Sunday
School Lessons
Commentary by Walter Albritton
August 31
If You Accept God’s Invitation, You Can Be There
When the Roll is called Up Yonder!
Daniel 12
Key Verses: Many of those who sleep in
the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame
and everlasting contempt. -- Daniel 12:2
Daniel
is a book that Christians must take seriously. We dare not dismiss it as
“apocalyptic literature” that has little relevance for us as disciples of
Jesus.
Years
ago Josh McDowell gave us an excellent book about Daniel, titled Daniel in the Critics’ Den. Since a copy
may not be handily available to my readers, let me share with you some of
McDowell’s important conclusions:
1. Christ’s references to himself as the “Son of Man” were
inspired by the prophecy of Daniel.
“Nowhere
in the Gospels is this illustrated more graphically than in Matthew where clear
references to Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man (Daniel 7:9-14, 22) are made
repeatedly (Matthew 16:27,28: 19:28; 24:27-31; 25:31 ff.; 26:64) along with
many more references to the power and authority of the Son of Man. There can be
no doubt, from all these references to Daniel’s Son of Man vision, that Christ
clearly viewed it as authentic prophecy referring to Himself” (p. 3).
2.
The reliability of much of Scripture depends upon the reliability of Daniel.
“If
Daniel is authentic prophecy and its recorded visions are accurate descriptions
of the future given by God Himself, then Christ’s view of it and of Himself are
true. But if the book is a fraud, then Christ as mistaken concerning it, and
much of the basis for our faith in His integrity and authority must come under
severe questioning” (p. 3).
McDowell
quotes scholar William Newell: “If the keys of the Bible, up to the Psalms,
hang on Moses’ books, those of the rest of the Bible, through Revelation, hang
on Daniel; and indeed very many of the prophetic Psalms fail to open to us till
we see their solution in the wonderful visions of the faithful seer of the
captivity” (p. 3).
McDowell
underscores this important conclusion: “A reading of the Book of Daniel reveals
that he was a man of great integrity who had the divine gift of interpreting
prophetic dreams. The book records miraculous events in Daniel’s life and
includes several remarkable prophecies, most of which are centered around the
coming of the Messiah and the end of our present era” (p. 8).
All
of this is relevant because one cannot study the Book of Daniel without
observing its influence upon our Lord, and upon the Gospels. Jesus took
Daniel’s ideas of judgment and eternal life and enlarged them, offering us a
clear picture of what lies ahead for everyone. Judgment is certain, and in the
end, the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished.
Today’s
lesson raises again the question: Is there life beyond the grave? Skeptics say
No; Christians who embrace the Truth as Jesus taught it say Yes. Actually, our
Yes is a shout, for our hope is that heaven awaits those who have been saved
through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This
summer I have been inspired by reading the biography, John Adams, by David McCullough.
That
is a tribute we should all desire for ourselves – to have others declare that,
despite the disappointments and difficulties of life, our faith remained
unshaken!
Bill
Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, died this past July 19. Bright
suffered from pulmonary fibrosis. During his last days he was confined to his
bed and on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. Not long before his death, he
wrote this:
“If
the Lord tarries, my day to enter glory will eventually come. What a wonderful
day that will be! But it is a win-win situation for me. If I go, I will be with
my wonderful Lord whom I have served for almost 60 years. If I stay, I will be
able to joyously serve Him even more than I have in the past…. As long as I am
here, as long as I have breath, I will praise and serve the Lord.”
Such
an attitude is worthy of our imitating!
Over
the years, ugly old Doubt has come by to see me. Fortunately, God gave me the
wisdom to refuse him overnight lodging. With the help of my friend Faith, I
sent him on his way with a swift kick.
As
a child I learned to sing wonderful hymns about heaven. One may seem trite to
some – “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.” However, the longer I live, the
more I believe the truth it proclaims. One day, the trumpet of the Lord will
sound, and time “shall be no more.” Then, by the grace of God, and unworthy
though I am, I will be included in that number when the roll is called in
heaven.
Faith
in Jesus, and in the Word of our God, makes it possible for anyone who believes
to have this glad confidence: “When the Roll is called up Yonder, I’ll be
there!”
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