Sermons

A woman asked her doctor after he had examined her: “Do I have Asiatic flu?” “No,” the doctor replied, “It’s Egyptian flu.” The woman replied, “I’ve never heard of Egyptian flu, what’s that?” He replied: “You’re going to be a mummy.”

Our passage begins with Sarah conceiving and becoming a mummy. But, as will become clear from our consideration of this passage, no Israelite would have made a joke about this being Egyptian flu. Indeed, today I am going to call on you to choose between God and Egypt. I will be urging you to give up your Egyptian option. I am not talking about modern Egypt or modern Egyptians, but of what Egypt meant for the original readers of this passage. It is that Egyptian option I urge you to give up.

The Egyptian Entanglement

A woman asked, “Should I have a baby after 40?” “No!” she was told, “40 children is enough!” Should Sarah have a baby after 90? No! Well, humanly speaking. But that’s what happened, as we learn from verse 1: “And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.” This is the Lord’s second visit. The first visit is recorded in Genesis 18 when God visited as a human-looking angel and promised Sarah that he would return at the appointed time the following year when Sarah would have a son. That time has now come. But this time there is no physical appearance of God. Paul speaks of this in Galatians 4:29: “At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit.” Genesis 21 does not explicitly speak of Isaac being born by the power of the Spirit, but, as Paul recognizes,when God visited Sarah, he came to her in the Spirit.

God keeps his promises. He said he would do this and he did. That’s why Abraham and Sarah needed to learn to give up their Egyptian option. You too must give up your Egyptian option!

In Genesis 12 Abram obediently traveled to Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham and his descendants as their inheritance. If Abraham had expected he would possess a rich, fertile land he is sorely disappointed. He is not long in the land and there is a famine. What does Abraham do? He decides to go to Egypt - prosperous, fertile, Egypt. There Abraham accumulates considerable wealth, but the Pharaoh, thinking Sarah is Abraham’s sister, makes moves to add her to his harem of sexual partners, until God intervenes. The Egyptian option is so enticing yet so very deadly, threatening to rob Abraham and Sarah of God’s far richer blessings. In the same way the pleasures and security this world has to offer threaten to hold you back from looking to the Lord alone to fulfil his wonderful purposes for your life.

In Genesis 13, Abram, having been extricated from Egypt and now back in Canaan, finds “the land could not support” both him and Lot. Lot, you will remember, chooses a part of Canaan which we are told “was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt” (v10). Did you get that? “Like the land of Egypt.” What happens to Lot when he hankers after Egypt? Unmitigated disaster. Egypt seems to have so much more to offer than God, but to choose Egypt rather than God is to choose catastrophe.

As Cross-Cultural Ministry Coordinator for the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales I look at the tremendous gospel opportunities in South-West Sydney, a highly multicultural area, though typically populated by those from a lower socio-economic background. While I will not point the finger at particular individuals, I groan that so many trained gospel workers choose the Egyptian option. So many choose to minister in more affluent, middle to upper class suburbs, at least partly because of their concerns for their children, rather than being open for God to lead them to minister in a possibly more difficult environment.

When I was in Pakistan I arranged for a local Christian leader, to go and get Bible training from London Bible College. A number of people told me this was not a good idea. “He will get a taste for life in the West”, they told me. “He won’t come back.” They were expecting him to choose the Egyptian option. But he didn’t. In faithfulness to God he came back and devoted himself to minister to his own people in trying circumstances.

Now we come to Hagar. Listen to how she is described in Genesis 21:9:

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac” (ESV).

Notice that Hagar is “the Egyptian.” At the end of this passage, in verse 21, we read: “While [Ishmael] was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.” That’s what Hagar and Ishmael represent – Egypt. Hagar the Egyptian must be cast out. You must get rid of the Egyptian option.

The first and primary readers of this passage were Israelites who had experienced the Exodus from Egypt and the years of wandering in the desert under Moses. When Jacob’s family first went to Egypt, after the preparations made by Joseph, they enjoyed great prosperity. But only fleeting pleasures are to be found in Egypt. There is no long-term future for God’s people in Egypt. Inevitably, the time came when a new Pharaoh threatened to kill every male child born to an Israelite and thereby bring an end to the nation of Israel. During all those years they were led by Moses in desert regions they repeatedly expressed their desire to go back to Egypt. Just to take one example, consider Exodus 16:3 where we read:

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

For those Israelites who have experienced the Exodus and the desert wanderings Genesis 21 serves as a exhortation to get rid of the Egyptian option. There is no going back to Egypt. “I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.” Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62).

By the way, those Israelites had no problem with the fact Hagar was a slave woman, for slavery was an accepted practice all over the ancient world, no matter what you and I think of it today. Nor did they have any problem with Sarah encouraging her husband to sleep with Hagar and have a child by her, given Sarah’s own barrenness. This too was a well-accepted cultural practice, paralleled perhaps by the increasing cultural acceptance in our own world of surrogate mothers, who carry another woman’s child in their wombs. No! For them Abraham and Sarah’s folly was that instead of trusting fully in God’s promise, they looked to Egypt to solve their problems, in this case an Egyptian woman, who like the land of Egypt, was similarly fertile and found it easy to give birth to a son for Abraham.

When Ishmael became Abraham’s son this became a snare for Abraham. In Genesis 17:15-16 God promises Abraham that he will give Abraham a son by Sarah. How does Abraham respond? We are told in verse 17: “Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Then, clearly thinking that this is absurd, Abraham says to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Abraham makes it clear that he would rather go for the Egyptian option than trust God to enable his ageing wife to do the seemingly impossible – give birth to a child. We see how hard it is for Abraham to let go of the Egyptian option in 21:11, where we are told that the idea of casting out Hagar and Ishmael deeply distressed Abraham. Why? Because he loved Ishmael, his son. But God is preparing Abraham for what will happen in the very next chapter, when, with Ishmael out of the picture, God will ask him to sacrifice Isaac as now “his only son”, whom he loves. Abraham must learn that he must depend on God to the nth degree to fulfil his purposes through Isaac. There is no back-up plan, no Egyptian option.

In this story, then, Hagar and Ishmael represent the entanglements and dangers that are involved in taking the Egyptian option rather than trusting in God. In Galatians 4 Paul parallels these two options with the two options that face every Christian:

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise (vv21-23; ESV).

Do you get the two options? One option is to live “under the law”, as though we were still slaves; to live our Christian lives as if the only way to please God and be sure of entering paradise is by relying on what we can do to impress him. This is living “according to the flesh”, that is, “according to our sinful nature.” This is the crazy Egyptian option that you and I choose repeatedly. It’s sheer madness. How can you please God if you depend on what your sinful nature can do to impress him?

Option #2 is to fully trust in God’s promise; counting on the fact that all that needed to be done for us to be right with God was achieved by Jesus on the cross; that we are redeemed, free to enjoy all the privileges of being God’s sons and daughters. As we live our Christian lives on this basis we live “according to the Spirit”. This is sanity, trusting in God’s promise that he himself, through the Spirit, will make us the kind of people he wants us to be.

The Egyptian Expelled

In Galatians 4:28-30 here is what Paul urges:

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

Here Paul is helping us to read Genesis 21 correctly. Look at Genesis 21:8-11:

And the child [Isaac] grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

Many who comment on this passage see Hagar as the victim of injustice, especially given the fact that she and Ishmael were sent packing with just some food and water to wander in the desert, where they nearly died of thirst. It is normal these days for Sarah to be castigated as a vicious bitch for the treating Hagar in such a mean-spirited and ruthless way.

Whoa! This is not how Paul read this passage. He says, clearly reflecting on what Sarah saw Ishmael doing during the feast: “he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit.” But where did Paul get such an idea, you might ask? All that Genesis 21:9 says is that Sarah saw Ishmael laughing. Indeed, there are those who believe Ishmael was just having innocent fun with Isaac and Sarah took exception to this.

Go back to Genesis 16:4: “And [Abraham] went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [Sarah].” After Hagar knew she was pregnant she despised Sarah; she loathed her and expressed her hatred for Sarah through her words and actions. In ancient culture a woman unable to give birth to children often experienced great shame. Think of Hannah’s misery as described in 1 Samuel 1 and how she was taunted by Elkanah’s second wife, Peninnah after Peninnah started to have children, while Hannah remained barren. Get the point here. The venom, the hostility comes from Hannah and Sarah’s harsh treatment of Hagar, which resulted in Hagar fleeing until God sent her back, was Sarah’s reaction to Hagar’s malicious behaviour. But what you must see is the hostility, the malice originates with Hagar, not Sarah.

In Genesis 21, what Sarah sees as she watches Ishmael with Isaac is more of the same – not innocent laughter, but malicious, mocking laughter. She sees, to use Paul’s words, the son born according to the flesh persecuting the son born according to the Spirit.  At the time of this incident Ishmael is about 15-16 years of age and Isaac is only a 1-2 year old toddler. Yet here is a teenager maliciously laughing at a toddler. Hagar’s poison has spread to Ishmael. There is something very evil and sinister in what happens here and when we realize this we can readily understand Sarah’s fears for Isaac’s safety and the reasons for her extreme response. Any responsible mother who feared for the safety of her child can understand this.    

Thomas Carlyle said, “How much lies in Laughter: the cipher-key, wherewith we decipher the whole man.” Ishmael’s laughter is the cipher-key which enables us to decipher his character, a character like that of his mother – a malicious, hostile nature.  Back in Genesis 16, when God told Hagar to go back to Sarah he said to her, “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” It is this hostility that we see in the way Ishmael laughs at Isaac with derision on the day that Isaac is weaned.

The name Isaac, commanded by God, means “laughter.” It registers the way Abraham responded when God promised him that he would certainly give him a son by Sarah. We read in Genesis 17:17: “Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’” Genesis 18 similarly shows how Sarah also laughed at this idea. So the very naming of their son as Isaac serves to remind Abraham and Sarah how they had doubted God. We think of Abraham as a great example of faith – and he is. But the Genesis narrative shows us that Abraham and Sarah struggled with great doubts, only learning through difficult and trying circumstances, to depend on God alone. So if you are struggling with doubts you are in good company.

In 2 Corinthians 5:6 we learn, “We live by faith, not by sight.” The faith of Abraham and Sarah told them to trust in God’s promise, but when they tried to do this life seemed so hard. The land of Canaan was a harsh, barren land. Their sight told them to look to Egypt. Egypt always seemed so lush, so well-watered, so prosperous. Experience cried out to Abraham and Sarah to depend on that which was associated with Egypt – it always seemed to flourish, to produce fruit. This is true of the land. It also seemed to be true when it came to producing children. Hagar the Egyptian is fecund, fertile, easily producing a son for Abraham. Sarah is barren, seemingly incapable of giving birth to a child, with her advancing age making such a prospect ludicrous, absurd. What Abraham and Sarah need to learn is to give up the Egyptian option. That’s what the casting out of Hagar and Ishmael is all about.

What is the Egyptian option in your life? Is your marriage going through a hard time or are you finding it hard to remain single? It doesn’t take to much imagination to work out what your Egyptian option might be in these circumstances. Perhaps church seems boring and you feel there are other things you could be doing with your time which would be more enjoyable. We could go on. Where do you look for refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure?

Have you given up the Egyptian option in your life?

In 1970 sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock, a book sold over 6 million copies. Toffler said that technological and social change was accelerating at a pace that left people feeling disconnected and stressed and disoriented. As Daniel looks into the future he too is deeply disturbed and distressed by what he sees. 

A website advises people how to overcome their ‘fear of the future phobia’:

1. Try to understand your own potential.

2. Create the future you desire in your mind through the process of visualization.

3. Plan for your future achievements, making your dreams turn into reality.

4. Believe in yourself and try to be successful in life.

Contrast this individualistic, elitist, self-absorbed, fantasy-world tripe with our Christian hope. Our hope is not whitewash; not “let’s pretend”; not the power of positive thinking.  Daniel 10 introduces the last vision of the book, extending through to 12:4. Yes, at history’s end you will physically rise IF your name is written in the book of life. But if not then you have every reason to fear the future, because as Daniel 12 also teaches, all others will rise to face utter humiliation and everlasting contempt. If you are not right with God then plead with God to give you new life.

The greatness of our Christian hope is that it shines in the blackest night, when all looks grim. In this book the more Daniel discovers about the future the more distressed he becomes. He knows that God’s people, the Israelites, will return to their land from their exile in Babylon. He knows Jerusalem and the Temple will be rebuilt. But he also knows that even more terrible things will happen to God’s people than those things that have already happened. So, at the end of Chapter 9 Daniel is told that “an anointed one”, namely the Messiah, will be “cut off”, that is, killed. He is told that after Jerusalem and the Temple have been rebuilt they will yet again be destroyed.

The Great War

At 10:1 we learn that Daniel’s vision “concerned a great war.” There are three reasons to call this “a great war.” Firstly, as indicated in 9:26: “War will continue until the end.” There will be unending conflict until the final resurrection. Secondly, this great war is not war in general but that relentless conflict in which God himself is defied and God’s people end up being the victims. Chapter 11 traces conflict between Persia and Greece and then many phases of the conflict between the King of the North, that is, the Seleucid Kingdom based in Syria and the King of the South, that is, the Ptolemaic Kingdom based in Egypt. Palestine, here called “the beautiful land”, is between these empires making God’s people the meat in the sandwich. The conflict of Chapter 11 climaxes when blasphemous human rule – a major concern in this book – will blatantly express its defiance of God and seek the destruction of his people.

Thirdly, this conflict is “a great war” because it involves angelic princes locked in battle, anticipating Paul’s words that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against” ‘principalities’ and other spiritual forces. In 10:21 and 12:1 the archangel Michael is called “your prince”, that is, the princely angel guarding Daniel and the people of God. In Daniel 10 Michael and the Glorious One who reveals the last vision to Daniel are presented as fighting against other angelic princes, clearly evil angelic authorities, namely “the prince of Persia” and “the prince of Greece” (v20).

In his book Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper states, “There is not a warfare part or life and a non-warfare part. Life is war.” As Piper observes, most of us show by our priorities that we don’t really believe this. We act as though we are in peacetime not wartime. Around 15 million people were killed during World War I. It was called “The Great War.” Very few of us really believe that spiritual warfare is greater than either of the two world wars. Do you really believe that spiritual war is more deadly than any nuclear war you might imagine? Have we really grasped that the casualties of this war enter a hell of everlasting torment? As Piper points out, because our churches are characterized by a peacetime mentality there is a lack of willingness to suffer, to take risks, to launch out on God alone.

What is this battle in the heavenly realms all about? Clue #1: the timing of this vision: “the third year of Cyrus king of Persia.” The vision of Chapter 9 occurred in the first year of Cyrus when Daniel’s prayers began to be answered with Cyrus’ decree authorising the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the return of God’s people to their land. Clue #2: in verse 13 the Glorious One who reveals this vision to Daniel speaks of being detained “with the kings of Persia”, not “king” as mistakenly in the NIV. Cyrus had made his son Cambyses his co-regent, hence “kings” not “king.” Clue #3: At 11:1 we read: “And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I [the Glorious One] took my stand to support and protect him.” Clue #4: The book of Daniel is totally preoccupied with the implications of world events for God’s people. Clue #5: Both Daniel’s prayer and the closing vision of Chapter 9 have centered around the return of God’s people to their land and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple.

Given these five clues, we can be confident that the battle in the heavenly realms is tied to the return of God’s people from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. This is Daniel’s obsession, as Daniel 6 makes clear. For even though certain death stares him in the face Daniel still goes to the upper chamber of his house and prays to God three times a day, deliberately facing Jerusalem as he does so, precisely because that’s what his prayer life always centres around – the restoration of God’s people and the glorifying of God in the re-establishment of the centre from which God will rule the world. That is, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
During the last three days Australia was locked in battle with the West Indies at the Gabba in Brisbane in the first cricket test. You should not underestimate the significance of this. After the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, he commented, “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” He also said, “My successes in the Army are owing in great measure to the manly sports of Great Britain, and one sport above all - cricket.”

You will never again disparage test cricket, will you? Didn’t you realise that Australia’s dominance in cricket means we can conquer the world? Yes, laugh at the idea of associating military victories with struggles on a cricket field. But then many non-Christians might laugh at the way we Christians think our day-to-day struggles are tied to a titanic conflict involving mighty angelic forces.

The idea of ordinary people fighting against otherworldly beings sounds like fiction to many people. Our televisions have been full of programs of this nature: Charmed, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Doctor Who, X-Files, Pushing Daisies, Supernatural, Smallville. In the same manner heaps of movies have been made involving angels, all serving to encourage people to think that any talk of angels or non-human spiritual persons is all the stuff of fiction. Yet very high numbers of Westerners do believe in paranormal forces and many believe in angels, even if their views of such beings are way out. The irony is that many who adhere to a scientific worldview still believe there is more to the world than what they can see and hear and touch.

Otherworldly Warriors

Daniel 10 only speaks of two evil angelic princes, one associated with Persia and one with Greece. Their activity is linked to a Satanic attack on God’s people who at that time are also a nation with a land it is in the process of reoccupying. It’s dodgy, on the basis of this evidence, especially now that God’s people are no longer a land-bound nation, to think every nation is controlled by its own evil angelic prince. Despite this there are Christians who believe not only that all nations are ruled by evil angels but also cities and other geographical areas as well. Some years ago 200 YWAM missionaries went to Cordoba, Argentina during the World Cup soccer play-offs. After prayer and fasting they believed that God had identified for them a Satanic territorial spirit who ruled Cordoba, manifested in the cultural pride of the city. To defeat this proud demon by humility, the team scattered around the central mall shopping area and, in full view of passers-by, knelt down and prayed for Jesus to be revealed to the city. Intrigued, crowds gathered and accepted tracts. When John Dawson preached some people dropped to their knees and repented of their sins. Those YWAM missionaries believed they had defeated the territorial spirit of Cordoba.

Many Christians have walked in the March For Jesus Movement. If asked why, many would answer, “I’m marching for Jesus.” But the founding leaders of this movement would answer differently. They would say, “We are marching as an act of spiritual warfare to defeat the territorial spirits ruling in the areas in which we march.”
Contrary to the teaching on territorial spirits, the New Testament indicates demons dwell in people (and, occasionally, animals) rather than in regions, houses, or territories. Unlike some Christians today, Daniel does not try to find out the names of the angelic princes, nor does he even pray against them. David Pawson observes, “One striking feature of engagement with demons by Jesus and others in the New Testament is that they never took the initiative. They never went looking for them.”

Against these evil angelic princes stands the Glorious One of Daniel 10, who speaks of being detained by “the prince of the Persian kingdom” for 21 days until relieved by the archangel Michael. This doesn’t mean he must be an angel, limited in power. While God is absolutely sovereign he has permitted Satan along with his evil angels to contest what he has planned for his people. Listen to Daniel’s description:

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude (vv4-6).

In Revelation 1 John uses the language of Daniel 10, along with that of Daniel 7, to describe his vision of Jesus in all his glory. Also, Daniel’s description of the Glorious One resonates with Ezekiel’s vision of God, as described in Ezekiel 1, where Ezekiel ends up looking at “a figure like that of a man” high above the throne. In Daniel 10:16 Daniel recalls how “one who looked like a man” touched his lips, inviting us to see him as John evidently saw him, one and the same as the divine Son of Man portrayed in Daniel 7. In Daniel 10 Daniel is in the presence of God himself.

Quest for Wisdom

In verse 12 this Glorious God, in radiant human form, says to Daniel: “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.” Daniel was a man in search of understanding, wisdom. In Ezekiel 28:3 God mocks the King of Tyre for his immense arrogance, saying, “You are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you.” This sarcasm assumes that the King of Tyre is familiar with the international reputation of Daniel as the wisest man on earth. Yet wise Daniel is confused because he knows God is sovereign. This being so why do bad things keep happening to God’s people. Where will it all end? But Daniel ends up learning what is inscribed “in the book of truth” (v21), that is, the book that truly reveals what God will do in future history. It is as if God has already written down in a book everything that will happen in future times. Everything is predetermined; everything happens according to God’s schedule, in tune with his program.

You are kidding yourself if you think you can acquire wisdom by simply sitting passively in your pew and listen to me preach, or by simply turning up unprepared for your home group Bible study. Daniel models what we read in Proverbs 3:3-6: “Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” It takes sweat and blood to mine for silver and diamonds. How much sweat and blood do you expend in seeking wisdom from God?

Make sure you are getting adequate biblical input into your life. The Bible is God’s Word and as Psalm 19:7 puts it, “The law/Torah of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” Mining the depths of God’s Word is a crucial aspect of acquiring wisdom. Maybe you need to sign up to do an evening course at the Presbyterian Theological Centre or do a correspondence course or maybe even spend a year or more at a Bible College. Are you regularly reading and studying and probing God’s Word?

I was converted at the age of 19 through the Navigators in New Zealand. Sometimes a Christian leader came to speak. Often, after the meeting was over, a number of us would corner the speaker and besiege him with questions, trying to squeeze as much out of him as we could. I see very little of this today. Instead I see a large measure of ho-hum, “that was a nice talk” and that’s it. Where is our heart to learn, to grow in wisdom? Daniel had it.

As the example of Daniel makes clear, it is a great mistake to equate the acquisition of wisdom with developing a greater head knowledge of what the Bible teaches. Daniel acquired his wisdom in highly stressful situations. In Chapter 1 Daniel acquires extraordinary God-given wisdom after resisting intense pressure to be a boot-licker. In Chapter 2 failure to tell the king not only what his dream meant but the dream itself would mean certain death. In Daniel 9 Daniel is so burdened with all the evil God’s people have done that he fasts, wearing sackcloth and coated with ashes. In Chapter 10 the new wisdom Daniel receives comes after three weeks of praying in this way.

In this book Daniel is enabled to see the horrific things that evil anti-God rulers will do in future times. But it is necessary for him to learn that God is far more to be feared than any evil, anti-God ruler of the future. This, I take it, is why our glorious God reveals himself to Daniel in such a terrifying manner, causing those with him to flee and terrifying even Daniel so much that every ounce of energy is drained from his body. It is because God in his awesome glory is the ultimate source of terror that the destruction of his enemies and the consummation of his purposes are assured. But how wonderfully God deals with his servant, Daniel. He reassures him, telling him twice that he is highly esteemed. He gives him the precious gift of restful sleep, strengthens him, and speaks to him gentle words of peace.

May the Lord free us of naïvete! May we see ourselves on a war-footing, aware that Satanic forces ever threaten the Lord’s people. May we like Daniel strive for wisdom, especially that wisdom that will enable us to understand what history is really all about. As we anticipate the dreadful things this world is yet to experience, may it be with a vision of our glorious God and with the peace that only he can give. 

www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au

Posted November 30, 2009

Jesus beats the Sadducees at their own game. They venerate the Pentateuch and believe it confirms their view that there is no such thing as resurrection. Jesus shows them that the Pentateuch, properly understood, does indeed teach the reality of bodily resurrection.

For further exegetical considerations see under “Articles” Mark 12:18-27. Resurrection and God’s Life-Commitment (Exegetical Reflections).

Mark 12:18-27. Resurrection and God’s Life Commitment

This sermon is a response to a request to summarise the Christian worldview and to indicate how this shapes our approach to life and its issues.

A Christian Worldview in a Nutshell: Creation to New Creation

Can Christianity only be environmentally responsible by jettisoning a significant part of Scripture?

Christians and the Environment

This sermon or address takes a brief look at the doctrine of the Trinity. The major point being made is that a non-Trinitarian God is incapable of saving humanity from the predicament in which we find ourselves. There are some views of God that are based on a limited or distorted understanding of partial biblical revelation that treat as a simple mathematical unity. Typically, such understandings protest at a concept of divine unity that involves multiplicity and complexity as evidenced in the complete repudiation of the very notion of God becoming man and of Jesus being God.

Only the Triune God Saves

There is no greater way to wisdom and understanding the Christian worldview than through the door that swings open at the foot of the cross.

Opening the Door to a Christian Worldview

There is contrast, yet also significant continuity between the conquering Creator-King and the conquering creature-king.

Genesis 1. Putting People in their Place 

What did it mean for man to be put in the Garden “to work and guard” it? What is the significance of the man-woman relationship?

Genesis 2. The Gardener, the Guardian and the Girl

This sermon considers the FALLacy adopted by the man and the woman in the Garden, the nature of the consequent FALL and the continuing FALL-out.

Genesis 3. The Bigger they Come the Harder they Fall

This passage illustrates the dangers of wrongly-based human unity and cooperation.

Genesis 10-11:9. Faulty Tower

God’s foundational promises to Abraham involve an immediate contrast with the Tower of Babel incident and find their ultimate fulfilment in Christ.

Genesis 12:1-4. Great Expectations

The story of Abram and Lot is told in a manner which anticipates the later experience of Israel. The hankering of Lot after Egypt, his foolish associations with wicked people and his rescue by Abram all point ahead to the similarly cravings, folly and experience of grace with respect to later Israel.

Genesis 13-14. A Short Goodbye

In this chapter we see Abram “out for the count” in two different ways - (1) out to count the stars and (2) fast asleep. In both cases the underlying issue concerns Abram’s need to fully trust God as the one alone who controls the future.

Genesis 15. Out for the Count

Abraham lived in a world of threat and he had developed his own security system for dealing with this - passing off his stunning wife as his sister. But, ultimately, we, like Abraham, cannot place our trust in our security measures, no matter how clever or appropriate they may be.

Genesis 20-21. Sister Act 2

How are we to understand God’s demand that Abraham sacrifice his son?

Genesis 22. Killing the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg

Isaac needs a wife if the Abrahamic promise is to be fulfilled through Isaac. But he must not compromise. Humanly speaking, this seems to make it harder for God’s promise to be fulfilled. But God wonderfully provides and abundantly demonstrates his ability to fulfil his promises.

Genesis 24. Match Making

An analysis of the fourth command and the first observance of Sabbath by God’s people in Exodus 16 uncovers a foundational concern that God’s people know God as he has revealed himself to be, namely as Yahweh, the great I AM. The Sabbath celebrates God’s rest and dignifies and exalts God’s people, inviting them to enter his rest. It is in fact the nature of this self-revelation which predetermines the way in which Sabbath-rest is to be experienced. The supreme self-revelation of the great I AM in the LORD of the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus, radically updates this self-revelation and thereby also radically transforms the way in which Sabbath-rest is experienced.

Exodus 20:8-10. Time to Put Your Feet Up? Sabbath Rest for Today

The Shema, in its context, establishes that it is Love for God that leads to the Heart-Obedience which in turn leads to Ultimate Fulfilment.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9. Love that Takes the Lot

God’s people are about to enter the promised land with a propensity for idolatry, hence the warnings they must heed and the drastic measures they must take.

Deuteronomy 12. Don’t be a Copycat!

Hannah, distressed by her infertility, was a desperate woman. Yet her infertility serves to underscore the colossal significance of the birth of Samuel who stands in contrast to Samson and Eli.

1 Samuel 1. Desperate Housewife

God humbles the proud and exalts the humble, that’s the gist of Hannah’s influential prayer. Humility, as modeled by Hannah, DELIGHTS in God, DEPENDS on God and DRAWS ATTENTION to God.

1 Samuel 2:1-11. The Great Reversal

God’s people are rebuked and issued with dire warnings when they ask for a king. Yet there was nothing wrong with asking for a king as such. Rather it was the motivation behind their request which made it so abhorrent. When it comes to our own trust in the Lord’s ability to care for us we face similar dangers.

1 Samuel 8. Safety First

This passage is concerned with the inception of kingship for God’s people and makes it clear where ultimate authority lies.

1 Samuel 9:1-10:16. Who is the Big Shot?

David needed to learn the hard way that God’s Presence is not to be taken for granted.

2 Samuel 6 - Don’t Take God for Granted (PDF)

Psalm 1 is a major passage in Scripture because of the key role it plays in introducing the entire book of Psalms. In a fundamental manner it cuts to the heart of the essential difference between those God regards as the righteous and those he regards as the wicked.

Psalm 1 - A one track mind

This psalm combines with Psalm 1 to introduce the entire Psalter. It particularly introduces the theme of kingship. It involves a conspiracy, a crackdown and a choice.

Psalm 2 - People are Revolting! (PDF)

This psalm indicates that though we are seemingly insignificant entities in this vast universe, our great Creator has chosen to exercise his rule over the created order through puny people like us.

Psalm 8 - Big Babies (PDF)

In considering the revelation of God’s glory as Creator in the day and night skies or heavens, David focuses on the glory of the sun and then presents a total eclipse.

Psalm 19: Total Eclipse

This psalm considers the threat to God’s people, underscores that their security is guaranteed, that God himself is committed to securing their ultimate safety, that the intelligence service he uses to effect our security is second to none, that opposing peoples suffer from national insecurity and that the foundation of the security of God’s people consists in God’s unfailing love.

Psalm 33 - A Matter of National Security (PDF)

This psalm addresses the need of God’s people for peace and a sense of security in a chaotic, threatening world.

 Psalm 46. The Chaos-Conquering God

This psalm reveals how

1. Disaster Dazes Dirty David:
2. Desperation Drives Dirty David;
3. Disgust Demoralises Dirty David;
4. Dedication Delights Dirty David.

Psalm 51 - Dirty David Comes Clean (PDF)

Jesus is the right leader for his people and for the entire world and the consummated reign of Jesus is the key to world blessing. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

Psalm 72 - The Leading Man (PDF)

This psalm explains why there is nothing we should yearn for more than to be in the presence of God.

Psalm 84 - Travel Plans (PDF)

The fruit God seeks in the community of his people is that of right relationships.

Isaiah 5 - Sour Grapes? (PDF)

This magnificent chapter moves from one polar extreme to the other. It begins with Isaiah seeing, hearing, understanding and being healed. The chapter ends with people unseeing, unhearing, incapable of understanding and unhealed.

Isaiah 6 - Sense and Insensibility (PDF)

The hope of the world is the justice brought by the great Servant of God. This is a justice grounded in Torah. But there is a contrast between this faithful Servant-King and the blind and deaf Servant People of God. There is a challenge here to pay careful attention to God.

Isaiah 42 - Law, Light and Liberty (PDF)

This sermon is concerned with the great sign God will set among all people in the last days; with the gathering of people from all nations into the New Jerusalem; and with the means by which this will be achieved.

Isaiah 66:18-24. The End in Sight

Contrary to popular Christian thought, in the Bible idolatry is not primarily concerned with misplaced devotion but with a false experience of and approach to “revelation”.

Hosea 4:10-14. Culpable Ignorance

This great passage presents Jesus as the Champion of Justice, with contextual indications as to what this justice involves.

Matthew 12:15-21 - The Name of Hope (PDF)

In Mark 8 Peter’s great confession is not treated in quite the same way as in Matthew’s account. In the latter stress is made upon how God revealed this truth to Peter. But in Mark’s account this confession belongs to a context that stresses the blindness of the people, especially Jesus’ disciples, to Jesus’ identity.

Mark 8. Getting to Know Jesus 

“Take this cup from me”, Jesus prays. This sermon considers the significance of this prayer and what it meant for Jesus to drink from this cup and what it means for his disciples to drink from this cup.

Mark 14:32-42. The World Cup

Jesus is presented as the Prophet of Grace and, therefore, he comes not to pander to people out of a sense of obligation but to minister to desperate people who long to experience God’s grace and mercy.

Luke 4:14-30. Charity Begins at Home?

A brief reflection on the significance of Jesus’ words as stated in verse 15: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

Luke 22:7-23 - A Meal to Remember (PDF)

God is the perfect, uncomplaining host. Jesus uses this parable in an amusing manner to show that God gives to his children not out of obligation, but as our loving and generous heavenly Father. In particular his gift of the Spirit constitutes a substantial answer to each of the requests we voice in the so-called Lord’s Prayer.

Luke 11:1-13. The Parable of the Complaining Host

Jesus is confronted by angry stone-wielding Jews. Whatever did he do or say to arouse such animosity?

John 10:33. Who Does He Think He Is?

Ironically, the primary movement of this chapter is not from death to life, but from life to death. Read this sermon and see how.

John 11. A Matter of Life and Death

The participation of Christians in Jesus’ resurrection life is brought out in this great passage.

John 11. You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down?

Luke’s presentation of what happened at Pentecost encourages us to associate baptism with the Spirit with power, beginnings, language ministries and harvest time.

Acts 2:1-13. Baptism with the Spirit

The magnetic force of the early Christian commitment is explained by four areas of devotion: to the apostles teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.

Acts 2:42-47. The Whirlpool Effect