My name is Ricky, I'm one of the pastors here. And man, it is so good to be able to gather for celebrating the birth of Christ together. So let's turn to Daniel chapter 11. This is the section of Christmas, the season of Christmas, the time of Christmas in which the stores look like a tornado has rolled through them. I went to Home Depot last week to try to buy a power drill. I could not find a price. I could not find the drill bits. It looked like it was organized by an unorganized group of toddlers because people had come through thrown drill bits and things and power packs. Is this the power pack that goes to this? Uh, this is the chaotic section of Christmas before the sort of happy Christmas morning. And maybe, just maybe your life feels a little bit like that. There's Christmas stuff all around, but it, it feels chaotic, it feels disorganized, it feels like, what are we doing here?
And it's important to remember before we turn to Daniel 11, that, that, that feeling of I think this is out of control is why Daniel is in our Bibles. Despite outward appearances, God is in control. That's the book of Daniel in a nutshell. Despite outward appearances, God is in control.
And let me push it a little bit further, that means your life is in control. If God is in control of all things and you are one of God's children, this is good news for you.
So this text, though Daniel chapter 11 gives us that in a particular way by recapping about 150 years of history that is yet to come in the future for God's people. And because it is so lengthy, we're going to be working through this text by pointing out aspects of it. But I want to read three verses that summarize the text. So Daniel chapter 11. And despite this only being a summary, let's remember this is God's holy word. First verse two. And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Skip ahead to verse 29. If you would at that time appointed he shall return and come into the south. But it shall not be this time as it was before. And then it continues. Look at chapter 12, verse 1. This is where we will land. At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in. In the book. This is God's word.
And, Lord, I pray that you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see as we open your word today. Amen.
Well, this year for my Christmas list, I have done a risky, risky thing. If you're a kid in here, do you have a Christmas list? Put your hand up if you have a Christmas list of things that you wrote down that you're hoping to get. Okay, now I want to see. Is there any kid that has no Christmas list? Put your hand up your kid. You just have nothing. You just have no idea what you're going to get tomorrow or this week. Is that right? That's amazing. I love the surprise element. Risky, but I love it. Could be a gerbil, could be Tinker toys, anything. Could be a wet sandwich. It doesn't. You don't know. You have no idea. You have no idea. Well, I have also done a risky thing this Christmas. I have a Christmas list. But I put a book on my Christmas list that I have never read. In fact, I don't know anybody that has read the book. And in fact, when I put it on my Christmas list, no one had read the book because it hadn't been released yet. And further, I didn't even read the description of the book. I saw the title and the COVID and I said, yep, that's it. That's the one for me. It's on the top of my Christmas list. Now, am I crazy? Well, you may be. We'll find out on Christmas. But I don't think I'm crazy, because I know one thing about the book. I know the author of the book. I probably read more than, you know, a half dozen of of the books that this author has read. Different worlds, different stories, different characters. But I know I love this author. And if I love this author, I'm gonna love this book. Now, why can I do that? Because if you know the one holding the pen, you know what you can expect, you know, immediately, probably, whether you're gonna like it or not.
6 · Extends the illustration by showing how knowledge of an author or director immediately shapes expectations and trust, reinforcing that knowing the creator determines confidence in the creation
There's probably authors or directors or writers. That if you see their name attached, you' Nope, too scary. Not that one. Not gonna do it. Oh, it's a nice one. No, I don't think so. It's a trick, right? Or maybe there's some of you that if you see the director's name, it comes up on the previews a film by and then blank. Fill in the blank. You're like, yes, I'm in, right? Or no, not that guy. You know a lot when you know the one making the film, writing the book.
7 · Transitions from illustration to theological interpretation by asserting that Daniel 11's primary function is not merely predictive but revelatory of God's character as sovereign author
And Daniel 11 is meant to function in this way. It is telling us not just about what's going to happen for the next 150 years of God's people, but it's telling us about the one who's writing the story, the one who's writing the story of God's people.
8 · Acknowledges the complexity of Daniel 11 while asserting that its core message is simple and profound, preparing the congregation for detailed exposition that will yield a clear takeaway
And despite this being really one of the most complicated texts in the book of Daniel and one of the most complicated texts probably in the Bible, and probably a dubious choice for me to choose for a Christmas service, which I may or may not regret at the end of this time, despite it being complicated, it's actually one of the simplest and most profound messages in the Bible.
9 · Traces the three-part structural movement of Daniel 11-12: prophetic revelation (11:2), divine sovereignty (11:29), and eschatological deliverance (12:1), establishing the textual foundation for the sermon's argument
And I want you to see the through line of this. Look at verse two tells us the first thing we need to know. It says, I will show you the truth. And then God proceeds to unroll 150 years of history. I will show you what's going to happen. I will show you the truth all these people think they know. I will show you what's going to happen. Then look at verse 29. It says it has that phrase, at the time appointed this king will do this, meaning that this long list of names and conquests and armies and battles and kings, all of it has been appointed that God is the one writing the story. And then chapter 12, verse one gives us the end of the story. It shows us where the story is going. It gives us a peek, as it were, into the last chapter and the last page before we start reading.
10 · States the sermon's thesis using his son's summary as validation, then traces God's authorship through redemptive history from Genesis through Christmas to the present, establishing continuity of divine sovereignty
So this simple truth is profound, but I think so clear that even all the kids in here are going to grab this and be able to go, it was good. My boys 10 and 12 were at the first service. I asked them what was the sermon about? Which is always a dangerous question to ask your kids because 10 year olds are real honest. And they'll say, I have no idea. And here's my son's summary of this. God holds the pen of everything and your life. It's a pretty good summary of Daniel 11 for a 10 year old God holds the pen, writing everything and writing your life. The same God who wrote the story of Genesis and all creation. The same God who wrote the story of the Exodus. The same God who wrote the story of the promised land. The same God who wrote the story of, of God's people returning from exile. The same God there who this week we remember, wrote the Christmas story, is writing the story of your life.
11 · Uses the cultural reference of famous directors being introduced ironically to illustrate that God's past work (especially Christmas) should establish trust in His present authorship of individual lives
I always love when they, they interview, you know, a director or an author and they joke around and it's like, and they're like, oh, well, this guy is a little, he's a relatively unknown guy. He's a director. You may have heard of this little movie he made called Star Wars. And everyone laughs. Ha ha ha. You know, like this is, this is one of those moments where the Lord goes, okay, yeah, you may have seen some of my work before. It's called Christmas and we should be going, oh, I like that. I like Christmas. What else does he got? That's what Daniel 11 is meant to do.
12 · Announces the sermon's two-part structure and transitions into the first point by connecting the historical context of Daniel's original audience with the contemporary congregation's potential feelings
Now, two sections today we're going to look at the one holding the pen and second, what kind of story he's writing. So first, the one holding the pen. Now remember that in Daniel 11, God's people have endured 70 years of captivity. They have been batted around by a succession of empires. They feel small. The world feels out of control. And maybe today, maybe this Christmas season, you can relate to that feeling.
13 · Expounds the first attribute of God as sovereign author—He sees prophetically—by demonstrating through Daniel 11:3-4 how God predicted Alexander the Great's unprecedented rise and sudden fall with specificity impossible for human foresight
But the Lord shows them the truth that, that things are not out of control. And he shows them this, he reassures them of this by giving them two simple truths about God. First, he, he sees. And second, he decrees. First he sees. Verse two says, I will show you the truth. We often can't tell what's going to happen in our lives five minutes from now, much less five days from now, much less five years from now. But God, this text helps us see. God sees what will happen. And in fact he demonstrates in chapter 11 a knowledge unlike any, any other in world history that should cause us to go, okay, I'm going to trust this guy. He sees better than anyone else can. Look at verse three for an example. It says, then a mighty king shall arise who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. Now this verse 3 is none other than Alexander the Great. And if you read history books, Alexander seems to come out of nowhere. He becomes a ruler at age 20 of a relatively small empire and goes on an incredible tear of conquest stretching from Asia Minor toward Italy into Egypt and even into India. Nobody saw it coming. Nobody in the ancient world thought, yeah, ten years from now a kid from Macedonia is going to rule everything. Nobody except for God. God saw it and God knew. Look at verse four. And as soon as he is arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. Now, just like nobody saw the rise of Alexander the Great, nobody at the time saw the fall of Alexander the Great. In fact, in the middle of basically at the peak of his life, he started at age 20 and then at age 32, he suddenly drops dead from an illness nobody knows or can explain. Nobody saw that either. If you'd ask anybody that year, who do you think's going to be in charge a year from now? That everyone would go, Alexander wasn't the case. How could that have been predicted? It couldn't have, except the Lord saw it. In fact, the Lord even predicts he's going to die without a successor, without a clear sort of son to take his place, without his major advisors. In fact, through a succession of violent and surprising events, the kingdom ends up going to the four. You see that four generals who led under Alexander. They just take control. That's what verse four says in advance before it ever happened.
14 · Continues the exposition by tracing how Daniel 11 details 150 years of conflict between the Seleucid (northern) and Ptolemaic (southern) kingdoms with historical specificity, emphasizing God's comprehensive prophetic knowledge
And then from there it traces the 150 years of history where these, these four parts of Alexander's empire. In particular the. The two of the parts, the northern section and the southern section. If you read Daniel 11, is. Is the 2. Is the Seuss. Say, I can't even say this word. I tried in the first service. Selous man. Can anybody say the Seleucid dynasty? Right? Is that right? Is that close? Is that right, Andrew? I don't know. See, Andrew's rule is be confident. Just. That's how you say it. They Seleucid kingdom. If you learn nothing, that's how you do it right there, baby. And a second one I can say the Ptolemaic dynasty in the south. These two kingdoms war back and forth and back and forth over a succession of kingdoms and rulers and conquests and reconquests over 150 years. God describes all this in detail and he does not do it generally.
15 · Contrasts God's detailed prophecy with vague fortune-telling, then uses Daniel 11:15's specific military details (siege works, elite troops failing) to demonstrate the precision of divine foreknowledge
This is not like one of those fake predictors that you can call, you know, or pay 50 bucks to. They're like, oh, yes, in your future I see love and trees full of lights and you're like, you're Just predicting Christmas. That's. That's all. I'm not going to give you. Give me my $50 back. That's not what the Lord is doing. He's not throwing a general. Vague predictions. Look, all. Look at verse 15 for one example for how specific this is. It says, then the king of the north shall come up and throw siege works and take a well fortified city, and the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. Even details like the Lord saying, I'm going to predict siege works and siege warfare and the elite troops in particular are going to fail, leading to the fall of the city. That all happens right in incredible detail. The Lord predicts and sees everything laid out for the next 150 years.
16 · Creates two historical analogies (Shakespeare predicting the American Revolution, Lincoln predicting the moon landing) to make vivid the temporal and technological impossibility of Daniel's detailed predictions apart from divine omniscience
Just for some perspective of this, this would be like Shakespeare predicting the American Revolution and saying, you know what's going to happen? A bunch of colonists are going to dress like Native Americans and throw tea into a harbor and it's going to start a war. Everyone would be going, shakespeare, are you okay? Have you taken your medication today, buddy? Maybe your best work is behind you. Or, or for another example, it would be. This is more striking to me even. This would be like Abraham Lincoln predicting the moon landing. Where Abraham's going, hey, listen, one day when the Union comes back together, we will go to the moon. You're like, okay, Abe, you need to sit down now. It's been a long few years. No rockets, chemical explosions will take us there with computers like, okay, Abe, I think you really do need to sit down. Right? It just. It's impossible. It seems impossible, but that is exactly what Daniel 11 is doing. It's showing us that the Lord can see where no one else can't.
17 · Applies God's comprehensive historical knowledge to individual believers, then transitions to the second divine attribute—God decrees—by expositing the phrase 'at the time appointed' from Daniel 11:29 as evidence of active sovereign control
Any. And here's why this is encouraging for us as Christians. God knows the twists and turns of history, and that means he knows the twists and turns of your particular story too. No event in your life that you are surprised by. Is the Lord surprised by going, oh no, I let Mike go for five minutes and look what happened. That's not what he's doing. The Lord sees. And then the second truth coupled with it is that the Lord decrees, the Lord rules and reigns over it. Look at verse 29 at this phrase. And at the time appointed, this king shall return. These little phrases are peppered throughout Daniel's prophetic predictions. At the time appointed, is he appointing it? Is the king appointing it? Nope. A greater king is appointing something for him to do. The greater king, the Lord of Hosts, the ruler of rulers, the sovereign of sovereigns. He is ruling. He is reigning. And he firmly holds the pen of history.
18 · Traces God's sovereign decrees from creation ('let there be light') through new creation ('behold, I am making all things new'), establishing the canonical scope of divine authorship and applying it to individual Christian lives
And we see this from the very beginning of the Bible, where his decree begins the story, let there be light. And he decrees everything up until Revelation 21:5, where he says, behold, I am making all things new, from the beginning to the end. The Lord holds the pen of history, and here is encouragement for those who are in Christ. God also then holds the pen of your life.
19 · Directly addresses congregation members wrestling with doubt about God's control over their circumstances, answering anxious questions with pastoral reassurance of divine sovereignty
Do you wonder, man, is this surprising to the Lord? Did he. Was he caught off guard here? Could this be some mistake? Could some force be impressing itself onto my life, overriding God's plan and will for me? No, he holds the pen.
20 · Signals the structural shift from establishing who holds the pen (divine attributes) to what kind of story He writes (divine purposes and character)
But second, let's talk about the story that he writes with that sovereign pen.
21 · Introduces the question 'will I like this story?' through extended family illustration about movie preferences, establishing that knowing the ending matters for trusting the story—setting up theological application about trusting God's authorship
Now, everyone in my family usually has a question before we begin watching a family movie. And the question is, some variation of this, will I like this movie? And everybody has their own criteria. Especially last few years, my kids have asked, especially my boys, is there kissing? And if so, how much is there? They're just like. They have a limit. Okay, hard limit. One. Okay, sure. Two, we're getting in dangerous territory here. My mom has a different set of criteria. She, because she knows me and knows my dad, she will ask, okay, before we watch this movie, does it have any weird, like, time travel stuff? Does it have, like, multiverse, alternate reality weird stuff? Because if so, my mom's out. She's out. 100% out. Unless it involves Patrick Stewart, then she's back in. Loves Patrick Stewart, right? But my dad has a far simpler criteria for movies. Does it have a happy ending? Right. Some of you guys are like, amen, right? You don't want, you know, this Christmas week, some relative's gonna be. Let's watch this movie. And at the end, you're like, what was that? That was really good, huh? You know? And then, side note, I figured out my dad has a special hack. If we make him go see a movie that has a sad ending, he just goes home and watches a happy movie to recover. So at the end of the day, he ends on a hop note, right? That's free. That's for you. For this Christmas,
22 · Transitions from illustration to application by posing the existential question the congregation should ask: given that God holds the pen, what kind of story is He writing with my life?
the question we should be wondering about as we. As we come to the knowledge that God holds the pen is this, what story is he writing? And will I like this story? And especially perhaps, does it have a happy ending?
23 · Announces the four-point structure for the second main section while signaling an important preliminary qualification is coming
Well, this is a huge question, but I want to give you four brief things in Daniel that help us understand this and, and before I even jump into that, let me just say this.
24 · Addresses the potential objection that the sermon's optimistic theology doesn't match the congregation's difficult reality, asserting that Daniel 11 itself acknowledges suffering while maintaining divine sovereignty
Daniel 11, because you may be thinking, okay, Ricky, you're describing this beautiful thing where God holds the pen and, and it sounds wonderful and it sounds like it's a Hallmark movie, but that's not my life, right? I want to live a Hallmark movie, but I'm living some weird crime ridden Martin Scorsese downer of a movie and I don't want to live that. Is God unaware? No. Daniel 11 actually helps us see he's not unaware.
25 · Expounds Daniel 11:21's prophecy of a contemptible ruler who will persecute God's people, acknowledging the text's brutal honesty about suffering and persecution to validate the congregation's difficult experiences
I wish we could dive in in more detail, but Daniel 11 is super honest. I want to give you one place of brutal honesty in Daniel 11. And verse 21 talks about how in God's people are going to face something, a terrible ruler. In verse 21 it says, his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and attain the kingdom by flatteries. Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken even the prince of the covenant. And from there it only gets worse where it either recapitulates that history, that's that we see in verse 21, or it looks ahead to even future persecutions of God's people. We're not quite sure which it is, but. But the point is this. God's people are not living a happy, go lucky, Hallmark Christmas Town kind of movie in Daniel 11. And you may wonder as a result. Well then, then I'm not going to like this story, will I?
26 · Reorients from acknowledging suffering to providing four theological reasons why believers can trust God's authorship despite difficulty
Okay, well, four encouragements for why to trust the God who holds the pen. What kind of a story is this?
27 · Establishes the first characteristic of God's story: preservation of His people
It is one. A story in which God's people are preserved. One of the things you notice about Daniel 11 is that no ruler is safe here. A ruler will rule for a time and then boop. He gets taken out by a general or taken out by a son. Or he'll rule for a time and another king will crush him. Or an empire rises for a time and they seem strong, but somebody ultimately brings it down. And Daniel 11 is this. This kind of overlapping succession of empires where nobody's safe, no ruler safe, no empire's safe. But that's not quite true. There is one group of people that Daniel 11 and the book of Daniel show us is always safe. That is the people of God. Despite all the twists and turns of history, God protects and preserves with his sovereign power this relatively small group of people who have no great kingdom, no great king, no great army. They don't survive by their wits. They don't survive by their strength, but they survive generation after generation and century after century. Why? Because God chooses to preserve these people. The God who sees everything, the God who decrees everything, has decreed that this group of people would be lovingly preserved through history.
28 · Traces God's preservation from Daniel through the 400 silent years to the Christmas narrative, then applies the doctrine of perseverance to individual believers using Jesus' imagery of being held in His hand
In fact, you can connect that even with the Christmas story. The only reason we have the Christmas story and the only reason we have Mary and Joseph is that God preserves his people for 400 years from this point in Daniel, through the twists and turns and through it, almost seeing like the line of David would be snuffed out. But God sovereignly preserves them over and over and over. And Christian, God is writing a story in which you, yes, you are preserved, that you are held. Jesus gives this beautiful picture where he says, those whom the Father gives me, no one can snatch out of my hand. It's like you've been grabbed by God himself, one of God's people, and held amidst the swirl around you. Held and preserved. That's the story God is writing. You will be preserved.
29 · Establishes the second characteristic of God's story: evil's ultimate failure
Second, a story in which evil ultimately fails. One of the reasons we have Daniel 11 in our Bible is that that God wants his people to see that. That evil may seem like it triumphs for a time, or wrong or injustice might seem like they triumph for a time, but it will only be for a time. And in the end, they will be judged and brought down. Verse 18 says, this has one example of it. It says, a commander that will rather there'll be a great king that will rise, but then a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence, I love this phrase, back upon him. Meaning that those who do evil things get evil consequences thrust back upon them. Those who are harming others are themselves harmed. Those who are hurting others themselves are judged.
30 · Illustrates evil's ultimate failure through Herod's historical fate—his murderous rage against the infant Christ followed immediately by his own gruesome death, demonstrating divine justice in the Christmas narrative
And you see this actually very clearly also in the Christmas story. One detail you may not know about the Christmas story is that when Herod rages and chases Mary and Joseph and Jesus and wants to. To kill everyone because he wants to stay king forever. He doesn't like the idea of some new messiah king being born right after almost. He does that very soon after, in historical terms, he himself is killed. So you got this guy who's so concerned, I want to stay in power forever, I got to stay strong. I got to stay in charge. He rages and then, boom, he's struck down. In fact, history records it's a horrible, gruesome, painful, humiliating death, Right? Evil never ultimately triumphs.
31 · Applies the doctrine of evil's failure to wounded believers, then introduces the third characteristic—God's redemptive use of evil—while carefully distinguishing God's sovereignty from authorship of evil through reference to Genesis 3
And Christian, if there are hard parts of your story, be assured that evil will never ultimately triumph in your story either. The wounds others inflict upon you will not define your story. God will define your story. He sees all of it. He sees the end. And he will preserve you and see justice done. And third, God is writing for you a story in which bad things are used for good. Now this is where we reach the limits of our human understanding. Because God is not the author of evil. God created the world good. He said it was very good. But in Genesis 3, sin enters the world. Humanity chooses sin. And sin has wrecked the world ever since. It brings affliction. It destroys creation and countries. It destroys hearts and homelands. And it is grievous. And we see all of the scattered pieces of humanity that have been shattered and destroyed by sin all around us. And yet this is the good news. Somehow, in his sovereignty, God still holds the pen and uses even bad things for good.
32 · Expounds Genesis 50 as the paradigmatic biblical example of God using evil for good, showing how Joseph's brothers' evil actions were sovereignly woven into God's plan for redemption and preservation
You see a beautiful example of this in Genesis chapter 50, where Joseph is standing in front of the brothers that sold him into slavery and then faked his death to their elderly father. Now, if you think your Christmas family is tense, like, if you think Thanksgiving dinner was rough, just imagine the Joseph family Christmas. Hey, remember when you guys faked my death and then sold me to slavery? That was wild, right? They did a terrible thing. This is a horrible thing they did. But Joseph with divine insight says, okay, listen, you wrote a story of evil over my life, but God wrote a story of good. That Joseph then was put into a position where he could save his entire family because of that. They meant it for evil, but God in meant it for good. They intended it for evil. But God, if you can say it this way, superintended it for good.
33 · Transitions from the Genesis 50 exposition to a second illustrative example, emphasizing the repeated pattern of divine redemptive sovereignty throughout Scripture
And let me just give you one illustration of this, because over and over, you see, evil is done. And yet God somehow, in his mysterious and gracious sovereignty, uses even evil things for good. Let me give you one example.
34 · Traces how the Babylonian exile—an evil event—led to Scripture being preserved in the East, eventually bringing the Magi to worship Christ, demonstrating God's use of Israel's suffering for global redemptive purposes
In a corner of the Christmas story. Do you ever wonder how the Magi decide to leave their homeland and come to the birth of Jesus? Well, not the birth, but rather come to Jesus, right? Do you? Sometimes as a kid I had this picture of the. The wise men as like, they were just bored, just looking for stuff to do. They're like the group of friends that are like, sure, let's take a road trip to Missouri. Why not? What's in Missouri? We don't know. We're gonna go see Mount Rushmore. Why? I don't know. Like, that's what picture I had of the wise men. But that's Actually, not at all the picture you get in the Bible. In fact, these are. These are star watchers. These are learned men. They have some wealth and influence, apparently. And so why would they come to the birth to seek the new king of Israel? Well, because they had these writings that they present to the king, the. The false king, Herod. And they say, we see that the king of Israel has been born. Now how did they get those writings? How did they get Isaiah and Micah and the other texts of the Old Testament like Daniel? How did they get these things? Because God's people brought those texts with them. They brought the story of Scripture with them into exile and then made copies. And even when they went home, they left behind the story of God's people. And that, in a sense was for centuries an invitation to the nations to see the story of God's people be invited in that they would read texts just like this. That there is one who holds history. There's one who decrees things. There's one who cares for his people. And according to Daniel chapter seven, he's sending a savior. And so the magi here are like, you know what? Whatever we're doing, not as important as the king of kings being born. Man, I would sure like to be part of that story. And so God invites them in.
35 · Climaxes the 'God uses evil for good' section by identifying the cross as the supreme example—the greatest injustice in history sovereignly used by God for the world's salvation through penal substitutionary atonement
Look, was the exile a difficult thing? Were they oppressed by evil kings in Babylon? Absolutely. But did God use it for good? Absolutely. Over and over we see these things and perhaps most clearly see this on the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus, this child would be born to die. And it would be the most unjust thing to ever happen in human history. An innocent man was put to death. The only truly righteous and innocent man. And not just a man, but God himself come to earth to seek and save the lost, full of perfection and justice and service to others. But he is, through the pot of evil men killed like a criminal with the worst death imaginable. And it seems like man, somehow somebody else has the pen. They're writing a terrible end to this story. But no, what they meant for evil, God meant for the greatest good of the world. God sent Jesus there. He used those actions that. That Jesus might suffer in the place of his people and die for his people. And even though injustice was carried out, God used it for the salvation of all who would call on Jesus that they might be saved.
36 · Applies the cross-centered theology of redemptive suffering to contemporary believers, exhorting them to trust God's sovereign use of evil in their own lives based on His demonstrated character in Daniel 11 and Christmas
And this is the kind of God Daniel 11 gives us. This is the kind of God we see in the Christmas story. A God so powerful that he uses even bad things for good. And Christian. When you see the bad things in your life. Remember who holds the pen. Remember that it may be perplexing. Remember, it may be mysterious. But do not doubt that this is a king who can write good over and even through evil, for your preservation and for your ultimate good.
37 · Signals the final characteristic of God's story with a callback to the earlier family illustration about his father's movie criterion
Fourth and last, this is the point for my dad. Will it have a happy ending?
38 · Expounds Daniel 12:1's promise of ultimate deliverance, interpreting it as God revealing the story's end to establish trust in His authorship despite present trials
Fourth, a story with a beautiful end. Look at 12:1, it says, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never been seen since there was a nation till that time. But at that time, your people shall be delivered and everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. This is the moment in which God writing the story, says, okay, you see some of my work. Now, I'm going to let you skip all the way to the very end because you're wondering, does this have a happy ending? You're wondering, can you trust the author and where he's going with this plot? The reality is this. The Lord will bring about an absolute deliverance for every single one of his people forever. That's what we see in Daniel 11 and 12.
39 · Unpacks the comprehensive scope of 'delivered' in Daniel 12:1—deliverance from external evil, internal sin, and spiritual oppression—showing the totality of God's promised salvation
In this word, delivered, you will be delivered. Man, that is a multi layered word. It doesn't just mean, okay, delivered from Babylon or delivered from Greece, or delivered from Rome, or delivered from whatever it is for you, these medical tests, or delivered from the difficulties in your life for the relational tension. No, the deliverance here is far bigger. It means, in context of Daniel, a deliverance from the evil outside of us and the brokenness of this world. It means deliverance from the evil inside of us where we do things that we wish we could regret. We write parts of our story we wish we could blot out. Delivered from those parts and delivered from spiritual evil, all of the oppression and sort of demonic attack against us, delivered out of all of it forever. That is where the Lord is taking us.
40 · Emphasizes the individual certainty of salvation—God's deliverance is not for a generic collective but for every named person in the book of life, directly addressing believers who doubt their inclusion
And guess what? It is for everyone whose name is written in the book of life. My dad pointed out, as we were talking about the sermon this week, he pointed out that there is such a powerful knowledge here that, that knowing that God isn't just doing this for. For sort of his people in general, he's not just doing this for the big picture church history people. He's not just doing this for some people. He is doing it for every single person whose name is written in the book of life. And that means you, friend, if you are in Christ. You might think, okay, well, my name, I think got lost off a list somewhere because I see other people's lives and their stories seem like, oh, yeah, all things are working together for the good of those who love God. But not me. No, friend, if you are in Christ, if your name is in the book of life, the same pen who wrote your name in the book of life by the blood of Jesus is writing your story today. Today.
41 · Applies the doctrine of divine authorship by urging discouraged believers to trust based on God's demonstrated narrative skill in the Christmas story, showing providence weaving together seemingly coincidental threads
And so, friend, if you are discouraged, if you're wondering, where is this all going? You're wondering, how can this end well? Well, friend, trust the one who holds the pen. Trust, Trust the author of Christmas. Look, man, if there is any better reason to trust Jesus as a storyteller of surprising, amazing, better than you can imagine, actions and, and, and pulling of threads together that seem impossible. Look, everybody, we all, the week of Christmas, all love to bring out the story. And as many times as I've read the story to my kids and to myself, and there's always new aspects of the story, I think about the shepherds and the kindness there and the kindness to Mary and the kindness of people like Zechariah and the wise men being invited in all of it. I just am like, man, this is just amazing the way the entire thing comes together. And then he happens to be in Bethlehem, but he doesn't happen to be there because the Romans pushed him there, but the Lord used it for good. And all these things work together. And I think, oh, that's amazing. Here's what I want you to feel this week. Church. As you wonder at Christmas, the same one who wrote that story is writing your life.
42 · Directly addresses three categories of struggling listeners—the unsteady, the hopeless, the wounded—with tailored pastoral exhortations rooted in divine sovereignty
Let that steady you. If you feel unsteady this Christmas, let that give you hope. If you feel hopeless this Christmas, let that be a promise of future healing. If you feel wounded this Christmas, despite appearances to the contrary, God holds the pen.
43 · Issues an evangelistic appeal to unbelievers, framing conversion as surrendering authorial control to God, allowing Christ to redeem past failures and write future chapters as both Savior and Lord
And friend, if. If you are not in Christ, let me encourage you. You. You may not be part of this story, but you could be. You very much are invited to be. Just like God invited the wise men from far away to come and become part of. Of the story of Jesus. You today, whoever you are, are invited to become part of the story of Jesus. Because the reality is this. We all have parts of our own story. There's really only two options when it comes to life. You either can grab the pen from God and try to write your own story, or you can give the pen back to God and say, okay, you write a better story. And the reality is this. Every year, 100 people make new resolutions and try to write a new story for their life. And every year, everyone ends disappointed because they wouldn't be making any new resolutions if they Kept the last ones. Right. We all have parts of our story that we've written that we're ashamed of. But the Lord offers to write his son's name over those parts of our story and invites us to give him the pen that he might write a better story for us. That's what it means to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. It means that you allow Jesus to write over the worst parts of your story as Savior and give him the pen that he might write the next chapters of your story as Lord. That's it. And you today could be invited into the Christmas story rather than seeing Christmas is like, oh, that's great for those people. No, it's great for you people, for these people, for us.
44 · Returns to the opening illustration with a humorous confession of having discovered his gift early, setting up the sermon's closing analogy about already knowing the ending while waiting for it
All right, let me end with this. I want to end with a confession of a sort that the book that I put on my Christmas list that I had wondered if I would receive, I feel like this is. Well, this is a safe place, right? In church, people admit things. So the reality is I accidentally peeked inside an Amazon package, and I already know I'm getting the book. It's there. I know where it is. It's in the guest room in an Amazon package. But I face the frustrating reality that for the next few days, I don't have it right.
45 · Concludes by applying the book illustration eschatologically—believers know the story's ending (deliverance) and trust the Author (God), living in the tension between promise and fulfillment until the appointed day arrives
And, brothers and sisters, that's the beautiful tension of Christmas, that we know the story's there. We know the story's been written. We know that we trust the author, but we don't yet have all of it. We don't yet see all of it. We know the author. We trust him. The day is on the calendar. It's circled. It's coming soon. And so here's my final encouragement. Trust the author of the story today until you get to that day. Trust that he loves you. Trust that he's for you. Trust that that evil will be frustrated. Trust that even the bad parts of your life, he can turn for good. And trust that he's taking you somewhere better than you can imagine.