Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday May 17, 2015
The fifth prophecy that we are noting is the one that says to seal up vision and prophecy,
Chatham = "to bring to a closure about something," or to close something up by revealing what it really means, or to put one's stamp of approval on something or someone.
Daniel received some visions, dreams, and prophecies as well as "Words from God" concerning things that will happen in the immediate future and things that will happen in the distant future, that he understood, but he didn't know WHEN these things would happen.
Daniel knew principles and passages like JER 29:13 'And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
HEB 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek for Him.
Daniel knew passages like PSA 91:15 "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him.
He could record the vision and dreams accurately but he did not understand what they all really meant.
Just like there are times that you and I can understand the word of God when it is taught but not understand the reason why certain things are about to happen.
"We must look through faith today, tomorrow we'll know why." And therefore "We should trust our God to do what's best and wait to find out why."
One of the main goals of the 70 week period is that when the Lord comes back He will "seal up the vision and prophecies" given to man by God."
When He comes back the Second time, and He will, He will unveil all the visions and prophecies that Daniel was told would be sealed up and hidden until the appropriate time comes called the end times.
ROM 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have confidence.
2PE 1:20-21, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
HEB 11:4, By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
What is one of the lessons that Daniel is teaching us today?
It has to do with the lessons about the silence of God.
Even TLJC, in His humanity doesn't know when certain prophecies will take place for we read in MAT 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.
MAT 24:36, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Daniel saw the visions and the dreams and heard the prophecies concerning the future of the world but he didn't know WHEN some of them would happen.
Daniel was use to having wisdom and especially knowing what the will of God was.
Daniel was actually being taught something a lot of us have problems with, which is how to function under the timing of God.
When Daniel was being taught and one of the things I believe he would want his readers to understand is that waiting upon the Lord requires getting use to the silence of God.
GAL 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
Waiting upon God and having patience and trust in who and what He says demands us to have faith in who He is and what He does.
HEB 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
When TLJC comes back He going to bring all the visions and the prophecies that have been hidden -- to the light and make them all known as He places His seal, or His eternal guarantee upon all of them by revealing what they all mean.
As Daniel said in DAN 12:4 in the last days, knowledge shall increase.
For even though Daniel was a mature believer, for at least 400 years afterward, God did not speak to anyone else --- all the way to the book of Malachi, God was silent!
Many times God has been silent throughout human history as He was with Job because of the angelic conflict and the historical trial of
Satan and all of the fallen angels.
Satan had actually been cross-examining Job and while he is doing so, God was completely silent....which means that He does not interrupt the cross examination of Satan on God's people.
It is a part of what we call evidence testing, one of the highest forms of testing a believer is to have the privilege of being entered into the courtroom trial of the historical phase of the angelic conflict in order to glorify God.
The opinion of the Divine Judge, as Job passed the test magnificently, Satan had been silenced by the spiritual life of Job.
There is no greater form of worshipping God then silencing Satan.
The prophet Ezekiel identified three men as one of the greatest believers of all time in EZE 14:12-14.
EZE 14:13-14, "Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves, "declares the Lord God.
When Job was being tested by Satan, God would not say anything for the moment because Satan must be permitted to cross examine
Job in the historical trial of the angelic conflict without interference from God.
If God loves you so much Job why did he give me, Satan, permission to kill your children as we are told in JOB 1:12Then the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him."
If God is so merciful and loving, why did He allow me to take away all your friends, your wealth, and even your health, as we are told in
JOB 2:6, So the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life."
Satan would leave the bitter witch alive, that was Job's wife, who constantly kept on saying to him things like JOB 2:9"Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"
JOB 2:10 "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Many times, the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut while the very same self-righteous legalistic who are two-faced accuse you of doing the very same things that they do!
ROM 2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
If the God you follow is suppose to be a God of love, how can a loving God cast His creatures into a lake of fire and brimstone?
The answer to this question is simply found in passages like HAB 1:13, where God cannot even look upon sin, and the fact that God is just and righteous, DEU 32:4.
DEU 32:4, "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He."
The rules in the angelic conflict have already been given and Satan has to follow the rules or be thrown into Hades and therefore he is not taking Job's life but he can do anything else he desires.
God must remain silent and Job must handle his own problems on his own with the doctrine resident in his own soul if Job truly desires to glorify God in the midst of the angelic conflict.
Prin-All undeserved suffering or suffering for blessing requires you to use the inventory of your very own doctrine that you have learned, the doctrine resident in your soul.
You must do it on your own from the resources of doctrine in your own soul.
MAT 6:33 "If you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; all these things shall be added to you."
In vs. 17, While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers.
In Vs 18-19, While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, "Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house.
Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.
Think about this now and what Job had gone through and while so, God was silent.
In verse 4, Satan literally said, "A human would do anything to save his life but what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health?
In verse 8, they itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
We take the good days from God‑‑why not also the bad days?"
This was Job not only experiencing all kinds of human suffering but also the silence of God.
Daniel actually went through something similar when he received all those visions and prophecies and God was silent as far as revealing to him what many of them meant.