Sunday, May 15, 2022 AM

A week reflecting on the blessing of your mother. At a moment of great despair, in the context of the judgment of death, God said, I'm going to give you life. And Eve was named this because she was the mother of the living, the promise of life.

What a great gift that God has given to each one of us in our mother. In a time where people embrace death and celebrate the destruction of life and the denigration of motherhood, what a great gift God has given to us.

I hope this last week has been one full of thankful and grateful reflection. And also a proud moment for a mother and a father is the graduation of one of their children. So Caitlyn, is Caitlyn here? Caitlyn, could you come down here just real quick?

I know. You look prepared. Your father said something about a speech that you were supposed to give, but I will not do that. But we are very proud of you. And I know that you're very grateful for your parents and all that they've done for you.

But I want to say congratulations to you. And Caitlyn has been homeschooled for all of her school years, except for one year. And while in high school, she was also enrolled in courses through Echo, Epic Charter Schools.

She took concurrent classes through ORU and Rose State. And you're graduating with 39 concurrent credits. So wow, that's what you call a head start. That's well done. And Caitlyn has a love for biology and believes that God is leading her to attend the University of Central Oklahoma this fall to pursue degrees in biomedical science and forensics.

So you're setting the bar high for yourself. That's great. This is Caitlyn's favorite current verse, Proverbs 19, 20 through 21. Listen to counsel and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days.

There are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel is that which will stand. Well, we thank the Lord for you and want to give you a gift. And church, I know you're proud of her as well.

So congratulations. Well done.

It's already been a good morning this morning. We'll pray that it gets even better. As we have a time preparing for worship, a few announcements as we get started this morning. Come back this evening for our evening service here at the church.

Truth Group is going to follow this evening service for the young adults in attendance. So come for that. Looking ahead to Wednesday, we'll have our regular meal at 545 and then prayer and tag for the kids at 630.

Looking ahead in the coming Sundays, May 22, in the evening service, after the evening service, we're going to have a tag fellowship. And that's when our kids tag program kind of shares what they've been working on.

On Wednesdays, you are welcome to invite any family and friends that you would like to attend. There'll be food and fellowship after the evening service that night. And then looking ahead to May 29, communion, Lord's Supper in the morning, and then flock groups that evening.

So flock groups, if you're unfamiliar with what those are, our elders have certain flocks of our members assigned to them. So we typically will meet in homes or sometimes if it's a big flock, sometimes they will meet here at the church in the fellowship hall.

So get in touch with your elder if you're not sure about that. I believe there are flock group lists on the bulletin board out in the hallway. So you can check those as well. All right. Brief announcement in the bulletin about the upcoming Oklahoma City Dodgers baseball game.

Those tickets are going fast. They're $5 a piece. If you are interested in going to that, you will need to get your cell phone number to the church office. The church secretaries will send out those tickets via cell phone.

They'll come to your mobile phone there. I believe the ballpark is almost completely cashless at this point. So just know that if you want to go to that baseball game, that's always been a fun time for us as a church family to come together and enjoy a game of baseball in the summer.

Another thing regarding summer, Dwight mentioned to me this morning, summer Sunday school is right around the corner. We usually do that during the months of June, July, and August. We'll kind of have a break from our regular Sunday school classes.

But to give you a little bit of a heads up, in order to give a break to some of the teachers for our kids, Jenny Bender, Holly Smith, and myself, and then the Barnetts, if you would be willing to maybe substitute for those kids' classes, their age ranges from about four all the way up to 14, you don't have to do all of those at once.

That's across three different classes. But if you could talk to those people or see Dwight if you're willing to volunteer for those. And he tells me that the session choices should be out next week. So you all are anticipating that greatly.

I can tell right now. Our ladies ministry announcement regarding that, Words of Life Women's Retreat, that's going to be on Saturday, July 9th. If you need more details or would like to RSVP for that, please see Haley Mounts.

Raise your hand so they know who you are. There we go. And that is coming up as well. Any other announcements before I read our fighter verse for the week? This week, our fighter verse comes from Galatians, chapter 5, verses 24 and 25.

It reads, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. We're going to have a time to prepare our hearts for worship.

And then at the conclusion of that, dad will come up and open us in prayer. Gracious and merciful Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is for us to be able to come together this morning. Thank you for bringing us together to this place.

We ask, Lord, that you would help us to be of one heart and one mind, that we might glorify your name and exalt Christ our Savior. So Lord, we come here this morning humbly, knowing that there is nothing good in us.

There is no thing we can do, no thing we can bring that would cause you to be pleased with us, and that it's only by faith in Christ alone that we can come with boldness before your throne of grace. So thank you for receiving us and accepting us in Christ today.

Lord, we come here joyfully because of your mercies that are new every morning, because of your great faithfulness, because of the kindness that you have shown us in Christ. Lord, may we express that joy in Christ today as we sing, as we pray, as we fellowship with one another.

May the joy that is ours in Christ be evident in all that we say and do. And Lord, we come into your presence today gratefully, thankful for all that we have in Jesus. Our adoption as sons and daughters, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, all that and more.

So Lord, we come into your presence this morning with thankful hearts. Lord, may Jesus Christ be praised. May our voices together exalt your name and give you glory, honor, and blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Would you stand with me for our call to worship this morning? Continuing on in Psalm chapter 78, we'll be reading verses 13 to 16. Read with me together. He divided the sea and let them pass through it and made the waters stand like a heap.

In the daytime, he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them to drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

So if you would, turn your Psalms for worship hymnal, page 78C, and we'll sing these very verses that we just read, verses 6 and 7 in your hymnal. Page 6, sing praise to God who reigns above. Sing 13 verses.

The Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants, and the people will be like the priests, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.

The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.

The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth and those who live in it are held guilty.

Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left. The new wine mourns, the vine decays, all the merry hearted sigh, the gaiety of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the reveler stops, the gaiety of the harp ceases, they do not drink wine with song, strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

The city of chaos is broken down, every house is shut up so that none may enter. There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine, all joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth is banished, the desolation is left in the city and the gate is battered to ruins.

For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of the olive tree, as the gleanings when the great harvest is over. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for today, for the privilege of being here with your people.

Pray, Lord, that you will be in the midst of our worship. Just give us ears to hear the things that Michael brings to us. Just pray that you will be with him and strengthen him as he delivers the message that you've given him.

And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to apply correctly the things that come. Just thank you for the privilege of being in your family. Just pray, Lord, that we will always keep that in mind and do what we can to spread the gospel to others.

In Christ's name, amen. You may be seated.

In our next song on page 170, Christ, the promised Messiah, came to seek and to save that which was lost. As the Lamb of God, he was the perfect, sinless Lamb of God, suffered unspeakable beatings and crucifixion on a cruel Roman cross, was buried the third day, rose victorious, and ascended into heaven.

And with the promise that he would return in like manner, let's sing together, One Day. I thank you for this day.

Thank you, thank you from your creatures. You are our creator, giving us breath to breathe, gift of life. You are our Ebenezer of help. Thus far, you have helped us. So we give you praise and thanks for that.

You have given us your son, Jesus Christ, who deserves all the praise and all the glory. You have made him to have the preeminence in all things. And so we give you praise for giving us our savior and our sovereign, our redeeming and reigning Christ.

And we pray that today as we turn our attention to the truths of your word, that as those that you have made in your image and breathed the breath of life into, that you would give us your word, that we would be nourished, that we would be sustained, that we would know what it means to live.

But we do not live by bread alone. We live by the words you've given to us, these very words that have proceeded from you. So now, Lord, we look to you for these graces and these mercies. Confess that we are not here because we are deserving or that because we're not gathered to worship because we're really good at it, because we have skills and we have abilities and that we have merits of our own.

But Father, you have gathered us as your children, adopted in Christ, given your Holy Spirit. And so we come as those who are needy to a heavenly Father who provides and ask you to provide in this time what you would.

We ask for a bounty of your grace and mercy as we consider your word. We pray these things in the name of Jesus, amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Daniel. We're gonna be in chapter 12 of Daniel.

And we are going to continue our consideration of this last vision. The last vision in the book of Daniel that spans from chapters 10 through 12. A good title for this last vision is afforded us in chapter 10, verse 14.

As Christ speaks to Daniel, his prophet, and he says in chapter 10, verse 14, now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision refers to many days yet to come.

And when Daniel hears the phrase the latter days, he knows immediately what the Lord is talking about. Because in the previous chapter, just a few verses earlier, the Lord had given to him a calendar to follow.

And so he knows what days these are. In this final vision of Daniel, chapter 10 focuses in on the encounter that Daniel has with the pre-incarnate, all-glorious God the Son, Christ himself, wherein Daniel is prostrate before the Lord and knows deeply the fear of the Lord.

As Christ begins to lay out all of history and how it centers around the coming manifestation of the new covenant, the arrival of Jesus as the Christ, chapter 11 details great enmity. World history in light of Messiah.

And so we see the enmity between empires, the Persian and the Greek empire, the Greek and the Roman empire. There's enmity within the nations as the Greek empire goes to war against itself in a civil war, as the Jews themselves have conflict in their own people group.

We find there's enmity between those who rebel against God and as God brings judgment upon them. We see spiritual conflict between the forces of darkness and Christ. So chapter 11 is filled with enmity.

But there's a point to the history. There's a direction to it all. And it is the end as we find it in chapter 12 of Daniel. In chapter 12 of Daniel, we hear about the end of the latter days, the prophetic calendar, the 70 weeks, which concludes with the end of the old covenant.

We also hear about the end of Daniel's own life, that he is going to die and enter into his rest. We also hear about the end of everything as there's the promise of the resurrection from the dead. Now, why does God give us passages in the Bible to tell us about the end?

The end of an era, the end of our lives, the end of the world. Why would God give us passages in the Bible to tell us about the end? Not to confuse us, not to spark extra speculation, but for clarity's sake, to make it clear who belongs to him, to make it clear what really matters, to make it clear how we are to live in the here and now.

And with that perspective, we look again at Daniel chapter 12. I invite you to stand with me as I read this chapter from God's holy word, Daniel chapter 12. This is the word of the Lord. At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.

And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Every one, it was found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Those who are wise shall shine at the brightness of the firmament. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end.

Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. Then I, Daniel, looked and there stood two others, one on this river bank and the other on that river bank. And one said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, how long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?

Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time.

And when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

And he said, go your way, Daniel. For the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

And from the time of the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1 ,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1 ,335 days. But you go your way till the end, for you shall rest and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. So if your house was on fire and you could only grab one thing, all the mothers say, oh, I'm grabbing my children. Yes, yes, yes. All the families safe outside, you have time to grab one thing.

Now, some of you know pretty well, so I know what you're grabbing, but if you could only grab one thing and the house is on fire, what are you grabbing? Do you see how in light of the end, in the end of the possession of your home and the contents within, this is the end, what you will go grab clarifies what you value.

And you may say, well, that's not fair that I can only grab one thing, but that kind of pressure is what brings the clarity. And as we look at the end, as God reveals it here in Daniel chapter 12, clarity is being brought to what Christ values, what he sees as most important.

Daniel is burdened. Remember that Daniel is living in a foreign nation. When he was a young man, he was taken by force from Jerusalem in one of the three different exiles brought about by the empire of Babylon.

And Daniel is whisked away and taken to this foreign land and pressed into the service of King Nebuchadnezzar. He's not seen his home in well over 70 years. And now he has been praying to the Lord and he is burdened about the condition of his homeland.

In chapter nine, we find him fasting and burdened and praying to the Lord about the state of the covenant signs back in the promised land. The covenant topography, the holy mountain, it's a mess. Covenant geography, the holy city, its walls are torn down.

No one lives there. Covenant architecture, the holy temple is completely destroyed. But the Lord had made a promise to the prophet Jeremiah, 70 years, and then he's going to restore all these things. Daniel's been doing the math.

The Lord doesn't lie. He always keeps his promises. And he's praying to the Lord saying, is it now? Is it now? And the Lord assures him that the time had come to pass, that the 70 years were just about up.

And he was going to keep his promises, but he turns Daniel's attention away from the shadows of Christ evident in the old covenant the mountain, the city, the temple. He says, what you need to pay attention to is not the 70 years after which the shadows are rebuilt and restored, but you need to think about the 70 weeks of years in which not the shadows of Messiah, but the substance, the Messiah himself will arrive.

Daniel, that's where your hope needs to be. That's where your attention needs to be. In fact, not just you, but all of your people, you need to be counting down this prophetic calendar. And in the latter days of this calendar, very important things are going to happen in that last week.

And so we see, we receive all kinds of instruction in the book of Daniel from Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven and Daniel chapter nine, even here in Daniel chapter 11 and then Daniel chapter 12 about those that last week, the critical moment in which Christ arrives in the days of the Kings of Rome.

And we find in verse one of Daniel chapter 12, that it is a time of great tribulation. The same great tribulation that Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 24, as he unseals the meaning of the book of Daniel and warns his followers that when they see the abomination of desolation, which he interprets as Roman army surrounding Jerusalem, that's what he says it is.

He says, when you see that, you need to flee the great tribulation as fast as you can. Here's how you do it. You leave Judea. Those are his specific instructions. Leave Judea and you will escape the great tribulation.

And don't delay, he says. Don't take anything. Don't go back for anything. Just leave. The house is on fire. Get out. And so when we read in chapter 12 in verse one, we have many different passages of scripture which tell us that verse one is about this time of tribulation, though a promise that there is help, that Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his people are going to deliver them and protect them and that they should not despair.

When we look at this time of judgment, a judgment which occurred in the years between 67 and 70 AD, a judgment comes in which the Old Covenant ends. And everything that God said in Deuteronomy 28 and 29 about what he's going to do to covenant breakers, those who are unfaithful to the covenant, he does to the Jews in Jerusalem during those years.

He keeps his promises. He brings an end to the Old Covenant. Since AD 70, do you realize that biblical Judaism has ceased upon the face of the planet? There is no Ark of the Covenant. There is no high priest offering sacrifices.

There is no altar. There are no feasts being observed according to the scriptures. The Old Covenant has ended. Hebrews said it was going to end. It was obsolete and ready to pass away. And so God has kept his promises in that sense.

And this judgment has been promised time and again. And chapter 12 of Daniel 1 is no exception. But now we turn our attention to verse 2. And let's read verses 2 and 3 again. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

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. Well, that doesn't sound like AD 70, because it's not. Verse 2 is talking about the resurrection of the dead.

Our great hope, that which lies ahead of us. Now, let's be clear on the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead. Let's understand what that is. Let's confirm that indeed it is in this text. And then let's consider why the Lord, in his wisdom, connects these two momentous occasions of judgment together for our edification.

So first of all, the doctrine of the resurrection. What is the resurrection from the dead? Let's turn our Bibles to John chapter 5. John chapter 5, and let's look at verses 24, 25, and following. I find that the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, which is spoken about in great detail in many different times in the Bible, is not something that most people are hoping for today.

That many people have a sense that they would like to go to heaven when they die, but they have no idea what that really means or what happens next. But the Bible keeps on putting before our attention this great hope of the resurrection of the dead, and we need to be clear on what that means.

So in John chapter 5, Jesus is speaking to his critics, those who are always suspicious about what he does and what he says. They're not interested in worshiping him and loving him and following him. They're just interested in trying to prove him wrong.

He's speaking to these critics of his, the credentialed religious leaders of his day, and he begins to prove his divinity, that he is as much God as God is God. God the Son in human flesh, fully man and fully God, and he begins to declare this to his critics, the religious leaders of the Jews.

Let's listen to verse 24 and read down through verse 29. "'Most assuredly, I say to you, "'he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me "'has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, "'but has passed from death into life.'".

Before we go a step further, I want you to think about that verse. Have you heard the word of Jesus Christ? The good news of Jesus Christ, that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, that he comes as the Son of God and the Son of man, that he has come to bring the forgiveness of sins at the cost of his own blood and death upon the cross, that he has died in our place and for our sake, that God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, that God would look upon us with the kind of favor that only Jesus Christ deserves, and that God treated Christ upon the cross as we deserve in all of our sin and guilt and transgressions.

Do we know the good story, the good news of Jesus Christ, that after he was killed upon the cross, died upon the cross, that he was raised from the dead to die no more, and that he is ascended to the right hand of the Father, having been accorded all authority in heaven and on earth, and he reigns from the right hand of the Father and will come again?

Do we know that word, that story? Do we believe in Christ and God who has sent him? If you do, you have everlasting life. You will not come into judgment, but you have passed out of death into life. Remember what we talked about last week, that God's judgment always, God's judgment always sifts people into two groups, showing who are his and who are not.

And in light of the judgment to come, isn't that the case? The only thing that matters in terms of who is who is who belongs to Christ and who doesn't. Let's continue on in John 5. "'Most assuredly, I say to you, "'the hour is coming and now is, "'when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God "'and those who hear will live.'".

Now, look at what Jesus says. "'The hour is coming and now is,' and he says, the dead will hear my voice. He identifies himself as the Son of God. And he says, those who hear will live. Didn't he just say that in verse 24?

Those who hear the word of God and believe, they will live, they have everlasting life. So he's saying the exact same thing that the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2, that though we are dead and trespasses in sins, when the gospel is preached to us by the grace of God, we believe and we live where once we were dead.

And this is called the new birth, as Jesus says to Nicodemus, a spiritual resurrection, a resurrection from the death of trespasses and sins. Moving further, verse 26, "'Whereas the Father has life in himself, "'so he has granted the Son to have life in himself "'and has given him authority to execute judgment also, "'because he is the Son of Man.'".

Daniel chapter seven, the Son of Man, "'who is given a kingdom and an empire which has no end.'". Verse 28, "'Do not marvel at this, "'for the hour is coming,'' note he doesn't say and now is, an hour is coming, he doesn't say and now is, "'something is ahead of us, "'in which all,'' mark it, "'all who are in the graves will hear his voice "'and come forth, those who have done good "'to the resurrection of life "'and those who have done evil "'to the resurrection of condemnation.'".

So those who are characterized by the grace of God, who have been saved by the grace of God and thus live according to the good works that God has prepared beforehand for them to walk in, those are going to be easily identified as those who belong to Christ, they are the sheep on the right hand of Christ in Matthew 25.

But others are also gonna be raised from the dead because everybody in the graves are gonna come forth and these are those who are without the grace of God and their lives are characterized by the deeds of the flesh.

And these are the goats on the left hand of Christ in the picture we have in Matthew 25. So mark it, when the resurrection occurs, what happens? All in the graves come forth at the same time and you have the goats on one side, the sheep on the other side.

Do you see it? Jesus tells many parables in the gospel of Matthew in which he says the very same thing, that at the end of his reign as king of the kingdom, the culminating event is the resurrection of the dead and is always a sifting because it's a judgment that is in accordance with the resurrection from the dead and the tares will be separated from the wheat and the bad fish are separated from the good fish.

Do you remember those stories? The wicked servants are separated from the good servants. And so the story is told again and again. Now, when will this resurrection take place? At the culmination of Christ's kingdom.

This is what he says in many, many parables and statements that at the culmination of his kingdom over which he rules and reigns, there will be a resurrection from the dead and a sifting of all mankind in that last great day of judgment.

This is also stated in another fashion in 1 Corinthians 15. A passage, a chapter which is all about defending the resurrection from the dead, not the spiritual resurrection from the dead that there's new life in Christ.

Oh, that's fine. The contested point are those who are denying that anybody could be physically raised from the dead. And Paul goes to war against such a false claim, proving that Jesus Christ was bodily raised from the dead and he's the first fruits of the resurrection.

So everybody else who believes in him, they also will be raised in the same way that Christ was raised. And 1 John says that everyone who has this hope purifies themselves just as he is pure. What is that hope?

That when he appears, we will be like him for we will see him just as he is. Now what's the timing of it all? Verse 20 and following. But now Christ is risen from the dead. Church, he is risen and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Mark that word asleep. We're gonna come back to it. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward those who are Christ it is coming.

Then comes the end. So after the resurrection of the dead, then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom, the kingdom that he has been faithfully and righteously reigning over perfectly as the unique and excellent servant of God, he delivers the kingdom to God the father.

He says to the father, look what I have done. And the father is very pleased. And he puts an end to all rule and authority and power. Watch this verse 25. He must reign. Christ must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Well, when is death defeated? When is death undone? When does death go away? At the resurrection because all who are in the graves are raised from the dead by the power of the voice of Christ himself and death shall be no more.

So Christ reigns at the right hand of the father until all his enemies are placed as a footstool for his feet and the last enemy defeated his death. That's the resurrection. And then he hands the kingdom over to the father.

The doctrine of the resurrection. Now let's go back and look at Daniel. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Verse two, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The word many here is not the fractional many, many out of the whole, it's many in terms of magnitude and greatness. So many you can't count them. The word is often used in the Old Testament for a number beyond reckoning.

So those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. This is, these are the metaphors of the resurrection of the dead. From dust we have been made to dust we return. That is the curse of death that God declared as the punishment of Adam's sin.

And how does Jesus talk about death and resurrection? In John chapter 11, verse nine, speaking about his dear friend Lazarus, he says of Lazarus, Lazarus he has fallen asleep and we're going to go wake him up.

That's how Jesus thinks of death and resurrection. Jesus is not daunted by death. Raising his people from the dead is as simple for Jesus as you waking somebody up from their sleep. So there's a promise of resurrection.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. So at the resurrection, some will be on the right hand of Jesus, the sheep, some will be on the left hand of Jesus, the goats.

In judgment, all the people are sifted and shown who belong to God and who does not belong to God. Those who are of Christ and those who are not of Christ. So we see that this passage is about the resurrection.

Verse three, where we read that those who are wise shall shine at the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Jesus quotes that verse in Matthew 13 when he's explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares.

And at the end, at the culmination of his kingdom, he says, everyone is separated and those who are his are like this. Daniel 12 three, that's what he quotes. So there's no doubt at all that Daniel chapter 12 verses two and three is talking about the resurrection from the dead.

Even as there's no doubt at all that verse one of Daniel chapter 12 is talking about a particular time in history where there was a great tribulation and judgment. The question is, why in the wisdom of God are these two themes being brought together for teaching us, correcting us, instructing us?

We find these themes connected many places in the Bible. Matthew 24, which specifically says that all these things take place within this generation. And then chapter 25 of Matthew following it, which has similar imagery, but talks about the culmination of the kingdom of heaven.

First Thessalonians four ends with a description of the resurrection from the dead, when even those who are left alive and believers in Christ will be caught up with those who are raised from the dead and we have a victory ascension and rapture with Christ.

But then chapter five looks at the coming judgment upon Jerusalem and the end of the old covenant. Another story in Matthew 22, a parable that Jesus tells. He tells a parable about a wedding feast that has been prepared for the king's son.