And we're in Daniel chapter five. If you're using one of the Bibles there in the seats in front of you, the page number will be on the insert in your sermon note insert there in your bulletin. So Daniel chapter five, the worship or worship the God who keeps. And if you've been with us the last couple of weeks you know and if you don't I'll tell you that the last couple of weeks we've spent the last two times in Daniel chapter 5 and we've learned about the defiance and the judgment of the evil Babylonian King Belshazzar along with the downfall of the whole Babylonian Empire. And we've seen in this chapter the interplay of human and divine activity with the unchanging fact that the Most High God rules and he holds all people accountable. Well the events of Daniel 5 with their tragic end in verses 30 and 31, these things really need to be understood in their full biblical, covenantal context. And so before we move on to Daniel chapter 6, which I'm planning to do next week, today we're going to take a look at the bigger context of Daniel chapter 5. And I hope and pray that as we do so, we're going to see how immediately relevant these things are for you and for me. God speaks His Word here, not just to impart some ancient historical facts, but because He aims to transform us. He aims for us to know the true joy and peace and hope that is found in only worshiping Him. He wants us to taste and to see how good He is and that those who take refuge in Him are blessed. Because God created us and He rules us and He intimately knows every single one of us. This means that He knows when you went to bed last night and when you got up this morning. He knows what you had for breakfast. He knows the thoughts of your mind even now. He also knows your joys and your sorrows and He knows your delights and your burdens. He knows your longings and your distresses. He knows your troubles and your fears. He knows your sin. He knows your guilt and He knows your doubts. And He wants you and I to know and to trust and to worship Him because He's gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in covenant love. He wants us to worship Him because He's the God who keeps. Well, this is, as we're gonna see, the covenantal context of Daniel 5, verses 30 and 31, why it's so important. So let me read verses 30 and 31 at the very end of Daniel 5. Let me lead us in prayer after that, and then we'll explore the bigger context of these truths. So let's hear the word of the living and most high God, Daniel 5, in verse 30. That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about 62 years old. And this is the word of the Lord. Let me lead us in prayer. Our Father in Heaven, You have told us that all Scripture is breathed out by You, that it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the people of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. And so, Father, by the power of Your Spirit, may You indeed teach and reprove and correct and train us in Your righteousness in Jesus Christ. Father please equip us we pray for every good work and please equip and empower me now for this good work of preaching your word for the eternal benefit of these dear people whom you love for your glory in Jesus pray this in his name amen amen Well, you have certainly heard that the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump took place this last Monday. And as happens every four years, the president's inaugural speech was filled with great boasts, great promises, and great claims of hope. Now I'm sure that for some of you, the inauguration of President Trump perhaps fills you with great optimism and expectations. For others, perhaps you're filled with great anxiety and fear and even despair. And for others of you, perhaps you're just a bit indifferent to it all and you just hope you get a great nap later this afternoon. Well, wherever you may be on that spectrum, the inauguration of our new president raises the question, can he be believed and trusted? Is he reliable? Will his boasts, promises and claims of hope come true or will they prove false? Well, if the Lord Jesus tarries in returning, of course, in four years from now, we'll know, won't we? what is to be made of his claims. But this even raises a bigger question, and it's this, who can you really believe, trust, and depend on to keep their word? In other words, who is perfectly, completely, and permanently reliable? Your spouse, if you're married, Your parents, maybe another relative or a close friend, maybe the President of the United States, maybe your favorite media talking head. Maybe you just trust yourself to be completely reliable. Well, of course, we should be trustworthy and reliable people. But if we're honest, we have to admit that even on our best days, we are still frail, fallible and finite. No one is perfectly, completely and permanently reliable. No one, of course, except the Most High God. He alone is perfectly, completely, and permanently reliable because He perfectly, completely, and permanently keeps His Word. And therefore, He alone is worthy of our wholehearted, whole-life worship. Now, as I've said, the events of Daniel chapter 5 that culminate there in verses 30 and 31, they need to be understood in their full biblical covenantal context. These are not isolated historical facts, but they're tied to the bigger redemptive story of God's Word. And this is why these truths are so immediately relevant for every single one of us today. Because it begs the question for us, have we experienced God's redemption in Jesus Christ? Well, as we look at the bigger context of Daniel 5, we're gonna see that God calls us to worship Him because He keeps His covenant word. And this is really the main point, the main call of what we're gonna see today. Worship the God who keeps His covenant word. Worship the God who keeps His covenant word. Now, biblical worship, need to be clear on what biblical worship it is. It means to have faith in God, which is expressed in wholehearted, whole life, adoration, dependence, and obedience to God. Wholehearted, whole life, adoration, dependence, and obedience to God. It means to love God with your heart and soul and mind and strength. Well, the covenantal context of Daniel 5 verses 30 and 31 reveals that God is to be worshipped because He keeps His covenant word, and He does so in three main ways. He keeps His covenant promises, He keeps His covenant plans, and He keeps His covenant people. His covenant promises, His covenant plans, and His covenant people. Now these three ways as we're going to see they overlap a lot and they're all woven together in God's word. And so I'm not going to follow just a three point outline with each of those points but rather we're just going to interact with a lot of different passages in scripture that help us see these three ways that God keeps his covenant word with his promises his plans and his people. And so we're going to see these repeatedly. Now, let me give an alert as we get going here. We're going to dive pretty deep into this covenantal context. And things might get a little thick, they might get a little foggy in the details. But I want to encourage you, hang with me, because the picture should get clearer as we move along. But I just want to give fair warning to all of this, all right? Hopefully it'll be clear as we move along. Well, let's begin by acknowledging that the death of Belshazzar, as we read of it there in verse 30 of Daniel 5, and then the fall of Babylon, also spoken of there in verse 30, both of those events are the fulfillment of prophecies that God had earlier given, mainly through the prophet Isaiah and the prophet Jeremiah. And these specific prophecies were made under the big umbrella of God's covenant promises which go all the way back to the book of Genesis. Now this is what Daniel's original readers, the Jews who were exiles as captives in Babylon, this is what they were to understand. And we need to understand this as well. So let me say a little bit about the big umbrella of God's covenant promises, and then we'll look at some of the specific prophecies related to the fall of Babylon, as we see it there in Daniel 5. So I'll say a few things about these covenant promises. God's covenant promises are really the backbone of the redemptive storyline in scripture. Now this redemptive storyline, this redemptive history, which is long and layered throughout the Bible, it really unfolds in four major plot movements. And those plot movements are these. Number one, creation. Number two, the fall. Number three, redemption. And then number four, new creation. These are the four major plot movements of the redemptive storyline of scripture. Creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. So Genesis 1 and 2 reveals God's work in creation. And then Genesis 3 reveals mankind's fall into sin which brings God's curse. But then also in Genesis 3 We see the start of the plot of redemption with God's promise as it's expressed in verse 15 of Genesis 3 when God says to the serpent, 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. And so this is the beginning of the plot of redemption if you will. And God's plan of redemption then progressively unfolds from that point on amid fallen humanity. And of course we know now that redemption was fully accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the promised offspring of the woman who would strike a mortal blow to the head of the serpent, namely Satan. Well then finally the plot of the coming new creation it's described by many Old Testament prophets and it's envisioned at the very end of the Bible in Revelation chapter 21 and 22. And this is the coming new creation of the new heaven and the new earth. God's eternal kingdom which is present now spiritually but his kingdom will be fully manifest physically when King Jesus returns. And so that's just a little bit about these four plot movements that weave through the whole storyline of Scripture. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. Now as I said a few moments ago, God's covenant promises are seen as the backbone of this redemptive storyline. In other words, just as our physical backbone in our body holds together the skeleton of our body, God's covenant promises really hold together the four-part skeleton of Scripture's storyline. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. You might also think of God's covenants as sort of like the interstate highway system in America. And by this, think about it, among hundreds of thousands of roads in our country, the interstate highway system really holds the country together in a sense. And so these major highways facilitate ground movement from one end of the country to the other. And so in like manner, God's covenant promises facilitate the movement of the Bible storyline from beginning to end. And God's covenants involve the relationship that He initiates with His people. It's a relationship defined and ordered by promises He makes. Covenant promises. So, in Genesis 1 and 2, we can really understand what takes place there with creation as God's creation covenant, if you will, with mankind. And then following that, in Genesis chapters 6 through 9, we learn about the Noahic covenant that God made with Noah and his family after the global flood of God's judgment. And then in Genesis chapter 12 and following, we see the development of the Abrahamic covenant in which God chooses one family, Abraham and his descendants, which became the nation of Israel, one family through whom God designed to bless all the people of the earth, all people from all the nations of the earth. Well then after that, hundreds of years later, beginning in Exodus chapter 19 and going through the end of the book of Deuteronomy, all of this after God delivered His people through Moses from slavery in Egypt, He established what's referred to as the Mosaic Covenant with them, because Moses was the central figure in this process. And this was the law by which His people, Israel, by which their corporate identity and life and worship was to be guided. Well a few more hundred years later after that 2 Samuel chapter 7 tells us of the Davidic covenant that God made with King David promising that the throne of his kingdom would be established forever. It's progressively unfolding from the prior covenants. Well then once again a few more hundred years after that in Jeremiah chapter 33 God promises a new covenant which has now been inaugurated through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now all of these covenant promises progressively unfolding from creation to Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the new covenant, all of these covenants advance the storyline of God's redemptive plan in Jesus Christ. And again, these covenant promises then are really understood as the backbone that holds the storyline together through the plot movements of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. Okay, you got it? You're probably thinking, I'd really like a nap right now. This is a little bit exhausting. Well, hang in there, okay? I'm hopeful that the covenantal context of all of this with regard to Daniel 5 will begin to come into focus for you here as we keep going. Again, it might be a little bit foggy, a little fuzzy, but let's see if the picture can get a little bit clearer. So, under the big umbrella then of God's covenant promises, the Old Testament reveals hundreds and hundreds of specific prophecies from God to people. And these prophecies are found mainly, of course, in all of the prophetical books in the Old Testament, from Isaiah through Malachi. And many of these, of course, are about Jesus the Messiah. And many also concern God's dealings with specific people at specific times in history with specific historical events. And this is the case regarding the nation of Israel's captivity in Babylon. Now here's a little bit of the background about this captivity in Leviticus chapter 26 and specifically in verses 27 and 28 of Leviticus 26 God warns his people and he says this He says, If you will not listen to Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I Myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. It's a warning from God. Well as part of this discipline he says just a little bit later down in verse 33 of Leviticus 26 he says I will scatter you among the nations. among other aspects of his discipline. So that's his warning. Well, over the next few hundred years of Israel's history, as it's recorded in the Old Testament historical books of Joshua going all the way through 2 Chronicles, all of that reveals that the nation of Israel turned again and again and again to idolatry. They forgot about God, they rebelled against God, they didn't listen to Him, they walked contrary to Him, and they were given over again and again to idolatry. Now throughout those hundreds of years that that was happening, there were some bright spots here and there, but overall they walked and they worshipped contrary to God. And so in God's timing, He brought about His promised discipline. And so, in 605 BC, which was more than 800 years after God's warnings in Leviticus chapter 26, Jerusalem was besieged by the wicked Babylonians and the Jews began to be taken into exile as captives in Babylon. And that process of them being taken into captivity happened over a period of a few years. But it began in 605 BC. And this is what we read of at the very beginning of the book of Daniel. Back in Daniel chapter 1 verses 1 to 4. And listen to what we're told there. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. and the Lord gave." Now that's very important. Though Nebuchadnezzar is the one who is the instrument of this discipline, God is the one who is doing the discipline. The Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. He brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashpanez, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Now of course you probably know that Daniel and three of his friends were among these youths who were brought to stand in the king's palace and basically to undergo a brainwashing process of being Babylonianized as it were. Well what's interesting is more than 100 years before that event happened in Daniel chapter 1 God prophesied through Isaiah about this coming captivity. So in Isaiah chapter 39 verses 6 and 7, God says to Hezekiah who was the Jewish king in Jerusalem at that time, 100 years before 605, more than 100 years before 605 BC, He says, Isaiah 39 verse six, behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Boom! More than 100 years later that's exactly what is fulfilled in Daniel chapter 1. Well the Babylonian captivity was also prophesied by Jeremiah long after Isaiah. And this prophecy I'm going to read from Jeremiah chapter 5 is roughly 20 years before 605 B.C. Maybe sometime around 625 B.C. And listen to God's words in Jeremiah chapter 5 verses 15 to 19. He says, Behold, I'm bringing against you a nation from afar. He's referring to the Babylonians. I'm bringing them, O house of Israel, declares the Lord. It's an enduring nation. It's an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. They're quivers like an open tomb, and they are all mighty warriors. They shall eat up your harvest and your food. They shall eat up your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees, your fortified cities in which you trust. They shall beat down with the sword. But, verse 18, even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. It's very important. Hang on to that thought. We're going to come back to that a little bit later. He goes on to say, verse 19, when your people say, why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? You shall say to them, as you have forsaken me and serve foreign foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours. Remember what God had warned hundreds of years earlier in Leviticus 26? If you walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. That's in essence what God is saying here in Jeremiah 5. You served foreign gods in your land, so I'm going to have you serve foreigners in a foreign land. Well, we hear even more specific details with God's prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah chapter 25 verses 8 to 12. This is much closer now to 605 BC, just before the event of their captivity begins to happen. So Jeremiah 25 verses 8 to 12, listen to this. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, now he's identifying him specifically, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And then after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making an everlasting waste. So do you see how God is the one doing all of this as an expression of His discipline upon His people because of their idolatry? And notice the end of that prophecy in Jeremiah 25 in verses 11 and 12 that God says Israel's captivity will last 70 years. And then God says he's going to punish the king of Babylon and that nation. You see this is the very prophecy that's fulfilled in Daniel 5 verses 30 and 31. God punishes the king of Babylon at that time, Belshazzar, by killing him. And he punishes the nation of Babylon by having them fall to the Medes and the Persians under Darius. You see God did exactly what God said He would do. God perfectly kept His covenant word. Now, by the way, God also prophesied in other places about the death of this king, such as in Isaiah 47, and also about the fall of Babylon. God prophesies about that in Isaiah chapter 21, and also in Jeremiah chapter 51. The whole chapter there is about the fall of Babylon. Now it's also interesting, alongside of all of this, there's a historical summary of the beginning and the end of the 70 year Babylonian captivity. And we find this in 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Stay with me. See how this all ties together. This historical summary of the beginning and end of the 70 year Babylonian captivity. 2 Chronicles 36. Listen to verse 15 through 21. The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, and there was no remedy. This is His discipline. Again, going back to Leviticus 26. So verse 17 in 2 Chronicles 36, Therefore the Lord brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, Nebuchadnezzar, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, they became servants to him, and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia." That's what begins to happen at the very end of Daniel 5. And then verse 21 there in 2 Chronicles 36 says, all of this was to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. Until the land had enjoyed the Sabbath all the day that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years." So again, that statement, those words there in 2 Chronicles 36 are a summary, a historical summary of what took place. So with all of this, what have we seen so far? What have we seen so far? Many years before it happened God specifically prophesied details related to Israel's captivity in Babylon. That's what I'm trying to help us see. God prophesied about how and why the captivity would happen. Israel would be conquered by Babylon because of their idolatry. God also prophesied how long the captivity would last. Seventy years. And God prophesied how the captivity would end. Namely, with the death of the king of Babylon and the fall of Babylon into the hands of the Medo-Persians. The Most High God perfectly kept His covenant word. but there's even more. There's even more. Not only did God prophesy about all these details regarding the Babylonian captivity, but he also prophesied about Israel's restoration at the end of the 70 years. This is amazing. And so in Jeremiah chapter 29, We find a letter that Jeremiah sent to the Jewish exiles probably around 10 years after the captivity began, somewhere around 595 BC. So about 10 years after the captivity began, meaning that when he sent this letter, there was still another 60 years of the captivity to go. But in this letter he shares God's prophecy about Israel's future restoration. And just listen to this and in light of this he's telling the Lord is also telling his people in exile how they are to live. So Jeremiah 29, I'll start in verse 4 and read through verse 14. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Again, this is God's discipline. I've sent you into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. He says, verse 5, build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name. I did not send them, declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord, verse 10, When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." You see how there God is describing wholehearted, whole life worship. He's describing faith, expressing itself in adoration, dependence and obedience. When you seek me with all your heart. He says in verse 14, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you in to exile. This is amazing because we've seen earlier that God sent his people into exile in Babylon because he was disciplining them. Quite literally, he was spanking them, disciplining them. Why? Because of their willful, unrepentant idolatry. because they were worshiping and walking contrary to Him. And as we've heard, God had warned them hundreds of years earlier, going all the way back to Leviticus 26, that if they rebelled, He would discipline them, what? Sevenfold for their sins. Thus, 70 years of captivity. But God also said in other prophecies about their captivity that He would not make an end of them. Remember we heard that in Jeremiah 5 verse 18. Even as He's disciplining them, even as He's lovingly spanking them because of their sinful idolatry, He says, I'm not going to make an end of you. And so in Jeremiah 29, God is promising restoration of the fortunes of His people at the end of their captivity as they repent and return to Him with wholehearted worship. Now here's the key about this promise, restoration. God doesn't just promise to restore them to their land, that land that He had given to them. But even more significantly, He promises to restore them to Himself. To Himself. See, this is the point of what God says in Jeremiah 29 verse 11. This verse that is so often taken out of context in countless graduation ceremonies. No doubt you'll hear it again this spring in graduation ceremonies you may attend or be a part of. But the point of what he's saying here is this. He says in verse 11, I know the plans. He's talking about his covenant plans. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. You say, well, what are these plans? And what are this that He's talking about for His people's welfare, future, and hope? And what He's talking about is being united to Him. Because God goes on to say in verse 12 and following, then you will call upon Me. And you will come and pray to Me. and I will hear you and you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. He says in verse 14, I will be found by you. Do you see how God is promising restoration to himself, to himself? Well, in Jeremiah 29, God goes on to elaborate on these promises through the rest of chapter 29, and then in chapter 30, and then it all comes to a crescendo in Jeremiah chapter 31 with the promise of the new covenant. This is amazing. So in Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 34, here's the promise of the new covenant. He says, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant, he says, that they broke. though i was their husband declares the lord verse 33 for this is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those days declares the lord i will put my law within them and i will write it on their hearts and i will be their god and they shall be my people That's God's covenant formula, if you will, that describes the fullest nature and reality of his relationship. He will be our God and we shall be his people. He goes on to say, verse 34, no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more. And again, as we know now at this time in redemptive history, the blessings and the hope of this promised new covenant have now come to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And so you see, God keeps His covenant promises because He keeps His covenant plans because He keeps His covenant people. Well, as we wind this down, ask the question, okay, so what's the point? What's the point? What's the significance of all of this in relation to what we see in Daniel chapter five? Well, Daniel wrote Daniel chapter five, as he wrote the whole book, near the end of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. And his original readers were those Jews, God's people, who were experiencing this captivity. And so again, they would have known the covenantal, prophetical context that I've just labored to try to explain a little bit about. They would have known God's warnings and promises from Leviticus and from Isaiah and from Jeremiah and from other Old Testament scripture. And with Daniel recounting in chapter 5 the events that led to the death of Belshazzar and the fall of Babylon, God's people should have understood that He was perfectly keeping His covenant promises and plans. And not only that, God was perfectly keeping them, His covenant people. Because the time of their restoration, you see, was near. So this should have motivated their perseverance in repenting and in eagerly worshiping God Most High. In other words, their connection of these events with all this prophetical and covenantal context should have revived and focused and strengthened their hope in God who was keeping them and who would still keep them. And who would still keep all of His promises yet to be fulfilled for them. And what this means is that they needed to keep their present circumstances in biblical, covenantal, prophetic perspective. See, Daniel is writing this through the inspiration of God so that their faith will be strengthened to see things the way God sees them. They needed to trust and believe that God always, perfectly, permanently, keeps his covenant promises, he keeps his covenant plans because he keeps his covenant people. And you see all of these truths, beloved, all of these truths should do the same thing for you and me today. And really should do so all the more as Jesus Christ has come and inaugurated the New Covenant. And for all who trust Him, we're forgiven of all of our sin. We're reconciled to our Father in Heaven. And we are brought into the fullness of all of the spiritual blessings God has given to us in Jesus Christ. And we eagerly await His return. And we need to keep our present circumstances in biblical, covenantal, and prophetic perspective. See, that's the point. In the same way that God's people in Daniel 5 needed to keep things in this biblical, prophetic, covenantal perspective, we need to do that as well. Not only our present circumstances in terms of all those large scale, big realities that affect all of us, but also the very personal, unique, individual things that affect us at a very personal level. Keep it in perspective of God's covenantal, prophetic, biblical perspective. We need to believe and trust that the Most High God is faithful and unchanging. He was not done with His people Israel and He is not done with His people now. And that includes you and me if we belong to Him through faith in Christ. And thus we need to wholeheartedly worship this God because He perfectly, completely, and permanently keeps His covenant word. Brothers and sisters, we need to persevere in this hope. Persevere in this hope. Just as Paul exhorts, listen to this from Romans 15 verse 4. He says, In former days, he's referring to all of the Old Testament scripture, including all we've seen connected with Daniel 5, whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Hope. Let me lead us in prayer. Oh, Father, you have taken us through a lot of ground this morning. And within all of that, even as we hear declared by you through Paul here in Romans 15, your purpose is that we might know you. It's for our instruction so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures you've revealed, we might have hope. The hope that comes from trusting, from worshiping you because you keep your word, your covenant word. Father, you know the realities about each one of us. Some of us may be going through your discipline even now in our circumstances. Some may be weary, burdened, guilt-ridden, anxious, fearful, distracted, grieving, lonely, perplexed, whatever the case may be, or simply striving to want to know you and worship you all the more, and we need your help to do so. Father, as you know each one, May you strengthen and revive and renew faith in you, worship in you, faith expressed in adoration and dependence and obedience because you are worthy to be worshiped because you are the God who perfectly keeps your covenant word. Thank you for the time you've given us now, for the hope you've called us to in Christ's name, amen and amen.