17 Nov
2024

Monsters and Men

Passage: Daniel 7:1-15

“There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.”
—Will Durant, The Story of Civilization
“Biblical apocalyptic is a sort of prophecy that seeks to enlighten and encourage people despised and cast off by the world with a vision of God who will come to impose his kingdom on the wreckage and rebellion of human history – and it communicates this message through the use of wild, scary, imaginative, bizarre and head scratching imagery.” Dale Davis

SERMON OUTLINE:

  1. A Beastly World
  2. The Ancient One and His Son
  3. How shall we live?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

What has shaped your understanding of evil? How do you think the apocalyptic genre helps address evil?

Read Daniel 7:1-15. What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in this passage? What phrases stand out to you that help shape your understanding of God’s character and your identity as a child of God?

Commentator Ian Duguid writes, “The beasts of the present world order may change their shape as the centuries pass, but their violence and lust for power continues. Nebuchadnezzar turns into a Darius, who becomes an Alexander the Great and then an Antiochus Epiphanes…these fierce rulers are in turn followed by a Nero and a Domitian. Their fires of persecution continued to be stoked centuries later by the Inquisition. In the last century, we have seen further manifestations of the beast in the persons of Hitler, Stalin, and Kim Il Jung. The frightening beasts of this age were present at the gas chambers of Belsen, and on the killing fields of Cambodia and Rwanda, and they are still tormenting the saints in Sudan and China, and in other parts of our modern world.”  The Bible is honest about evil and gives us resources to pray in response to evil. How does the picture of evil in Daniel 7 equip us to understand and respond to evil?

Consider the description of the Ancient of Days especially in verses 9-14. What image or aspect of this description encourages you and fortifies you in the midst of evil circumstances?

Evil is real, God has defeated the monsters, and we are on the winning side with the Ancient of Days, so how shall we live today? In the sermon Patrick suggested a few ways for us to live in response: trusting in God’s triumph, we leave vengeance to him and stay hopeful. What can this look like in your current circumstances? How can others see this kind of trust and hope evidenced in your life?

PRAYER

Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?

Romans 12:2 / “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”