DANIEL AND APOCALYPSE NOW AND NOT YET

DANIEL AND APOCALYPSE NOW AND NOT YET 

The word apocalypse (Apocalypto or revelation) means ‘the unveiling of things that have been hidden or covered up’. God hides things from us until he is ready to reveal them to us, and people cover things up until God is ready to expose them. Both these meaning of apocalypse are occurring in our world at the moment - like never before. The idea of apocalypse occurs in two stages – first there is a gradual unveiling of many things being in the process of change at the same time without any clear indication of what they are going to change into – the winds of change – Now and not yet. The second and final change stage is a suddenness of something new happening that stops us in our tracks as the manifestation of a momentous change finally occurs. It was like that on the day of Pentecost. Jesus told 120 people to wait in an upper room for the ‘promise of the Father’ and they did. Jesus had told them that they would be ‘baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’. Jesus had been unveiling to them in his teachings the wonder of things to come but they did not fully understand what he meant. They knew something was going to happen but they did not know when, or what it was going to look like. Then the day of Pentecost arrived And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:2). The entire world was changed that day and the rest is history.

I believe that we are currently living in the apocalyptic days where there are signs of great change occurring in all nations of the earth, but we do not know how many years it will be before God accomplishes his final purposes for the world and his Church and for each individual soul, and we don’t know what it will look like. But Daniel prophesied that there would be a coalition of ten nations or world rulers that will seek to rule the entire world in the end days. The 120 in the upper room had to wait ten days for the apocalyptic outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but they were not told it would be ten days – Pentecost - and the number ten speaks of times of faith and patience through times of trial and testing (Deuteronomy 8:2). And we are in times of trial and testing and patience on such a global scale like never before. 

I’m revisiting last week’s talk about Daniel’s apocalyptic prophecy in Daniel in chapter 2 about King Nebuchadnezzar having a dream where he saw a vision of a great statue that had a head of gold and shoulders and arms of silver and an abdomen and thighs of brass and legs of iron and feet and toes of iron and clay. And a stone was supernaturally cut out from a mountain, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Daniel said to the king ‘There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will come to pass in the latter days – the end times. (Daniel 2:28) This vision depicts the nature of the world kingdoms from Babylon down to the present day and history shows us the dates when these world kingdoms actually ruled. The Scripture goes on to say ‘And in the days of those rulers the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed…It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever’…The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

The actual feet of iron and clay represents a multitude of global rulers that are already in existence and have been for some years with we don’t know how many years to go before the identity of the ten toes is fully revealed (Apocalypto). I believe that the overall ‘feet nations’ – not the toes - are current global nations made up of both harsh totalitarian governments and fragile democracies that are currently attempting to mix together through trade and political alliances but who cannot form a lasting bond. And in the meantime apocalyptic events are cascading upon the world at an alarming rate. Daniel’s prophecy was pointing to what would happen in the ‘latter days’ and he placed those ‘latter days’ events in the time frame of being ‘in the now and not yet days of those rulers.’ That means in the apocalyptic days of the global nations out from which would one day emerge those ten rulers who attempt to rule the earth. 

The great stone represents Jesus Christ over his Kingdom of faithful people. That Kingdom smites the image on the feet and ten toes of a ten-nation world empire destined to yet emerge at the end of the age, whenever that will be – now and not yet. The feet are present now but the toes have yet to emerge on the world stage and be identified. So I believe we are in the ‘days’ of preparation when God will set up his end time Kingdom in a new measure of spiritual power and authority to be revealed in greater measure in God’s people than ever before in the earth. Indeed, there is a wind of the Spirit blowing in the Church exposing much darkness in the Church and at the same time revealing more light and truth to the Church for those seeking God and his Kingdom. The Now and Not yet theme is mentioned four times book of Revelation where it refers to Jesus as the one who is and was and is to come. 

God’s people will be God’s living stones supernaturally cut out of a mountain and built together as God’s dwelling place in the earth – God’s House, the Church. The prophet Haggai said  ‘I will shake all nations… and I will fill my house (Church)with glory…The glory of this latter house (Church) shall be greater than the former, says the LORD (Haggai 2:6-9). In the days of Haggai that Scripture was prophetic not only for Israel and for the Church – but for each of us individually as his House, as temples of the Holy Spirit. The ’setting up’ of this Kingdom is a work in process – now and not yet.
The apocalyptic culmination of political darkness and evil in the earth will be the ten toed nations. The apocalyptic culmination of Spiritual light in the earth will be the Bride of Christ. These are both works in progress – now and not yet. One is a work of corruption and will be the work of man and one is the work of purification and will be the work of God’s grace.

Ephesians 5:15, because we live in times of much corruption see that you walk responsibly and diligently and wisely, redeeming the time thoughtfully, seeking to understand what the will of the Lord is. (NKJ)
On a personal level in this apocalyptic time of change this will mean thoughtfully assessing our way of seeing things and doing things and inviting God into the reordering and redeeming of what we might think of as the lost or wasted times of our past. We can now become aware of his appointed times of new beginnings for us with a new understanding of his will for an ‘all things new’ future for our lives.

This becomes a new way of living in the grace of God amidst the outer turmoil and darkness and disorder of the world. Paul must have asked himself at times ‘Why am I in prison, why did I get shipwrecked, beaten up, ignored and insulted? The answer for Paul was - that is where Jesus was. And we can be where Jesus is at any time by his grace, with all things working together for his design and purpose to come to pass in our lives. 

The world cannot take us to where only God destined us to be. God moves forward with his overall plan for the world, and he moves forward with his designated plan for our lives. There is an energy which directs us, moves us and carries us, even though we cannot see where it is taking us. That energy is the hidden power of the wind of the Spirit which blows where it wills, and God’s apocalyptic changes happen gradually and then suddenly, perhaps after times of enduring patiently through times of difficulty. 
We cannot see our final destination but with this kind of faith we see through the present disorder of this world system, and we can enter into the eternal order of God’s Kingdom. God’s grace lifts us across the bridge from the world of fear and stress into his world of stillness and rest where we can learn to trust that we are being carried by the power of his grace to becoming who we should be and doing what we should be doing. 
The true Church is out there somewhere – Now and not yet.
The Bride of Christ is in there somewhere – Now and not yet.
The true self God designed for you to be is within you somewhere – Now and not yet.