Daniel 12 - Resolved faith

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Thank you, Julie. So good. Keep your Bible open there. You didn't catch my name earlier. I don't think I said it. I'm Dave, one of the pastors here. Great to have you with us this morning. You'll need your Bible. We're going to be in Daniel chapter 12. We are in the final chapter of the Book of Daniel as we've been working our way through our Resolve Faith series and that means this is the final sermon in the series. If you've missed any of those along the way, check out our website. They're all up there on the website and the PowerPoints and sermon notes are placed up there as well too. So if I go too fast this morning and you're struggling to keep notes, feel free to snap a photo of it with your phone or just wait. It'll go up on the website. If you need it before then contact us in the office. I'm sure we can get it to you that way. What we've been talking about in our series, this definition of Resolve Faith, we're talking about a faith that's firm in purpose or intent, a faith that's determined and unwavering. And as we've journeyed throughout the whole Book of Daniel over these number of weeks, we've seen Resolve Faith expressed in some dramatic and memorable ways. In Daniel chapter 1, Resolve Faith looked like Daniel and his friends were refusing to compromise their obedience to God whilst living in the courts in Babylon. In Daniel chapter 3, Resolve Faith looked like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego standing before the fiery furnace, trusting God was able to rescue them and yet even if he didn't, they weren't going to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's idol. Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, he described these guys as servants of God who trust in God and yield up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own. That's a powerful definition of what Resolve Faith looks like in practice. In Daniel chapter 6, Resolve Faith looked like Daniel continuing to pray each day just as he always did, even on the threat of prayer being outlawed and a lion's den awaiting those who chose to pray. In Daniel chapter 9, Resolve Faith looked like an old man, Daniel, opening God's word, confessing sin of his own and sin of his people and praying the promises of God even when God's plan was so much bigger and more amazing than Daniel might have realized at first. As we've gone through from kind of chapter 7 onwards, we've shifted out of kind of the narrative flow of the book into all of this prophetic stuff, all of these dreams and visions and things about the future. And in Daniel chapter 12, we're coming right back into that. Resolve Faith looks like waiting here today. It looks like enduring. It looks like trusting God when trouble is real, when death is certain, when the future is not fully understood and the end has not yet come. Chapter 12 doesn't end with answering every question that Daniel might have or that we might have. In fact, you might have picked up in verse 8 of chapter 12 there as Julie read it for us. Daniel didn't understand. He heard the words of the angelic being. He heard the words and saw the vision, but he didn't understand. It's a wonderfully honest verse. Daniel is this guy who's interpreted dreams all the way through the book. He's received these visions. He stood book for kings. He's given this extraordinary revelation from God. And again, he's left scratching his head, wondering what it all means. God didn't give him all the detail. Daniel didn't have all the answers. But God gave him enough to have a resolve faith, to keep on trusting God in the midst of his circumstances. And I reckon God does that with us as well as Daniel. That's how he deals with us. He doesn't always explain every detail of what he's doing in this world or what he's doing in our lives. He doesn't always give us the full timeline of things. He doesn't always show us how all the pieces of the Scripture fit together. But he does show us enough to trust him. And so the big idea this morning is that resolve faith keeps going because God has already written the end. Resolve faith keeps going because God has already written the end. It's kind of like the bookend of Daniel chapter 12, but it's a good idea for us to think about that this morning. We're going to pray and ask the Lord to lead us as we come to His word. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for your word and for what it reveals to us about how we are to have a resolve faith, a faith that keeps going no matter what life throws at us. We thank you that you haven't left us in the dark about these things. And even though we don't understand everything like Daniel didn't, you have shown us enough to trust in you, the living God. So Lord, would you strengthen our faith this morning? Help us to hear from your word clearly. Help us to receive it humbly and to apply it obediently. Help us to live with resolve faith as we wait for the coming of your kingdom. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Daniel chapter 12, as we said, is the conclusion of the book. But it's also the conclusion of a vision which began in chapter 10, the last three weeks as we've been going through. That's probably four weeks because we had been out here in the middle of that. But it starts in chapter 10, this vision Daniel gets while he's on the bank of the Tigris River there. And it's a pretty wild vision. There's all sorts of stuff going on. It's a pretty heavy section of the book. Daniel, like we said earlier, he's not given this nice, neat, comfortable view of the future. No, he's shown a vision of history that's going to continue to be marked by trouble. Kingdoms are going to rise and fall. Human rulers are going to exalt themselves and take advantage of others. God's people will face pressure. Evil will appear powerful and maybe for a time might even appear to have won. There'll be a time of great distress for God's people. We heard that read for us earlier. And yet Daniel chapter 12 also lifts our eyes beyond the trouble and it shows us that the story doesn't end there. It doesn't end with the suffering, the persecution, the confusion and death. It ends with God's people delivered, the dead raised, the wise shining, the wicked judged and Daniel resting and standing in his allotted place at the end of days. This morning I won't, I reckon there's four things we want to see from this final chapter. They're up there on the screen. Resolve faith knows that trouble is not the end. Resolve faith looks beyond death to resurrection. Resolve faith lives wisely while it waits and finally resolve faith trust God with the end. We'll step through those one by one. Look again at verse one, the first one there. Resolve faith knows that trouble is not the end. It's a striking verse there, that first verse of chapter 12. On the one hand Daniel's told that there's going to be this time of great distress. So much so that it's it's a distress like has never happened before. Verse one said such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. So it's quite serious language, especially to somebody like Daniel who had seen his fair share of trouble. Remember Daniel was taken from his homeland. He was living in exile. He'd seen Jerusalem fall. He'd seen the temple ransacked. His own people carted off to Babylon and he'd served all these years under proud and violent kings and he'd received visions of beasts and wars and an even more oppressive rulers. And yet here in chapter 12 verse one he's told that there's still a time of great distress in store for God's people. In other words, Daniel 12 doesn't pretend that everything is okay or will suddenly become easy. And I think that's really helpful. Daniel 12 doesn't pretend that it's all okay or it's going to get easy. The Bible doesn't call us to do that, to put our head in the sand or to pretend that suffering is unreal. Resolved faith is not a detachment from reality. It's not a denial of persecution or suffering or distress. Friends, we don't pretend the world is fine when it's not. What resolved faith does though is it looks at trouble honestly, not hopelessly. Daniel 12 tells us this plainly. There'll be trouble in the last days. There'll be pain and pressure for God's people unlike has ever been before. And yet verse one says the trouble will not have the final word. Look at the middle of verse one there. But at that time your people will be delivered. But at that time, how important that little word but is. In the midst of all this distress, but your people will be destroyed. Extrapolate that out. There's going to be trouble, but God won't abandon his people. There'll be suffering, but suffering is not sovereign. God is. We've been learning that all the way through the book of Daniel. There's going to be opposition, but opposition is not ultimate. The enemies of God's people might rage, but they don't get the final word. Friends, the kingdoms of this world may at times appear even to us to be powerful. But we need to know that they don't get the final word. Even death itself may look unbeatable, but we'll learn in Daniel chapter 12 that death doesn't get the final word. Notice there in verse one he says who is delivered and it's everyone whose name is found written in the book. It's a wonderful image. It means the security of God's people is ultimately not found in their strength or in their identity, their wisdom, their ability to discern the future. It's not found in their social position or their political influence or their health or their wealth or even their circumstances. Friends, the security of God's people is found in the fact that they belong to God, that their names are written in his book. That means they're known by him, remembered by him, not forgotten even in their distress. Such a comfort to know that. We need to be careful here. Daniel 12 is not saying that God's people will never suffer. That little promise of deliverance there doesn't mean they'll never suffer. It's not saying that being a Christian means you'll be spared from hardship in this life or saying that if you trust God nothing painful is going to happen to you. The Bible doesn't allow us to say that. Many faithful servants of God have suffered deeply over the years. Many have been persecuted. Some have lost their lives. Many have lost their lives. Even in the book of Daniel, we saw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they said themselves. They said God will definitely rescue us from this furnace, but even if He didn't, they wouldn't bear. That's a resolved faith. Resolved faith doesn't say to God, you need to give me the outcome that I want. Resolved faith says God is actually worthy of our trust, regardless of the outcome. And Daniel chapter 12 shows us why. Because even when the trouble comes, God doesn't abandon His people. Even when the suffering is severe, it's not the end. Even when evil seems to be winning, it's not ultimate. Because God has given this wonderful promise that He'll deliver His people. That matters for us. Because we live in a world where trouble is real. Some of us know it personally. It may not be trouble that makes you fearful for your life. It may be. Perhaps the trouble is sickness or grief, family or relationship breakdown, anxiety about children or grandchildren, pressures at work, loneliness or perhaps the quiet burden of getting older and feeling your body become weaker. Maybe it's the pressure of trying to follow Jesus in a culture that increasingly finds the Christian faith strange, offensive or even relevant. In some places around the world, we know that the trouble is far more severe than that. There are areas right now where faithfulness to Christ is costly. It can cost people their safety, their jobs, their families or their lives. Daniel chapter 12 doesn't minimize any of that. But it does promise us that trouble is not the ultimate end. It's one of the great comforts of this chapter. And it's one of the great comforts of the Christian hope. Listen to what Jesus said to his disciples in John chapter 16 verse 33. He said, I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Friends, that's the Christian hope. Not that trouble won't ever come, but that in Christ he has overcome. Resolve faith knows that trouble is not the end. That's our first lesson this morning. Second lesson, resolve faith looks beyond death to resurrection. We see that in the verses two and three. Look at that there. It's one of the clearest statements about resurrection in the Old Testament there. Daniel's not merely told that God's people are going to survive politically or nationally. No, he's told something far greater. Not even death itself is going to have the final word. Those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake. It's resurrection language. Those who have died, that's what sleeping in the dust of the earth is alluding to there. Those who have died will be raised to life again. Notice that this resurrection life leads in one of two directions. Some awake to everlasting life. Others awake to shame and everlasting contempt. Remember back in Daniel chapter nine as he prayed and confessed his own sin and the sin of his people. He said to God, he said, God to you belongs glory, but to us belongs open shame because he was aware of his fallenness. He was aware of his brokenness. He was aware of the many, many big and small ways that he'd rejected God's rule, God's commands and instead gone his own way. Friends, this is a deeply hopeful and a deeply sobering part of the text. It's hopeful because those who have remained faithful are not forgotten. Those who belong to God might die, but they're not lost. Their bodies may return to the dust, but God will raise them again. Death can silence them for a time, but the hope here is that it won't hold them forever. This is wonderfully good news, but it's also sobering news here in these verses because it tells us that history is heading somewhere. God is sovereign. He has a plan for all of this and it's heading somewhere. It's headed towards judgment. There will be a final reckoning. Evil will be exposed. Sin will be judged. Rebellion against God will not be ignored forever. Those who have opposed God will not simply disappear into nothingness. There's everlasting life, but there's also shame and everlasting contempt. Friends, that's not easy to hear. It's not easy to say, but it's important because the Bible's hope is not that God will simply ignore evil. The Bible's hope is that God will deal with evil fully and finally, and we need that in this world. We may not always realize it, but we need a God who judges. Because if God doesn't judge, then evil wins. If God doesn't judge, then injustice is never answered. If God doesn't judge, then cruelty, abuse, violence, corruption, pride, idolatry, and rebellion simply just get swept under the carpet, never dealt with. Daniel chapter 12 says, that's not the case. God will raise the dead, and God is the righteous judge who judges justly, and he's going to bring everlasting life to his people, but he'll bring everlasting contempt and shame to those who persist in rebellion against him. This also helps us understand why the faith of Daniel and his friends make sense. Back in chapter three, when they were willing to go to that furnace, they said, even if God doesn't rescue us from the furnace we're not going to bow, Daniel 12 shows us why. Because resolve faith can yield up the body because it knows that the body's going to be raised. I can die, but because my faith is in the living God, because my faith is in his love and his grace and his ability to forgive, then I know that he will raise me up on that last day. Resolve faith can face death because it knows that death is not final. It can suffer loss because it knows that there's an inheritance that can't be lost. And of course, as Christians, we see how this hope nowadays, this side of salvation history, we see it far more clearly than Daniel did, because we look at Jesus. We see what he did on that cross for us as Michael and the team have been sharing with us already this morning. Jesus entered into the deepest trouble as he took on the sins of the world on that Roman cross. He went down into death. He was buried in a tomb, and then three days later he rose again, victorious over sin and death. He rose again. And his resurrection is not just an isolated miracle. We're told in the Bible it's actually the beginning of the new creation. It's the guarantee that those who belong to him will also be raised. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 20, the apostle Paul says this. He says, But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. If you understand fruit trees and stuff, we got a local tree at home, and every time it gets to around this time of year, I'm always excited when Kel comes in and tells me there's some locusts on the tree, because I know that if there's some there, they're the first fruits. It means there's going to be more, and I really enjoy the fruit. It's nice. What Paul's saying here using that same language, first fruits here just means that there's more to come. Because Christ has been raised, therefore all who belong to Christ will also be raised. And so Daniel 12 doesn't just give us some vague hope that things are going to work out somehow. It actually tells us how it's going to work out. Those who trust in Jesus are going to be raised to new life. The Christian hope is not merely that our souls go somewhere nice when we die. It's a resurrection life. It's a eternal hope. God promises to raise us to new life. Not only that, He restores what sinners and death have broken, and He makes all things new. If that's your hope, it changes how you face death. It changes how Christians grieve. It changes how we think about aging, how we suffer, how we sit beside a loved one in a hospital bed, how we think about our own mortality. Because for the Christian, death is real, but it's not final. The grave is strong, but Christ is stronger. While the dust of the earth may receive us for a time, it won't keep us forever. The text tells us those who sleep in the dust will awake. Some of us need to hear that this morning. Maybe you're grieving someone you love, or feeling the frailty of your own body. There may be some here this morning who are afraid of death. Maybe you're watching someone that you love dearly decline, and you feel the sadness of this broken world. Daniel 12 doesn't remove the grief, but if we have that hope in Christ, it gives us a hope inside the grief. Those who belong to God will awake to everlasting life. And verse 3 adds this beautiful picture. Have a look at verse 3 there. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens. Those who lead many to righteousness like stars forever and ever. The wise will shine. In Daniel, we understand that wisdom is not just about intelligence. It's not about being clever or knowing facts. The wise are those who know God, who trust Him, who live faithfully before God in a confusing and hostile world. The Bible teaches us that wisdom begins with the healthy fear of the Lord. We read that in Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10 when we were doing our Proverbs series. Now we see this in Daniel's life. Wisdom begins with this healthy fear of the Lord. He shows himself, Daniel does, to be this kind of man that lives with godly wisdom in Babylon. He serves with integrity. He prays humbly. He speaks truth to kings even when it's hard. And he refused to compromise. At every step, we see Daniel living in such a way as to point others to the living God. And now he's being told in verse 3 of chapter 12 that those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens. Those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Friends, it's a wonderful encouragement because sometimes faithful obedience feels small. It can feel unnoticed. It can feel unimpressive. It can feel like the world that celebrates the proud, the powerful, the loud, the successful, the beautiful, the wealthy and impressive. But God sees the wise. He sees the faithful. God sees those who through resolve faith commit their lives to quiet obedience. Friends, God sees the parent praying with their child. He sees the teenager resisting pressure to compromise. He sees the elderly saint continuing to trust him through pain and weakness. He sees the worker who refuses to lie. He sees the person who keeps serving when no one else notices. God sees the believer who keeps speaking gently of Jesus even when it's awkward. And God sees the church member who keeps turning up, encouraging others, praying, giving, serving, following, forgiving and persevering. That describes you this morning, friends. Know that our God sees you and he promises that you will shine. Not because you're impressive in the eyes of the world, but because you belong to God. And you do these things for God because he loved you and he sent his son to die and save you from your sins. If your faith is in Jesus' finished work on the cross, then you know that your name is in that book. And so you can have a resolve faith that looks beyond death to resurrection. Number three, resolve faith lives wisely while it waits. We've got to move a little bit quicker here. Verse four, Daniel is told to roll up the seal of the words of the scroll until the time of the end. And then many are going to go here and there and they're going to increase knowledge. There's so much that you could say about that verse, that one verse, you could preach a whole sermon on it and try and unpack all that it means. Essentially, what it's not meaning is, it's not saying seal up the scroll and hide it away so that it can be hidden forever. That's not what it's saying. It means it's to be preserved. Seal it up and keep it until the end. This is something that needs to be preserved. The vision reaches beyond Daniel's own lifetime. Daniel will not live to see all of these things unfold, but future generations of God's people will need these words. At the end, that seal will be opened, the scroll will be opened and we'll be able to look back and see that all of this prophecy has been fulfilled. So God's not hiding His word from His people. He's preserving His word for His people. And this is important because the visions Daniel was given are not to satisfy our curiosity. They're given to actually strengthen faithfulness. These visions aren't given so that God's people can become obsessed with all this speculation of dates and charts and timelines. That's not why this vision was given. It's not why any of these visions were given. They were given so that God's people can endure with wisdom when trouble comes. I think there's a way of reading Daniel or any prophecy, really, that you can become obsessed with speculation, trying to figure it all out. And you can read the chapters as though the goal is trying to crack a code or solve every date and identify every detail and work out exactly where we are today on that timeline. And I don't think that's how we should be reading it. I think we do have to think carefully about these things. We shouldn't be lazy with Scripture. But the purpose here seems pretty clear. Daniel 12 is not calling us to a speculation-driven curiosity. It's calling us to wise and faithful endurance. And did you notice that resolve faith doesn't become passive while it's waiting? It doesn't sit around and do nothing or withdraw from the world in fear. We're told it lives wisely. It keeps on going. It keeps bearing witness. And this is how Daniel lived his life and why this is such an important word for us today. If we know that this is where history is heading, then it should change how we live now. If the resurrection is coming, then our lives matter. If judgment is coming, then holiness matters. If everlasting life is real, then evangelism and sharing the gospel matters. If God's kingdom is certain, then faithfulness matters. The wise will shine like stars, we were told before. And so ordinary obedience matters. Resolve faith waits, but it doesn't waste the waiting. And so young people, children, little ones, I'll talk to you real briefly now. You can live wisely now. You can tell the truth. You can obey your parents. You can be kind to others. You can remember that God sees you and that he loves you. Teenagers, a little bit older, you can live wisely now. You don't need to bow down to the idols of popularity, of image or pleasure or approval. You don't need to let your friends or your phone or your desires or your fears decide who you're going to be. You can belong to Jesus. Young adults, you can live wisely now. You don't need to build your whole life around success or relationships or money or experiences. They may all be good things, but they can't carry the weight of your hope. Only Christ can. So put your hope in him. Parents can live wisely now. We can teach our children that Jesus is worth more than comfort, that he's worth more than success or sporting achievement, that he's worth more than academic achievement or even fitting in. Parents can show our children what repentance looks like when we muck it up and ask for their forgiveness and the Lord's. We can show them what prayer looks like. We can show them what it means to keep going with Jesus. Unless they are older saints in the room. You can live wisely now. One of the greatest gifts that you can give the church is not merely your experience, but your endurance. To show the younger believers what it looks like, to keep trusting Jesus through decades of change, grief, disappointment, weakness and waiting. And I know we've got many faithful older saints who encourage me in that way and the other young people in our church. So thank you. Friends, this is how the church of God shines. Not by being flashy or trying to be impressive. Certainly not by being powerful in the world's eyes. Friends, the church shines by being faithful, by holding on to the word of life, by leading many to righteousness. And we do that by living as people who know that there's an end of the story. Again, we've got to be clear. We don't do any of that stuff in our own strength. Daniel's life was not a testimony to Daniel's greatness. Daniel's life was a testimony to God's faithfulness. And so the same is true for us. We need the grace of God. We need the spirit of God, the word of God, if we're to be an effective people of God. We need the gospel of Jesus to keep holding us, correcting us, forgiving us, strengthening us and sending us out. So resolve faith, friends, lives wisely while it waits. Our final one this morning, resolve faith, trust God with the end. And from the rest of that chapter through from verse five all the way through, you'll see that time and time again. It starts in verse five with these two others standing there, one's on the bank of the river, the other one's hovering in the middle over the river and one of them asks the other one, how long is this going to be for all this happens? How long? That's a good question, right? We ask that all the time. How long? How long is the travel going to last? How long is the evil going to continue? How long will God's people suffer? How long until God acts? How long until the end? We want to know. The answer Daniel receives is mysterious. Verse seven speaks of a time, times and half a time. Verse 11, there's some days there, 1,290 days. And then verse 12, 1,335 days, the days don't match up. Now we've said this earlier in the series when we went through chapter nine. Faithful Christians have understood all of these numbers in a number of different ways. Some connect them very closely with the events that were surrounding this evil guy Antiochus, the fourth epiphanies which we've been talking about the last few weeks. He was a wicked ruler we heard about in Daniel chapter eight and chapter 11. He desecrated the temple, he persecuted God's people. Some people connect the dates very closely to him. Other people say that these numbers point beyond Antiochus and a final period of tribulation before the end. Some see both. There's this initial fulfillment in the days of Antiochus and maybe even when Rome came in and took over the temple in 8070. But there's also a pattern that points forward to the final opposition against God and his people. It could be both. It could be all of those. As we saw in Daniel chapter nine, we've got to be really humble here. There are details in Daniel that have challenged Bible scholars and interpreters for centuries. So we've got to be really careful about pretending that these difficult parts are easy. Daniel himself in verse eight said, I don't understand. I heard this and I didn't understand. So he asked this follow-up question, what's the outcome of all of this going to be? I love the honesty of that. The fact that Daniel didn't understand. Notice that Daniel doesn't get an answer to his question. Verse nine, he's told to go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Daniel's asked for more information. He's asked for more detail and God doesn't give him anything. Instead, he's told, just go on your way. You don't need to understand every detail, Daniel, in order to trust me. You don't need to fulfill the full timeline in order to keep walking hand in hand with me. It's very important that we understand this, friends, because many of us struggle with what we do not know. We want certainty. We want explanations. We want God to tell us exactly what he's doing. We want to know why this happened or how long this is going to last and what happens next. And we want to know how all the pieces fit together. Sometimes God will give us answers. Other times, he just gives us himself, his promises, his word, the cross, and the resurrection of Jesus. We have this great assurance of faith that our hope is securing Christ. So God doesn't always give us every detail we could want. Sometimes he just gives us enough light to take the next step, enough faith to step out in faith and to trust him in the next step of our discipleship journey. Resolve faith, trust God with what remains hidden. Trust God with the end. This doesn't mean we stop thinking or wrestling with hard questions. It doesn't mean we don't pick up Bible commentaries and ask people that know more than we do about these things. But in the end, because that's what Daniel did, he was a man of wisdom, he studied, he prayed, he listened, he asked questions. But in the end, he had to trust God with what he didn't understand. And so do we. I think we need to be careful too of anybody that says, yep, I know what all this means. Because even Daniel didn't know. And when the disciples later on in Matthew 24, you can read about it during the week, Jesus is talking to his disciples about some stuff at the end. And the disciples say, Lord, when is all this going to happen? And even Jesus didn't know. He said, I don't know, only the Father knows. Angels would like to know this as well, but only God knows. So if Daniel didn't know, if Jesus didn't know, well, it's okay for us to not know. So be very careful of anybody who thinks they know. Yeah, I'd be careful. Look at verse 10. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. All of that's telling us is that the trouble that's going to come, it's going to have a refining effect for God's people. Suffering is never pleasant. It's often we think it's not even good in itself, but our sovereign God, who is over all and in all and through all, he can redeem our suffering and it could be a way of purifying and refining his people if we allow it to be. He can draw us closer to God. I know that I've learned things about God in suffering, in times of suffering and hardship that I would never have learned any other way. Well, I didn't like it when I was going through the suffering and I wouldn't want to do it again. I really am thankful to the Lord for the lessons that he allowed me to learn along the way. God doesn't waste the suffering of his people. Have a look in verse 12. There's an encouragement there. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end. Regardless of how you work out those numbers and the times, times and half a time, the encouragement is that blessed is the one who waits and reaches the end. Hang on to that because resolve faith trusts God with the end. It perseveres. It keeps on going. That's what we see in the final verse of the book in verse 13. Daniel's told, as for you, go on your way till the end. You will rest and then at the end of days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance. It's a beautiful way for the book to end and for our series to end. Daniel is now an old man. He's lived through the exile. He's seen all these kingdoms rise and fall. He's served under these foreign kings and he's watched Babylon come and go and he's seen these visions that have at times left him troubled and exhausted. We've found him praying and confessing and waiting on God. And yet all throughout this he's remained faithful with a resolved faith in the living God. And God's final word to Daniel is not, okay mate, as an added blessing for all of your faithfulness, here's the final piece of the puzzle. No, he doesn't get the full picture. He doesn't get the answer to every question that he's asked. He's simply told, go your way. You will rest, you will rise, you'll receive your allotted inheritance. What a wonderful way to end. Go your way just means to keep walking faithfully. He's being told, Daniel just keep going, keep doing what you're doing. You don't need to understand everything. You don't need to see everything fulfilled in your lifetime. You don't need to carry the weight of that future on your shoulders. Just go your way. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep walking faithfully. He's told that he'll rest. And it seems to point to Daniel's death. Daniel's not going to live forever in this present age. He's going to die. But he's got that hope as a servant of God that death is described as a rest. It's not annihilation. It's not defeat. It's a rest because we know we'll rise. Daniel will stand again. Death's not the end for him. And he will receive his allotted inheritance at the end of days. That's the hope of every person who belongs to God through Jesus Christ. It's not just Daniel's hope. Everyone who trusts in Jesus can have that same hope. In Christ, your future is secure. Not because your faith has been perfect or your obedience has been flawless, or you've always been as courageous and exhibiting a resolved faith like Daniel. No. If we're honest, we know we're not. We haven't. Like Daniel, we've compromised. We've been fearful. We've neglected prayer. We've cared too much at times what other people think. We've bowed our hearts to idols. We've failed to speak up when we should have. We've spoken harshly when we should have been gentle. We've been distracted, proud, anxious, selfish, and slow to trust. Which is why we need more than Daniel's example, friends. We need Daniel's God. And ultimately, we need his Savior. So hear that word that God gave to him. Let's go our way until the end. Keep trusting in the living God as we go into our Monday morning, as we go into our week, into the new term. Whether you take that, you're going into school or work or uni or retirement, wherever you're off to this week, go your way, but go with God. Keep a resolved faith in him. Know that your name is written in his book, and he has a plan and a purpose for your life and for this world. If you're not yet sure if your name is in that book, I'd urge you not to delay. Those numbers, we don't know how long the end until the end. It's just that it's approaching. And every day is another day closer to Jesus' promise to return. So don't delay. The Bible says we all have to reckon with this question of who Jesus is. And there's a great hope for you today, this morning, to admit your sin, to admit that you need Jesus as your savior, to believe that what he did on that cross was enough and confess that. Say that with your mouth in a prayer to God. Tell somebody this morning that you want to make business with God and to get your name in his book. We'd love to pray that with you this morning. Friends, if your name is in the book, then live wisely while you wait. Let's keep trusting God until the end, because that's resolved faith. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you so much for your word to us. And Lord, we pray that you would help us to be wise as we wait for Christ's return. Thank you, Lord, that you are sovereign over all and that you have a plan and a purpose for this world and for your people, your creation. Lord, we just want to find you in the midst of all of that and hold out our hope in you. And Father, I just pray a special prayer for those that are not yet sure if their name is in your book. Lord, would you, by your Holy Spirit, just reveal yourself to them right now? You would call them to you today. Lord, help them. That courageous step of admitting that they need a savior. Help them, Lord, with any lingering questions or doubts that may yet stand in the way of their belief in Jesus' death and resurrection for our sins. Lord, give them the courage to choose Jesus today. We pray in His name. Amen.