The Spiritual Forces of Evil — Part One

Well, I invite you to turn with me to Daniel and to chapter 10, and we’ll read from verse 1. Daniel chapter 10:

“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.

“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell [on] them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.

“And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.’ And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.’

“When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, ‘O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.’

“Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, ‘O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.’ And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, ‘Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.’ Then he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.’

“And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.”

Amen.

Well, what is actually wrong with our world this morning? What is wrong with our world? How come it is so unbelievably broken? That’s the question that many people have been posing as a result not simply of the events of 11/13 but of all that those events represent in the lives of people and in the circumstances of the nations.

You may have been asking yourself the question. You may actually have come along to church this morning in the hope that perhaps somewhere along the line you may find an answer to that question, because you’re deeply concerned, and understandably so. What is wrong with the world? How do we account for the atrocities of these days? Why is it that in all of our attempts at unity—unity of the nations and in the homes and so on—there is so much conflict in our world? And—and perhaps most importantly of all—when, if ever, will it all end?

This is not just a piece of rhetoric. I’m finding—and I’m sure you’re finding too—that these questions abound at the moment, and it makes perfect sense. And it may be of surprise to us, and then perhaps we can pass it on to others, to acknowledge the fact that the tenth chapter of Daniel actually helps us in this matter—that it doesn’t help us in a way that is exclusive to the tenth chapter; it is in keeping with the rest of the book, and it enables us to grapple with these kinds of questions.

Chapter 10 is the beginning of the closing section of the book. It is largely a vision that is followed by a prolonged prophecy that runs all the way through chapter 11 and into chapter 12. And as we’ve said so many times in this study, it is absolutely imperative that we don’t allow ourselves to be distracted by the debatable details but instead make sure that we are majoring on the major themes that unfold for us from the text. We have said again and again, quoting the Westminster Confession, that not all parts of the Bible are equally understandable or as easy to understand as other parts, but those parts that relate to the unfolding story of salvation, both in their statements individually and in the impact of them cumulatively, leave a man or a woman in no doubt that salvation belongs to the Lord.[1]

Now, it is immediately clear from the reading of the opening verse that Daniel has been made aware of what he refers to as “a great conflict.” And this word that has come to him has been understood, and he has something of an understanding of the vision. To that vision we will come later in the day, all being well. And what he is making clear to us in recording it for us is that what, if you like, was happening on the ground was tied to conflict in the heavenly realms—that the unfolding drama of history needs to be understood in light of all that the Bible makes clear concerning history[KN1].

Again, to repeat ourselves, we have said on numerous occasions that the only way that we can really understand world history is with our Bibles. Not that all the events in the unfolding story of history—I haven’t found the Battle of Hastings in the Bible, I haven’t found Napoleon in the Bible, and so on. But nevertheless, it is the way in which the Bible unfolds the drama of history that we can then say, “Well, I can begin to make sense of what is going on here.”

The only way that we can really understand world history is with our Bibles.

Wouldn’t you agree that the events of the last ten days or so have created the impression in many of us that there is something far deeper, something far more sinister, behind these horrific events in our world, and particularly those events which are making clear the fierce opposition of many in our world to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and consequently to those who name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? And one of the questions must surely be: Why is it that that is the case? Why should it be—why should it be—that the followers of Jesus are so manifestly opposed, unlike the followers of other religious figures?

Abraham Kuyper is famous for a lot of things, but his one great quote that most people know reads as follows: “There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”[2] Not one square inch in the entire domain of human existence exists apart from Christ. The person you are sitting next to could not exist, does not exist, apart from Christ. The water that comes out of your tap does not exist apart from Christ. The stars in the sky… And so we can go through, bearing testimony to what Kuyper is saying.

Jesus, says Paul when he writes to the Ephesians, has been raised from the dead.[3] He’s “seated … in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power … and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”[4] Now, Paul is writing that to the church in Ephesus, who are opposed, who find that they’re marginalized, who are suffering from all kinds of trials directly related to their affirming of the fact that Jesus is the Savior of all who will come to him in faith. And it is on account of that that the Evil One, and his minions, is opposed to that very reality and consequently engages in conflict.

Now, this is not something that springs up from nowhere. This is the conflict that is announced for us at the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 3, and to which we refer from time to time. It is referred to in theological terms as the protoevangelion, or -euangelion. And here it is: God speaks to the serpent, to Satan, and he says,

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
 and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
 and you shall bruise his heel.[5]

Here you have this prophecy, eventually pointing forward to Christ who is to come. And as a result of that, all conflict in the world ultimately may be traced to that one root.

Now, you’re not going to get this from listening to the news. I don’t think I’ve heard anybody or read in any newspaper this week, anybody saying, “Well, you know, there’s no surprise that all this is going on, because after all, we exist with conflict in the heavenly realms.” There is a great cosmic battle that ensues in a realm that we do not actually see [KN3]and which we are prone to reject as scientific rationalists, as people who say, “All that we have is now, and all the reality is in the tangible, in the seeable, and in the observable, and so on.” And the Bible challenges that. Our fight, then, says Paul in Ephesians 6, having identified the triumph of Christ, is not against a physical enemy. It is against organizations and powers that are spiritual.[6] We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.[KN4]

Now, you’re going to have to decide whether you believe this or not. You’re going to have to determine whether you’re going to bow down under the authority of God’s Word and realize that the conflict in our world and the opposition to the Lord Jesus and to his people, which is manifest in many parts of our world today, is not simply as a result of political bumbling, ineptitude, a bad attitude on the part of people, but is traceable to the fact that within the corridors of power, within the governments of the world, there are dark and sinister unseen forces that are at work—that the very people who are making decisions unwittingly may be the very agents of these things. That sounds so bizarre, doesn’t it?

Let me quote Kuyper again, in his second most famous quote—in the opening, I think, of the Free University of Amsterdam. This is what he says:

If once the curtain were pulled back, and the spiritual world behind it came to view, it would expose to our spiritual vision a struggle so intense, so convulsive, sweeping everything within its range, that the fiercest battle ever fought on earth would seem, by comparison, a mere game. [It is] not here, but [it is] up there—that is where the real conflict is waged. And our earthly struggle drones in its backlash.[7]

The most powerful forces in our world are unseen forces. And we actually live our lives largely, if not in some cases completely, unaware of the spiritual battles that ensue in the heavenly realms[KN5]. And if we had ever doubted that, surely our studies in Daniel make it perfectly clear to us that God is revealing to his servant, six centuries BC, that the immediacy of the conflict on the ground that the people of God are facing there is emblematic of that which will continue through the ages until, in this final, great denouement, when Christ, who is all in all, comes, he will usher us into an entirely different realm.

Now, that seems like a very long introduction, and I guess it is. But it is purposeful. I want to try and make sure that we set this scene. I then want us to get no further than really just the first two or three verses. We’ll come back to the bulk of it later on.

Still Serving

I wrote down in my notes just a heading that reads “Daniel: Still Serving After All These Years.” And those of you who are Paul Simon fans will recognize just where that notion comes from. Instead of “still crazy after all these years,”[8] which fits many of us, Daniel is still serving after all these years.

Now, it is interesting to me—and I hope to you as well, thereby making it worthy of comment—that this first verse of chapter 10 seems to be directly taking us back to the beginning of the entire book, identifying the time frame as being “in the third year of Cyrus [the] king of Persia”; “a word … revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar.” Well, we know he was named Belteshazzar. Why are you mentioning it here? Well, presumably to remind us that what is happening in chapter 10 is directly tied to all that has proceeded it. If you go back to Daniel chapter 1 for just a moment, you see there—that it is in verse 7—that “the chief of the eunuchs gave them [their] names,” and “Daniel he called Belteshazzar.”[9] And in verse 21, the very final verse of the chapter: “And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.”[10] Well, now 10:1: “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia.” I think it’s a deliberate reinforcement of these things, so that we might recognize that God, who had put him in that position, was still with him, and this Daniel was still serving.

You say, “Well, he was supposed to be there ‘until the first year of King Cyrus,’ and now it says that ‘in the third year’ of King Cyrus he was still there.” Well, yeah. It just said that he’d be there until the first. It didn’t say he wouldn’t be there for longer than the first. Maybe it was until the first—that that rounded out his formal service—and after that he’s in a kind of retirement mode. And so, by the time we get to year three, he is confronted by this word, he understands something of the vision, and then, having given to us this kind of editorial introduction, he’s then going to tell us exactly what was going on.

Now, as I studied this, I thought it would be purposeful to pause for a moment and just recognize three aspects of Daniel’s life and service. He is distinguished by his service of the living God. You remember back in chapter 6, when he’s in the den of lions, and the king, who’s had a very broken night of sleep, comes down early in the morning to see if Daniel is still around. And when he cries out in an anguished voice, you remember what it says he cried out: “He came near to the den”—this is Daniel 6:20—“he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish,” declaring, “O Daniel, servant of the living God.” He didn’t say, “O Daniel, dreamer of dreams, visionary. Daniel, great leader. Daniel, fantastic administrator.” All of those things were true. No, he says, “Daniel, servant of the living God.” And then he asked, “Has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” And, of course, the answer was yes! And so it is that we have him identified throughout the entire book in relationship to his service of the living God.

Daniel Was Faithful

Well, here are the three words that I want you to get. Number one: to notice that he is faithful. That he is faithful in this respect.

By this time, he was an old man. If he’d been taken away at the age of eighteen and these years have elapsed that are seventy, then he’s eighty-eight. He’s definitely in the second half of his eighth decade. He’s the age of some of us here. He’s the age that some of us hope we will one day become. And throughout the book, he has been marked by his faithfulness in two respects particularly: absolutely faithful in listening to the word of God and absolutely faithful in seeking the face of God. Listening to his word and seeking his face. That was the thing that annoyed his friends and his companions: “Why do you have to be this way? Why can’t you just be like everybody else? Why do you have to be so engaged with all of this stuff?” And that, of course, was the basis of their charge against him. Because they knew that they could find him in that situation because of his faithfulness in these regards.

He is, if you like, the embodiment of the second half of Isaiah 66:2:

This is the one to whom I will look, [says the Lord]:
 he who is humble and contrite in spirit
 and [who] trembles at my word.

And it is in this trembling response to the word of God that we find Daniel here.

Now, again, it is important to realize that “the third year of Cyrus [the] king of Persia” is a marker for us to recognize what is going on elsewhere. And here you need to turn to Ezra and to chapter 1 for just a moment in order that you can get ahold of this. Ezra chapter 1 reads, “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all of his kingdom and also put it in writing.”[11]

So what have we seen? We have seen that God enabled Nebuchadnezzar to take the people of God into exile. Now he has prophesied (Jeremiah 25, which we saw a week past on Sunday night; Jeremiah 25) that the end of this time would come and there would be the opportunity of repatriation. How was it going to be possible for the people to get back to Jerusalem? Well, God says, “I’m going to take care of it.” And so he stirs up Cyrus. He puts it in the heart of Cyrus, if you like, and Cyrus publishes it abroad that anybody that would like to go back up to Jerusalem is now free to go. “And,” he says, “I will try and enable you as you head out.” And so a number of them leave.

But interestingly, Daniel doesn’t leave. I wonder, does that strike you the way it strikes me? Wouldn’t you have thought that Daniel would be the first person? Wouldn’t you think that he would say, “Now, listen: we’re going back, and I have been very, very important in this whole program, and I am going to be at the front of the parade. I want you to make sure that everybody sees me, everybody knows me, and that credit will be given where credit is due.” Well, there’s none of that, is there? There wouldn’t be in “he who is humble and contrite in spirit and [who] trembles at [the] word.”

Well, I suppose part of the reason that he wasn’t going back is that he didn’t want to go back. When you’re eighty-six, you presumably don’t want to do some of the things that you did when you were forty-six, or thirty-six, or twenty-six, or even seventy-six. He wasn’t as physically commanding as he would have been as a younger man. And after all, there were people like Ezra and Nehemiah and their helpers who were put in position, ostensibly, in order that they might do the heavy lifting. So Daniel stays, and he does some heavy lifting of his own.

What is that heavy lifting? He prays. He prays. His faithfulness is revealed in listening to the word of God and seeking the face of God. And as he seeks the face of God, having understood the great conflict that is about to come, he prays for the people of God, immediately, in their return to Jerusalem and in the awareness of the conflict that will ensue following that return. In other words, quite remarkably, he is committed to a project in which he himself had no immediate part and the conclusion of which he would not live to see.

Seems to me that that is one of the great tests, especially as we continue in life. People have told me for thirty-two years now that Cleveland is on the way back—apparently. I love Cleveland. It’s my home. I mean no disrespect. But it’s still got a long way to go. I mean, I can’t go to Higbee’s, and I haven’t been able to go to Higbee’s and Twigbee’s and everything for Christmas. Now, it’s a casino. On the way back, apparently.

So, without doing a disservice to the town planners and everything else, the missing link, it seems to me, in a city like this, or in other cities, is to have leaders who are prepared to lead even though they may not see the fulfillment of their vision, even though they may not live long enough to realize the radical transformation that is involved. If we only want to operate on that which is immediately gratifying to us, then we will probably never make a dent. The real test is in those who are prepared to see beyond the parameters, beyond the horizon, and to give themselves in faithfulness to that which they will never themselves enjoy. And that’s exactly what you have here in Daniel. He is engaged in this even though it is not his to see.

Well, that, you see, is part of the reason that we pray for our unsaved kids and our unconverted grandchildren: in the hope that one of the posthumous joys of heaven will be to see then, in that day, the answer to our prayers—that God has actually fulfilled his covenant promises and that that for which we have labored long and prayed long and never saw the end to may be ours to enjoy in that day. He was faithful.

Daniel Was Fearful

Secondly, he was also fearful. I’m not going to go all the way through the chapter. You can see how many times that notion comes across.

The reports that found their way back to him presumably did not become the occasion of immediate gladness. In fact, we’re told that he was “mourning for three weeks.” His life was devastated both by the vision and presumably by the reports that came. For your homework, you can read in Ezra chapter 4. And there in Ezra chapter 4, you discover that although the building project had begun, it soon came to a crashing halt. As soon as people realized what was going on and that their focus was still on this God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they said, “We want no part in that. We want to oppose that.” And eventually, it all stops. And it is in abeyance until you get the beginnings of Nehemiah, when Nehemiah is sad in the presence of the king in Susa, the capital. And eventually, he goes up and picks up the project that had come to a halt. And so there is a reason as to why it is that Daniel would be as fearful as he proves himself to be.

I find it greatly helpful that he is at one and the same time faithful and fearful. You see, you might think if you’re faithful, then you won’t be fearful, and if you’re fearful, you can’t be faithful. But in actual fact, I think faithful and fearful is an understandable combination. You certainly find it all the way through the Bible. “Gideon, you’re a mighty man of valor.” “I think you got the wrong person, Lord. I am the least. I am the smallest. I am…”[12] “Jeremiah, you will be the prophet to the nations.” “I can’t hardly speak. I’m only a youth. What would I do?”[13] “Moses, you’re the man for Pharaoh. Go to Pharaoh and say, ‘Let my people go!’” “I’m no good at that, God. My brother, he’s a good public speaker. But I’m not your man.”[14] And he who was faithful unto death, who received the crown of life, in the garden of Gethsemane said, “If it might be at all possible, let this cup pass from me.”[15] Faithful and fearful.

You see, Daniel denies the notion of the kind of rugged, driving personality. And instead, we find him not so much on his knees telling people what to do as on his knees asking God what he should do.

So, faithful and fearful. And that’s why, incidentally, the first word to him from the angelic visitor in verse 12 is “Fear not.” “And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. [And] he said to me, ‘Fear not.’” You don’t have to tell people to “fear not” if they’re not afraid.

Daniel Was Frail

And thirdly, frail. Frail. It’s very straightforward, isn’t it? He was faithful, he was fearful, and he was frail.

The receiving of this word and the vision laid a great burden on him. And you can read this all the way through, and I encourage you to reread it in the prospect of this evening, as we try and work our way through the body of the text. The conflict was going to be severe. The conflict was going to involve suffering among the people of God, and his frailty is apparent. He is finding himself in a trance. He’s finding himself once again thrown down and on his face. He is struck dumb. His encounter with the majesty and the greatness of God doesn’t put him on TV to tell people his amazing story but actually puts him once again face down.

And so, what is the word to him? Well, verse 18: “[And] again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, ‘O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you.’” And here we go: “‘Be strong and of good courage.’” It’s similar to the word of God to Joshua, isn’t it? And the word of God throughout the Bible.

Now, when we think along these lines and we realize that our lives are but a shadow, they’re but a breath—we’re here today, we’re gone tomorrow—we do well just to pause for a moment and see whether this picture in Daniel’s life does not have a particular word to say to a certain demographic in this room. I am part of that demographic, and those of you who are not still have to listen to what I’m about to say.

I’m speaking now, I’m addressing those who were born a little earlier than others, who have lived into the closing chapters of our lives, recognizing that God in his purposes has brought us here and making sure that we realize that in doing so, he has given to us maturity as a gift. We haven’t lived this long by chance, and it may well be that our best days are in front of us, despite the fact that everything in our culture says, “There’s not much chance of that. You might as well go and fossilize in Florida, because you’ve got nothing to do and nothing to say. Take your retirement package and make a run for the border.” And so it goes on. And when we’re tempted to do that, especially in Christian terms and in Christian circles and in the realm of church work, we are in real danger.

Therefore, I suggest to you that it is important to take a leaf from Daniel’s book. Daniel is not looking back to the good old days. If we had spent time with Daniel, we would have not found him saying, “You know, let me tell you about what it was like seventy years ago. I was really on my game then. I mean, we had it going, myself and a few of my friends. Wow, if I could only explain all of that to you. It’s terrific!” You wouldn’t find him doing that. Nor would you have found him involved in regrets or recriminations, and certainly not in nostalgia. No! He knows that he is at this point in time, and he has a work to do. His work is not the same as the work of those who are repatriated. His work is not the work of building with Ezra and Nehemiah. His work now is to continue to do what God has enabled him to do—that is, to listen to the voice of God and to seek the face of God and to pray for the people of God. What an amazing privilege! What an amazing privilege!

And if you find yourself at all discouraged, disheartened, thinking that somehow or another you are beyond the pale, that you’ve got no real contribution to make anymore, then pay careful attention to this. There is work to be done. The vision has underpinned for him the vital necessity of turning to God in wholehearted devotion, wholehearted dependence, and confessing that we can do nothing and God alone can work. In other words, in 2 Corinthians 4 terms, confessing the fact that we are actually old clay pots.[16] Old clay pots. Now, you could, if you like… If I was a different kind of preacher, I’d say, “Turn to the person next to you and say, ‘You are an old clay pot.’” But I’m not going to do that. But you can do it when you get home—and some of you are thinking it right now.

But the fact is, we are. We’re increasingly cracked. We’ve been around for a long time. We no longer look the way we once looked. Physically, there is a degenerative aspect to it. Emotionally, that may be the case; certainly in terms of cognitive memory loss and all these other things. We recognize that. But God has purposed to bring us to this day, to this particular Sunday, in order that we might recognize that it’s not over till it’s over. And if it isn’t over, then we must recognize that untold numbers—untold numbers—of unknown, faithful, frail, fearful, prayerful servants will be revealed in glory. Untold numbers of unknown people.

In other words, when we read in the Bible about the nature of what it will be to see Christ and to be made like him and to receive the crowns that he has purposed for those who are his own, none of us will be disappointed with what we receive. [KN7]But we will be surprised, I think, without being disappointed, and we’ll say, “How in the world did that elderly Mrs. So-and-So end up in such a beautiful place? She never seemed to do anything in the church at all.” Well, what do you know? What do you know? The God who sees in secret will reward her openly.[17] “Well, she didn’t have a profile. He didn’t have a profile. He was never up front. He never did anything at all, apparently.” Oh, you don’t realize that the faithful, fearful, unknown ones may be the very first while having been last and that those of us who were apparently first have been moved a little further down the food chain? And understandably so. None of us will be disappointed. It will all be perfect on that day.

Untold numbers of unknown, faithful, frail, fearful, prayerful servants will be revealed in glory.

“Well, you say, “you’re a little steamed up about this, aren’t you?” Well, I am a little, yes, I must say. I must be feeling my age. In actual fact, my trip to Ireland generated some of this in me. As I was studying the Bible, I found myself going in this direction, and it’s partly because my visit to the North of Ireland last week was the occasion of a number of sort of painful discoveries. At one point as I was sitting in a congregation, someone referred to the older people in the group, “older people” being anybody over the age of sixty. I said, “Okay, well, that’s me.” And then also I found out that I qualify to travel on the buses for free—which, I guess it’s a compensation for the fact that you’re on your way out, you know? And then I thought, “Well, that’ll be good.” As a Scotsman, it appeals to me. Anything for free is absolutely terrific.

But in actual fact, it really came across to me when I was saying goodbye to a couple that I had known when I was there previously, when I was forty-five years of age. That was my last visit to this particular church. And I said to the couple, I said, “Well, go on your way. Go home. And I will go home. And if we continue on the eighteen-year cycle, then I’ll be back when I’m eighty-one.” And then I thought, “Eighty-one? Eighty-one?”

But the thing that really drove it home for me was a visit that I made to one of my heroes. The hero is a lady. Her name is Helen Roseveare—a medical doctor and a missionary in the Congo from 1953 on. She went to Congo when I was one. I had read her book as a youngster. Sue and I had had her in our home in Scotland. She visited here. She graduated from Cambridge, and she went as a single woman to the Democratic Republic of Congo, or whatever it is now. It was while she was there that some of her colleagues were killed by terrorists, and she was imprisoned for five or six months during that time. And after twenty years, she finally came home.

Her biography will repay your reading. It’s called Give Me This Mountain. (That is, an autobiography.) And in it she recognizes the fact that she was not an obvious candidate for missionary service. Indeed, she says that she almost failed to be enlisted in the ranks of missionary endeavor with the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. And the reason she said that she was going to fail was because of her failings, and that was that she was a bit of a know-it-all, she was phenomenally stubborn, and she had an ingrained inability to work with others. And yet God took her up and crushed her a little. And the story of her life is actually the story of treading deep, deep, dark valleys and getting a glimpse of mountains. And the autobiography is, of course—the title of it is taken from Caleb: “Give me this mountain. Here I am today, eighty-five years old, and still as strong as I was at the first.”[18] It’s an amazing thing.

And I found out that she had been taken into a nursing home just a few miles from where I was taken and staying, and so I asked to borrow a car, and I went to see her. And she’s had a stroke. She’s ninety years old. She was paralyzed all down her left side. And as we sat together, she never said a word. If you know Helen, she has amazing eyes—beautiful eyes, but scary eyes. You know, you could never… If you were burbling on, you could tell, without her saying anything, that she knew you were just burbling on.

Anyway, her hair was nice. Her glasses were cleaned. They had cared for her. And she laid in her bed, and I had to do all the talking—which was really hard for me. And eventually, we read from the Bible. She listened as I read, and then we held hands as we prayed. And as I prayed, she squeezed my hands. And so the time was gone, and I said, “I have to leave now. And if Sue knew that I was here, she would send you her love.” And the lady who was in the room, who had been caring for her—lady by the name of Pat—said to her, “Helen? Helen, do you have a greeting for Alistair to take back to Sue?” Nothing happened. And she said, “Oh, come on now, Helen. Do you have a blessing for Alistair and Sue?” And she moved her head just ever so slightly on her pillow, and she turned towards me, at this level of volume, she said four words: “Keep on keeping on.” “Keep on keeping on.”

Seems to be the lesson here, isn’t it? Eighty-six, eighty-eight years old. Not nostalgia, not regret, not a fascination with himself, but an ongoing commitment to the vision that God has given him and the fulfillment of God’s purposes.

You see, in the life of an individual and in the life of a church, it will be this overarching reality which will galvanize, sustain, develop, and quicken us for the coming generations. You see, when we talk about building into the next generation, this is not hot air. And some of us have got to be a little more diligent than we’ve been and step up to the privilege that we enjoy. And even though we’re frail and even though we’re fearful, with God’s help we can be faithful.

And as the chapter ends, of course, Daniel is consumed with the fact that eventually this one who is to come will reign forever and forever.

Well, Father, thank you that your Word is worthy of our study, is worthy of our submission, is worthy of our trust. Thank you that eventually, as we think of Daniel in all of his willingness to serve you, the living God, that we eventually find our gaze caught up in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And he is the one who urges us to be faithful unto death in order that we might receive the crown of life. Help us to know this morning that in our world, with all of its twists and turns, in all of its chaos and in all of its discord, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. For we pray in his name. Amen.

Even though we’re frail and even though we’re fearful, with God’s help we can be faithful.

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[1] The Westminster Confession of Faith 1.7.

[2] Abraham Kuyper, “Sphere Sovereignty,” in Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 488.

[3] See Ephesians 1:20.

[4] Ephesians 1:20–21 (ESV).

[5] Genesis 3:15 (ESV).

[6] See Ephesians 6:12.

[7] Abraham Kuyper, quoted in G. C. Berkouwer, A Half Century of Theology: Movements and Motives, trans. and ed. Lewis B. Smedes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 196.

[8] Paul Simon, “Still Crazy after All These Years” (1975).

[9] Daniel 1:7 (ESV).

[10] Daniel 1:21 (ESV).

[11] Ezra 1:1 (ESV).

[12] Judges 6:12–15 (paraphrased).

[13] Jeremiah 1:5–6 (paraphrased).

[14] Exodus 3:7–11; 4:10–17 (paraphrased).

[15] Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42 (paraphrased).

[16] See 2 Corinthians 4:7.

[17] See Matthew 6:4, 6, 18.

[18] Joshua 14:11–12 (paraphrased).

[KN1] “The unfolding drama of history needs to be understood in light of all that the Bible makes clear concerning history.”

[KN3] “There is a great cosmic battle that ensues in a realm that we do not actually see.”

[KN4] “We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.”

[KN5] “The most powerful forces in our world are unseen forces. And we actually live our lives largely, if not in some cases completely, unaware of the spiritual battles that ensue in the heavenly realms.”

[KN7] “When we read in the Bible about the nature of what it will be to see Christ and to be made like him and to receive the crowns that he has purposed for those who are his own, none of us will be disappointed with what we receive.”