DanM7 — Transcript

Hi, as we begin module 7, I would like to say a word of prayer.

Father, my friends are working hard in this class, and I'm so glad that we can spend another week in reviewing important messages and lessons from the book of Daniel.

And I thank you for these few moments when they can listen to my voice and get some guidelines on certain ideas, how the book of Daniel can be approached, but I know that your spirit is working also in their hearts.

And when we put all of that together, I know that you will give us a good experience in this class.

So I pray now for your guidance, not only during this time, but also during this whole week that we will do well and that will have a success in the end, something to celebrate because of your goodness in our lives.

Amen.

Well, I like to use the word promise in the context of prophecy because when God promises something, we know that it's something that he will not take lightly, but his words will never go back empty to him, but they will accomplish what God had intended from the beginning.

And now as we go into chapter 8 of Daniel, what is important is to notice that the language now changes, the book of Daniel being bilingual in the previous chapter, we had a message given in the Aramaic language, the language of the whole world at the time.

But now as we go into chapter 8, the language changes, it's the language of a particular people, but more than just the language, we find that the symbols, symbolism also changes, and whereas in chapter 7, there is symbolism of wild beasts, ferocious wild beasts that seem from time to time to go outside of God's control, and yet the book of Daniel affirms that it is not so, that these powers never go outside of God's control.

We find in Daniel 8 domesticated animals, and most commentators agree that the sanctuary concept is right at the center of this chapter.

So in chapter 7, we have power, authority to rule, something that that the powers of this world try to grab, hold onto, and then in the end God takes that power and hands over to the Son of Man and the saints of the Most High.

Here at the center of of conflict is God's sanctuary, and sanctuary symbols abound in this chapter.

And you will see as you study the the textbook and the material that is found in it, that from everything that we know about the sanctuary in Old Testament times, there is something unique about this passage in the Bible, because we find these sanctuary services reversed, inverted, turned upside down.

Instead of sanctuary services providing reconciliation with God and restoration of a normal relationship between the creator God and his creatures or and his people, here it's the opposite, we find rebellion taking place at the very meeting point between God and his people.

The place that is supposed to provide forgiveness becomes now the battlefield, the the the field for rebellion and and sin against the most holy God. Moreover, the way in which Daniel chapter 8 portrays this is this battle is a cosmic battle.

Remember when dealing with Daniel chapter 7, we talked about the horizontal dimension of the conflicts in Daniel's apocalyptic revelations, but in addition to the horizontal, there is the vertical dimension, we found that in Daniel chapter 7, here too, we find that the upheaval or rebellion is not only taking place here on earth, but it is a cosmic conflict and a number of elements suggest that like the use of the northern orientation that you will find in the textbook.

But at the heart of the revelation in Daniel chapter 8 is the promise, and that promise was not part, or I should say it was not a vision which Daniel received, but it is called an audition, the promise that Daniel hears during the revelation that he receives, and that promise has to do with the end of this rebellion against God.

Rebellion against the sanctuary as the meeting point between God and human beings were forgiven is being granted to us human beings, and this promise is that everything that sin has had turned upside down, God will put back in its primary order, state, so that things will be restored.

Some translations like to say the sanctuary will be cleansed, meaning to say that sanctuary will be reconsecrated, restored to its rightful position, so that forgiveness of sins can again be granted.

And closely tied with that is the famous timeline of 2300 days, the last part of the chapter tells us that the end of this timeline has to do with the time in the future, distant time in the future in relation to Daniel's time, when the promise was made that that that the sanctuary services would be restored and that forgiveness would still be granted by God.

In the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, this chapter played an important role, and I just would like to show how this message was extremely important to the people who in 1840s were expecting Christ's return and paid a lot of attention to that, this whole experience resulted in a in a great disappointment to many, and yet there were others that did not want to give up, they were persistent, and they found comfort in a message equally important to the message of the second coming of Christ.

And that message is that there is a work to be done in anticipation of the second coming of Christ, and what is that work? That work has to do with God's sanctuary and God's acting in judgment from his sanctuary in heaven.

So when we tie Daniel chapter 8 with the book of Hebrews, then a very important message clearly comes out of this vision, and that is that we as human beings can trust God's promises, and even the sanctuary that became the target of the enemy's attacks, its services seem to be halted for a while.

God's promises come to pass, and therefore, according to the Bible, Christ came and we have the heavenly high priest who ministers now in behalf of us, so that we can be ready at any time for the second coming of Christ, only in the light of this message, we can anticipate the second coming of Christ with joy and happiness.

And in 1840s, when people came to realize this, then they put it together with the message of the soon coming of Christ, and this message of the second coming of Christ became now more complete, that we do not only tell the world that Jesus is coming soon, but that we are the people who prepare others for that coming, and how do we prepare by pointing to the heavenly high priest, who in that restored sanctuary, ministers before God in behalf of all those who confess their sins, so that Christ can find, when he comes, he can find a people ready that he can take with him.

This is a precious message entrusted to us.

And I would like to encourage you to ponder this message in your own heart, if you have not done it recently, and also as you share message of encouragement with those to whom you minister, and people who may face despair, desperate situations, serious diagnosis of illness in their lives, to point that we serve actually a living savior.

We know that we serve a living savior and we know what he is doing, he's preparing a place for us.

So as you read Daniel chapter 8 in one sitting, I would like you to to have that hopeful perspective in your mind, because the chapter does begin in a negative way again with with with oppression, with conflicts.

But in the midst of all of that, chapter 8 contains a promise that God will put an end to all kinds of oppressions in this world.

And also including religious oppression that very often tries to place itself as a substitute for God's work of restoration.

Also would like to invite you to study the textbook and that you point to the the those things that are new to you that you may not have considered before.

And that you react to that, especially in the discussion posting, because there'll be some questions in regard to the deeper implications of the topics and messages of Daniel 8.

Please prepare for the test, remember that the test will be in the same form like before for 30 minutes.

And please continue writing the expository paper, because in a couple of weeks that paper will be due, so please do not neglect your writing.

So I trust that your study of Daniel 8 will be even more rewarding this time, if you share a heritage of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, this message will be even more appealing to you if you happen not to be a Seventh-day Adventist.

There is a rich biblical message here to explore once again that while waiting for the second coming of Christ, we serve a living savior.

May he remain a living savior in our hearts and may that be evident every time when we minister to others.

I pray for many blessings on you and I wish you a lot of success during this week and during this whole course.

God bless you.