We're going to be in Daniel chapter 11, so if you have your Bible, I invite you to turn there with me. Last week, we continued our series through the book of Daniel, and we came to this final vision that Daniel receives, which spans chapter 10 through the end, which is chapter 12. But last week, before we got to the content of what Daniel saw in terms of future events, at least for him, We recognize that before Daniel is brought face-to-face with these future events, which is to be defined by a terrible conflict, a great war, something that might otherwise overwhelm Daniel, before he's brought face-to-face with that, he's first brought face-to-face with this heavenly champion. He sees at least the glory reflected of the coming Savior, the coming King, the coming Christ, who will establish the kingdom of God and bring peace and life and salvation for all of his people. And he sees him as one who is both lion and lamb, as we considered last week. One who is great in majesty, but also great in his meekness. One who is both lordly and loving. And we saw how what seems to be so opposite converge and come together in this champion. And so too for us as we think about this history that unfolds before us in Daniel 11 and into chapter 12, so too we must always have before our eyes this figure, this Christ, this Savior, this King. So as we face this conflict, the conflict that Daniel foresaw, the conflict that we see in our own day, so too we do so not blindly or not just narrowly, but we see it through after first looking to our champion who is ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one who today reigns in heaven as raised from the dead. So Daniel 11, we're going to read this chapter. Let me forewarn us that there's a lot of details in this chapter. And it might be difficult if you're trying to keep it all together as you're reading to really follow along. But I would suggest, instead of trying to pick up on all the details, simply note the overwhelming nature of this conflict, of this war that's taking place, and how God's people are caught up in the midst of it. The text is going to talk about this King in the North and this King in the South, kind of cryptic language, but in the midst of the King in the North and the King in the South is God's people, and they're caught up between this great battle in the midst of which they're called to trust their God. So, don't get caught up on all the details, but simply recognize the great conflict that is here being expressed and revealed. but also the greater resolution that takes place at the end. Look for that great turn, that reversal that comes in chapter 12. So it's a bit of a longer chapter, but let's read through this together, beginning in Daniel 11, verse 1. And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity nor according to the authority with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others beside these. Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule and his authority shall be as great authority. After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he in his arm shall not endure. But she shall be given up and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times. And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north. And he shall deal with them and he shall prevail. He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold. And for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. Then the latter shall come into the realm of the King of the South, but shall return to his own land. His son shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. Then the King of the South, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the King of the North. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted. and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude greater than the first, and after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. In those times, many shall rise against the king of the south and the violence among your own people. shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. Then the King of the North shall come and throw up siege works and take a well fortified city and the forces of the South shall not stand or even his best troops for there shall be no strength to stand. But he who comes against him shall do as he wills and none shall stand before him and he shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his hand. He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom. and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. Afterward, he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found. Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Army shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. And from the time that an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully and he shall become strong with a small people without warning. He shall come into the richest parts of the province and he shall do what neither his father's nor his father's fathers have done. Scattering among them, plunder, spoil and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the South with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plot shall be devised against him. Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant, and he shall work his will and return to his own land. At the time appointed, he shall return and come into the South, but it shall not be this time as it was before. For ships of Katim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the Holy Covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the Holy Covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery, of those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action, and the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help, and many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of the wise shall stumble so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished for what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other God for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the God of fortresses instead of these, a God whom his fathers did not know. He shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him, he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land, and tens of thousands shall fall. But these shall be delivered out of his hand, Edom and Moab, and the main part of the Ammonites. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, the Libyans, and the Kushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end with none to help him. At that time shall arise Michael the great prince who has charge of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered. everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." So far from God's holy word. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, whenever I'm driving back home to Brooklyn, I'm going over the Brooklyn Bridge, and right when you're getting off the bridge, there's a sign in this most, I'm curious how they got the sign there, but it's an advertisement where it says, Psychic Life Coach. So, the psychics have moved into a new field, it looks like, into the life coach business. And I find that quite peculiar, though, and maybe you've noticed these things around you as well. Psychics, people's obsession with knowing the future. And often, people desire to know the future because they're afraid, right? They want to know what the future entails. They want to know where their life is heading. And the future for us, otherwise, is unseen, unknown. It's darkness that we can't break into, we can't perceive. And so people seek out such things in all the wrong places. Because it is not any psychic who knows the future. It's not any medium that we can consult who can tell us by reading our palms or our cards. Those things are all dark and those things are all false. But as we see in the book of Daniel over and over again, there is one who does indeed know the future. In fact, he has written the future like a book. In fact, it is the true God who reigns in heaven. That's why at the end of this chapter here, Daniel is told to shut up the words and seal the book. What we've read is actually the contents of a book that none of us can hold in our hands, but a heavenly book that God himself has authored. This book is mentioned previously, leading into chapter 11. in chapter 10, verse 21. It says this, as this angelic figure is speaking to Daniel, he says, I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth. Now you might ask the question, who inscribed within this book of truth? Who wrote in this book? Well, it is God himself. And it contains, as we have read here, at least from Daniel's perspective, things that were yet to be. He reveals to Daniel things that were yet to be. And these things that are yet to be consisted of a great conflict that was to take place and God's people were to be caught up in. In fact, if you go back again to chapter 10 verse 1, It says there that Daniel received a word, and that word was true, and it was a great conflict, right? Within the book of truth is this terrible conflict, this terrible war that God's people are caught up in. And just like people today, as they desire to know the future for comfort, so God reveals what is to take place. in some detail to his people long ago, that they too might take comfort and know that though it might seem as if the entire world is shaking, and though it might seem as if the entire world is like an uncontrolled and untamable sea, rocking them back and forth with no certainty and no place to find stability. In the midst of that, they might have comfort in knowing that God has written every detail of that history down. That God knows exactly what is to take place. In fact, He authored it. What a wonderful comfort it is for God's people because they also know that this one who has authored this book, which is the contents of history into to the end, is also one who has promised to do them good, promised to do them good in the end. So though they may get caught up in this conflict and though they themselves may undergo heavy and tough persecution, they can be assured that God has authored this story and he will in the end glorify his people. He will in the end, though they endure, we will glorify them. That's the big picture, right? So you don't have to understand all of the details here. We'll get to a little bit of that, not much of it. If you want to read more on the details, John Calvin has a great commentary. He devotes about a hundred pages that I work through in those details, which will not be coming out in the sermon, but you can find those online. Search Calvin's commentaries, Daniel 11, it'll all pop up. you could read more of the details. But I want us to see the big picture for the comfort of God's people, that we might recognize that God has authored a book that contains the story of the world, the story in which we find ourselves in, the true story in which everything is operating and moving according to. And so as we think about this under four points, first, providence. Secondly, the prince. Thirdly, prospect. And then fourthly, pilgrims. So providence, the prince, prospect, and pilgrims. And we'll try to be rather concise on each of these points so that we don't get lost. I know we've already read a long passage, so please give me your attention on this. These are so vital and so important for us as God's people. And so first, we want to think about God's providence. Whenever you read a novel or a book, right, you might ask the question in terms of what kind of narrator that the author uses to tell this book. And one kind of narrator is the omniscient narrator, right? It's the narrator who seems to stand outside of the story and even seems to be the one writing the story. In many ways, when we come to the book of truth that has opened up for us here, we might ask the same question, what kind of narrator? And the kind of narrator is one who is omniscient. It is God himself who stands outside of the events that take place, yet he has written these events that are unfolding. And this is a wonderful perspective that this gives us then, because it recognizes that while we are caught up in something, right, when you're in the midst of the battle, in the midst of the struggle, in the midst of the fight, right, it's hard to really get yourself outside to kind of get a look into it. to see it from a different perspective. But here, God, in giving us this word, narrates us in such a way that we might gain his perspective on the events that are unfolding. We might, for a time, through his words, be able to kind of get ourselves outside of the story to look at its grand scope. as we put on the very lens of God as sort of glasses through which we can see everything. God invites us into that and we can therefore begin to already take comfort to know that there is one who stands outside and above these events that are taking place. There is one who stands outside and above them who in fact governs them and has determined them. What a wonderful comfort that is to know. That there is one who stands outside of them, narrating them, writing the story. And therefore we can also gain his perspective. And this perspective that the Christian often speaks of, right, as we put on the lens of God's word, as we think in the way that God has revealed to us his perspective on things, we simply summarize this as God's providence. This is our first point, right? That as we stand outside of the story and see its big scope and recognize that God is the omniscient narrator of it who has written the story, We then are called to acknowledge, to recognize, and to rest in God's providence. God's providence means to you that nothing happens by chance. Not a single leaf falls from a tree by chance. Not a single country rises to power by chance. Not a single tragedy or catastrophe happens by chance. Nothing in this world happens by chance. Everything has been foreordained by our God. It is His providence. All things come to us, not by chance, but from God's hand." Now that leads to a lot of questions. I mean, here we see narrated before us a tragedy with great evils taking place. And yes, while we do not say that God is the author of sin, God is not culpable for these evil atrocities that are taking place. Yet, God still is the one who stands over them, sovereign over them, and he can use these evil things, he can use these wicked acts for good. We'll say more about that when we come to a later point. But God's providence gives us great comfort, and that point is simply made when we recognize that all that has been spoken of here is found within his book of truth that he has inscribed. Think of the story of Joseph long ago from the book of Genesis, right? His brothers plot against him this wicked plan, they sell him into slavery, and he's eventually thrown into Pharaoh's dungeon. And yet, in the midst of all of that, God is with him. And God ends up raising Joseph up to a point where he is second in command of all of Egypt, that he might provide safety, not only for the world, but for the people of God, Jacob and his sons, from whom the Savior would come, right? If they died from the famine, all hope was lost for the world. But God preserves the world and the Savior, the Christ to come, through the wicked acts of Joseph's brothers. And Joseph's brothers are fearful at the end when Joseph reveals this to them. They think that he's going to kill them or that he's going to get revenge on them because they committed these evil acts against him. But Joseph says to his brothers, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. And while we can't always understand the mystery of how God is the one who is sovereign over even the evils that take place in this world, yet we can take heart and know that God means them for good in the end. God is the one who will bring good out of evil. He is the one who brings blessing out of cursing. He is the one who can reverse things, as we see even in chapter 12. Because the evil does not ultimately triumph in the end, right? God defeats them. God reverses it in a kind of resurrection. And so as we think about the book of truth, we see the providence of God for our comfort. We see God as the omniscient narrator standing outside of the story of our lives and of history, as the one who is narrating it and who is the one who has written it. And we see also how God, as he writes this story, does so with his eyes upon his people. He does so with his eyes always upon his people for their safety and for their protection. It's interesting that as we read chapter 11, We see this conflict between the king of the north and the king of the south. Now, these kings are referring to the king of Syria, north, and the king of Egypt, south, right? And the kings of the north and the king of the south are constantly clashing. And between Syria and Egypt is, of course, Israel, God's people. They're caught up in the midst of this conflict. But what's interesting is that these kings are spoken of as the king of the north and the king of the south. We might say, well, north of what? South of what? Right? Well, it's north of God's people and south of God's people, right? God defines these kings in the midst of all of this conflict in relation to where they are toward God's people, right? Reflecting that God's concern for his people is so intimate and so personal. He never loses sight of them, even in the midst of all of this conflict that has been inscribed, and so too today. In the midst of all of this conflict that we see around us, in the midst of the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in as God's people today against the world, the flesh, and the devil, God never loses sight of you. He never loses sight of Messiah's reformed fellowship. He never loses sight of grace reformed in Jersey City. He never loses sight of his people wherever they may be gathered. He defines it all relative to where his people are. North of his people, south of his people. God's eye is upon them. He is governing all things. He writes this story for ultimately for the good of his people who glorify him. God's story ends with the victory and the triumph and the glory and the joy everlasting of his people no matter all the events that take place in between. That's what we need to see here. And this story as it unfolds In Daniel 11, it builds, right? It gets even worse and worse. These terrible and fearsome figures that commit great evils arise on the scene of history. And yet, it doesn't end with them, right? It ends with God glorifying his people that they might shine with the brightness of the stars of heaven. With a glory that does not belong here, but one that transcends and is far greater than any glory that any prince or king or ruler or dictator or tyrant has ever possessed. So that's God's providence. Secondly, we want to think about the prince. And I needed a P word to keep the alliterations going, of course. It's a requirement. And so by the prince, I have in mind, actually, Machiavelli's The Prince. I had to get creative here. But if you've read Machiavelli's The Prince, right, it's about Machiavelli's writing to this prince and how to maintain and keep his power. And whatever, really, whatever means necessary, right, whether it's through deceits or through strength, through getting them to love you or getting them to fear you, a scene from The Office came to mind, I'm not going to repeat that. But all of those things are meant to obtain power, right? And so he writes this about the prince and we see throughout this history here in Daniel 11 various princes coming to power. We're not going to go into all the details. I'm just going to brush over it very briefly here. But what we see narrated before us is the beginning of the Persian Empire. These four Persian kings who are ruling until Alexander the Great from Greece comes and defeats them and establishes this incredible empire of Greece. But as we know, Alexander the Great dies suddenly and unexpectedly at a young age. And his kingdom is then divided, which you read about here as well, into his four generals. And two of those included the king or the general of Syria and the general of Egypt. And so we have Persia defeated by Greece. Alexander the Great's empire divided into four waves, and then this ongoing conflict between Syria, the Ptolemies, and Egypt, the Seleucids. And this constant conflict is spoken of here. But as this conflict unfolds, it gets greater and greater. So that at verse 20 and following, this figure appears. Some have said it's this figure called Antiochus Epiphanes. He was a dreadful ruler. Cunning, deceitful, It says in the text here that he came with a small army and yet he was able to conquer because of his deceits. He comes with flatteries to Egypt. He comes to make friendship with them. Meanwhile, his intentions are always to kill them, to destroy them. He's this kind of figure that appears in a sense as an angel of light, but his intentions are murderous at every point. Antiochus Epiphanes was one who had deceived Egypt and was able to defeat the kings of Egypt for a time, but then he sets himself against the people of God, against the Holy Covenant, as the text says. And there's much history to that, but he returns to destroy people of God in Jerusalem. He comes to the temple, he sets up this idolatrous image within the temple, and God allows for a time, even in his own book, allows for a time for his temple, where his glory dwelt, to be desecrated by this evil and wicked king. In him, it's as if the evil of the world sort of merges and comes together to a sort of pinnacle point of great atrocities against God and his people to the point where this figure begins to fight against God himself, against God Almighty. to seek to destroy him. It says in verse 36, out of all the verses, we'll just read a couple here. Verse 36, the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished. Right? This figure ultimately, while it may look to Antiochus, also points us to a greater end time opponent of God's people. It's this very figure that the Apostle Paul speaks of as the man of lawlessness. We've spoken about him before as well. More popularly, he's known as the Antichrist. Now, while we say that word, it's often the crazy YouTuber coming to mind who's trying to explain end times things in the midst of, you know, current political things. We ought not to think like that. We ought to think more soberly according to God's word about such a figure. And yet the Bible does warn us that a great enemy of the church will arise in the end. To deceive God's people, right, with flatteries, to lead them astray. Satan himself appears as an angel of light at times. To appear as your friend, to appear as that, in order then to lead you and bring you away from God's covenant. This figure, just to read a couple verses from 2 Thessalonians, where the Apostle Paul speaks about him. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul says, now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God," and so on. Now, the temple of God there is a way Paul refers to the church, one who will seek to lead God's people astray from within. And we see his influence all throughout the ages, even in our own day. Buildings all around us that once preached the gospel of Christ no longer do. What happens? The spirit of the Antichrist infiltrates and leads God's people astray. And such, the Apostle Paul warns, will happen on a greater measure in the end. Which means, again, all the more why we need to heed and to take to ourselves the comforts of this chapter. That we too, of Daniel, that we might not lose heart. And so I want to say just a few things about these kingdoms that ultimately culminates in this Antichrist figure. First, we see them active, right? They're never still. They're never calm, right? We have all these words of action that are given to them. Arise, stand, the word raise is used 16 times. They attack, they bring, they turn, they return. They do again, they make, and all these verbs that are given, they're very active. And one commentator had said this, that all these verbs contribute to the drawing of patterns in history, such as the ceaseless movement and warring between North and South, the unending rise and fall of rulers and empires with their awesome power and authority, yet their less acknowledged constraints and transience. The point here is to see how these kingdoms are always moving. But none of them are permanent. They're transient. They take, but they lose. They rise, but they fall, right? They do not possess eternality that belongs only to the kingdom of God. They're always on the move like a swirling ocean. They're also defined by deceit and power. That's what fills the kingdoms of man. The kingdoms of the earth advance through deceit and through power. But in the end, the great comfort is that At the appointed time, such kingdoms will ultimately fall. So we've seen God's providence, we've seen the prince, and thirdly, we want to then think about prospect. Prospect in terms of the future, right? So in the midst of this conflict, in the midst of these great enemies culminating this final great enemy, we read in chapter 12, and we'll actually return to this next week as well, so I won't say everything. We return to chapter 12 and we see a great reversal of fortunes. It's not those who are mighty on the face of the earth. It's not the proud and the boastful, the deceitful and the powerful who ultimately triumph in the end. Because God is the one who writes this story and because God is jealous for his glory and the good of you, his people, it means that he will take all of their evil deeds and all of their wickedness and he will reverse it and turn it to good. This is why Daniel proclaims here in chapter 12 the resurrection. He proclaims that, as he says in verse 2, that many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Right, Daniel is looking forward to the day of Christ's return. The day when Christ raises the dead, that all will appear before his judgment seat. Every person here every person who has ever lived, every person who will ever live, all of us will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And all of us will be ushered either in one of two directions, either to everlasting life in his presence forever or into everlasting contempt. These are the destinies presented to us And it makes us feel in our bones the weight and the magnitude of what's being spoken to us here in Daniel 11. This conflict isn't just something that is meant to confuse us, or meant to intrigue us, or something we're meant to just look at from afar. It's a conflict you're caught up in, whether you like it or not. It's a conflict that we're all caught up in. And we're all on one side or the other. Either we're with Christ and his kingdom, or with Satan and his kingdom. And those who follow Satan, those will be raised to everlasting contempt, a dreadful, fearful prospect. But God gives us hope. And God offers to the world terms of peace because he sent his Son. Because all of us at one point or another were found in the kingdom of darkness. All the conflict that we might shrink back from and might say how wicked, how evil, yet we were part of that at some point. We were in that. And it's only by God's grace that he would bring us out of that kingdom of darkness filled with death and bring us into his kingdom filled with life. It's that kingdom that we all were part of and God, through the blood of Christ, through his cross, says that if you trust in Jesus Christ, if you believe in Him, then you shall be saved. You'll be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. And God says that He offers this freely to you. That your prospect, the ultimate prospect of your life, where it is ultimately heading, the final destiny where you will spend eternity, is either going to be found in everlasting contempt in the fires of hell, where God's wrath is poured out completely just, or in the unending pleasures of heaven in life everlasting with Him. Life is offered to you today. Christ offers you life today, right now, to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to no longer have your destiny caught up in this kingdom of the world that is passing away and will be cast into a lake of fire, but rather to find life in Jesus Christ, joy forevermore, pleasures that are true and eternal. And it's this to which God then is leading all things within the contents of His book of truth. I want to conclude with our fourth point as we've thought about the prospect, the final prospect of things. We want to think about, lastly, pilgrims. And here we find things that we ought then to do in response to this message. And just four things to highlight for us here. First is that we ought to bring resurrection logic to our lives. Resurrection logic. The world thinks in a certain way and often that's why it engages in power struggles and acts of deceit. But resurrection logic reminds us that in weakness we are strong. That where we may be overwhelmed, God's strength can bring about a reversal of things. That it's only by dying to ourselves that we might live. It's only by taking up our crosses that we might find life everlasting, right? This is resurrection logic that the book of truth that God has inscribed calls us to and to live in. Secondly, we ought to not fall, pray, to the deceits of the enemy in terms of a false friendship. A false friendship, as we said earlier, the main tactic against God's church is not always just power, but it's also flatteries and deceit. And the idea of friendship with the world can often at times appear Convenient, expedient to the purposes of God, but we ought not to seek friendship with the Lord. Be aware that your enemy is cunning, uses stealth, he is crafty, and therefore he will not always appear in such obvious apparel. He might appear as an angel of light. Thirdly, in contrast to the kingdoms of the earth marked by deceit and destruction and grabbing things for oneself, the kingdom to which we have been brought into is one in which we are to care for one another. That's reflected here in chapter 12. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever, right? There's an outward benefit to those outside of us, right? There's a going outside of ourselves to care for one another because we do not belong to the kingdom of this world. And finally, this calls us to be brave for the truth. It becomes useful for us to reflect upon these things because to stand for the truth in a world of lies, right? To walk in the truth of God's word in a world that is moved by deceits and flatteries requires bravery. It requires strength and it's God's word that then strengthens us to make a stand for the truth of God. In conclusion, I want to read a quote by J. Gresham Machen, who I had mentioned earlier. He had said this about the prophets and their prospect looking to the future, even here in Daniel. He said, As when at some solemn sunset hour there are dark clouds above, but low on the horizon a deep, clear, unearthly light. Despair of every artist's brush. So in the great prophets there are warnings of the day of vengeance of our God. But mingled with the warnings are strange gleams of a heavenly tenderness and peace. Think about God's promise in Isaiah. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Machen goes on to say, only our figure was not altogether right. Those passages revealed to us not a sunset glow, but the glory of a far-off dawn. Then, as we read the Bible, we see the dawn drawing near. It is like that solemn hour when all nature is hushed before the appearance of the day. Shepherds kept watch over their flocks by night. There came to them a heavenly word, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. As the angel Gabriel had told Mary long ago, he will be great and be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. That is the story that God has inscribed in the book of truth, and it will come to pass. God will make sure of that. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, within your word we are reminded of the fact that you are the sovereign one, the one who has foreordained all things that come to pass. You've written the end from the beginning. And Father, we thank you that we can know you as our God, even as our Father, who has written our stories. And while we ourselves may have written the stories differently, yet we know that you are ultimately wise and good, and that ultimately you are bringing about the consummation of the kingdom of Christ, a kingdom to which there will be no end. So, Father, as we see around us the constant flux of the kingdoms of this earth swirling about, the deceits, the lies, the power struggles, and often at times being caught up within it, and even at times their deceits and attacks being directed against your church, Father, may we take comfort knowing that you are the God who has inscribed upon the book of truth all of these events. and that ultimately, in the end, the kingdom of Christ alone will stand. And it alone will be filled with light and glory as your people within it shine brighter than the stars of the sky. So Father, may that be our perspective. May we see all things in the light of your word, in the light of the book of truth that you have written. And may we then live for you and for your kingdom, that we might be brave for the sake of Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.