I believe there is a particular group, I believe, on the Lord's heart today, asking the question, what do I do in life when I just don't understand? Maybe that's where you are today. Even after reading the Bible, even after coming to church, even after praying, you find yourself perplexed, you find yourself confused, you find yourself, frankly, bewildered by the life circumstances around you. And you're going, I just don't understand. What am I supposed to do when I just don't understand? That is the question, I think that should be hanging over this text as we read it.
Now, we've read sections of the Book of Daniel often throughout this, but today we're gonna read the entirety of chapter eight before walking through the text together. And there's a particular reason for that. In verses 1 through 14, we get a vision, an apocalyptic vision. This vision concerns two particular kingdoms of the earth. Now, last week we saw four kingdoms. This passage, in a sense, is zooming in on the middle two kingdoms. We see a vision about them, and then we get the interpretation in the second half. And so it's hard to. You have to have both halves before you begin to draw conclusions from the text. So as we read, I want you to ask the question, how would this help in life when I just don't understand?
Daniel, chapter 8, verse 1. This is God's Word. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that, which appeared to me at first. And I saw in the vision. And when I saw, I was in Susa, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulay canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward, northward, southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. As I was considering. Behold, a male goat came from the west, across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal. And he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and I was enraged against and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him. But he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great. But when he was strong, the great horn was broken. And instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great even to the host of heaven. And some of the hosts and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled them. It became great, even as great as the prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him. And the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over it to it, together with the regular burnt offering, because of transgression. And it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking. And another holy one said to the one who spoke, for how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate and the giving over of the sanctuary and hosts to be trampled underfoot? And he said to me, for 2,300 evenings and mornings then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state. When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the ulai. And it called, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, understand, O Son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end. And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. And he said, behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation. But not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great, but not by his own power. And he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in all in what he does and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand. And in his own mind he shall become great without warning. He shall destroy many, and he shall even rise up against the prince of princes. And he shall be broken, but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings, that has been told is true. But seal it up, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now. And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. And then I rose and went about the king's business. But I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it. This is God's word.
And, Lord, I pray that you'd give us insight to this today. Lord, every part we confess of your word is breathed out by God and profitable even sections that at first may seem perplexing, as perplexing perhaps, as the life around us. And I pray, Lord, you give us insight to both this vision and our lives through your word. Amen.
What do we do when we just don't understand? That's where Daniel is today. Now, Daniel is confronted with two terrifying things. The first is this weird, terrifying vision. I mean, this is a weird vision. This is the kind of dream you have that wakes you up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat, and your wife's like, what's wrong? And you're like, the ram is going to kill me. You know, and you're. You're like, wait a second. Let me just, you know, let me. Okay, I'm in my house. I'm okay that it's a scary vision. But Daniel is even more terrified and disturbed not by the vision, but rather by the interpretation of the vision, the meaning of the vision. This. This message that God's people are going to go through a severe period of unspeakable persecution is a. Is going to happen. And Daniel is forced to confront that, the reality of that oncoming persecution.
So this is a lot going on in this passage. I'm going to tell you up front. We're not going to get to every single small detail. There may be really small details that you're like, I wonder what that specific thing means. We may not get to it because I want to keep us focused on the big picture of the vision, which is why the vision is in our Bibles. And so I'm going to boil the text down to three words, okay? The vision in the response and the vision in three words. First, lament. Second, trust. Third work. That's the message of this and the call of this passage.
6 · Introduces the first major movement (lament) and establishes the basic exegetical framework: the vision is a prophetic retelling of Medo-Persian and Greek empires
The first category is lament, lament. Now, even if you don't understand all these small details of the vision, you get the main idea here pretty clearly. You get this vision of a ram running across the world representing the kings of me, of the Medes and the Persians. And then you see this other, this goat with a horn that represents the Greek empire. And so this is a poetic retelling of what will occur over the next hundred to 200 years in the Middle east from Daniel's perspective.
7 · Demonstrates the supernatural accuracy of Daniel's prophecy by tracing its fulfillment in the Medo-Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, the division into four kingdoms, and the blasphemous atrocities of Antiochus Epiphanes
Now, before we even jump into this, I just want to brief excuses, just encourage you trust God's word, because this vision was given to Daniel. And there is good, even extra biblical evidence of this vision being given to Daniel in the 6th century. And what he describes in detail here is what occurs over the next 200 years in the Middle east with surprising shocking supernatural clarity. For example, thinking about the Medo Persian Empire, the two horns, it says, represent the two sides of the empire. One, they're both. And that was a very unique empire, the Medo Persian Empire, in that it was a, in some sense is a split empire. And the second half of the empire, the more Persian side, was indeed stronger. And that's exactly what the vision says. And then you get this picture of a goat that is everywhere and his feet aren't even touching the ground. He's so fast, he's flying through the air. This is a picture of Alexander the Great. The Bible predicted Alexander the Great. It predicted he would go on to territory, to territory, to continent after continent, he would quickly conquer the world. And then it also predicts, bam. At a young age, after conquering the world, Alexander the Great gets a fever and just dies, right? This is what's predicted here. And then four empires, just like in this vision, rise. Alexander's empire split into four pieces. And one of those pieces, the Suslid Empire, it becomes, it gives rise to a particular ruler called Antiochus Epiphanies. And this ruler, Antiochus Epiphanies, would do a bunch of unspeakable things which are predicted here, right? He, he would do things in the temple, intentionally blasphemous in order to try to break the religious tradition of the Jewish people. So he, I mean, he May. You may remember him. He's the guy that sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple. He's a guy that erected a statue of Zeus in a holy place in Jerusalem. He banned worship, he banned Jewish rituals, he massacred people. And later, if you know your history, this is what gives rise to the Maccabean revolt in the area. And this is all predicted by Daniel hundreds of years before it occurs.
8 · Leverages the proven track record of biblical prophecy (Deuteronomic blessings/curses, Davidic covenant, Abrahamic promises) to argue for Scripture's trustworthiness and to counter fear of cultural skepticism
And here's what I want to say. If you look through the Bible from the earliest sections of the blessings and curses and predictions of the law, they all come true. If you looked at the promise to David that somebody would sit on the throne of David forever, that's come true. If you look at the promises to Abraham that his people would flourish, that's come true. All of the promises of God that have been made in the Word have come true. And so it is encouragement because sometimes I think as Christians we get a little afraid. Like, oh no, what if Time magazine runs another story about how the Bible is untrustworthy. It's like, no, man, don't be afraid. We have thousands of years of trustworthy proof of God's word, therefore we should lean in and trust it.
9 · Transitions from apologetic use of prophecy to pastoral application: God does not give prophecy as spectacle but for a purpose—to prepare His people for persecution and model the right response
So that's what we see. But what's the, what is the meaning for Daniel? What's the meaning for God's people? Why God never just shows us a prophetic picture of the future and goes, look at that. I can do that. You guys see that? It's pretty cool, huh? He doesn't do that. He always shows a picture of the future for a purpose. And one of the reasons this is in our Bible is that it shows us in advance the, the great persecution of the Jewish people of God's people, and then gives us the appropriate response.
10 · Unpacks verse 13 to show that the angelic dialogue in heaven models lament for God's people: crying out 'how long, O Lord' in the face of persecution while trusting that God is not caught by surprise
Notice the appropriate response is given in verse 13 when this angel says to another, then I heard a holy one speaking. And another holy one said to the one who spoke, for how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot? The court of heaven seeing this coming models the right response, saying, how long, O Lord, how long would you allow your people to be persecuted? And this would be important so that as God's people are undergoing these events, they would know this is not catching God by surprise. He's still in control. And the appropriate response is lament and grief.
11 · Establishes Daniel's visceral grief (sick, appalled) as the biblical model of lament, arguing that Christians often skip lament and move too quickly to resolution, whereas Scripture models honest expression of sorrow to God
We see this as well with Daniel, right? His response is, he sees this and he is so burdened, he becomes sick and can't leave his bed for days. It says he is appalled by the vision. Now, here's why this is important. There. There are a number of good impulses Christians have when trials come. But one of the impulses I'm concerned about. I'm wondering if we don't have a gear, perhaps sometimes in the Christian life that we need, we just skip kind of first gear and jump right into third or fourth gear at times. And what I mean by that is this passage models for us the biblical category of lament. That when we see evil, we lament it. When we see wrongdoing and injustice, we grieve it. When we see blasphemy, we mourn appropriately. We see this pattern throughout. For example, the psalms, where Psalm 13, the Psalmist begins the psalm with a bang and just cries out, how long, oh Lord? How long will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Right? He's. He's. And this isn't him charging God with evil. He's. He's genuinely going before the Lord, going, lord, I don't understand. How long must this happen?
12 · Expands the biblical evidence for lament by citing Psalm 88 and defining lament as 'the honest expression of our sorrows to God
You see that over and over. You see it in Psalm 88, where. Where he even describes his life circumstances being put in the darkest pit where he's pleading with God to hear his prayer. May my prayer come before you. Turn your ear to my cry. One author I read defines biblical lament as the honest expression of our sorrows to God.
13 · Direct pastoral challenge: Christians often fear honest lament, but Scripture encourages bringing deep hurt to God rather than suppressing it
And sometimes I think Christians, as we are in grief, we don't go there. We're almost afraid to go there. We're afraid to speak out loud in our prayers, how deeply we've been hurt or how much what's going on grieves us. And the Bible actually encourages us. It says, evil exists, injustice exists, persecution exists. And the right response is to cry out, lord, how long?
14 · Personal testimony of the preacher's failure to lament during COVID (multiple losses, health crises, pastoral burdens), his resistance to vulnerability, and a biblical counselor's challenge to pour out honest grief to God using the Psalms as model
Look, this. This is important for us. I learned this during the COVID period where I just. Just, frankly, there was a number of things going on that I just tried to bottle up, keep inside, and not talk to God about. Because I thought, okay, well, that's not what a good Christian does. And we had done a number of funerals and memorial services for people not just because of COVID losses, but just for other health losses. The loss of a dear little girl in our church, the loss of a friend in our church, also my own grandmother. I was going through severe health issues. I was going through all the things as a pastor that was happening during COVID And I just. My response was to just skip the lament piece and try to move on to something else. And I remember a good biblical counselor really challenged me, Ricky, have you poured out these thoughts to God? And I was like, what do you mean? And he's like, have you gone before the Lord? Have you just been honest with me? Have you cried out? How long have you said, lord, please help me. Please, please help me in this moment? I don't understand. I see what's going on. This is so difficult, so hard. This family's suffering so much. I don't understand. Have you brought those things to the Lord? And I was like, no, that just. And he was like, why not? And one of my responses was, that just seems whiny. It just seems, I don't want to be a baby about this. Right? And the reality is he's like, no, no, look at the psalms. I mean, how many people did David kill in his life as a warrior? And his psalms are, lord, I'm going to be totally honest with how. With where I am right now. I need to pour out my heart to you. Not in a sinful way, not in an evil way, but just a genuine way. Bringing sorrows to God.
15 · Applies the lament principle by pointing to Grief Share as a concrete example of believers modeling honest sorrow before God in community, encouraging listeners to embrace lament as a necessary first step
And one of the means of grace for me was honestly our grief share group at the church. One of the things I did during that period was go to grief share and hearing these saints who have been hurt bringing their sorrows, but bringing them to the Lord in that context was so encouraging to me. So sometimes we need to stop at that first gear and lament before moving on.
16 · Signals the shift from lament to trust—the sermon's second major movement
But we don't just stop at the first gear. We move on to the second word, trust. Trust.
17 · Expands on verse 27 to show Daniel's full humanity—appalled, confused, yet trusting—and connects this to the Psalms' pattern of lament leading to trust, culminating in Daniel's return to faithful work
We bring genuinely those things to the Lord, but then we move to trust. Notice this. Notice it says that in verse 27, Daniel tells us, I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it, but he got up and went to work. Now notice why that's so important. Daniel gives us this full portrait of who Daniel is. Daniel is not the guy that nothing bothers you ever know. Know one of those guys, you're just like, how do you just keep going. He's like, yeah, whatever. Not doesn't bother me. You know, just keep. He. That's not the picture we get of Daniel. As if he's just this always, yeah, I'm going to the lion's den, whatever, I'll just go in there. You know, that's not what Daniel is doing. And sometimes we even start to think, oh, that must. That must. What it be. Must be like to be a good Christian. You're just like, yeah, all these hard things are happening. Whatever doesn't bother me. That's not what we get in the Bible. In fact, you have him appalled. He says, I don't understand. But Also in chapter 6, verse 23, it says that Daniel trusted in his God. He didn't understand, but he trusted in his God. We lament and then we trust. Over and over. In the Psalms, the pattern is clear, that the writer goes to God. The writer pours out his heart, honestly, an opening, but in openly. But in the end, he says, yet I will trust you. For example, in Psalm 13, which starts, how long, O Lord? It ends with this, but I have trusted in your steadfast love, and my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. He pours out his heart, but then he moves to trust in the Lord. That is what we see in Daniel's example. He gets up, trusting the Lord, and goes to work.
18 · Introduces the theological grounding for trust: despite showing the rage and evil of the nations, Daniel 8 itself provides reasons to trust God's sovereignty
Now we find as well in Daniel, chapter eight, good reasons for him to trust in the Lord. This passage is actually, even as it shows us the rage of the nations, the blasphemous evil of the nations, it gives us reason to trust in the Lord.
19 · Unpacks the text's image of divine sovereignty: God is not surprised or overwhelmed by empires but has them 'on a leash,' setting strict limits and orchestrating history toward the eternal kingdom of the Son of Man
Notice this, that even as though all of these events are happening even while they're occurring, God is still on the throne and God is setting their limits. And God has. The image in this text is almost as though God has all these empires in the world, but they're all on a leash. They're not running where he doesn't want them to go. The Lord is not like, well, I'm setting up, you know, the Greek empire, and, oh, my goodness, Alexander was way more successful than I anticipated. I better. I got to rein this guy in somehow. No, he's like, yep, you're allowed to go here and then no more. You're allowed to go over here and then no more. And he is pulling the threads of history for the purposes that we saw in Daniel, chapter 7. The purposes of God bringing his kingdom to the earth that will be established and last forever. The God of Daniel 7, where we see this son of man bringing the kingdom, that's the same God in Daniel 8 who is setting limits on the powers of the earth. He. He. Both of these are held together.
20 · Synthesizes the lament-trust dialectic: lament is appropriate but must not undermine trust, because God's character (Creator, Eternal, sovereign over history) warrants trust even where understanding ends
And look, the reality is this. We can, and we should lament appropriately, but it should not shake us from our trust in the Lord. One of the things we see over and over in the book of Daniel is that God has a plan. His Plan is for the good of his people. God even shows his people some of that plan. But for the things that God's people do not understand, God calls his people to trust him. Because based on what we know about God, if God truly is who he says he is, and he is, if God truly is the creator of all, the shaper of all, the Eternal One, bringing his kingdom, moving the threads of history, removing the threads of life in a way that we will not understand, that we will always get to a limit of our understanding of his plans.
21 · Extended analogy: just as the preacher's 8-year-old son could not fully understand the medical necessity of a kidney biopsy but trusted his father, so believers cannot fully understand God's purposes but are called to trust Him across the gap of comprehension
I think of it this way. Early in Covid, I found myself trying to explain to our 8 year old son why he needed to have his kidney biopsied. It was a really difficult time. Where before COVID my son began experiencing significant kidney issues and they were concerning to us. And initially the doctors were saying, no, don't worry about it, it's going to be fine. And then as weeks turned into months, his doctor finally sat down with us and said, okay, I am concerned now, and I am concerned because I wonder if it might be this specific kidney genetic disorder that would have severe consequences for your son's life. And so we need to know, and I'm recommending a kidney biopsy. And. But then Covid hit and so then the world shut down and then we didn't know what to do. Like, how urgent is this? Should we go in? Should we? Not until finally we made the call. Well, before they stop elective surgeries, we're going to try to get in and do this procedure. And my son is 8 years old and I'm having to explain to him, he doesn't understand how kidneys work. I mean, I could show him a chart, you know, online. I could show him, yeah, this is what's happening. But if I'm trying to tell him, hey, so here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna take a giant needle, stick it through your body, and pull out a piece of your kidney. He's gonna go, no, we're not gonna do that. Right? And before that, we're gonna give you an iv, which is another needle that we stick in you. And you're gonna have, you know, none of the hospital stuff. Is he gonna understand? And so I explained it to him the best I could. But in the end, the reason he walked into the hospital with me holding my hand was not that he understood fully. It was that he trusted his dad. Right? That's all he had at that point. I could tell him this and this and this, but there was always going to be that gap. And I was always going to have to ask him to trust me.
22 · Applies the illustration to Daniel: God reveals enough (judge, Messiah, kingdom) to prove His trustworthiness, but gaps remain where trust must carry His people across incomprehension
That is what God is doing in the book of Daniel. He's saying, my people, my people, I love you. I am for you. I'm going to show you this because I can. I'm going to show you this because I can't. I'm going to show myself trustworthy. I'm going to show you that I'm the judge. I'm going to show you that. I'm going to bring the Son of man, this Messiah, who will bring the kingdom. I'm going to show you all this, but there will still be these gaps where you will have to trust me.
23 · Traces the trust motif through Daniel (food, furnace, lions' den) to argue that trust is not a one-time leap at conversion but the ongoing pathway of the Christian life at every limit of understanding
Have you noticed the emphasis on trust throughout the book of Daniel? He has to trust him with the food, trust him in the furnace, trust him in the lions den. Why is that the emphasis of Daniel? Because God's people will always hit gaps in which our knowledge fails. And we must trust. That is the pathway of the Christian life. And it's not as though, here's the thing, sometimes Christians are like, yeah, I'm going to take the big leap. Trust God for my salvation. But then after that, I want to make sure everything's explained right. I'm going to need answers for everything else. No, no, no. The pathway of the Christian life is how we begin the Christian life, trusting the Lord when we hit the limits of our understanding. That is what the book of Daniel is meant to encourage us to do.
24 · Warns against two pastoral errors: (1) lamenting without moving to trust, and (2) rushing to trust without engaging in genuine lament
We lament and then we trust. And let me just say this, both of those are key, okay? Sometimes you'll find folks that, that are comfortable lamenting, but they never want to be challenged. Brother, sister, you. You've got to move to trust now. Like, I'm going to sit with you, I'm going to grieve with you, I'm going to mourn with you. But now I'm going to. I'm going to gently call you to trust the Lord or others who are comfortable with being called to trust the Lord, but they don't want to deal with all the emotion and messiness of lament. They don't want to actually bring their sorrows to God and pour their heart out before the Lord. And they're like, no, I'm just going to trust them. I'm not going to deal with that. The reality is, no, no, no. The Lord wants us to pour our heart out before him. We need to be vulnerable before the Lord. And then in the midst of that, trust him. Right? Both of them are absolutely key.
25 · Signals the shift to the third major movement: work
And it doesn't end there. There's one more word. We lament, we trust. And then third, we go to work.
26 · Unpacks verse 27's 'went about the king's business' as both literal (serving earthly kings) and theological (serving the King of Kings), modeling the progression from lament to trust to faithful work despite ongoing pain
Notice what Daniel does in verse 27. I, Daniel was overcome and lay sick for some days. And then tired of adulting, I just stayed there. It's not what Daniel says, right? Then I just couldn't anymore and so I stopped. No, that's not what it says. And I, Daniel was overcome and lay sick for some days, right? This is genuine. This is real. He is hurting. Then I arose and went about the king's business, right? He got up and he went to work. Now, and I don't think it's inappropriate with that verse in particular to see a double meaning in that phrase. Throughout the book, Daniel has this. This interesting dynamic where he serves the kings of. Of Babylon and of. Of the Medo Persian Empire. And even he serves Darius at the end. He serves all these people, but he, in serving them, has a much higher king. He's truly serving. He. He may be working in the court of Babylon, but he's working there because the King of Kings, who's over Babylon has sent him to Babylon on an assignment. He is about the king's business, but also the capital Kings k Kings business. And look, this is where, this is where we need to learn from Daniel's example. Grief and loss and pain may hurt us. We may appropriately feel sick with grief and loss. We should lament. We should bring those sorrows to the Lord. We should be sure in the midst of that to keep our grip on God, to fight, to trust God, to say with the psalmist in Psalm 16, that we will trust in his steadfast love. We should do that. And then we should get up and go to work.
27 · Challenges the temptation to wait for perfect emotional resolution before returning to work, arguing that grief and trust gaps persist this side of eternity, and cites Joshua and Elijah as biblical examples of God calling His discouraged servants back to work
Now, part of the challenge for me is I would like to wait to go back to work until all the lament has been drained to zero. And all of my trust in God is at level 100, right? Like I'd like that, you know? And it's. Sometimes I'm just kind of. I'm just waiting. I'm just waiting for all the sorrow to be gone and all the trust to be the highest it can be. And then I'll go to work, okay, Then I'll go to work. I'm just waiting. Here's the thing, brothers and sisters. This side of eternity, there's always going to be some grief and sorrow that do not drain and some gap in our understanding where we have to trust the Lord. And in the midst of that, we're still called to get up and go to work. You see God's people calling God calling his people rather to this over and over. Look at the example of Joshua. Joshua loses Moses, his mentor, his friend. He's got the burden of leading God's people. He's discouraged. In Joshua 1, he's fearful. And so what does the Lord say? Be strong and very courageous and go take the land. Right? That's the way God encourages him. Or the prophet Elijah is despairing in a cave. He's thinking, I'm the only faithful person left. I don't know how this is going to work out. I don't know what to do. I can't even anymore. And the Lord goes to him. The Lord meets him, the Lord encourages him. But then the Lord challenges him. Elijah, get up and go back to work.
28 · Adds Paul's example—enduring stoning and returning to work—as the climactic biblical model of the lament-trust-work pattern
You see this in the apostle Paul. Paul endures hardship. He endures pain. He endures discouragement. He endures betrayal. But over and over, he pours his heart out to the Lord. He trusts the Lord. And then he gets up and he goes to work. My favorite story is the one where Paul the apostle gets stoned with giant rocks until they think he's dead. He doesn't die. And he gets up and he goes back into the city. I'd be like, you know what? I think I'm out now. I mean, lord, thank you for sending me as the apostle to the nations, but I think my career ends with a pile of rocks thrown at me. No, he gets up, goes back to work. This is the pattern of the Christian life.
29 · Introduces a John Piper quotation as both comforting and challenging—setting up the climactic exhortation
John Piper has this great two minute encouragement on grief we'll send out this week, but there's a section of it that I just want to read to you because I find this both comforting and soul stirring.
30 · Piper's quoted exhortation synthesizes the sermon's three movements in one sentence: weep (lament), trust God (trust), embrace the life He's given and go to work (work)
He says this occasionally. Weep deeply over the life that you hoped would be. Grieve the losses, feel the pain, then wash your face, trust God and embrace the life that he's given to you. You get up and you go to work now.
31 · Explains Daniel's ability to return to work by grounding it in his vision of the eternal kingdom (Daniel 7) and the Abrahamic promise—both of which provide theological motivation for endurance
The reason Daniel can do this I one of the, the comforts, I think, for Daniel in this moment is that God has given him such an amazing glimpse at what he is doing with the kingdom and with his plans for the kingdom. Daniel has had this unique privilege of, like in chapter seven, for example, where he gets to see, okay, the judge is on the throne and anything done unto him will echo into eternity. The Messiah is coming to establish his kingdom. And this kingdom of the Messiah will not be like Greece, it will not be like Persia, it will not be like Rome. This one will last forever. The other empires are just this succession of warring beasts back and forth that each of them reigns for a time and then gets destroyed. Reigns for a time and then gets destroyed. But Daniel has a vision of the kingdom that will never fade, that will never be destroyed, and whose purposes will echo out into eternity. He gets this vision of a God who has a plan that he would. That we glimpse in the promise to Abraham, that through you, Abraham, and your people, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And then we see that blessing coming through the Son of Man's kingdom. And so Daniel seeing all of this, seeing the kingdom purposes, goes, okay, all right, let's go to work. Right?
32 · Extends the Daniel example to emphasize lifelong faithfulness: Daniel never retires from kingdom work, even in his 80s after the lion's den
That's. And, and notice he doesn't appear to retire at any point in the book of Daniel. He just dies eventually, right? Remember, he goes to the lions. Then we. He's old, he's like in his 80s. He's still going to work, man. I think at that point I'd be like, I think I. What is the retirement age for the kingdom? 80, 85. Lord, I think I'm there. He's like, nope, still going to work.
33 · Humorous cultural reference from an action movie used to illustrate the absurd but emotionally resonant idea of pushing through adversity to 'go to work,' which the preacher has adopted as a personal motto with his wife
Look, I think I know this is silly. Just go with me on this. Every once in a while I use an illustration that I worry about and then do anyway. And this is one of those. But Jen and I, who I just love this girl. She. One of the reasons I love her is that she loves finding and sending to me the most ridiculous clips from action movies that just are just defy logic. And so I don't even to my knowledge know that I've seen this film. But I remember us passing this clip back and forth. It's the most ridiculous action sequence I think I've ever seen. And it's not even a fight. Here it is in this particular scene, the hero is in the hospital, has a giant cast on his arm and he's sidelined from being able to help. But from the hospital in the distance, he sees an explosion in the city. And the look in his eyes, he just knows they need me. And so he turns to his little girl, who happens to be there in the hospital for some reason, and his little girl. And he says, daddy's gotta go to work. And then in a just logic defying moment, his giant cast on his arm, he looks at it and flexes his bicep so hard that the cast explodes. And then indeed he does go to work. And I just remember thinking, so sometimes we'll joke that like whatever, it's a tough moment, you know, in life that you. I'll joke with Jen. Okay. Daddy's got to go to work. Like, I feel beat up. I don't feel great today, but we're going to work, baby.
34 · Applies the action-movie metaphor to challenge Christian fragility, calling for honest lament, fighting trust, and relentless return to kingdom work—using Daniel's lion's den as the capstone example
And I think, if I could say this with all due respect, I think often Christians could use a little bit less precious moments energy and a little bit more Daddy's got to go to work energy. I think Christians are not supposed to be fragile things. Christians are to be lamenting and honest about their emotions and what they're feeling. They're to be bringing those to the Lord. They're to be fighting to trust the Lord. And they are to be then relentless at getting up and doing what needs to be done for the kingdom. That's what we see with Daniel in this moment. And remember, he gets up, he goes to work into a lion's den not long after this.
35 · Personal testimony of Todd Peterson's loving but bold challenge during COVID to stop being tentative and fully engage in kingdom work, which became a turning point for the preacher
That is the example I think Daniel Hope helpfully paints before us, that we lament. Yes, Christians should lament that. Christians fight to trust the Lord. And then Christians get up and they go to work. And I'll never forget one of the most helpful moments of my life was when my friend and fellow elder Todd Peterson, during COVID began to see, because he was working closely with me, that I was in a constant pattern of just being downcast. And I was lamenting, I was fighting to trust the Lord. But. But I. There was often just a tentativeness with me. A. Even as I was trying to lead the staff, I could just. He just feel I'm not 100% in. So I remember lovingly, compassionately, kindly, but boldly, he just challenged me. Ricky, we need you. All right, we need you, man. We need you to come in. We need you to do the kingdom work. We need you alongside us. And I remember just. It was uncomfortable at that time, but then I remember going home and going, okay, okay, that season's over. I think I've wept those losses. I fought to trust the Lord, but now I just. I gotta go to work and not just show up at the office. I mean, go to work with my mind and my energy and my emotion. Let's go. I'm so grateful that Todd did that. I love serving on a team with these guys.
36 · Direct exhortation listing concrete kingdom work (parenting, marriage, witness, gospel outreach) and calling the congregation to get up and engage, closing with a double Amen
Sometimes I think that's what we need. And maybe today, Daniel 7, is that for you, Christian, that you're called you. Yeah, Lament. Yeah. Trust. But then go to work. God's got work in front of you, Christian. And it's good work. And it's kingdom work, and it matters, and it matters. Not just now. It matters for eternity. So get up, brothers and sisters. Do the work of fathering and mothering and parenting. Do the work of fighting for your marriage. Do the work of being a witness for the gospel in a dark office. Do the work of reaching this city with the message of Jesus and the message. Message of grace. Do the work, lament the losses, trust in the Lord, and then get up and let's go to work. Amen. Amen.
37 · Transitions to the conclusion by attributing the final insight to Neil (worship leader), who observed the connection between Daniel 8:27 and Gethsemane
Now, look, I want to end this in a particular way, and I've stolen this ending, but it's okay. It's with permission. At the end of the first service, Neil, as he was leading, made this comment. And I thought that is actually where we should end and where we should pray. Because Neil made this great observation that isn't it great to study the Bible with other brothers and sisters? Because you always see things. I mean, I spent a week in this text, and then Neil said this, and I was like, oh, there it was, you know, and here was his observation. His observation was just simple, clear. He says, you know what this moment reminds me of? It reminds me of the Garden of Gethsemane.
38 · Climactic biblical-theological move: Jesus perfectly embodied lament-trust-work in Gethsemane, and because He succeeded where we fail, His blood covers our failures and empowers us to follow His example in kingdom work
It reminds me of how Jesus, before going to the cross, went and lamented and said, father, if it's possible, let this cup be taken from me. And then he moved from lament to what to trust, saying, lord, Father, yet not my will, but yours be done. And then he got up and he went to his Father's work, as difficult as it was. And brothers and sisters, here is the good news of our faith. He did that for us. We fail, we falter. We're not perfect in this. We fail at times. But Jesus, he didn't fail. And because he did that, because he went to the cross on our behalf, every failure of ours in these areas is covered by the very blood of Jesus. And every time we see something we should have done but didn't, it's covered by the blood of Jesus. Every time we've done something we should not do, covered by the blood of Jesus. And so now Christ, our captain, calls us to lament, to trust, and to join him in the work. We go to work because of his work already done for us. And we go to work as our captain leads us to work that we might follow in the path of Christ.
39 · Evangelistic appeal contrasting the world's empty answers ('live, laugh, love') with the gospel's comprehensive answer: Christ addresses sin, provides salvation, and invites participation in His eternal kingdom
And so let me just encourage you, if you are not a Christian today, look to Jesus, look to Jesus. Look, the world's answers on all these questions of what do I do when I don't understand? They're all baloney. They're terrible. The world's got nothing. Live, laugh. Love is what you're going to get out there. Jesus provides a far better answer. Jesus says, look, this world is broken because of sin and evil, and in fact you contribute to it. But I love you enough that I'm going to go to the cross to pay for your sins, that you might be brought into a new and better kingdom, the kingdom you long for. And then not only does he save us, call us to the kingdom, he then invites us to join him. That's what's held out for you. That's a meaning, that's purpose. No matter whether you have your whole life ahead of you or you've just gotten a terminal diagnosis, this is hope in any and every circumstance.
40 · Final charge to the congregation to stand and prepare for prayer, echoing the sermon's call to work
So now, brothers and sisters, let us go to work. Would you stand and let's pray.
41 · Closing prayer interceding for the three sermon categories—those who need to lament, those who need to move from lament to trust, and those who need to get up and return to work—asking for God's empowerment in each
Ah, Lord, I pray for those in these three categories today. Lord, I first pray for those in the lament category. Lord, I pray that anyone that really has suffered but not brought those things to you, Lord, I pray that they would do that. I pray that as that author encouraged us, they would bring their sorrows to God. And I pray that even now, perhaps today, they need to do that. And Lord, second, I pray for those who perhaps have been stuck in the lament category but have not yet moved to trust. Lord, I pray that you would, through your spirit, empower them to say with the psalmist yet I will trust in his steadfast love. I pray that we would say with the psalmist in Psalm 16, I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. Lord, may we in this moment confess that we trust you. We don't understand everything. We can't understand everything. So many times we're like that eight year old that doesn't understand, but we see enough to trust in you. And Lord, I then pray in the last category for all the people like me who may be sitting on the bed, afraid to go to work, afraid to get back into the fight. Lord, I pray that you would put strength in their hearts, strength in their arms, strength in their legs, strength in their souls today that they might get back to work for the eternal kingdom. I pray that in Jesus name, amen.
42 · Final benediction inviting the congregation to receive prayer from the prayer team and closing with the word 'trust,' echoing the sermon's thesis
As we close today in our song, if you would like prayer for anything, any of those three categories, or even something else, our prayer team would love to pray with you and for you. Now let's trust.