about identity and how if we know who

God is, we'll know who we are and we'll know what to do. We'll know our purpose.

Isn't that what we've been talking about these last several weeks? That's true.

Something else we've talked about and is also true is that exile is typically,

is most commonly where people lose their identity.

That's kind of the whole point of exile. The empire uproots you from your homeland.

They disseminate you across the empire so that you'll assimilate their culture

and their customs and you'll forget about your own so that you'll lose your

identity. That's what exile is all about.

And it's true for us in some ways as well, that we must lose our earthly identities.

We must lose our earthly identities because to step into our true identity, we have to let go of.

Some of, if not most of the ones that we've built for ourselves,

that we've placed our life in, that we've been holding onto,

that we have to shed these earthly identities if we're going to fully embrace

our true identity in God.

We have to let go. And so, while the world encourages you to look within yourself

to find your identity, and in some ways, our most natural inclination is to

look to the things around us, external things to find our identities, all of these things,

Ultimately, all of these things won't last.

But God, God is unchanging.

God is reliable. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So in the very real sense of it, if you find your identity in him,

you will ultimately never be disappointed because time and time again,

he shows himself to be trustworthy.

We must place our identity in him. And it's important as we define ourselves,

our identities in God, it's important that we not just make him an aspect of

who we are, just one among many identities that we have.

As if we were just saying, well, I'm a Christian or I'm spiritual or I'm religious.

It's important that we don't just relegate him to a identity or an aspect of our identity.

Because understanding your identity in God starts with understanding who he

is, who he says that he is, and then therefore who he says that we are.

So it is foundational. It's not just one among the many.

And while Peter, we just read, while he writes to those of us who are still

strangers and exiles in our own homelands, in our own lands,

there is an age to come where we will find ourselves at home.

There is a kingdom that exists now where we are at home.

And so Paul writes to the Ephesians, these words, you are no longer foreigners

and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.

So number two, instruction number two, find yourself.

Jesus says this many times, right? If you cling to your life,

you'll lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

It's the same idea that giving up an identity is not enough in of itself.

Unless we will find a new, more powerful one that supersedes all others.

That if we're giving up these identities that we've built our lives around,

we have to replace them with something better, with something stronger,

with something that we can place our hope and our lives upon.

And we must step into these new identities as new creations scattered in exile,

while waiting for the kingdom and living for the sake of the kingdom that is not of this world.

This is the interesting way that exile became the way that God made Israel into a kingdom of priests.

Israel had priests. God had promised that they would be a kingdom of priests.

Exile is the method that he scattered Israel into the world to be a kingdom

of priests. God gives Moses a message in Exodus 19.

He tells him, Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant,

you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples. for all the earth is

mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.

So Israel being scattered is the delivery method for God to make Israel into

a kingdom of priests for the nations, not just the kingdom with priests,

but a kingdom of priests to the nations.

And we know that the Bible calls us a priesthood of believers.

As we are scattered amongst the world that is not our home, but is our home,

but it's not quite what our home should be.

We are serving in the same purpose to step into these new identities.

And we do that by existing in these covenant communities where Jesus is actually our King.

It's not just something we talk about. It's not just language we use to be symbolic.

It's the way that we actually live in this world.

And we live in a way that Jesus is demonstrated in reality to be our king.

It's how we step into these new identities. And interesting,

I found this interesting that baptism is presented as the way in.

It's presented as the departure point where we shed off our old identities,

and then we put on these new identities with new allegiances to King Jesus.

A baptism is seen as a physical point of re-entry to the same place,

but under new leadership, to the same lives, but with new desire and new purpose.

Baptism becomes a physical point of re-entry into those new identities.

So just as Daniel's prophesying to Israel of hope of the coming age,

the coming anointed one, Ezekiel is also prophesying and writing and speaking

here prophetically of the picture of baptism.

He writes, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean.

Your filth will be washed away and you will no longer worship idols.

Now I'll give you a new heart and I'll put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Now I'll put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful

to obey my regulations. questions.

So baptism becomes the picture, this picture, this physical re-entry point to

the same lives, the same place, but under new management, under new leadership,

with new desires, new purpose.

And so if you haven't made that decision, if you haven't been invited to make

that decision to be baptized, I do just want to pause before we go on to number

three and just offer that invitation to you to take that step,

to proclaim the new allegiance,

to step into your new identity that is far better to shed off the old ones.

And our hearts as a covenant community would be so full to be able to walk into

that faith and obedience with you.

So, I don't want to miss an opportunity to offer that invitation,

step into our new identities for you guys.

We can move on. You can just talk to me afterwards.

Number three, submit to and pray for earthly kingdoms.

And these might be unwelcome words in our country today.

Even amongst Christians, even within the church, they might be unwelcome words,

but this is what the exiles of Daniel's time are called to do.

And this is what we who are still living in exile are called to do.

Though our allegiance is to another kingdom, we are to live in all of the ways

that are uncompromising.

We are to live for the sake of and the wellbeing of earthly kingdoms.

We are to pray and pursue the welfare of the nations we find ourselves in.

So we read in 1 Timothy 2, Paul writes, I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people.

Ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them.

Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful

and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

This is good and pleases God, our savior, who wants everyone to be saved and

to understand the truth.

There is a new desire, a new heart that we need so that we desire the same that

God desires. I wants everyone to be saved.

David Platt wrote a blog post along these same lines. He said that every leader

in the world will one day stand before God as judge and ruler and ultimate Lord

and King. They will give an account to him.

There is nothing we see happening in this world right now that will not one day be judged by God,

which means every single one of these leaders, every single one of these nations

and tribes and people groups need mercy from God because all of them are sinful

before God. They all need a savior.

This is why we pray for the nations. why we pray for the peoples,

why we pray for leaders of nations, that they would receive God's mercy.

So we submit, we pray, we work for the welfare of the nation and all the ways

that we find uncompromising to do so.

That leads us to number four. It leads us to the end of that goal,

which is we make here our home.

The place that isn't our home, we make into our home. The place we find ourselves

in exile, we bring home here.

Now, that doesn't mean that we settle in and just make the best of unfortunate circumstances.

And equally so, it doesn't mean that we get comfortable in our lives outside of Eden.

It doesn't mean either of those extremes, but it does mean exactly what we talk

about as being the mission of the church, and that is to be a place where heaven

meets earth. that we do as Jeremiah instructs Daniel, we stay.

We stay and we invest.

We don't look longingly for a far off land.

We don't have our hearts and our minds always set on some distant land.

We live in the present. We stay and we bring heaven here.

We stay and we regather the lost children of Israel. So the instruction number

five is that we invite others in.

It's not just Christians who are seen as still in exile. This is the dominant

metaphor for all of humanity.

God made man in his own image. Now that doesn't just apply to you and I.

And so we live lives and we live our lives that his children who have not stepped

into their new identities, who are still in this universal exile,

that the lost children of God might find their way home.

That we live in the waiting. We live faithfully in the waiting by regathering more of the family.

Now there's probably more to be said on all of this, but I don't want to spend

the last few moments of our time just reiterating the mission of the church

to be a place where heaven meets earth,

by proclaiming the universal reign of God, inviting Jesus to our community,

inviting our neighbors to join us and becoming real people who are part of family

and who worship the real God.

We stay and we invite others in.

Which brings us to final number six, the last instruction given to us in this time.

There's no doubt more to be learned about the way of the exile,

more to be talked about as we wait faithfully for the returning anointed one.

But these will give us a good start, right? Number six, we trust.

We trust though we may not have so much to show for it at this point in time.

Because much of what we're trusting in stands outside of time.

So we trust, even though we don't have so much to show for it yet.

There are times when those of us who are believers may find the way difficult.

We may be tempted to lose heart, to wander.

And so we're going to need reassurance that there is a world after this one,

that there is more to come, that there's more to what we can see,

taste and hear and touch.

We need reassurance that God loves us and that God is faithful and trustworthy,

so that our hope may not grow faint so that we can trust and remain faithful in the waiting.

We trust in the truth of Daniel chapter nine that he writes,

oh Lord, you are a great and awesome God.

You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises unfailing love to those

who love you and obey your commands.

When we are tempted, when we are tempted to run, when we are tempted to fight,

when we are tempted to withdraw and hide, to pull away.

We see this in Daniel's time in exile that Jeremiah is writing against.

He's telling them to stay and to work for the welfare.

He's telling them not to run away, not to fight, not to dwell on being somewhere

else, but to stay and invest.

We see this as Jesus gathers his disciples.

Simon the Zealot was a Zealot for a reason. He was one of the ones that were fighting.

So too we, when we are tempted to run, withdraw, when we are tempted to fight

because often our solutions to problems don't match God's.

We are tempted in these ways, we stay and we trust and we join in the praises

of Psalm 138, which I would invite you all to go ahead and stand up with me

as we say these words together.

Psalm 138, I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart.

I will sing your praises before the gods. I bow before your holy temple as I worship.

I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness.

For your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

As soon as I pray, you answer me. You encourage me by giving me strength.

Every king in all the earth will thank Thank you, Lord, for all of them will hear your words.

Yes, they will sing about the Lord's ways, for the glory of the Lord is very great.

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.

Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies.

You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me.

The Lord will work out his plans for my life. For your faithful love,

O Lord, endures forever.

Don't abandon me, for you made me. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Mountainside Church's podcast. We hope you found

inspiration and encouragement in today's teaching.

To learn more about our church, stay connected or partner with us, visit mcboon.com.

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