First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Please enjoy this poem by Christina Rossetti.

None other Lamb, none other name,
None other hope in heaven or earth or sea,
None other hiding place from guilt or shame,
None besides thee!

My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart’s desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to thee.

Lord, thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love’s fire thou art, however cold I be;
Nor heaven have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but thee.
Christina Rossetti, 1870.

Favorite Takeaways:
• Read Daniel 8: 15-19. Notice how God leans into Daniel and provides a messenger to in-terpret the vision before he even asks for it. How awesome that we have a God that de-lights in revealing himself to his people.
• “The sight & the sounds of the ram’s horns breaking typifies the brittle, ultimately fragile nature of political might." Joyce Baldwin. What seems so indestructible and powerful and mighty and lasting in this world, can be (and often is) so fragile and fleeting.
• “Antiochus is a satanically empowered puppet, AND an instrument in the hands of an all-powerful and providential God.” David Platt
• What was God doing? Why would He allow this? God is doing two things: 1) Casting right-ful judgment on all that opposes him, removing a horrific, antichrist-type ruler that is trying to interrupt His perfect plan and 2) disciplining his people for their own sin. The second part is harder for us to swallow. We don't like to think that our suffering ever has anything to do with our sin, but we can be assured, that this is what would become of us were it not for the restraints God places on our lives. (Simon Ferguson)
• This message needed to be "sealed up" for future generations of God's people, not only to warn them about what was coming, but to help persevere through their suffering, when all hope seemed lost. They had this vision to turn to and remind them, Antiochus' reign will end. God is still in charge.
• When the future looks dim or marked with suffering, what do we do? How do we live? We persevere in faith. We live in obedience. We continue to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, as ambassadors of the gospel, as He has called us. We don’t get permission to stop trusting Him just because we don’t understand. (1 Peter 5: 8-10)
• Neither the worst failures/sins of God’s people nor the best efforts of His enemies will stop him from bringing all things to their proper end at the time that has determined.
• We serve not a ram or a goat, but a LAMB . . . whose death and resurrection put an end to the need for sacrifices altogether, whose blood had the power to atone for all sins when re-ceived by faith. (David Helm)
• Question for reflection: Do you tend to lose your confidence when you don’t understand why things are happening? How does this passage help you have con-fidence even when you don’t understand? How do you persevere through hard times as we await heaven?