Touched By Lightning

Well, good afternoon to all of you and those of you that are watching online.

I appreciated the sermonette in that Mr. Cook was in the book of Acts and he was talking about a big God and the big message that Paul gave on Mars Hill, one of the many messages that he gave. You know, we often wonder where God, that big God, might be in our own lives when something bad happens to us or to someone else. He calls into question in our minds whether God really is paying attention to us. Does He really care for and about us? And we raise that well-known question that someone put to the title of the book a few years ago, are you there, God? It's me. And then we put our own name in there when something big happens in our lives as we think about God. How we come to appreciate this big God that we serve and that Paul called attention to in that remarkable sermon on Morris Hill brings me to a thought that has been on my mind for two reasons lately. Number one, I just finished covering a section in the book of Daniel with the students in the 10th chapter of the book of Daniel, which is where I'd like for you to turn to begin this morning. And also the recent events or the conclusion of very, very long national election here in America that has produced a change and a great deal of anticipation and wondering not only in America but around the world. Sometimes we take a little bit of heat in the church or with our publications. We seem a bit American centric and I guess we're guilty of that. But when I travel and talk with our members and other people and watch people's interest around the world, they're watching America more than we are at times. And I say, why are you interested in our politics wherever I might be? And they say, they're far more interesting than ours.

Far more interesting than ours. And yes, that's true that has been. But it comes down to the impact of America in the world. But the events that we look at need to draw us not to the geo, just so much the geopolitical situation, which we're all we are interested in, we should be interested in from a biblical perspective, but it should draw us to God. And here's how I want to put that to you today and help us see how the big God that we serve, that big God Paul referred to the Athenians, does big things. He really does big things in the world and throughout history. And it helps us to understand that he can do the small things for you and I in our life.

We do serve a big God. And I want to show you how big that God is today, because when we come face to face with how big he is and what he does, lightning strikes.

Lightning strikes in our lives, in our mind, and in our consciousness.

When Paul said what he did in Acts 17 and verse 26, just to bring back the phrase that Mr. Cook read over, Paul said that that God we serve has made every one blood, every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth. And he has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. I read that and I say, the God I serve directs history.

He guides history. And when he does, lightning strikes. Let's go back to Daniel chapter 10. I'm not going to read every verse here, but it is one of the remarkable chapters of the book of Daniel. And I always, you know, I get a thrill out of teaching this part of it because of what it says. But something I focused on going through it a few days ago, brings me back to mind. Daniel 10 begins a very long prophecy that ends with the end of the book at the end of chapter 12. But Daniel was very curious about something that was really big happening to his own people at that time. And he set himself to seek God. And three weeks later, after a period of probably what we would call today intermittent fasting, it wasn't a complete fast, but it was a reduction in the change of his diet, et cetera, but went on for three weeks, all of a sudden appears to Daniel, this huge figure comes into his vision here.

And after three weeks. And when you look at that vision that he sees, he's the only one that sees it. His friends and companions that were with him, they all flee away. And in verse five, he says, I looked and behold, there was a certain man clothed in linen whose waist was girded with the gold of Ufaz. His body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning.

His eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color.

And his voice roared like a vast multitude of people. His face flashed like lightning. And Daniel was drained of his energy. He just collapsed. He fell on his face.

Daniel touched lightning. Not that he touched the man, but he came that close to lightning.

When we watch lightning on a big night of a big thunderstorm, or if it ever has crashed and struck very near us where we might be, we know it. And it grabs our attention. And a tree might split, or something else would happen. I've been in buildings where lightning struck it. It struck my home one time where we lived in Indiana. And in the church we met in Indiana, we were actually having a service or concluding a bachelor's, a seminar when lightning struck the building. And I was actually holding a microphone at the time. And I remember seeing the arc go through the something go through the building and it knocked the mic out of my hand. And everybody just was stunned like that. Lightning is pretty strong. He's pretty amazing.

And when it comes close as it did here to Daniel, he just lost and he fell. But he was lifted back up by a hand that was extended to him. And in this story, he has revealed to him that the messenger from God would have come three weeks earlier, but he was withstood by the prince of Persia for three weeks. And then Michael came and helped him. And as it goes on, it tells him, now I got to leave after I'm going to give you this message and then I'm going to go back. And then this prince of Persia is going to be joined by the prince of Greece. And in this story, we are at the curtain party just a little bit upon the unseen spiritual reality, the unseen dimension of this world in which we live that things are not what they seem.

And that the events, the headlines are written in advance at the spiritual level.

And we want to, and I always say, God, why couldn't you have given us just one more chapter?

Tell us a little bit more about this. But we do get bits and pieces throughout scriptures. And that's what I want to talk about today. And I want to focus our minds on what Daniel was given just at this moment as he looked upon this angelic messenger that came to him and looked as he did with a face like lightning and what Daniel was brought to bear and understand about the world that we live in. Just as he revealed to him, I've been withstood. I was prevented from coming initially because of this arch demon that was struggling against me and withholding my progress. The world is not what it seems.

Shakespeare in his play Hamlet has one of this great quote. One of the characters says, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in all your philosophy.

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in all your philosophy. Kind of echoes what we see in scripture. It tells us that there are spiritual forces that shape our world. And we need to understand that spiritual dimension. And what we begin to see here in Daniel is magnified as we look throughout the Bible. And I quoted Acts 17 again where it says that God sets the bounds of nations. And if he does that, then that's a big God. And that big God can do things for us when he sets the course of our life or when we are at a point where we can accept the course correction that he has ready for us, whatever that might be, as we yield and submit to him. So I want to take you quickly through a few examples from the scriptures that tell us and magnify this fact that God controls history, that there is an unseen dimension, a spiritual dimension that guides the politics, the geopolitics, the cultural issues, and all of this world. So that we understand the God we serve, we also understand how powerful he is to control it all according to his plan. But what it teaches us about God in our own personal relationship that he is guiding our lives as well. And this is a pretty good time, I think, for us to pause and to think about that in regard to any number of things. I want to take you to a story in 2 Kings chapter 6. You can turn there if you will. In 2 Kings, the sixth chapter, there is a story that is set during the time of the prophet Elijah. Elisha, I'm sorry, Elisha. And it involves the relationships between the king of Israel and king of Syria. But there's a young man involved in the story who in his moment and in his time thought that the end was near. As he looked at the reality of what was around him as he was a servant of Elisha and a Syrian army sent by the king of Syria to find this Elisha who is whispering in the ear of the king of Israel what the king of Syria is going to be doing. Elisha was a one-man CIA operation at that particular time. And so the king of Syria sends this army or detachment to capture Elisha and to nullify him, terminate him as the language would be in the field, the spy as the king is looking at it. And the house therein is surrounded. And we look at this and Elisha comes out and he asks God to open the eyes of his servant because all the servants sees are the army that is there. And Elisha prays and he said, Lord, I pray that verse 16, open his eyes that he may see. God opened his eyes and he saw, and he saw behold the mountain behind them was full of horses and chariots, chariots of fire all around Elisha. More was with Elisha and his servant than with the armies there. And God intervened and they were let out. And you go down to verse 23 and you find the rest of the story. The Syrians no longer bothered Israel at that time in that moment and that chapter came to a conclusion. And Elisha here has something shown to him as servant and certainly to us that there was a reversal.

The servant thought it was all over. Our time has come to a close. But there was a reversal. Imminent calamity was averted for a moment, but he had to see his eyes opened to understand that there is a spiritual power behind the physical powers of this world. And that dimension was opened up to him. You know, we have to have the eyesight to cultivate that type of view of the world we live in from the Bible, from the realities of what the Bible shows us about history and certainly about our current world seen as we look at it and wonder what lies ahead. Where are we going? What does any particular event, an election, a war, a pestilence, an economic downturn, what does it mean? Where does it go? We are a church that understands and looks at Bible prophecy. We understand the role of prophecy in the plan of God. And this opens up an understanding for us that can bring us down to that level to have the eyesight to see that God is in the picture. And we see beyond the headlines, beyond the news alert, as it might come to us. If God then controls that history, our conclusion must always be, He hears our prayers. He knows us. And that's what these stories are telling us. They're telling us a multidimensional story of history, of prophecy, but most importantly, about God.

And He controls this world. He controls events, and sometimes even individuals with great power in this world. And He can hear our prayers and He can answer and guide our lives when we submit to Him, when we're doing His will. 2 Kings chapter 19 tells another story of divine intervention.

Well known to us, but again, just to remind us of what happened. 2 Kings chapter 19, it's the time of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. And Judah is being attacked by the Assyrian army under Sennacherib. And they send threats. Hezekiah takes the letter of threats and he takes it up into his private room and he lays it up before God and asks God to help them. Because they are about to be overwhelmed by a very superior and powerful force as the armies surrounded Jerusalem. The Assyrian chariots and battle wagons and soldiers all trooped in. You can well imagine with Jerusalem situated as it is, kind of on a ridge and valleys around it that which were much more pronounced at the time of Hezekiah than what we see when we go to Jerusalem today.

An army of nearly 200,000 Assyrians coming in with noisy horses and chariots and men and armor. The sound would have started and grown and gotten bigger and continued for days as this encampment set up and it was meant to instill fear. How would they get out of that one? And you know the story, it came to pass in verse 35, that on a certain night the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000. And when the people rose early in the morning, there were the corpses, all dead. Now the Bible says that the angel of the Lord went through. I've read in accounts of this and people, the critic tries to explain it, rats went through it they say. Rats went through and spread plague. That's how they explain it.

Simple straightforward reading of the Bible tells us what happened. God sent His forces through and they were decimated. What if Judah had fallen at that time? What if they had been taken captive by the Assyrians? About 100 plus years before they were taken captive by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. Well, a lot of things would have been different, but it wasn't God's time that Judah would fall. They had lessons to learn yet.

And they did learn those lessons and perhaps some of those lessons enabled them to endure their captivity so they could come back after their Babylonian captivity and rebuild Judaism or, if we want to say, the way of God for that time and the temple and rebuild Jerusalem in a way that it endured. It may be that they needed another century or more to do that, but it wasn't God's timing. But when God is ready to move, nothing, not man, not walls, not strength, keeps him from moving to do his will. Jerusalem did eventually fall, but it fell on God's timetable, not that of the Assyrians at that time. There's another example in the Bible.

In this one, there's a great deal of overconfidence by the people and a misreading, again, of the current political, geopolitical situation of their time. It's in Daniel chapter 5.

It is the story of the conclusion of the Babylonian empire and this great feast of Belshazzar that is given in the palace. Belshazzar was confident that the walls of Babylon would hold. When you know the story that is the backstory of that time, the Persian armies were on the march and were coming down the Euphrates River to capture or to lay siege to the great city of Babylon.

But Belshazzar was not a leader that was up to that giant task of defending his people.

Instead, he partied. And no doubt, made a lot of pronouncements. Speeches were probably given. Great proclamations were given about the walls of Jerusalem likely. They'll hold it. They'll defend us. They'll keep us. The river will be a natural barrier and the desert and all of this. And we are this great city Babylon. That goes of what Nebuchadnezzar had said earlier in chapter 4.

You can well imagine a people that were not prepared for what was about to happen. And you know the story, the hand came out from nowhere and wrote upon the wall. Mani-mani, Tekelu Farsan. Daniel comes in and interprets it. And he tells the king that they are being judged, weighed, and it is all over.

Partying, reveling, that was what was going on at that particular night. At the conclusion, verse 1331 of Daniel 5, it says that in that night, Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius the Mede took the kingdom. What's the point of that?

Well, it's this. When anyone ignores the unseen factor of the spirit world, they're prone to mistakes, misjudgments, miscalculations. And you know that miscalculation can be expecting the end too soon. That can be because of vanity. That can be because of any number of factors that might enter in. Expecting the end too soon, not understanding the Bible and God's timing. And again, the hand of God among the nations within history. Expecting the end too soon. It can also be a miscalculation of expecting the end too late. Partying, reveling, ignoring. Christ had something to say about that in His own sermon about the time before His coming would be like that of the time of Noah, marrying, giving, and marriage, and general ignoring of the times. So it can go both ways. You can try to set dates. You can try to anticipate or say, you know, we've got to be close. You've heard all the statements that we have made in our time about that. And we're still here. And yet, we look around and we wonder. And we ask the right questions. And we don't want to expect things too soon, nor do we want to expect things too late.

We want to be ready. And we want to let the times in that way drive us, in a sense, or motivate us.

You know, again, Mr. Cook's message brought out from what Paul was saying, there's a time of judgment. That was what Paul very succinctly put before the Athenians. There is a God of judgment and he winks at certain things, but there's a time that judgment will be laid down. And again, that's what the Bible says. We see God's hand and we see God working.

We know from Daniel 4 and verse 17, as this message to Nebuchadnezzar had come down in verse 17, regarding his own time and his seven years of insanity, says, this decision is by the decree of the watchers and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men gives to whom ever he will and sets over at the lowest of men. That was a lesson Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to learn. The most high rules in the kingdom of men. Verse 17 mentions the decree of the watchers. Earlier in the vision, a watcher had come down and chopped down this tree that represented Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. It's a unique word used, scholars say, used only there in Daniel 4 and seems to represent a specific class of angelic beings, a watcher in that case. In that case, it's an angel of God, but it came down at a determined time. And there was a decision that was made by the decree of the watchers. Interesting thought to consider there, but God rules, the most high rules in the kingdoms of men. So God has an overall supreme authority and rule. Scripture shows that. He has always determined the destiny of nations and the ultimate outcome in the broad strokes of history. When we look at God guiding, there is nothing that is done to impede his overall purpose and plan. Sometimes we should always be careful not to ascribe every event necessarily by the hand of God, but the big streams, the big strokes of history, the rise and fall of great nations or empires or the times of ethical change that we can record in history come at certain times. And the Bible shows us about times and seasons. He also shows us that God allows certain activities engineered by Satan to a certain point. Satan works through nations as well. And as these supreme, these large beings called princes of Greece or Persia that obviously represent powerful, demonic powers within the realm of Satan, they do hold sway over large sections of the world at any particular given time, but only as God permits or as God prevents. Psalm 33 is a very good psalm to look at in this regard. And even especially today, when we look at our world, which is in transit, our world today is in a transition. I do believe that. I don't pretend to know exactly where and how it will all work out, but it is a time of transition. And big things are taking place. Wars in Europe, Middle East, Asia, look twice in the last four or five weeks in the Wall Street Journal, they have had headlines about impending World War III. The Wall Street Journal with events that are taking place. People are, you know, who are in the know about geopolitics are watching and seeing that we are moving toward what they call World War III. Some say we're already into another Cold War. Certain historians that I try to keep up with feel definitely we're in another Cold War, possibly even World War III already, the opening shots of it. But regardless of that, Psalm 33 tells us something about God and how all of this works within His plan and His purpose. And we should keep this in mind. Verse 10, let's begin. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

They make their plans. They plan war. They make economic plans. They plan conquests.

The nations make plans. And God brings the counsel to nothing. He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. And how that translates out, again, with that against the context of God's plan and purpose and what we understand, what the Bible tells us about human nature, there are things that in a sense already work according to the course of humanity and human nature. I was listening to three historians in an interview a few days ago, Neil Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson, and Andrew Roberts. They called them the three tenors. They were like the three tenors of the classical world fame. And they got into a bit of a discussion about the importance of history and why it needs to be studied from a correct point of view. And they actually introduced that section of their talk with a quote from Ecclesiastes about there's nothing new under the sun. And Victor Davis Hanson illustrated something about history and the way our world is in a unique way. He said that when he was six years old and working on his grandfather's farm, his grandfather said, you're going to one day take over this farm.

Six-year-old Victor Davis Hanson said, you know, I don't know anything about farming. I don't know anything about the whole thing. And a six-year-old would probably say that. He said his grandfather took him over to the well or to the pump that was pumping water to irrigate their crops in Central Valley of California. And it pumped about 1,500 gallons a minute. And he showed him that pump. Then he took him to the shed. They're a big barn wood shed. And he showed them another pump from another time.

It was a hand pump, three gallons a minute.

And he made the point to him, he said, now taste this water. He tasted the water. He said 1,500 gallons a minute or three gallons a minute. It's the same. It's the same water. The technology has changed. That's all that changes.

And it's a wonderful point about history.

And some things about history don't change. It's just that technology changes. Civilizations advance. Culture advances. But certain things stay the same. He said, taste the water. The water tasted the same from the hand pump as from the electric pump. It's water, one of the basic elements. And the point was, aspects of human nature don't change.

Aspects of the way we relate one to another, love, hatred, war, peace, strife, all recorded in the Bible, that's the basis and the fabric of humanity. That doesn't change. Technology changes, yes. But certain things stay the same. And that is why when we look at what the Bible tells us about man, God, the purpose of life, the history of the world, according to God from the Bible and what prophecy says, we see that certain things don't change. And when Psalm 33.10 tells us that God makes the plans of the peoples of no effect, he's working in and among the nations. And sometimes the plans go awry because of human nature, greed, lust, jealousy, vanity, power, the constants that create strife. Going on in verse 11, it says, the counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen, His own inheritance. God has a plan for the world and the nations. And He chose Abraham and his descendants, Israel, to be the way to show that in the world. And we know that they didn't do that quite right. And that's part of the story. But ultimately, God's going to bring it all around. And when Christ returns, it will be Israel that God will use then to bring the nations to Him. They will all go up to Jerusalem to learn the way of the gods of Jacob.

There are constants, the things that don't change. God looks from the heaven. He sees the sons of men and from the place of His dwelling, He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions their heart individually. He considers their works. And it goes on to show God's sovereignty in God's hands.

Here in this psalm, we're told God can change the plans of nations. We're told that He can fashion the hearts of men to His end, and that His eye is on those who fear Him to deliver them. Put yourself in that position. He can mold and change your heart and my heart as we submit and yield to Him. When we fear Him, He can take control of a part of our life and bless us and open a door of opportunity for us, a mate, a turn in life that produces contentment, peace, whatever it might be.

As we draw close to Him, as we yield to Him, God can change our heart just as much as He can change the heart of a man to move a man, even at a high position, to do His will. I'll just refer to Ezra 1-1.

Many of you know that. Ezra 1-1. God moved upon Cyrus, the Persian king, to issue a decree to return the Jews to Jerusalem. He moved upon His spirit, Cyrus. There is no being, no king, no emperor, no dictator, no president, no prime minister, no king, no queen, that God cannot move upon their heart to accomplish His will when He has chosen. And I have no question in my mind as I would look at history, not always seeing it from Scripture, but certain key turnings and events throughout history that came out, in some cases, for the good to the people of God.

God was involved. God moves in somebody's heart. Scripture may not tell me that like it does about Cyrus, but the principle is still there. And I do think that at certain ways along the road, I intended the sermon to go a different way, and it didn't go that way. It's going a different way for me here now. So since I have a chance to speak next week in the a.m., I'm going to take the first road and go back to it and tell the same story, but with different stories, but from the point of view of Israel. And not only ancient Israel, but modern Israel, God's people today.

I think there's some things we need to look at there as well. But in this one, we'll stay on the same road that I am on. You know, God's in ultimate control. And you know, there are other stories in the Bible. I'm not going to go through all of this. 1 Kings 22 tells one of these stories that where God actually uses Satan or a demon to accomplish His purpose. You know the story of Job, in the first chapter of Job when Satan came among the the court of God there, and that story.

But 1 Kings 22 tells the story of where King Ahab is about to go to battle against the Syrians. And the prophet sees in a vision a question from God who will go and persuade him. And a demon steps forward and God allows an evil angel to influence Ahab's pagan prophets to falsely assure Ahab that he would be victorious in that particular war.

You can read the whole story there, but God is not beyond even using a demon to do that. He calls to mind in Revelation 17 at the time of the clothes and the beast power, it says that God puts into the heart of certain kings to act a certain way and turn on the woman, the beast.

God puts it in their heart. And even at the time of the end when these agents, powerful, controlling powers of the world are doing Satan's business, they're doing it because God's put it in their heart to do it. So sometimes as God works in these matters, we see that it's not always operated or decided by human strategies, policies, appointments, whatever it might be.

In fact, we have to come to the conclusion that a deciding factor is not visible to the human eyes, which points us to what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6. When Paul talks about these principalities and these powers that work, Ephesians 6, beginning at verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The church had to be reminded of that then and the church today needs to be reminded of this. You know, there are rulers of the darkness of this age and the Greek words there do speak to powers of the dark, spiritual wickedness. Spirit beings that exercise rule at times in government are over government.

And we have to be reminded that that happens. And when we bring that down to even our personal level, the squabbles, the arguments, the dissensions, and even the divisions that come in our midst, we've got to be able to put aside, overcome, deal with, move away from when we remember we don't wrestle with flesh and blood.

Oh, you mean that division was not by human beings? That's split.

May have had something else working. Is that not what scripture might be telling to us? We forget these things and we have forgotten it to our shame at times in the church of God. The Ephesian church had to be reminded of it. We need to be reminded of it as well today.

Satan is a very real being. And even as we sit here and have our service somewhere in this cosmos, Satan is talking to his lieutenants and planning and plotting and his work continues on. And there is that reality that we must remember and understand.

You know, there was an interesting thing going on in Congress this week, and it wasn't the appointments and the discussion about the appointments of the new administration coming in. I think for about two days in Congress, and nobody covered it, except some of the lesser news sources, they were conducting congressional hearings the second in about two years about UFOs.

But do you know something? They're not called UFOs anymore. Unidentified flying objects. They have a new name, UAP. Write this down. You've heard it here. UAP, unidentified, anomalous. That's a big word. You might see that on a quiz somewhere. Unidentified, anomalous phenomena. That was the congressional hearings term for their studies into what's going on.

What's happening? Why is Tucker so worked up about it? And everybody else, and these pilots have taken photographs and seen what's it all about. What's going on? And of course, this is conspiracy territory 101. And I'm not a conspiracy person, so don't send me any conspiracy stuff, please. But the Congress is looking into it. And the Defense Department has had whole studies on it and respected people looking at it. And something's going on.

Look, what is it? I have my opinion. You have yours as well. Let me tell you a story.

Let's go back in ancient history for a moment. I can tell you a lot of stories outside the Bible from history. But let me just tell you one. But since it's connected with Jerusalem and the temple, we're somewhat in familiar good territory here, right? With the Bible and whatever. 70 AD, 68, 69, 70 AD Jerusalem. The Jews are in revolt against Rome, and the legions are marching toward Jerusalem. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that at that time there were strange things going on in and around the temple, Jerusalem and Judea. When I was looking into it, I knew of two things. I didn't realize there were seven. I'll tell you about two. The other five, some of them are really weird. But two of them that he mentions that were going on, one was armies in the sky.

That Josephus records, and it's a legitimate Jewish historian. Sometimes scholars debate Josephus today. But here's what he said, that in the spring, certain phenomenon appeared in the skies over Judea. One day after sunset, throughout all parts of Judea, chariots were seen in the air, armed battalions, hurling through the clouds and encompassing the cities.

Interesting. UAP or UFO? Or chariots? Or what? Then there was something else that is well known to some of us that have been around the church for a number of years. We've written about this for years in the church that also on Pentecost, I believe it was in 69, a voice was heard in the temple and the environs of the temple, a voice was heard, get the hints. Or as another translation of Josephus puts it, we are leaving. And the church, the history records that the church at that time in Jerusalem did leave and they went across the Jordan River into what is now Jordan to a place called Pella. And they escaped the siege of Jerusalem that was so horrible and resulted in the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. But this voice was heard. Now, not only does Josephus write about it, but the Roman historian Tacitus confirms that there were phenomenon going on in Jerusalem at that time. What was it? Was it of God? Or was it something else?

I don't know. I'll hold my opinions to myself on that because I know that that when we come to the book of Revelation and the events that are and what Jesus himself talked about in Matthew 24, but in Revelation, the Bible shows that there's coming a time in world events at the time of the end when events are going to be controlled by unearthly forces. In Revelation 13, we read that the dragon gives the beast. Satan gives us power, his seat and his authority.

It comes from Satan. That's the bottom line. That being will be a final fulfillment of the Antiochus Epiphanes character of Daniel. And in Daniel 8, that Antiochus Epiphanes is called a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences. Some commentators believe that's a reference to his expertise in the occult, maybe, and he is involved with the supernatural.

Going back to Revelation again in chapter 16, when the armies are gathered at the place called Armageddon, there is very clearly said there in verse 12 that when the Euphrates is dried up so that the way of the kings from the east will be prepared, John says, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

So these two personages of the beast and the false prophet that are prophesied there, the real power, the spirit world, and demons performing signs. And that will be a hallmark of that period of time. And so I look at some of the signs of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and I wonder, I look at the signs or I look at what people are fascinated with today. And beyond UAP or UFOs, we're in a moment where there is a great deal of interest in things spiritual. Let me just put it that way. Things spiritual, touching the other side, what, you know, having a religious experience with sometimes established religion, sometimes new age religion, sometimes a resurrection of pagan, Viking related, Nordic religion, but an interest in the spiritual. I'm kind of reading that or reading about it and watching it because I want to know where this world's going. And I see that what I've just referenced in Revelation that deceives the world. And we all know that Jesus himself said that in Matthew chapter 24 verses 24 and 25, that there is going to be coming a time when even the very elect, even the very elect can be deceived, a time of great deception. I puzzled over that verse for years.

How can that be? We read the Bible. We understand these things and we should be not deceived. And then I've seen things happen in my own lifetime among some of the people of God and realize, oh, now I see how that could happen. When people start going off after other gods, little gee, seeking something better than what they have from the Bible, seeking an experience, a connection, and dabbling with a different world. We're in some interesting times.

There's going to be some very strong demonic involvement and the coming age. The Bible tells us that. And it could very likely be, and I've concluded this in my own mind, that it'll be probably the strongest period of deception that's ever been on the face of the earth.

Jesus indicates that by His own words. So when we come back to Daniel, Daniel lived in one of the world's great periods of transition as well. There's a reason that there are about five or six key books of the prophets of the Old Testament that are written in and around the time of Daniel. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah.

It was a period when the Old Order was collapsing and there was a time of transition. Israel had collapsed. That's why Daniel was in Babylon. The collapse of Israel at that time was not inconsequential, just as the survival of the current state of Israel in the Middle East is not an inconsequential thing, not only in geopolitics, but certainly in prophecy and the plan of God.

So as we look at our time and have the ability to prepare ourselves, because we're not at that time of the tribulation, but we are at a very interesting moment and we should pay attention to what is happening because it puts our mind on God, the big God, the big God who is involved in our lives. And for us to survive this time and even our own personal calamities, sometimes I get into conversations with many of some of you and some others, not in this room, others in the church, and I recognize that people are seeking to survive.

Children, aging, illness, children, grandchildren, jobs, so many things, whatever's going on around us, survival. We talk about a persona of people that we try to reach sometimes in the intermediate department and we create a persona of some 35 year old mother of three, homeschooling, volunteering at the library and in the community, busy busy busy surviving. I thought, oh yeah, that's some of our own people right there surviving.

But we have time to move beyond. We have the opportunity to survive, to master it, to overcome because we focus ourselves on God. And the God who can change the heart of a large powerful leader of the world can change our heart and move us into a better path, into a better time, preparing us to survive the calamity of our own life. The momentary challenge that age, that is sickness, that a change in midlife or whatever might bring to us.

When we see that what God has done and how big he is, we've got to focus on the fact that that God is also hearing us. Hello God, it's me. Are you there? He is. He is.

And just as Daniel came face to face with that image, you know, the book of Daniel is more than just wild images and it's bigger than stories of a lion's den and a fiery furnace, as important as that is. Taken together, they all point us to the presence of God in our life and His promise to protect us, to refine us, to carry us through our own time of fiery trial. And when the lion's roaring out beyond the door at us, God's there to protect us. God's there to guide us. God's there to strengthen us. He's a big God and He can change our lives and He can carry us to that final imagery of the divine. He can carry us to a quiet and confident way of life. That's why we study the Bible. That's why we study prophecy. That's why we keep an eye on our world and not only past history, but current events with the viewpoint of God in control, knowing that He is there.

We can quickly go back to Daniel 10 and I want to read verse 18 because this to me is the real comfort and solace that comes as Daniel is launched into the revelation that is this huge prophecy of chapter 11 and 12. And Daniel 10 and verse 18, the one who had appeared to him with a face like lightning, touched me and strengthened me, he says. Read verse 18. That is what God does. He touches us. He strengthens us. And he said, oh man, greatly beloved. God loves us. God is with us. God is guiding our lives. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't be anxious beyond normal. You can overcome children and they can overcome you. If you're the rock, if you're the rock of their life, peace be to you. Be strong. Yes, be strong.

So when he spoke to me, he says, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak for you have strengthened me.

To know God works in history to bring about His purpose, overriding the powers of darkness, having nullified them through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's the assurance we have. And like Daniel, that is to be touched by lightning.