Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20021215.htm
JESUS CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY Part XVIII: Trusting God's TIMING To Address Our Needs And Hopes (Daniel 9:24-26 with Galatians 4:4)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Why does God at times seem to take so long to meet real and pressing needs we have, and even for needs for which we often pray?

(1) A believer I know has repeatedly talked about the problem of physical weakness or pain, and has shared how much she has prayed for God's help in it all. Almost every time we talk, the discomfort this believer faces comes up in the conversation.

At times, there is brief relief, but often the physical discomfort rears its unwelcome head and the believer is "back to square one."

(2) Another Christian who is recovering from a physically debilitating condition planned to get back to work and a ministry this past week. Then she came down with sickness, and both of these plans were put on hold. This type of delay has happened so many times over the years to this believer she has possibly lost count!

(3) I have been keeping a record of our Church Prayer Meeting requests over the years, and the list goes back to July of 1997. I looked at that part of the book last Wednesday and was surprised to find nine requests made in prayer meetings in July of that year which could be made right now, five years and five months LATER!



Why does God take so LONG to meet REAL and even PRESSING needs we have, and even when we PRAY about it?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "Though I have often prayed or tried to meet them myself, I am amazed at how many and great are the needs I see in others or myself, and how long they have gone unmet! Is there an answer?!"

1. The RISEN Jesus told His disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies, Luke 24:25-27.
2. As these men were edified by Christ's teaching of those passages (Luke 24:32), we also view them, following the list of prophecies named in the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, s. v. "Messianic Prophecies."
3. The Daniel 9:24-26 prophecy about the TIME of Christ's birth in light of its FULFILLMENT reveal God's TIMING for His Son's arrival took GENERATIONS for OUR BENEFIT!
1. Galatians 4:4 claims God sent His Son in "the fulness of time."
2. In both the immediate as well as extensive contexts of this verse, we see God had to plan for over 980 years before sending His Son to make things ready for the spread of Christ's GOSPEL to US:
1. For men like us with our ancient pagan heritage to trust in Christ as Savior, we needed an enormous amount of needs met by God:
1. Opposite pagan polytheism where our ancestors believed in many gods, man needed to learn there was One Creator God.
2. Opposite pagan self-help theologies, man needed to see his need for help outside of himself so he would believe on Christ.
3. Opposite the destruction of war, we needed an era of peace for the gospel to spread so men could concentrate on faith in Christ.
4. Opposite the distribution of languages at Babel where man's capacity to communicate became limited to slow sin's spread, a common language to express exact details of God's truth in Christ needed to exist for the Gospel's efficient, smooth spread.
2. Well, in grace, God planned for 980 years to address all of these needs so WE in our Era could believe in Christ to be saved:
1. God gave Israel the Mosaic Law to instruct the nations on His righteousness in preparation for getting the pagan world to see its helplessness before a Holy God, Galatians 3:10.
2. God also needed Israel to teach the nations He was One God so they would believe in Christ and not in many gods, Deut. 6:4-5.
3. Yet, Israel worshipped pagan idols and did not keep the Law, so God delivered her over into Gentile captivity, 2 Chr. 36:14-17.
4. However, God WAITED to send Israel into captivity for 490 YEARS, 2 Chron. 36:21 with Lev. 26:27-28, 33-35: (a) God had promised to send Israel into captivity for each set of 7 years she failed to keep her land sabbaths, Lev. 26:27-35: (b) Well, Israel was in Babylon for 70 years, meaning she had been wayward for 7 times that, or for 490 years, cf. 2 Chr. 36:21.
5. The reason God waited to judge Israel is seen in viewing the other needs that had to be aligned for us to get the GOSPEL in a believable format: (a) Israel had to learn to avoid paganism, so a long enough captivity was required to make her a tool to teach monotheism, cf. B.K.C., N.T., p. 601. (b) Also, God wanted two Gentile empires to rise to streamline the spread of the Gospel: (+) Greece's exacting language had to become the common tongue of the Mediterranean area so as to maximize communication skills among various peoples, and (+) Rome's forced peace and road development had to come for the efficient spread of the Gospel, Ibid. (c) During the rule of Greece and then Rome, the monotheistic Jews needed time to disperse into the world to teach the Law so pagans like our ancestors would come to discern the need for God's help to replace their false self-help beliefs, Ibid.; J. B. Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 167-168.
6. Thus, When God told Daniel in Babylon there would have to be another 490 years until Messiah came (Dan. 9:24-26), though it seemed a LONG time to Daniel, God did this to arrange for Greece and Rome to arise, and for dispersed Jews to build their synagogues all over the Mediterranean to teach monotheism and the law to set the stage for the spread of Christianity unto US!

Application: (1) If we have not done so, we should BELIEVE on Jesus Christ for salvation from sin to receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16. (2) Then, (a) confess any post-salvation sins we do for cleansing (1 John 1:9) and (b) depend upon the Holy Spirit for power to heed God's Word for blessing, Gal. 5:16-23. (3) If concerned about LONGTIME unanswered prayers or unmet needs of all sorts, remember the way GOD took 980 years to get the Gospel out in a way WE would come to DISCERN and see it as BELIEVABLE, and trust God's GOODNESS to know what He is doing with His timetable with OUR UNMET needs!

Lesson: God used 980 years of TIME to SET the STAGE for the spread of the Gospel to OUR forefathers so WE could DISCERN and BELIEVE it to be saved! In this way, in the "fulness of time," He sent US His Son!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

As I have previously related, I have worked on a manuscript on divine election and predestination for over twenty-five years!

In an effort to help speed things along, some of the men in our Church have tried to get the paper into a form the publisher would want so it can be printed, but every effort has been blocked! Whether it is technical glitches with the computer or its programming, whether its been human error in a hired typist or snow storms to delay the programming effort, every turn in the road has had a "detour" sign!

Well, just this last week, the Lord revealed one of the reasons why this long stall has happened! I had taken home from our Church library a book by the reputable Calvinist scholar, B. B. Warfield on Calvin and Augustine. I planned to use it to improve on some comments I made in that work on Augustine's theology. As I was writing at the dining room table, my wife, Nadine picked up Warfield's book and started to read it when she suddenly said, "Honey, did you know it says here Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion was first written as a small treatise, but that he worked on it for 25 years to make it better? That sounds like you and your manuscript!"

I had not read that information in Warfield's work, so I took her words as a signal from the Lord to help explain one of the reasons for the delay in my work's publication! If my manuscript is going to correct among many other things theological error in Calvin's great treatise by one of history's most influential and brilliant theologians, what I have to offer by way of Bible exegesis in my own manuscript has to be comprehensive and accurate enough to meet that huge challenge. No wonder God has led me to work so long on it -- I've needed the time to do an adequate job!

It all makes sense, too! In fact, I have noticed with every delay in getting the work printed, I have come across significant information either to strengthen or correct bits of the manuscript itself! It's all very interesting and amazing!