Holston Devotional Series | November 1, 2019

November 1, 2019

by Terry Goodman

Director of Clergy Services / Conference Secretary

Holston Conference

All Saints' Day

Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
7:1 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream:

7:2 I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea,

7:3 and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

7:15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me.

7:16 I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter:

7:17 "As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth.

7:18 But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever--forever and ever."

I don’t know about you, but passages like this sort of seem surreal. I have never quite had a vision like Daniel is having. I may have heard the voice of the Lord a time or two. I may have given in to the urging of the Holy Spirit that led me into some God moments, but I have never had a vision that in Daniel’s words: “…my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me.”

I don’t tend to think of God and terror in the same sentence. I like to think of God and love. Maybe every now and then, God and justice. God and terror though seem like a non-sequitur to me.

In reality, I find all the terror I want in the world in which I live. I don’t need visions to remind me of some of the following: opioid addiction, human trafficking, wars, genocide, Ebola, hunger…the list could go on. The terror could multiply. I could quiver in fear and withdraw from the world and seek the safety of my home. So could many of you. Yet, we don’t. We don’t cower in fear and hide away thinking that by withdrawing from the world we can avoid the world.

Today is All Saint’s Day, in many ways, I like it better than Christmas as a day in the liturgical calendar. It is on this day that we celebrate the common men and women and children that have stood up to the terrors of their times and come through victorious.

I like the way that this passage ends:
“But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”

For Daniel, those holy ones were the people the survived the ravages of the four kings. For us, it is those that have put their trust in Jesus…even in the midst of difficult times.

I like that it says we will “…possess the kingdom forever…” Forever, is a long time, yet that it not what it says. It says “…forever---forever and ever.” Just in case you didn’t catch on the first time, let's throw in forever and ever on top of forever. That seems like a VERY long time.

I look forward to that time. I look forward to that opportunity that I am going to have to one day gather with all the saints and celebrate that forever and ever together in the presence of the One that was here before forever was ever created and will be here when forever finally ends.