God Guarantees The Victory

It is hard to guarantee anything in life, let alone a decisive victory. Yet as we take a look at the word of God before us today from the Old Testament book of Daniel, we find just that – a guarantee of victory. Five times in three verses, God uses the word “will.” These things will happen. That’s a guarantee.

The Victory is Guaranteed

Even During Times of Distress

Daniel was an Old Testament believer and prophet. God blessed Daniel with special gifts to interpret and explain dreams and God also gave him visions of the future, not only for the nations of the time, but of the future events of the last days. God gave Daniel an important look at the days leading up to the Last Day. 

“There will be a time of distress that has not happened from the first time that there was a nation until that time.” 

This news is hard to hear.  But, the fact is due to the infection of sin in our lives and in the world, there are going to be Times of Distress.

Jesus talked about this time of distress some five hundred years after Daniel. In Matthew 24, Jesus talks about the signs of the end of the age and he said,

“There will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again” 

Matthew 24:21 

What are Daniel and Jesus talking about? What does it mean that there will be times of distress?

Just look at the world around you and at your own life. We are living in the times of distress. We had a fresh and stark reminder of the evil in this world when we learned some enemies of the USA plotted to assassinate the president elect.  Then there are all the natural disasters – powerful winds, sweeping waters, or the shaking of the earth. It’s the crime that takes place in your neighborhood and puts you on edge. The wars and rumors of wars taking place around the world. It’s the sicknesses that plague you, the stresses of relationships, jobs and finances. The turmoil of trying to be the person that God wants you to be in the middle of a world that tells you to be someone else. It’s false and misleading teachings and people falling away from the faith. It’s guilt, it’s fear, it’s giving into temptation and doubting that God is in control and able to help when the world is falling apart around you.

The world is like a battlefield with two armies, two teams battling for control. On the one side are God and his faithful people. On the other are the devil and all those he has deceived into opposing God along with him. This battle is one that is waged as sinful people tear apart the world and as your sinful nature rebels against God. Do not think that suffering in your life is unique or unwarranted. Even your best laid plans and efforts fail because of sin. And don’t expect the world to get better. As the end of time approaches the distress and the battle will only grow fiercer. God guarantees that there will be times of distress.

Imagine Daniel as a young adult you were uprooted and carried off from your homeland to a new and foreign land where you were inundated with their political rhetoric and taught new customs. Later on an angry and furious king threatens to put you and all your coworkers to death. Another time your friends are tossed into a scorching hot furnace. Finally, your coworkers get so jealous of your success that they carry out a plan that ends with you in a den of underfed, ravenous lions. This was the life of Daniel. Talk about times of distress.

Daniel should not have come through any of those events unscathed and neither should we get through the distresses of our lives and this world unscathed. Yet Daniel withstood times of distress because of what God guaranteed to him, the guarantee that Daniel shares with us today. Even though there is trouble, there is triumph too. Listen to God’s guarantee:

“Then at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands over your people, will arise….. At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”

As daunting as God’s guarantee of a time of great distress might be, there’s no need for you and I to be full of gloom and doom. God guarantees

That you will be delivered

God promises that he will send his angels to protect you. Here we’re told the name of one of the Lord’s powerful messenger servants, Michael. Michael is described in the Bible as an archangel – one of the chief angels who serves as a commanding general of the angel armies. Do you understand what God is promising here? God promises that when the great distress takes place an army greater than all of the combined forces and firepower of the world today will arise to defend you. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told Peter to put away his sword because if he really wanted to be defended, he could have twelve legions of angels at his command. For God “will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:11). On the last day when we see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory, he will send his angels to gather his elect.

Who are the elect? 

² Many who are sleeping in the dusty ground will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, to everlasting contempt.

It is those whom God has chosen by his grace in Christ Jesus to be his people whose names are written in the book of life. The book of life contains the names of God’s people who by faith believed the promise of Christ. It has names like Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, Peter, and John. It has the names of those who have passed on from this earthly life having fallen asleep in Jesus, your loved ones and those who taught you the gospel. The book of life contains your name, dear believer, inscribed with the blood of Christ on eternal pages That Guarantees That You Will Be Delivered.

This brings us to the reason that God can make such a bold guarantee that stands when so many others fall.  God will send his angels to successfully defend God’s people. You will be delivered. Why? Because Jesus Christ won the victory. God sent his one and only Son to stand up against the devil and his wicked accusations. Jesus battled to the death, death on the cross, but the sacrifice of his perfect life defeated the devil and paid the price for the punishment that your sins deserve. The guarantee of victory is proven by the empty tomb, showing that Jesus, our Savior and victorious defender lives to give life to all who believe. 

“Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!“

1 Corinthians 15:57 

Because of Jesus, you are delivered from sin and death. You are redeemed. Through faith in Christ, you are a saint, a holy one who has been washed clean of all of your sins.  The Victory Is Guaranteed

That You Will Shine!

God guarantees that you will shine.

“ ³ Those who have insight will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who bring many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.” 

I love how God speaks about death in his Word.  He calls it sleeping. Sleep is temporary. You lay your head down at the end of a day and wake up to a new morning. Death is temporary too. 

“An the dust goes back into the ground—just as it was before, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it”

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Your body will awaken and be raised up on the Last Day to live perfectly and eternally in victorious joy with the Lord God along with all the past and present saints.  St. Paul wrote,

“¹⁴ Indeed, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus”

1 Thessalonians 4:14

Those who reject God and his mercy in Christ Jesus will be raised to the shame and everlasting contempt of hell. But for believers in Christ, Last Day is a victorious triumph of God’s people shining in the glory of God.  Believe God’s guarantee of victory in Christ and live!

Imagine if a football coach at the beginning of the season could guarantee that their team would win the Super Bowl!  That coach would be praised as a superstars of the National Football League.  A coach can’t make that Guarantee, but Jesus Christ can, and did!  Christ has won the victory over sin and death, crushing the devil, and he gives that victory to you. So you get to be a shining star! 

“³ Those who have insight will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who bring many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.” 

Who are those with “insight?” It’s not necessarily the people with lots of degrees, those who have lots of common sense; it’s not the person with a high IQ, or the aged person who has seen it all. The Bible talks about the person with insight as being the one who has been enlightened by the gospel. It’s the person who recognizes sin and knows the Savior who has saved them. The wise person will shine as a light in the world with the love of Christ living Free From the Fear of Judgment. You get to shine as a light in the world as you proclaim his love and forgiveness and as you live your life to the glory of God showing true wisdom in words and actions. Those who lead others to Jesus will shine eternally with the glory of God along with all of his victorious saints. God guarantees it!

What a message of comfort and assurance that you can carry with you today and, I pray, always. Leave here today and Live Like You’ll Live Forever!  Live free from the fear of Judgment Day, but looking forward to the glorious time in the presence of God who guarantees the victory over sin and death. No matter how much distress may be in your life and in the world around you, and there will be distress, you will be delivered because of Jesus and will shine eternally in heavenly glory. God guarantees it. Amen.