AP

Daniel 8:18-19  While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.  Then he touched me and raised me to my feet.  He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end.

At the Church I attend, in the last couple of weeks we have had a couple of sermons that I find particularly helpful when I read Daniel Chapter 8.  One was on Nehemiah 6, and the other on 2 Peter 1.

In the New Testament passage, Peter is telling his readers – who are facing severe persecution for being followers of Jesus – “So I will always remind you of [the basic truths of the Christian faith], even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.”

I sometimes feel a bit guilty about ‘banging on’ about the same things over and over again in Today’s Quick Word, but at least my pastor’s word assured me that the Apostle Peter was able to confirm why this was important!

In the sermon on Nehemiah, Brett had pressed upon us all the need to ‘stand firm’ on what we believe.  He began his sermon with the joke about the farmer who did nothing all day but just stand in the middle of his paddock.  When asked about the reason for this, he explained he was hoping to win the Nobel Prize, an award given to ‘someone who is outstanding in their field’.  Nevertheless, the rest of the sermon was very challenging and helpful!

He pointed out how Satan tries to undermine God’s work with distractions: in Nehemiah’s case, a lie about a meeting, a political lie, and a religious lie.  Satan is never short of deceitful, subtle distractions to stop us being effective in serving the Lord, and Nehemiah sets a good example of what it means to stand firm on what we know to be true from God’s Word – A Firm Foundation!  I have commented on verses from Daniel 8 before, but Peter reassured me that repeating the old stuff is OK, so here it is:

In the time leading up to the Second Coming of Christ, when God’s wrath is poured out on Man’s sin, things will be very tough, difficult and discouraging for God’s people because it will appear to us that Satan is winning at every level.  But Daniel is shown in his vision, which even made him feel sick, that our Sovereign God has all this in hand, and that the ultimate victory belongs to his Anointed King, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Refuge.  What is reqiuired of us is to trust God in all this, to trust Jesus as our Saviour, and to ‘make every effort’ to uphold the truth of God’s Word, to grow in godliness (2 Peter 1:5-9), and to make Christ’s saving power known to others.  Peter wrote: “And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things”  (2 Peter 1:15).

– Bruce Christian