The Climax of History

Daniel 12 and reading from verse 1:

“‘At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.’

“Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, ‘How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?’ And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, ‘O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?’ He said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.’”

Thanks be to God for his Word.

Father, as we turn to the Bible, we earnestly ask for your help so that as we look to these words and as we listen to the voice of a mere man, that in and through and beyond that we might hear from you, the living God. This is our earnest expectation. This is our deep desire. This is our only hope. And we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

God has provided for his people in his Word that which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Now, some are visiting today, and you are struck by the fact that we’re so close to Christmas, and here we are studying some ancient tome—namely, Daniel and chapter 12. I hope that none of us have concluded that what we’re doing is studying an ancient book that is somehow or another bearing very little relevance to our contemporary lives. If that is the case, then I have failed you, and we may have to start all over again. And I know you don’t want that. And neither do I!

I actually think that many of us have been compelled by the fact that the disparity in the time frame is more than compensated for by the immediate points of application. And we should not be surprised by this, because all that has been written in the past has been written, says Paul to the Roman Christians, for our endurance, for our encouragement, and so that we might find our hope in the things that the Bible provides for us. This this is how J. B. Phillips paraphrases that, which is actually Romans 15:4: “All those words [that] were written long ago are meant to teach us today; that when we read in the scriptures of the endurance of men and of all the help that God gave them in those days, we may be encouraged to go on hoping in our own time.” So that as we read the historical facts of Daniel, as we are confronted by areas that are challenging, at the heart of it all is this notion that God has provided for his people in his Word that which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.[1] And it is as we pay attention to his Word that we discover who he is and his purposes for us.

Now, Daniel is instructed in verse 4 here—and we’re only going to go as far as verse 4 this morning—he’s instructed in verse 4 to “shut up the words” and to “seal the book.” And the reason for this is not in order that he might make it secret but in order that he might preserve it, because it’s going to be an important message for people in another era. And here we are in the twenty-first century, and we are reading it. And if Christ does not return, then generations after us will continue to read it and benefit from it and be helped by it.

And the emphasis to which we came last time in chapter 11—indeed, since the beginning of chapter 10—is on “the time of the end.” So, for example, back in 11:40: “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him.” And that little phrase comes a number of times. And what Daniel is being told is this: that he must keep on record for God’s people these events—those that are future to him and past tense to us and those that are future both to him and to us, the events of the end of time—so that when we come to the end of time, we will not be taken by surprise.

Now, the vision that Daniel has been experiencing and recording for us is a vision that has come about as a result of the visit of this angelic character. And this angelic visitor has described in great detail, recorded for us in chapter 11, the wars that are going to be fought and were fought. And from our vantage point, we can take, as we said last time, a secular history, read it right alongside chapter 11, and see the way in which they fold into each other. Towards the end of chapter 11, around verse 36 and certainly in verse 40, we discover that the historical character of Antiochus Epiphanes, who has been given a central place—some fifteen verses covering a relatively short period of time, because he is such a crucial character in what happened—but eventually, if you like, his frame is no longer sufficient to hold the character who is then described.

And this pushes us all the way forward, as we said last time, to the Antichrist, to “the man of lawlessness,”[2] to whom Paul refers in 2 Thessalonians when he writes to encourage the people there. This individual at the end of chapter 11 transcends the wickedness of anything previously known. It is the very embodiment, if you like, of evil. And as we saw, the actions of this individual are marked by a ferocity, by a kind of blasphemous inhumanity that is so compelling that it is almost inevitable that the people of God would be caused to wonder whether they would be able to survive the onslaught. In other words, if all hell is going to break loose against the people of God in this way, what is going to happen to them? Will they make it to the end? Will they persevere to the end? Will there be anybody left when it’s all over? And here, in a surprising place and in a necessary spot, we’re given the answer to that question. And as staggering as it sounds to some of our ears this morning, what we have is a description of what will take place at the end of the world. At the end of the world.

Now, every so often in our lifetime, people have talked about the end of the world. Barry McGuire wrote his song “Eve of Destruction.”[3] When the clouds grew dark in our school in Yorkshire at an unlikely time during the day—every so often you have one of those very strange days—and everything turned black, and somebody at the back of the classroom would go, “It’s probably the end of the world!” And somebody would turn around and say, “No, it can’t be the end of the world. We’ve got a football match this afternoon. We can’t have the end of the world just yet!” Or, “I’m going out with Molly here, and we can’t have the end of the world.”

But we’re not unfamiliar with apocalyptic visions and apocalyptic fears. It’s expressed in art. It’s expressed in poetry. It’s expressed in film, and definitely in song. And depending on our era, we know this. For example, Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater, after they sang “Proud Mary,” gave us “Bad Moon Rising” as a follow on. And when you read that song, listen to it, the allusions in it are interesting—you know, “I think we’re in for nasty weather.”[4] You say, “Well, it’s a funny thing to be starting to write about the weather in the ʼ60s.” But then, if you check it out, you discover, no—that Fogerty wrote this on the back of the death of Martin Luther King; after Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated; after he had been recalling the movie The Devil and Daniel Webster, where, remember, the character sells his soul to the devil. And in the hurricane scene, everything is blowing around—furniture, trees, houses. Everything’s blowing around. It’s there, at the end of the ʼ60s, that Fogerty sits down, and he writes,

I hear hurricanes a-blowing,
I know the end’s coming soon,
I fear the rivers overflowing,
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

And later,

Hope you’ve got your things together,
Hope you’re quite prepared to die;
Looks like we’re in for nasty weather;
One eye is taken for an eye.

Well don’t go round tonight,
It’s bound to take your life;
There’s a bad moon on the rise.[5]

Actually, many people think that that last line was “There’s a bathroom on the right.” And if you listen to it, you’ll… In fact, I’ve destroyed the song for you, if you’d never thought that way. It’s a great way to ruin your own illustration as well, with such triviality.

But no, in actual fact, people might want to think in those kind of trivial terms rather than face up to the apocalyptic challenge of it all: that there is actually an ultimate destination, that there is an end towards which we’re moving. The Bible doesn’t leave us to guess about these matters. That’s the point I want you to understand. When you read the Old Testament, you discover that both truth and time is going somewhere. Truth and time is going somewhere. Read the Old Testament, you discover that everything has a beginning and everything has an end. There’s a time to be born, there’s a time to die. There’s a time to reap, there’s a time to sow; time to plant, time to pluck up what is planted; time to gather stones, and so on.[6] Everything moves towards its destination.

And the overarching theme of this final chapter, chapter 12, is the fact of God’s promise of everlasting life for his persecuted people who persevere to the end. And someone says, “Well, what is chapter 12 all about?” That’s what it’s all about. It is God’s promise of everlasting life for his persecuted people who persevere to the end. And the people will inevitably ask, “Are we going to make this? How does this story finish?” And here you have it.

Fearful Tribulation

I want to make three observations. First of all, that here we’re introduced to what is a time of fearful tribulation. Fearful tribulation. “A time of trouble,” you will notice in the second sentence of verse 1: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as [has never] been,” or a time of anguish. If you let your eye go up the page to verse 44, this one who comes, he will be the focus of “alarm,” “and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction.”[7] Now, what Daniel is being told here is essentially that the punishment of the Jews under Antiochus or Israel—the people of Israel—under Pharaoh will pale in comparison to the severity of persecution which will be unleashed in this way at the end.

Now, you might be tempted to say, “Well, this is a bunch of Old Testament stuff, you know, and it’s somewhat alarming. And maybe we could go into the New Testament where it’s a lot nicer.” Well, this is Jesus, and I think Jesus is probably quoting from his own reading of the Bible: “For in those days,” says Jesus, “there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of … creation that God created until now, and never will be.”[8] You go back and read Mark chapter 13 or Matthew chapter 24, and the allusions that are present in those passages to the Daniel passages show that Jesus knew his Bible—and that any attempt to try, if you like, and divide the Scriptures in this unfolding story is a futile exercise.

Remember, when we studied 2 Timothy, we were made aware of the fact that in these last days there will be terrible times.[9] Remember? Seasons. History will be punctuated by these times of danger. And now we discover that this time of suffering, prior to the return of Jesus, will be more severe, more intense than was ever known in history.

Now, that is very alarming, isn’t it? But notice that I’ve gone immediately to the second sentence of the first verse. The first sentence and the sentence which follows our sentence provides the promise of help and deliverance to the people of God: “At that time shall arise Michael.” Here comes the great defender of the people of God. Yes, it is going to be unparalleled persecution, but the people of God may be absolutely secure in the promise of God’s provision for them.

Now, we could take time to go and look for Michael here, there, and everywhere. You’re not going to find him in a lot of places, and I’ll tell you where to look for him, and then you can do it on your own. Back in 10:21 we met him. In the New Testament, you’ll meet him in the book of Jude,[10] and you will meet him in Revelation chapter 12.[11] And this figure, this angelic figure, this great prince, is charged with the responsibility to protect the people of God, who are described as those, the delivered ones—notice at the end of verse 1—“whose name[s] shall be found written in the book.” “Written in the book.”

The people of God may be absolutely secure in the promise of God’s provision for them.

Now, I have with me part of our bulletin from last Sunday night or Sunday morning; I’m not sure. But it just has the pictures of folks who have recently become members of Parkside Church. And I could read them all out to you because their names are now in the book. They formerly were not in the book, and now they’re in the book—just holding this up as a reminder to say to some of you who’ve been here for about a hundred years that you might like to consider this as a possibility. As of now, you’re not in the book, but we would be happy to put you in the book. But the real, ultimate question is: If God has a Book of Life, as he does, is your name entered in it? So the description that is given here—and it’s not unique to chapter 12—is that those whom God delivers, those whom he redeems, he enters in his book.

Every so often, you may have made a reservation for somewhere. You show up, you give them your name, and the person gives you a blank stare in response: “What did you say your name was?”

“Begg.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Well, I made a reservation.”

“We have no record of it.”

Well, that’s a bit of a minor inconvenience. But I do not want to stand before God one day and give my name and say, “I have no record of your name.”

Loved ones, this is not a fiction. The real question is not whether your name is on the books at Parkside Church. The real question is whether our names are entered in the Book of Life. He enters the names.

Think about it. We were reading Lydia yesterday morning at our elders meeting—Acts chapter 16.[12] One of our elders had been mentioning it to me and said, “Let’s read this,” and we did. It was wonderfully helpful. And there in 16, you have this lady, who’s a nice lady—got a nice job, a nice house, a nice mentality, and very interested in God—and she goes to prayer times. But her name is not entered in the book. Nice lady, nice house, good at hospitality, but her name is not in the book—and very interested in God. What changed?

Well, you can read it for yourself. Luke tells us that “the Lord opened her heart,”[13] and she believed. “The Lord opened her heart,” and she believed. The same Lord who opens our hearts is the one who inscribes our name in the book. So the great security for the people of God when they face this tyranny, when they face this tribulation, is already born into the text itself and in this wonderful encouragement by this unseen and this angelic messenger.

Now, we’ve noted this in passing—and one day I think we’ll come back and study it properly—but we’re reminded all the way through Daniel of angelic activity. We’ve acknowledged it this morning in our opening song, “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” where we actually ask the angels to sing. Now, if there are no angels, that was a little silly, wasn’t it? “Sing, choirs of angels … sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!” Who are they? They are dead people who are still alive, living in heaven. If that’s not true, that’s also a really silly line.

No, you see, angelic activity stands behind more things than we know. Hebrews says, you know, that you “have entertained angels unawares.”[14] “Unawares.” So we’ve been unaware of granting them hospitality, and we may have been unaware of receiving help from them—Psalm 91: “He will [give] his angels [charge over] you to guard you in all your ways.”[15] But that shouldn’t cause us to call in question the reality of their presence or their power. In fact, one day we’ll see things from such a perspective that the scope of angelic activity will actually become apparent, and we’ll discover how much we were the beneficiaries of angelic activity about which we knew nothing.

The encouragement, though, is surely this, for the people who will face this and for in every era where the people of God face persecution: that the God who has brought them to this impasse knows their names. He knows them as individuals. I love that little chorus:

He knows my name,
He knows my every thought,
He sees each tear that falls,
And he hears me when I call.[16]

So the vastness of the tribulation is set within the protection and promise of deliverance.

Spent longer on that than I wanted to.

A Final Separation

Second point: final separation. Fearful tribulation, final separation.

Now, the Bible makes it clear, as we’ve said, that everything is going somewhere. But it makes it equally clear that everyone is going somewhere. Everyone is going somewhere. Look at the text, if you’ve got your Bible open: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth”— which is a reminder, “From dust you came, to dust you will return”[17]—“many of those who sleep in the dust”—it’s a metaphor—“shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

What is the great division between men and women in our world? “Well,” people say, “well, it’s color. It’s ethnicity. It’s intellect. It’s finance.” No, the only distinction that the Bible actually recognizes—and I mean this in ultimate terms—is whether your name is written in the Book of Life or whether it isn’t; whether you have bowed the knee to Jesus Christ as your Savior, Lord, and King or whether you haven’t; whether you have received the truth of his Word as you would receive a gift or whether you have said, “No, I wouldn’t like it.”

And the distinction that exists in time is not neutralized in eternity. That is part of the point that’s being made here. And it is a very, very important point. Because contemporary culture, imbibing chunks of New Age philosophy, Hinduism, and so on, is increasingly pervaded with a notion that somehow or another, whatever happens in life, it will all be set to rights when you die—you know, the rich won’t be rich, the poor won’t be poor, no one will be angry, and everything will be just hunky-dory. But when you read the Bible, it says, “No, I’m sorry, that’s not the case.” The things that separate us in time will separate us in eternity.

Now, think about this: the people will be raised either “to everlasting life” or “to shame and everlasting contempt.” The testimony of the Old Testament is that the dead are still alive. The dead are still alive. Now, you’re going to have to go and look at this yourself, but if you read the Bible, you will realize that it describes those who have died as still alive—so that Abraham “was gathered to his people.”[18] He died, but he “was gathered to his people.” He went to where his people were. In the Old Testament, Sheol, S-h-e-o-l, is not hell. It’s not a place of torment. Sheol in the Old Testament is the manner in which the Old Testament asserts that death does not terminate human existence. Death does not terminate human existence.

The things that separate us in time will separate us in eternity.

Think about it. You’re not a body with a soul; you are a soul with a body. The real “you-ness” of you is never extinct. You will go somewhere. I will go somewhere. They may allow me to build my graveyard out here and put me in it. That’s where my old carcass will go. But I won’t be in there. I will be somewhere. I will be alive somewhere. I’ll be dead, but I’ll be alive. Otherwise, who are we singing to? “Sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!” How can they sing? Because they’re alive! Because they’re alive.

So what the Bible actually affirms is that the dead experience a change of place, the dead experience a change of state, because the dissolution of our body alters everything. That’s why I’m always saying to you, you know, when you have these dreadful poems about “I am not dead, I’m still here, I’m in the next room”—you know, that kind of stuff—I’m, like, “No, you’re not in the next room. I know! ʼCause I was in the next room, and you were not in there.”

So, “before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, [and] the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel [is] broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was”—hang on—“and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”[19] That’s the change not solely of place, but it is also the change of state. So the dead are still alive, in a different place, and they are alive as individual persons, so that our personhood is retained in death. That’s why Abraham was gathered to his people. That’s why when they go to David and they talk to him about the death of his son and his mourning over the death of his son, what does he say? “He will not come to me.” He’s dead. “But I will go to him.”[20] Why? Cause he’s alive!

So the question is: In this final separation, where are you going to be? Either raised to everlasting life or raised to everlasting contempt and shame.

Now, loved ones, the Old Testament is replete with anticipating bodily resurrection. People say, “You know, you read the Old Testament, there’s no resurrection in the Old Testament.” It’s not true! It’s not framed out. It can’t be, ultimately, until we have the resurrection of Jesus. But when you read your Bible backwards and you read Psalm 16:11—“In your presence there is fullness of joy; [and] at your right hand [there] are pleasures forevermore”—or the psalmist’s words that “when I awake, I shall be satisfied with [seeing] your likeness,”[21] what does that mean? It means that “when I am gone from here, when there is the dissolution of my physical frame, I will be satisfied, when I awake, to see your likeness, or even with your likeness.”

This, loved ones, is the hope of Christianity. This lies at the very heart of what Jesus has come to do. It’s amazing, isn’t it?

Two entirely different destinies. Final separation. The continued conscious life beyond the grave, for both the righteous and the wicked, leaves no place for annihilationism—no place for annihilationism—which is one of the contemporary views: “Well, nothing really matters, ʼcause when you’re dead, you’re dead, and there’s nothing else.” You don’t believe that. I know you don’t. Because God, by creating you, set eternity in your heart[22]—and in my heart too. And I know there is something more than this. I can’t be a human being without that awareness. I may seek to repress it, but I know it.

And even those who would deny the words that I’m speaking to you now may be prepared to take you up the stairs of some rickety little staircase in some small town in Mid-Ohio and introduce you to a spooky lady who will try as best she can to get in contact with what? With your great-aunt Mabel from Minneapolis or whoever it is. But if you’re dead, you’re dead. Who are they trying to get in touch with? No, the demons often know more, and tremble, than the people of God do, because they won’t pay attention to the Bible. “Even the demons know these things” says James, “and they tremble at them.”[23] They’re aware of the reality of that which is apparently unreal.

Now, my dear friends, I ask you: If the penalty for sin is death—which it is. Every time somebody dies, Genesis 3 is fulfilled again in our seeing: “In the day that you eat of [this] you [will] surely die.”[24] And die they did. (Well, they didn’t die immediately, physically, but death was immediately written into the DNA.) If the penalty for sin is death, how can those doomed to die receive eternal life? That seems to me to be the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. If you don’t have a view of the world that can answer this question, you need a new view of the world. If I am going to die—which I am—and if my death is the penalty for sin, how in the world is this to be dealt with?

That is where Jesus comes in. By his death on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for sin. By his resurrection from the dead three days later, he conquered death for all who believe in him.

Listen to Jesus again: “For this is the will of my Father”—“the will of my Father”—“that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”[25] That is unbelievable! This is good news. This is good news beyond good news! Here is the answer to the human predicament. Here is the diagnosis of the human predicament, and its antidote, provided by the same Creator against whom I have rebelled and have decided, “I really don’t want any interest in you at all.” It is this God who loves me in Jesus and who comes to seek me out, not because I have been a good fellow—no, not a good fellow at all.

That’s why the wonder of the advent is so good, isn’t it? “What is his name?”—the angels again. “Sorry, what did you say his name was to be?”

“Jesus.”

“Why?”

“For he shall save his people from their sins”[26]—so that all who look to him and believe in him shall have everlasting life. “And I will raise them up in the last day.”

Have you looked to Christ? Have you believed in Christ? Have you? In the privacy of your own home, in the security and isolation of your own heart, have you?

A Futile Investigation

Finally, there’s a fearful persecution, there’s a final separation, and a futile investigation.

“Where do you get that from?” Well, actually, just from the final phrase of verse 4: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” I take it what this refers to is the fact that mankind in its futility continues to search for truth while leaving God out of the picture. There will be a great quest. Think about the explosion of knowledge just in the twenty-first century, in the fifteen years of our lives. It’s almost beyond comprehension. How are we doing in terms of hatred, in terms of man’s inhumanity, in terms of the wars of the nations, and so on? What do we discover? Well, we discover that it’s just a sorry picture, because it’s the picture of humanity trading the truth of God for a lie and then charging around and looking for what only God can give.

You see, if we do not find rest, peace, and forgiveness as provided by God in Jesus, then we’ll have to go look for rest, peace, and forgiveness someplace. Is that you?

You know, Santa Claus is not just comin’ to town; he’s in town. And if you go there, you can sit on his knee. Not that I’m suggesting it for any of you, but you take the little ones, and they sit on the knee. And what does he ask them? “What would you like for Christmas? And have you been good this year? Have you been good this year?” And of course, they lie through their teeth: “Oh yeah, exceptionally good!” “Tidied your room? Picked up your clothes?” “Yes! Helped my mother? Yeah, I’ve been nice to Granny. All that kind of stuff.”

Salvation is not granted to us because we’ve done well. Salvation only comes when I acknowledge that I’ve sinned, that I know I displeased God, and that I need a Savior.

I fear that some people have just got that built into their psyche when it comes to the question of the gospel and of meeting God—that somehow or another, you think that that’s how God is operating: that he comes to us, and he says, “Have you been good this year?” Have you? ʼCause I haven’t! “Have you been naughty or nice?” Well, what possibility is there?

See, God isn’t operating like that. He’s operating on this basis: that he gave his only Son to live and to die for us, to replace the guilt of our shame, and to grant us peace with him. Salvation is not granted to us because we’ve done well. Salvation only comes when I acknowledge that I’ve sinned, that I know I displeased him, and that I need a Savior.

The end of verse 4 is similar to Amos chapter 8, where it says,

They shall wander from sea to sea,
 and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, [seeking] the word of the Lord,
 but they shall not find it.[27]

They won’t be able to find it. “Well, I don’t want to believe in a God like that. I don’t want to believe in a God who this. I don’t want to believe in a God who won’t allow me to do this. I want to…” So you want to create your own God, right? Well, he’s not there. He’s not there. You’ll never find him. You can run to and fro for the rest of your life. That’s the point that’s being made.

Well, I started with the ʼ60s; I’ll end with the ʼ60s. Wandering to and fro in searching. Moody Blues:

Why do we never get an answer
When we’re knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?

Why? ʼCause we’re running to and fro, considering everything and everyone except the one who has the answer to the question. ʼCause we don’t like the diagnosis, so we won’t take the cure.

But in the grey of the morning
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose.

I’m looking for someone to change my life,
I’m looking for a miracle in my life.[28]

That might be you this morning. That might be why you wandered in here. That might be why you come routinely. Is there a miracle worker? Yes, there is. It’s called Jesus.

And they were coming down the street, the disciples and a whole crowd of them, and a fellow started shouting out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And the disciples said, “Hey, listen, we’ve got to… Jesus here is doing a lot of big stuff. He doesn’t need to be fiddling around with you, an old blind beggar, lying at the side of the road.” “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus heard them, and he said to the disciples, “Go and call him.” Horribly embarrassing for them, ʼcause now they’ve got to go and go, “Oh, yeah, we were wrong about that. We were only kidding. It was Peter. He always says bad stuff like that. My name’s Philip. qI’m not like him at all.” But no, he said, “Yeah, you should come. Jesus is calling you.”[29] And the Gospel writer says, “And throwing [aside] his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.”[30] “Throwing [aside] his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.”

You say, “That’s wonderful, isn’t it? Because he heard that Jesus was interested in him.” And Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?”[31] And he said, “Well, teacher, I’d like to recover my sight,”[32] ʼcause he was blind. And by nature, I’m blind. And I may come to Jesus and ask him to help me to see—help me to see that I’m blind and that I need, then, someone to restore my sight. And when I do, in the mystery of his grace, I discover that my name has been written down in his book.

I wonder: Has yours? It may be today.

I only know one way to understand the verse I read: “Everyone who looks [to him] and believes in him…”[33] That doesn’t sound too hard, does it? It’s actually very hard. I might as well invite the people who are in the graves down the road here on South Franklin Street to come out. I’ve got as much chance of anybody coming out of one of those graves on South Franklin Street as I have of saying to you, “Why don’t you look to Jesus Christ and believe in him?” It’s not possible! He can bring them out of the graves, and he can bring you out of your darkened stupor into a living, personal, saving relationship with himself.

And loved ones, that is actually what the whole Christmas thing is about. Christmas from Daniel chapter 12.

We pray:

Father, thank you that your Word is clear in its essentials, and it just tells us again and again that salvation belongs to you, the living God. And I pray this morning that as we hear your voice, that we will not harden our hearts, but that we might turn to you, looking to you and resting in you. Thank you that the great testimony of conversion is just simply that: that this is a wonder of what you have done—not about even what we have done but what you have accomplished and what we have accepted. Hear our prayers. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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[1] See Psalm 119:105.

[2] 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (ESV).

[3] Barry McGuire, “Eve of Destruction” (1965).

[4] John Fogerty, “Bad Moon Rising” (1969). Lyrics lightly altered.

[5] Fogarty.

[6] See Ecclesiastes 3:2–5.

[7] Daniel 11:44 (ESV).

[8] Mark 13:19 (ESV).

[9] See 2 Timothy 3:1.

[10] See Jude 1:9.

[11] See Revelation 12:7.

[12] See Acts 16:11–15.

[13] Acts 16:14 (ESV).

[14] Hebrews 13:2 (ESV).

[15] Psalm 91:11 (ESV).

[16] Tommy Walker, “He Knows My Name” (1996).

[17] Genesis 3:19 (paraphrased).

[18] Genesis 25:8 (ESV).

[19] Ecclesiastes 12:6–7 (ESV).

[20] 2 Samuel 12:23 (paraphrased).

[21] Psalm 17:15 (ESV).

[22] See Ecclesiastes 3:11.

[23] James 2:19 (paraphrased).

[24] Genesis 2:17 (ESV).

[25] John 6:40 (ESV).

[26] Matthew 1:21 (KJV).

[27] Amos 8:12 (ESV).

[28] Justin Hayward, “Question” (1970).

[29] Mark 10:46–49 (paraphrased).

[30] Mark 10:50 (ESV).

[31] Mark 10:51 (ESV).

[32] Mark l0:51 (paraphrased).

[33] John 6:40 (ESV).