The Spiritual Forces of Evil — Part Two

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,” or Ophir, a various translation, “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 upon 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”—a kind of trance, obviously—“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.”

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Good.

A brief prayer:

Father, as we delve into this material, we pray that the Spirit of God will be our teacher. Save us from going down rabbit trails that lead nowhere. Help us not to miss the big idea, and help us then, in turn, to live in light of its truth as we seek to return to the challenges and privileges and opportunities of the week that lies ahead. And we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Well, I’ve been helped by a brief note in the ESV Study Bible, because it helps us get the big idea that is contained throughout the chapter and, indeed, in this final section. They put it as follows: that the closing section—10, 11, and 12—reminds us that the “conflicts on earth reflect conflicts in the heavens” and that these conflicts “will continue [until] the end, when God will ultimately triumph.” Now, I’ll just give that to you again, although you can find it with a Study Bible: the “conflicts on earth,” of which there are many, “reflect [the] conflicts in the heavens,” and these conflicts “will continue [until] the end” of time, “when God will [eventually and] ultimately triumph.”

In light of that, I want to draw your attention to the chapter and gather our thinking under three straightforward headings.

A Devastating Vision

First of all, in verses 4–9, we have the record of what we might refer to as a devastating, or a terrifying, if you like, vision. The devastating vision.

Daniel, we’re told in verse 3, has completed three weeks of mourning and fasting and depriving himself of the anointing which had a practical benefit in the dry and dusty desert regions of Judah as well as, and perhaps more importantly, having in it an expression of joy and gladness. You remember in the prophets it says that “he took my mourning, and he gave me for my mourning—the ashes of mourning—the oil of joy and gladness”[1] and so on.

And so, Daniel has taken it upon himself, voluntarily and purposefully, to identify with the news that he has received from the people of God, who had now gone back to Jerusalem—news that was immediately turning sour, because although they had had the anticipated joy of going back to Jerusalem after all this time, they had not been there very long before they encountered opposition, and that opposition led eventually to the ending of the project, at least for quite a while.

And so, given the struggles that were being faced by his fellow Israelites who had gone back there, it was only right for him to seek, in his absence from them, to identify with their circumstances. And the people of God had found themselves now in an even more bizarre predicament. They had said in their exile, recorded in the song of Psalm 137, you know, “We hanged our harps on the willow trees because we concluded, ‘How could you possibly sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’”[2] And now they have gone back to what is their own land, only to discover that they’re finding it precious difficult to sing that same song back in their own territory. And therefore, it would surely be inappropriate for Daniel to be absent from that and simply to be seeking to relax and to take it easy—to move, if you like, as we said this morning, into his kind of retirement phase and say, “You know, I’ve done my part. I fulfilled my obligations. I don’t see why I should be destabilized by these circumstances. After all, I have fulfilled the calling of God, and it’s all taking place quite a long way away from me here.”

And so it is that he has done what he’s done: “I ate,” he says, “no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” Incidentally and in passing, apparently his vegetable and water diet, which was a mark of his beginnings in chapter 1 and to which he restricted himself in the beginning—that clearly had not been his habitual diet. If it had been his habitual diet, there would be no reason for him to say that “I didn’t have any wine, and I only had vegetables.” The fact that he’s able to say this now, after seventy years, lets us know that this particular approach to life had something to do with the matters of great spiritual urgency—if you like, issues of crisis.

And it is at the end of these three weeks—we come to verse 4—that he remembers vividly when and where this vision came to him. It was “on the twenty-fourth day of the first month”—that’s when—and he “was standing on the bank of the great river.” Normally, that would have been the Euphrates, but here it is the Tigris. And in a way that, when things happen, that we will never be the same again as a result of them, we tend, all of us, to remember often the exact day, the exact time, and so on.

I had a similar occurrence happen to me just a couple of weeks ago when I checked into a hotel. And when they gave me my room number and I walked away, I said to myself, “There is only one other time in my life when I have had this room number. Only once.” And you know why I know? I’m not going to tell you. But it was absolutely vivid for me, because I know exactly when it was, I know exactly where it was, and I’ve never forgotten what room it was. And here it is; you’ve already guessed: it was my honeymoon. (Because you’re a bright group.)

So, here it is that Daniel says, “This is what happened to me.” And in verse 5: “I just looked up, and behold, a man clothed in linen. I just looked up, and there was a certain man that was there.” This was no routine encounter. It’s clear, then, from the very vivid and comprehensive description that he gives of this figure. Here he is, we’re told, “clothed in linen,” which, as you will know, was the dress of priests. He’s wearing “a belt,” or a sash, “of fine gold” that would be an indication of significance and majesty. And his body was like, in the NIV, “chrysolite,”[3] or, here in the ESV, “beryl,” which I understand to be a kind of flashing gemstone. So, this is no ordinary encounter with any ordinary kind of being. This is something quite dramatic. The linen we get, and the sash we get, but now, when it goes to “his body” being “like beryl” and “his face like the appearance of lightning,” that is dramatic. “His eyes like flaming torches.” That is equally dramatic. And “his arms and [his] legs like the gleam of burnished bronze.” And his words sounded out like the murmuring that you hear from a crowd or the echo of the roar of a crowd.

Now, it’s important that we get this so that we realize that this is a very, very, very incredible encounter. The individual doesn’t show up wearing jeans and a T-shirt. It made me think, when I wrote that line in my notes—it made me think of the country-western singer’s line, remember? “Blame it all on my roots I showed up in boots and ruined your black tie affair.”[4] Well, there’s no sense in which that is happening here. This person is clothed in this particular way. He’s identified in this particular way. And it’s almost, if you read verses 5 and 6—it’s almost as if Daniel is seeking to grab everything he can by way of descriptive language. He almost exhausts descriptive language in order to make it clear to his readers that the encounter with this certain man was marked by all of this drama and by all of this significance.

There is nowhere we can go in the Bible and find someone having an encounter with El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai, who responds in a way that is marginal, that is flippant, that is carefree.

In verse 7, he tells us that it was he alone who saw the vision. But the companions who were with him, who “did not see the vision,” nevertheless were swallowed up by a great sense of “trembling” which “fell upon them,” and they then “fled to hide themselves.” This further reinforces the nature of this encounter and with this certain individual. It probably will have made you think about the record of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, you remember, where he was the only one who encountered the risen Christ in this way. The others were amazed by it and struck by it but did not share in the vision.[5]

And so it is that Daniel has given this to us here in order that we might understand that when he responds to this, he is responding to something quite incredible. Verse 8: “I was left alone and [I] saw this great vision,” and as a result, “no strength was left in me.” His companions had fled in terror, but he tells us that he thought the whole encounter was really cool. You notice that? “And they all fled, and I said, ‘This is really cool!’” No, he doesn’t say that at all. Not for a New York minute does he say that. “I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. [And] my radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. [And when] I heard the sound of his words, … as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.” Nothing casual about this encounter at all. There is nowhere we can go in the Bible and find someone having an encounter with El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai, who responds in a way that is marginal, that is flippant, that is carefree.

Pretty soon, probably by next week, we will begin to sing Christmas carols. And each of us has our favorite, and perhaps yours is

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
[An] angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

And what’s the next line?

“Fear not!” said he, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To thee and all mankind.”[6]

So, this dramatic encounter with this angelic visitor, as we see throughout Scripture, brings about this similar response.

Now, the real question and the taxing question in this chapter has to do with who this figure actually is. Who is this person? Some of you will have already decided. Others of you have not made up your minds. (A bit like in the political realm, but we’ll leave that for a while.) Who is this person? It’s not difficult to take, for example, the book of Revelation—and you may just like to turn to it to see how it isn’t difficult at all. Revelation 1:12: “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me,” says John, “and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.”

“Well,” you say to yourself, “well, it’s obvious then, isn’t it? It must be a Christophany.” In other words, it must be an encounter with the preincarnate Christ. Because after all, if you read Revelation—and we’ve often said it’s important to read your Bible backwards, although in this case I’m not so sure—then it’s not difficult at all to say, “Well, that’s exactly who this must be.” After all, if you noted carefully as we read it, three times Daniel refers to this individual as “my lord”: in verse 16, in verse 17, and in verse 19.

And so, I want desperately to conclude for myself that this is actually a Christophany. It makes it much easier for me. But against that you have to consider what we’re told also about this figure. We’re told not only that he was special, in verses 4, 5, and 6, but also that he was sent, in verse 11: “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.’” Well, that just makes me think, “Well, wait a minute. God does the sending, you know.” That’s one cause for pause. Then, in verse 13, he is not only sent, but he is delayed, and he was delayed for twenty-one days. And then, the only way that the delay is finally settled is that he gets help from this other angelic being—namely, Michael. So you see the dilemma. I mean, how are we going to have God being helped by an angel? He doesn’t need help. Ralph Davis puts it like this: “There is something jarring about the supposition of omnipotence receiving help.”[7]

So, it is for you to decide. Many of my friends go to the Christophany. Some of my others friends go elsewhere. And as I say, it seems to me that it’s fair to conclude that what we have here is, as elsewhere in the Bible, an unnamed angelic figure. Incidentally, some people say, “He’s not unnamed. This is clearly Gabriel, whom we’ve met already,” and so on. But rather, I take it that it is an unnamed angelic figure who conveys in himself—in himself—something of the power and the glory of God in a manner that is, quite frankly, terrifying—so that it is not to diminish him in anyway at all, but it is certainly to say it’s possible for us… And irrespective of our conclusion regarding the identity of this figure, it doesn’t alter the information that is conveyed or the implications of what is conveyed.

A Clarifying Message

So, first of all, in 4–9, you have this devastating vision. Then, in verse 10 and following through to about verse 19, you have what I’m referring to as a clarifying message. A clarifying message. At the end of verse 9, we have Daniel in something of a trance: “I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.” He was just wiped out. You get the sense of a kind of psychological, emotional, cataclysmic impact as a result of this encounter, and it just lays him flat out. Verse 10 tells us that “a hand touched” him, and as a result of that, it set him “trembling” on his hands and his knees. So, if he is floored by the vision and he’s face down in the dirt, the touch of the hand gets him up as far as his hands and knees. But as he finds himself in that posture, he trembles in that context.

The voice then assures him that he is greatly loved. Remember, we saw this in 9:23: “I have come to tell [you a word],” says the messenger, “for you are greatly loved.” It’s a wonderful thought. And here again, Daniel is reminded of the fact that God has made him the object of his affection.

So, “Number one, I’m here to tell you that you are greatly loved. I am here also to tell you that your words were heard.” What were his words? Well, his prayers. “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day,” on the way through the verse, “your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.” So, if Daniel is going to say to himself, “What in the world is this character doing here, confronting me in this way and reducing me to a poor figure of a man?” here is the answer: “I’m here. I’ve been dispatched.” The prayers of Daniel have released angelic forces from heaven. That’s what the Bible is saying. It’s amazing! It is, to the skeptic, entirely unbelievable. It is only by faith that we would bow beneath its instruction. “Your words have been heard.” Because, you see, James tells us that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”[8]

Then he tells him that his delay in responding is on account of the fact that there has been a conflict in the heavenly places. Verse 13: “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days.” Now, here is where we get into this notion of, in the heavenly realms, a representative of Persia in these heavenly realms engaging with this individual, and for a period of twenty-one days, this encounter takes place. Now, you’re going to see this again in verse 20, concerning Greece: “Now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come.” Behind all these earthly powers stands these angelic princes.

Now, this is just not something that has popped out of nowhere. In the prophecy of Isaiah, in chapter 24, God says, through his servant, concerning the brokenness of the earth and the impact of the sound of terror that is there, he says, “On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven.”[9] “The host of heaven, in heaven.” What is “the host of heaven, in heaven”? Somebody asked me this morning, they said, “Wait a minute! How can you have this conflict in heaven?” “Well,” I said, “the conflict is in the heavenly realms.”

But in actual fact, the untrammeled glory and beauty of heaven as it exists in the wider heavenly realms will bring about the execution of God’s righteous judgment on those fallen angels who, in following Satan, have and do and will oppose the work of the kingdom of God throughout all of time. And once again it is a reminder to us that the things that we see as evidences of chaos and discord and unrighteousness and bitterness and mayhem and so on are, as we said in our opening statement, a reflection of a conflict that is taking place in a realm that most people pay no attention to, and many, in fact, would deny the existence of it in its entirety. But the Bible says so—that behind these earthly powers, you have these evil forces.

Now, he goes on then and says that it is Michael, this angelic warrior, who has come to his aid: “But Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, [because] 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.” In other words, he says, “You need to understand something, Daniel: that this vision is not going to be exhausted in the immediate. It refers to many days that will still unfold.” Well, the impact of that, in verse 15, Daniel tells us: “When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute.” “I was struck dumb.”

So, if we find it challenging, daunting, alarming, unsettling, we’re in very good company. I mean, some of us could just sit here and absorb it. Daniel couldn’t. For a second time he is laid out. And once again he’s touched, and he’s strengthened, and he’s amazed, and he’s overwhelmed, and he’s weakened. And once again he’s reassured: “You are greatly loved”—verse 19. “[The] one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me” again. Aren’t you encouraged by the fact that he needed this three times? That he didn’t just go, “Oh, I get it!” and move on. He was faithful, but he was also fearful. He was definitely frail. “‘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.’” In other words, now, at the very end of this encounter, he is put in a position where he has the capacity to receive the vision.

A Tantalizing Question

So, a devastating or a terrifying vision; a clarifying message; and then, finally, a tantalizing question. Verse 20: “Then he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you?’” It’s fascinating, isn’t it? I’m sure Daniel says, “Well, I’m trying to know why you have come to me. I’ve been paying attention for a long time.” At the end of chapter 9, he had been charged with the responsibility to “consider the word” and to “understand the vision,”[10] to apply his mind to things. And once again, it is necessary for him to do the same.

The question, tantalizing as it is, is a good question, and it is a necessary question. Because what he’s doing is he’s causing Daniel to think about what he has heard and to consider the implications of what he has heard. And what he is now told is that this conflict is going to continue. “Behold,” he says, “you will find that I will have to go and resume the fight against the prince of Persia. And when I go out, that will be followed by the prince of Greece. And the battle will ensue.” The inevitable question, of course, is: What will happen then? Will God’s people survive? Are they going to make it? “But,” he says, “I will tell you,” verse 21, “what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.”

In other words—and this is important for us to get—this vision, as taxing as it is, is intended to provide the assurance to Daniel that no matter how bad things appear to be—and remember, the news from Jerusalem is bad, not what they might have expected or hoped for—no matter how bad things appear to be, no matter how chaotic or apparently hopeless things have become, God is actually so fully in control of things that he is able to disclose the sequence of the events before they actually happen. That’s what’s happening here. That’s the vision. That is why, incidentally, liberal scholarship says, “No, this did not happen. The dating of Daniel was way, way, way, way after this. Because nobody could know that these things would transpire as they did.” Because history records the fact that the kingdom of Persia was so radically opposed to the cause of God’s people. And when that was gathered up, then it was the kingdom of Greece, as we’ve seen in chapter 8, that came against the people of God. Well, how in the world could anyone know? Only someone who knows the end from the beginning—only the God of all eternity—could give to Daniel a vision that would make plain events that people had no knowledge of at all.

And that, I think, is the significance of this thing in verse 21: “I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth.” It’s a very enigmatic little phrase, isn’t it? “The book of truth.” It may well be an allusion to Psalm 139:16, which you will recall: “All the days of your life were written in his book before one of them came to be.”[11] Nothing is taking God by surprise. He is sovereign over all these affairs. Or it may refer to Malachi, where the names of the saints of God are written in a book of remembrance.[12]

Only the God of all eternity could give to Daniel a vision that would make plain events that people had no knowledge of at all.

And so he says, “Daniel, you need to understand something, son. You have lived your life. It’s toward the end. The people have gone back. The news is poor. You’ve received this vision. You now must apply your mind and your heart to understand it. But you may rest secure in this reality: that ultimately, God will triumph over all these things.”

And Daniel is therefore encountering sixth century BC what Paul is describing to the people of God in the first century AD—reminding the people of God, as we noted this morning, of the triumph of Jesus in a realm of which most people know nothing. Even some of you, I can tell by the way you’re looking at me, are going, “Is this for real? Are we genuinely agreeing about this? I mean, are you really telling us that there are angels? Are you really saying…” Yes! Angels are mentioned in every part of the biblical record. There’s no question that there are. Was Satan cast out of heaven? Yes. And the demonic forces that accompanied him? Yes. Are those forces at work in our world? Yes. Where are they? Everyplace! So that when we see the machinations of man, the evil of man, the forcefulness of man against the kingdom and authority of Christ, we see not simply man vesting his arrogant self but man under the sway of evil influences. It’s a quite staggering notion, isn’t it?

Evil powers—evil powers—at work in the corridors of the Persian and the Greek empires. Evil powers. Evil powers. Anti-God, dark, and demonic forces in the hallways of our senators and our congressmen, in the framework of the British Parliament, in the deep darkness of North Korea, in the anti-God dimensions of an atheistic world. The god of this age has blinded the minds of men and women so that they cannot see the truth.[13] They cannot be argued into the truth. Why do they not just respond to our best attempts at apologetics? Because their minds are at enmity with God. They’re not in a neutral zone. They’re not in a position where they can say, “Well, maybe, or maybe not.” They are actually opposed to God. And the forces of evil are ranged against the message of God. And therefore, the people of God need a vision of God to understand how things will actually unfold and finally end.

The conflicts, tonight, of our world, the Bible makes clear, reflect the ongoing battle of Genesis 3:15, worked out by Augustine in his City of God and City of Man—a kingdom that is actually opposed to God, and his might, and his majesty, and his Son, and his love, and all of his plan for the universe; his divine plan for the nature of life for men and women, within the framework of family, vehemently opposed. Vehemently opposed. You can find explanation for it in the superficial, cursory readings of the newspapers. But behind that, says the Bible, you have dark forces that are ranged in the heavenly places against the kingdom of God. They will not triumph. The Evil One is a defeated foe. It was checkmate at the cross. He cannot alter the final verdict, but he is dead sure that he’s going to play out the final moves on the board. And as he does, the people of God in every place and ultimately in every generation will be confronted by the fact that we do not wrestle, ultimately, against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places.[14] And the vision in Daniel [10], devastating as it is, and this explanatory message, and this tantalizing question, takes us into that realm.

Now, some people trivialize it. Some people marginalize it. Some people sensationalize it. Some people take this, and they run with it to extremes that you cannot imagine. I remember there was a book some time ago now. It’s years ago now. I think it was called This Present Darkness, wasn’t it? I can’t remember who wrote it. And it was good up to a point, but it had demons everywhere, you know? Every time you turned on your bath, one came out, you know. You went for a coffee, and there was another one there. Someone’s “Oh, there goes another one!” And people were dealing with them all over the place. They had sensationalized the thing. They took something that is true and pushed it out to such an extreme that it became almost a nonsense in itself. We daren’t do that.

The same grace that reconciles us to God antagonizes us to the Evil One.

But what are we to do? Well, he tells us in Ephesians 6: “In light of this fact,” he says, “put on the whole armor of God—the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness.”[15] No armor for the back! Nothing for the back! Why? ʼCause we’re not going to run, and we’re not going to hide. We’re going straight on. And the gates of hell will not prevail against us.[16] That’s what the Bible promises. So, put on the whole armor of God. Take up the weapons of God. For the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of guns and swords and uniforms but rather the weapon of prayer and the preaching of the Word of God. “Oh, do you really think you’re going to do anything with that?” Well, yes. God answers prayer. The angelic forces were sent as a result of the hearing of Daniel’s prayer. And God hears our prayers too. I don’t fully understand how it works, but I see the every evidence of it. So, put on the armor, take up the weapons, and into battle we go. Quick march. Quick march.

Isn’t it strange how the idea of Christian warfare has become so politically incorrect, banished from hymnbook after hymnbook? Well, I’d be glad to sing it. I don’t care. “Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war.”[17] Because we’re now involved in a “continual and irreconcilable” conflict.[18] The same grace that reconciles us to God antagonizes us to the Evil One. We once lived in a kingdom of darkness; we now live in a kingdom of light. You can’t live in both places. And because we’re now children of the light, the children of the dark don’t like that.

Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before. …

[Kings] and thrones may perish,
Kingdoms rise and wane,
But the church of Jesus
Constant will remain.[19]

ʼMid toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious
[Will] be the church at rest![20]

And I say to you again, as I said this morning: this is either true, or it is the biggest load of bunk you’ve ever heard in your entire life. But there ain’t no middle ground. There isn’t! So liberal Christianity is a crock. It is a complete waste of time. Every time you hear somebody getting rid of the difficult parts, run for your life! Because the challenge in the difficult parts is the challenge that is there in the very essence of it all.

That’s enough from me.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank you for your Word, a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.[21] We scratch the surface of these things. We bow down before you, a good God, and we pray that you will open our blind eyes, and soften our hard hearts, and enable us to see what by nature we do not see; enable us to believe what by nature we reject; enable us to accept as wisdom what by nature we regard as folly. We do need your help and ask you for it. And we pray in your Son’s name. Amen.

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[1] Isaiah 61:3 (paraphrased).

[2] Psalm 137:1–4 (paraphrased).

[3] Daniel 10:6 (NIV 1984).

[4] Garth Brooks, “Friends in Low Places” (1990).

[5] See Acts 9:1–9.

[6] Nahum Tate, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” (1700).

[7] Dale Ralph Davis, The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2013), 143.

[8] James 5:16 (NIV 1984).

[9] Isaiah 24:21 (ESV).

[10] Daniel 9:23 (ESV).

[11] Psalm 139:16 (paraphrased).

[12] See Malachi 3:16.

[13] See 2 Corinthians 4:4.

[14] See Ephesians 6:12.

[15] Ephesians 6:11–17 (paraphrased).

[16] See Matthew 16:18.

[17] Sabine Baring-Gould, “Onward, Christian Soldiers” (1864).

[18] The Westminster Confession of Faith 13.2.

[19] Baring-Gould, “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”

[20] Samuel J. Stone, “The Church’s One Foundation” (1866).

[21] See Psalm 119:105.