I Dare You: Hope! - Part B

You get saved completely by grace.

You believe. It's all by faith. And you get saved. You get brought into the kingdom by faith. However, your rewards in eternity will get doled out based upon your faithfulness on earth.

That's why Paul said, run this race of life like you're trying to obtain the prize. As Christians, we can live with hope for deliverance, resurrection, and heavenly rewards. And as Skip shares today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, when you live faithfully and point others to the hope of Jesus, you can look forward to an amazing prize when you go to heaven. Now, here's an offer that will help you begin to let God direct your path for his glory. What is God's will for your life? Skip Heitzig has biblical direction. The will of God is not some mystical, impractical, ethereal process that makes you weird. It is not a maze.

It is not a puzzle that you have to put together and figure it out. In fact, sometimes the will of God is so plain and straightforward, the Bible just tells you what the will of God is. Shed the Bible's bright light on your path ahead with Discovering God's Will, an eight-message package from Pastor Skip. You can uncover and understand what the Lord wants to show you about his will.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now let's jump back into Daniel 12 as we join Skip for today's teaching. One of the special targets of this coming leader, this Antichrist, will be the Jewish people. That's why Jesus in Matthew 24 gives a special address to Jews. Let him who reads understand if you are living in Jerusalem and you see this happening, the Antichrist going into the rebuilt temple and desecrating it and calling himself God, get out of town now.

Don't get your iPod, don't get your iPhone, leave and flee to the mountains. That's why Jeremiah calls it the time of Jacob's trouble. You've heard that phrase, the time of Jacob's trouble.

That's Israel's trouble. They will really, really be troubled during that time. That comes out of Jeremiah chapter 30 verse 7, alas for that day is great so that none is like it and it is the time of Jacob's trouble. So number one, the rung on the ladder, number one, tribulation.

You go that doesn't sound like a lot of hope. Well hang on, we're climbing the ladder. The second rung of this ladder of hope is preservation. That's really the message of verse 1. At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people and there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. At that time your people shall be delivered. It's the first message of hope Daniel has heard in chapters 10, 11 and now in chapter 12.

Your people will be delivered and everyone who is found written in the book. Now who is this Michael? Well Michael is sort of like the angelic version of a superhero.

He is sort of like if you could put Iron Man and Batman and Superman and the Wolverine all together in one package only for real, that is Michael. He's called here at the great prince, the great prince in verse 1. In chapter 10 he was called the prince of your people or one of the chief princes. The Hebrew word for prince is sar and denotes a military commander like a general.

In Jew chapter 9 he is called Michael the archangel, perhaps the greatest angel ever created with a special task of defending God's covenant people, the Jews. So here's the message. When the times become the worst times, when the night becomes the darkest night, when it's the very worst period of existence for the nation of Israel, Michael your prince, your military commander will come into rescue. Now I want to give you a little note here at this point.

I want you to notice something. We have a picture of Michael, a created angel, going to war against Satan and his forces. It is not a picture of God fighting the devil. A lot of Christians think that and I think one of the biggest lies Satan wants to perpetrate is that he is the opposite of God. He is not. Sometimes we think over in this corner is God and he's sweating it out as he's fighting the devil.

Are you kidding? Satan can't go one round with the champ. I mean it's like putting Justin Bieber against Bruce Willis or something. I mean you can pick whoever you want but it's like, what?

Not even close. Satan is a created being. Michael is a created being and they're going at it. He will stand up.

Question, how will Michael stand up? Well it seems, and this is where I have to just shorten it for you and all the materials available you can get it free of charge on the website in the book of Revelation. It seems that during the tribulation period all of hell's forces will be unleashed on the earth with the sole purpose to obliterate the nation of Israel. Now look at Revelation chapter 12.

This is where that comes in. Revelation 12. Now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars. Then being with child she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. Who is the woman? It's sort of an unfair question because people will answer it differently. The Catholic church says it's Mary. They even have a motif that shows this.

That would be wrong and I'll show you why in a moment. Some people say this is a picture of the church, the woman. Well the reason it can't be the church is because the New Testament calls the church the virgin bride of Christ and here this woman is pregnant and if that's the case church has got big problems. Now I believe it can only be one thing and I'll show you why. This is a picture of the nation of Israel.

The only other time in the Bible we have this imagery of the sun, the moon, and the stars like this is back in Genesis 37 when little Joseph had a dream. Remember the dream he had? He got in trouble. He said, hey you guys.

Tells his brothers, his mom, and dad. I had a dream last night. Eleven stars, the sun, and the moon all bow down to me, my star. Isn't that a cool dream I had?

You go, yeah, let's like sell you as a slave somewhere. In fact, Jacob, his dad, interpreted the meaning of that dream. That speaks of us, the 12 heads of the 12 tribes of Israel and the father and the mother. It's a picture of Israel. You say, why is Israel portrayed as a woman? She was often portrayed as a woman in the Old Testament.

The wife of Jehovah called a woman on many occasions. So it's fair to say since the only other comparison is that text of Scripture that unlocks its meaning that it's a picture of Israel and you'll see why that's appropriate. Verse 3, another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns or diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Who might that child be? My Bible has a capital C for child, rightly interpreting this to mean Christ. She bore a male child who was to rule all the nations. Now we know it is Jesus with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and his throne. That would be the ascension. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days.

That's three and a half years. So Jesus ascends into heaven, the male child, the woman is left. And during the tribulation, Satan and the beast will persecute the woman relentlessly, trying to destroy Israel. Now Satan's always wanted that.

This is not like new news. He never wanted the Messiah to begin with. That's the whole reason Bethlehem happened when Herod slaughtered all the baby boys. Kill the Messiah. That's what Satan had in mind when he inspired them. Look at verse seven.

Here it is. This is what I want to show you. And war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought. But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. And so the great dragon was cast out. That serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world, he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Once the demons were cast out on the earth, they seek to overrun the earth and seek to destroy Israel. And Michael comes. And it tells us in Revelation 12, verse one, your people shall be delivered. I just got to imagine what this sounded like to Daniel. Right? He's been in chapter 10 and 11 hearing, this guy's coming and that guy's coming and we're going to get killed and that's going to happen.

It's bad news, bad news until all of a sudden, hey, good news, dude. There's coming a day when Michael's going to stand up at the very worst of times and your people will be delivered. That's the message of preservation. Question. Why such hatred against the Jews? Why Israel? Why destroy Israel? Of all the nations in the world to obliterate, why the Jews?

Well, let me give you a premise. If God's plan of salvation, his plan of redemption required the existence of a nation and the continuance of that nation, if you could destroy that nation, you can toward God's plan. One nation God selected out of all the people on the earth to give prophets to, to give his word of revelation, the scriptures to, and to send the Messiah through. That's the Jewish nation. If we can obliterate the Jewish nation, we can toward God's plan. That's the reason that Cain killed Abel back in Genesis because they thought that Abel might be the promised seed. It's the reason Pharaoh wanted to kill all the male Hebrew children born in Egypt. It's the reason Saul tried to kill David and the Messiah would come through the lineage of King David. It's the reason Herod killed all those babies in Bethlehem.

It's the reason Satan said to Jesus, jump down, jump down. Any idea or way possible to eliminate God's promise of salvation through the Jewish people, he has tried. And by the way, it's the reason why Sheikh Asad Tamimi from the Islamic Jihad said, and I quote, the killing of the Jews will continue killing, killing, killing in God's name until they vanish, close quote. You see folks, there's prejudice and then there's prejudice.

And antisemitism isn't just your run-of-the-mill racism or prejudice, it's demonically inspired by the enemy of God and the enemy of your soul who wants to eliminate God's plan of enacting his salvation and his future kingdom through this nation. So that's why this is hopeful for Daniel because there's tribulation and it's going to be an unparalleled time, but there's preservation. Your people will be delivered. Third, rung on the ladder of hope is resurrection, verse 2. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

See, the hope is rising. Not only, Daniel, will your people be preserved, they're going to live again. It's going to be a resurrection. That's something you need to know about resurrection. When the Bible speaks of resurrection, it's always speaking of the physical body. It's not a spiritual resurrection.

It's not just using a metaphor. It always speaks of the physical body being brought back to life. And it was always the hope of Israel. As far back as the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job, Job said in chapter 19, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, that's physical death, this I know, that in my flesh I will see God. That's resurrection.

The only reason Abraham thought I can sacrifice my son Isaac, according to Hebrews 12, is he believed God could raise him from the dead. Hope of resurrection. Now, there's three great facts of life.

If you don't know them yet, you need to know them now. Number one, everybody dies. Number two, everybody gets evaluated.

That's judgment. Number three, everybody, everybody gets resurrected. Rich, poor, young, old, famous, obscure. Everybody in history so far has died. I can think of only two exceptions.

I'll let you have fun with those and figure out who that is. Death is mentioned 394 times in the Bible. Solomon in Ecclesiastes said, To everything there is a season, a purpose for everything under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die. Two people die every second. That's why one undertaker creatively signs all of his letters, eventually yours.

Kind of creepy, huh? Now, listen to the words of Jesus and how close they sound to the words of Daniel 12. This is Jesus speaking in John chapter 5. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Make no mistake, every human being has eternal life. That is, they will live forever.

The big question is where? And when the Bible speaks about eternal or everlasting life, it often speaks of just living in God's presence for those who are saved. But everyone will continue forever because everyone has a soul and the soul is eternal. There's two possibilities, Daniel says, everlasting shame and contempt or everlasting life.

Resurrection. Listen, there's a hope in that for us because the older I get, the older we get, the more wrinkles we get, the more we groan as we get older. You know, I was on this trip with my buddy and I'd pick stuff up and I'd sigh and he'd say, you're like groaning a lot more than you used to.

And he noticed that a couple times. He said, dude, it's biblical. We who are in these bodies, Paul wrote, earnestly groan, desiring to be delivered and clothed with our heavenly habitation.

So, cool it. I'll groan for the glory. Now for New Testament believers, do you know when our resurrection will take place, our physical resurrection?

Any guesses? The rapture of the church. At the rapture of the church, those who are dead in Christ shall what?

Rise first. Then we who are alive and remain, 1 Thessalonians 4, will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. The church was not in the first 69 weeks of Daniel. They certainly won't be in the 70th week of Daniel or that tribulation period. Our resurrection happens at the rapture of the church. Then there'll be a seven-year period of tribulation at the end of which, I believe, Old Testament saints will be resurrected along with tribulation believers. All of that, even though it's in phases, constitutes the first resurrection or the resurrection unto life. Now, if you want to get chronological, go and read, not now, but later, Revelation chapter 20, which says after the first resurrection will be a thousand years. And after the thousand years, a second resurrection where unbelievers are resurrected in their physical bodies and stand before God to be judged. So no matter how long you live here, you might make it over a hundred, but that's nothing compared to eternity. You'll live gazillions of years in eternity. This is just the warm-up act.

This is the dress rehearsal for the real show. So that's what the angel is getting Daniel to see. Tribulation, yes, worst period of time in history, but preservation, your people will be delivered, not only that. For those whose names are written in the book of life, it gets better. You'll live forever. Here's the fourth rung on the ladder of hope. It even gets better than resurrection. It's called remuneration, verse 3. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Now, talk about hope. Resurrection is even the end of it.

Rewards come. The ability to reflect God's glory to some capacity. I heard of a preacher who died and he went to heaven. When he got into the gates of heaven, he looked around and he noticed that there was a New York taxi cab driver who also was in heaven. What bothered the preacher is the cab driver had a higher position of authority in heaven than he did. So he went to Peter and said, Peter, what's up with this? I mean, I gave my whole life to this enterprise and the cab driver is a higher place in heaven.

Peter said, slow down, buckaroo. We reward here in heaven based upon results. You see, whenever you would preach, a lot of people fell asleep. But anybody who got in that guy's cab stayed awake and prayed the whole time.

Well, I want to be fair to the text because I believe that a text taken out of context becomes a pretext. And so the context here would seem to indicate that it has primary reference to those Jewish evangelists during the tribulation period, which Revelation talks about. 144,000 are sealed. They seem to have a great witness because in chapter seven of Revelation, John sees a multitude of non-Jews, Gentiles, he can't even count them all. The question is, where do they come from? Where do all those saved Gentiles come from? From the witness of the 144,000 who turned many to righteousness. I think that's primarily the reference.

However, let's broaden it out because it's a principle. The wisest people in the world are saved people. Fools are unbelievers. That's how the Bible describes a fool. A fool isn't a guy who flunked out of third grade. It's a guy who rejects Christ.

The fool has said in his heart, no God. A wise person receives Christ. If you're a saved person, you'll shine forever. If you're a witnessing saved person and you've given your life to bring many to righteousness, it seems like you're going to shine a little bit brighter. Look at the end of verse three. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Now, I hope it's not news to you.

I hope it's not new to you that this is a reality. We're going to be rewarded. You get saved completely by grace. You believe. It's all by faith. And you get saved. You get brought into the kingdom by faith. However, your rewards in eternity will get doled out based upon your faithfulness on earth.

That's why Paul said, run this race of life like you're trying to obtain the prize. Because one day we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and receive the things that were done in our bodies, whether good or bad. Jesus said, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. How do you store up treasures in heaven? Yeah, there's heaven, but then there's treasures in heaven.

And you can be storing them up now. And that depends on your faithfulness here. Faithfulness of your own witness will determine your capacity to shine in eternity. Have you always wanted to be a star? And every time they interview a contestant like American Idol or The Voice or all these talent shows, that's the theme I hear in all of them. I was born to be a star. I guess you have to have that drive to even get on that contest. I'm a star.

Wait about two years and ask somebody if they remember that guy that was on American Idol and they'll go, who? They don't even last that long. So if you want to be a star, make sure you shine in the right sky, in God's sky. Were you here when we had fireworks on the 4th of July? You know what the best part of the fireworks were?

When they were done. And you look up and the smoke clears and you see those stars that have been up there long before the fireworks were even invented and will shine long after fireworks go. Well, if you want to plant something that will last a year, plant a flower. If you want to plant something that will last a lifetime, plant a tree. If you want to plant something that will last forever, plant the gospel in the heart of another human being and you'll shine. Remember, all that God has already done to fulfill his promises, it helps us to trust him to fulfill every word in scripture. And that's why we share these teachings, to encourage you to put your faith in God and follow him with confidence. And we want to invite you to help keep these messages online and on the air so more friends like you can experience God's presence in their life as they keep growing in their faith. And I'm praying that in 2023 we'll be able to reach people in more cities in the United States. But I need your help to make that happen.

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800-922-1888. Thank you for your generosity. Join us again tomorrow as Skip challenges you to live in response to what God has done for you through Jesus. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.