June 2024- ‘Playing the long game’ (Daniel 10:1-12:13)
The Edinburgh half Marathon was on recently. Apart from the road closures and congestion I always enjoy seeing the sea of blue ‘finisher’ t-shirts all over the City. There’s something about running for that length of time that has always intrigued me. What motivates you to train? What motivates you to run in the pouring rain and winter conditions? What keeps you going during the race? I reckon it’s the feeling of reaching that finishing line. Then and only then can say you say ‘it was worth it’.
We’ve reached the end of our rollercoaster studies in the book of Daniel. At this point in the narrative, God’s people have likely just learned that they are free to go back to Jerusalem from Babylon. The period of exile is over. Is this the happy ending they’ve all been waiting for? Well, God wants his people to know that the end is not yet.
The final vision that God gives Daniel, stemming across the final 3 chapters, is as terrifying as is it energising. The omniscient God speaks truth to furnace the faith of his people. Verse 14 of chapter 10 stands as a heading for everything that’s contained in these chapters. This is a vision of what will happen to God’s people in the days yet to come. The prince of the angel is an indicator that the intended audience of the vision is God’s people as the curtain is being drawn back on a universe unseen. This is what the future holds. We need this long term vision to fuel our souls for long term living.
To have the structure of this vision in mind will be helpful.
Chapter 10 - How the vision came…
Chapter 11 - What the vision was…
Chapter 12 - Where the vision points…
Standing firm as the world bites hard…
The vision that Daniel receives in chapter 11 scares him and saps him of energy in equal measure (v.8). However, God sends an angel to strengthen him and fill him with courage (v.18). God loves Daniel beyond what simple words can convey. It’s a great reminder of the personal and emotional cost that God’s prophets were prepared to pay in order to be faithful to the Lord and be his messengers.
Chapter 11 gives us the details of the prayer. The world will continue in its rebellion and evil desires. The vision is made up of a series of world powers, Kings and gruesome power plays. God’s people are caught right up the middle of these. Of particular note are the forces that setup the abomination that makes desolate (v.31). Standing where we do in history, we know about the utter desecration that went on as the Greek leader Antiochus Epiphanes routed the temple. Not only will God’s people be tarnished; his place will be as well. This would be a devastating thing for God’s people to watch. And yet, God wants his people to know that all these rebel rulers will meet their end (v.45). The call of God to his people is to stand firm and continue to witness to his holiness (v.32). God is unfolding the wheel of history and stands ready to love his people right to the end.
Shining bright as the end draws near…
How do God’s people keep on going? By understanding what God says will happen in the end. Chapter 12 reveals that there will indeed be final judgement day. Indeed, here is the greatest Old Testament reference to the final bodily resurrection of the dead. Truly, in the words of C.S. Lewis, we have never met a ‘mere mortal’. We are all eternal beings who will spend eternity in one of two places. On that day some will rise to everlasting life and others will rise to everlasting contempt (v.2). The eternal afterlife awaits us all. It’s so clear. The Lord will act for his people by making every wrong right and holding all to account. Daniel understandably wants to know how long until these things happen. The time, times and half a time (v.7) answer is puzzling. At a general level, it express the idea that suffering will be longer than expected. History would show that there are and will be many possible fulfilments to this for God’s people. However, it will have an end point. It seems plausible to think of this point as happening at the second coming of Christ. Only then will the trials and tribulations of God’s people stop. The road may be long, the path may be painful but that’s how the story ends.
So what is the point in all this? It seems that God has given us this understanding so that we would trust him and pursue holiness. Moreover, the resurrection of Jesus guarantees ours, and gives confidence for the future to all those who have faith in him. If we trust him we will be those who receive everlasting life. It should encourage us to be a people or fervent prayer and ardent devotion as these things drive us deeper into a relationship with God our Father. Peter writes this;
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people
ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look
forward to the day of God and speed its coming. (2 Peter 3:11)
Here’s an observation. An older generation, generally speaking, have tended to think more about the end perhaps to the neglect of the present. A younger generation, generally speaking, have tended to think more about the present to the neglect of the end. What about you? What about me? The answer is that we need to be thinking about both. While all we naturally want to ask ‘how long?’ it seems to me that the more biblical question to ask is ‘how will I live as I wait?’
Time to get my running shoes on.
