A Call To Endurance

Order of Service

• Welcome and Announcements
• Senior Bible Presentation — Gavin, Luke Morrow, William Phillips, and Elliot Watson
• Prayer for Seniors
• Call to Worship — 1 Chronicles 16:8-12
• Hymn — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
• Prayer of Invocation
• Corporate Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Isaiah 12:2-3
• Scripture Reading — Luke 6:43-49
• Hymn — The Solid Rock
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
• Sermon
• Hymn — Soldiers of Christ, Arise
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Doxology

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Sermon Title: A Call to Endurance

Scripture: Daniel 12:4-13

I. Endurance Comes Through Dedication to the Word of God

A. The sealing of the book in Daniel 12:4 carries a double meaning

1. The seal confirms the trustworthiness and divine origin of the prophecy
2. The seal preserves the prophecy for the suffering saints who will face it in the last days — as with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, one copy for public use and one sealed in the ark

B. "Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase" describes vain, wandering searching for truth apart from God's word

1. The phrase "to and fro" echoes Satan's wandering in Job 1 and Amos 8:12: people search everywhere except in the revealed word of God
2. EJ Young: "While the written revelation of God is in the world, men heed it not — they look for knowledge where it is not to be found"

C. Daniel 12:10 — the wise are refined and made white through suffering, while the wicked remain in darkness

1. The refining-fire image points to precious metals purified through the furnace
2. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 — Jews seek signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: the power and wisdom of God
3. Revelation 5:9 — Christ is worthy to open the sealed scroll precisely because he was slain; the cross qualifies him to unseal what Daniel sealed
4. Romans 5:3-4 — suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope
5. Colossians 2:15 — the cross disarms rulers and authorities; it is through the suffering of the covenant people that God refines and prepares them for glory

D. The saints are like lambs led to the slaughter (Romans 8:36) who will be like the Lion of Judah — but only through the way of the cross

II. Endurance Comes Through Dedication to the Oath of God

A. The man clothed in linen (Daniel 10:5-6) is the pre-incarnate Son of God, whose appearance mirrors Christ in Revelation 1

B. He raises both hands toward heaven — an oath of oaths, conveying unusual strength and solemnity

1. Ordinarily one hand was raised; two hands signals the supreme weight of this sworn oath
2. As "Song of Songs" denotes the greatest song and "King of Kings" the greatest king, this is the oath of oaths

C. Hebrews 6:13-18 — God swore by himself to Abraham since there was no one greater; his oath gives us strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us

D. The oath is rooted in and confirmed by the cross

1. Genesis 15 — God passes through the severed carcasses in theophanic form, swearing a self-maledictory oath
2. Genesis 22 — God spares Abraham's son and provides the ram; a foretaste of the oath fulfilled
3. The blood of the eternal covenant shed at Calvary is the ultimate confirmation: "It is finished"
4. The Solid Rock — "His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood"

E. Acts 17 — God now commands all people everywhere to repent; the days of ignorance are past; the oath has been sealed in the Son's blood

1. Will we cling to the sure oath of God confirmed in the blood of the covenant?
2. Or will we cling to the oaths of mere men that perish with them?

III. Endurance Comes Through Dedication to the Call of God

A. The command "Go your way, Daniel" appears in Daniel 12:9 and again in Daniel 12:13

1. Daniel is aged and will not live to see these prophecies fulfilled
2. Daniel does not fully understand the visions — yet God does not demand full comprehension before faithful obedience
3. Daniel apparently remained in Persia after Cyrus's edict, serving a pagan king — faithful in the specific lot God assigned him

B. 1 Corinthians 7:20 — "Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called"

1. Paul's first example is slavery — exactly Daniel's condition as an exile serving a foreign king
2. Application: whatever worries or uncertainties we carry, the call is the same — go your way and serve God faithfully where he has placed you

C. The promise to Daniel: "You shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of days" (Daniel 12:13)

1. "Allotted place" echoes the land allotments given to the twelve tribes — a place in God's presence
2. John 14:2-3 — "In my Father's house are many rooms… I go to prepare a place for you"
3. Whether in days of intense persecution or relative peace, the call is the same: obey the word of the cross, cling to the fulfilled oath of God, and go your way

D. The 1,335 days are a blip in the light of eternal glory — blessed are those who endure to the end