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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
Today's reading is from Daniel chapter 7 verses 9 through 15. As I looked, thrones were placed, and the ancient of days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were burning fire.
Elan Viss:A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A 1000,000 served him, and 10,000 times 10000 stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.
Elan Viss:As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed.
Elan Viss:As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the message that you have prepared for us today. I pray that you would go before Jacob as he preaches today, that he would recall those important points that you would have him deliver to us, that we would have ears to listen to the message today. I pray for, wisdom among our congregation as we navigate some of the things coming up in in, in the months ahead.
Elan Viss:Lord, I thank you for all the work that you're doing. Thank you for some of the good news that we have, amidst our congregation. I know Carlton is improving in his health, and we just wanna thank you right now for that. We're we're seeing, a lot of answered prayers, lord, and and so, we give you, praise for that. In Jesus name, we pray.
Elan Viss:Amen.
Jacob Nannie:Good morning, everybody. How we doing? This is an insane passage. It's really exciting. And I want to start today by kind of, asking a question, having us think through something for a bit.
Jacob Nannie:I want you in your minds right now to think about the future. Think about maybe your future, the future of your world, your church, your community, your city, your state, and think about the future of the world in general. And what kind of emotions or thoughts do you have concerning these things? Some of us might be, have negative emotions. We might look at the world and say, It's not looking well.
Jacob Nannie:You might have despair, pessimism, and just negative thoughts. And that's okay. It's not necessarily bad to have those thoughts. And some of us might look at the future of our lives and the world, and have really positive thoughts of hopes, and expectations, and optimism. Daniel, in the whole book of Daniel, not just this passage, he deals with this question of the future.
Jacob Nannie:And the future of the world, and kings and kingdoms, but also a future of ourselves. How we feel and act in the world. And the thesis of, really, the book of Daniel, but this sermon is this. This is the one takeaway. If you don't hear anything else in my sermon, hear this one sentence.
Jacob Nannie:God is sovereign and we find peace, comfort, and satisfaction in him despite our circumstances when we faithfully serve him. God is sovereign and we find peace, comfort, and satisfaction in him despite our circumstances when we faithfully serve him. And this is a message that Daniel and his friends knew intimately. Daniel was written during the time of, Jerusalem's exile under Babylon. And so they were faced with real severe persecution and oppression.
Jacob Nannie:And they had to rely on the sovereignty of God in their faithful service to Him. So we're going to expand that sentence, look at that in the book of Daniel by doing 2 things. First, we're going to look at God's sovereignty and the the majority of what Elon read And Daniel chapter 7 verses 9 through 14. And then we're gonna look at examples of God's faithful servants. In Daniel 3, which a lot of us are familiar with these stories.
Jacob Nannie:And in Daniel 6, and in Matthew. So let's look now at God's sovereignty in Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 7 verses 9 through 12. And this this passage, I was, I was talking to Christina, my wife, a couple weeks ago. And she can tell you I was getting real excited about all of the imagery. Like, this is wild.
Jacob Nannie:Wild, wild, wild. Imagine, like, before this, the first eight verses, there's these 4 beasts. Right? Imagine you're at Carmel Beach just hanging out. It's a favorite spot of mine.
Jacob Nannie:And a lion with wings walks out of the out of the waters and stands up, and somehow you know it's given the mind of man. What would you do? I'd I wouldn't be staying there. But let's say you're crazy enough to stay there. Then this bear comes out with 3 ribs and his voice comes, and it's, like, devour much flesh, and you're, like, what?
Jacob Nannie:What's happening? And if you're crazy enough to stay, even then, a leopard comes out with 4 wings and it has dominion, and then there's this terrifying terrifying beast. Daniel doesn't even tell you what it is, really. He says it's terrifying and exceedingly strong. And what's crazier is what happens next, and I I have to read it again, verses 9 through 10.
Jacob Nannie:I kept looking until the thrones were set up and the ancient of days took his seat. His garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels were burning fire. So, God, he he comes.
Jacob Nannie:These beasts are are crazy, insane, terrifying, which is why what Daniel says what he says in verse 15, but God comes and he sits down. Okay? He he just sits down. His throne is fire, and his it's burning wheels of fire, and then this happens in in verse 11. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking.
Jacob Nannie:I kept looking until the beast was killed, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. So you see these crazy beasts out of the water, and Daniel, like, he actually saw this in a vision. Right? They come out of the water, and God, all he does is sits down and fire comes out from his throne, and and it kills the most terrifying of the beasts.
Jacob Nannie:Not all of them. It kills the most terrifying one and strips the other one other ones of their dominion. That is a crazy picture of God's sovereignty and His control not only over the lives of the beast, but what they do. He he can allow some of them to live, and they still have no power. And what's even crazier is the following verses.
Jacob Nannie:He gives dominion everlasting to his son in verses 13 and 14. Right? This this divine figure who's who's like a son of man. Right? And notice the parallels here.
Jacob Nannie:The 4 beasts in verse 13, they're beasts. They're not humans. They they kind of act like humans. The lion stands up and has a mind of man. The the leopard, it has dominion.
Jacob Nannie:The the 4th beast has a talking horn, and they so they act like men. Right? But Daniel says in 13 verse 13, one like the son of man, this divine figure who is human comes up to the Ancient of Days, presented before him, and is given dominion everlasting. So in verses 9 through through 12, Yahweh, He kills the beasts, and 1,000 serve him, tens times 10,000 times 10000 stand before him. But in 13 and 14, he gives his dominion to the sun and all peoples, nations, and languages, they serve him.
Jacob Nannie:So that there's the beasts that act like men, and the son of man who who is a man, and he receives true dominion. In this contrast, we see back and forth throughout the book of Daniel. True humanity comes only from communing and being faithful to God. Pastor Andrew talked about this a couple weeks ago. The way to be truly human is to commune with God, be with God, and when you reject that, when you reject God's sovereignty and you're not faithful to Him, you turn into a beast.
Jacob Nannie:And and this is a story we know. Nebuchadnezzar rejected God and His sovereignty, and he literally turned into a wild animal. And when God restored his humanity, he accepted and acknowledged God as Yahweh, as God. And so true humanity, again, comes only from communion with God. Those who do not commune with God turn into wild animals, and those who do commune with God receive They become all they can be in Christ and in Christ alone.
Jacob Nannie:So, God has conquered the powers of this world, and He has set up His kingdom, and God is sovereign. And the application of that is when we look at passages such as this, we can know in our heads. Alright. This is important. We can know in our heads that God is sovereign, and we can take comfort in that reality.
Jacob Nannie:But think back to how I had you think in the beginning about the future. There's crazy things happening in the world right now. Right? And so, a lot of our outlook might not be that optimistic. And so, we know, hey, God is sovereign, but does that always, truthfully, does that always give you comfort?
Jacob Nannie:Like, the sentence, just the sentence, just the words. When I say, God is sovereign, are you like, oh, all my cares are taken care of? It's kind of an annoying answer when we're talking to Christian friends, and we're explaining our troubles and trauma, and they're just like, oh, god's sovereign. Okay. Yeah, but what does that do for me right now?
Jacob Nannie:And and so, sometimes, it doesn't feel like he's sovereign. There's world issues, there's personal issues, and and we see the sovereignty of god, we see his power of him sitting on his throne, flames coming from his throne, it's like, well, I wish that could be in my life. And so, sometimes we don't see his sovereignty. What do we do then? What do we do when we know in our heads that God is sovereign, but can't feel it in our hearts, and are not experiencing that power in our lives?
Jacob Nannie:Well, we look to faithful examples of God's servants, and we're going to look at 3 of them, today. First is in Daniel chapter 3. A lot of us know this, the story. There's there's 3 men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And and king Nebuchadnezzar, he sets up this golden statue of himself, that Daniel told him would be destroyed in a dream, which is weird to have your statue destroyed and then make one.
Jacob Nannie:But he sets up his golden statue, and he says, when they want a trumpet sounds, you're to bow down and worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. And you have 3 men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They remain faithful to God. And what is the result of their faithfulness to God? They're thrown into a fire.
Jacob Nannie:Nebuchadnezzar takes them and puts them in a fiery furnace. Their refusal to worship the King, and their faithfulness to God led to them facing death. And as they're taken there, the people who are taking them to the fire, they're killed, but the 3 men are saved. There's this theme of, like, purifying fire, and as a result, and here's the big thing, they're faithful, they're taken to the fire, as a result, what happens? Nebuchadnezzar says that all should respect, fear, and tremble the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because only this God can do a mighty work like this.
Jacob Nannie:And he actually says, if you don't do that, we're going to tear you limb from limb and burn down your houses. Yeah. So, yeah. He extols God. He says, this is God.
Jacob Nannie:This is a true God. You have to respect this God. Transformation happened from their faithfulness. Right? A lot of us, hopefully, prayerfully, will not suffer that type of persecution in our lifetime.
Jacob Nannie:And I read stories like this all throughout the Bible and through church history and say, man, if someone came to me and said, if you don't bow down before this statue, I'm going to throw you into a fire, would I remain faithful? And God says in his word that when you do, big things happen. It's not like they got taken out, and we're like, okay. We're not going to try to kill you again because we obviously can't. No.
Jacob Nannie:The king makes a new decree that Yahweh should be feared before and trembled. Their faithfulness actually did something. The second example is in Daniel chapter 6, another famous story. Daniel in the lion's den. There's these people who are against Daniel, they they get the the king to make a new decree that said, if you worship another god besides the king, you should be thrown in the lion's den.
Jacob Nannie:And once that decree is signed, the Bible says that Daniel knew it was signed, and he went to a window, and 3 times a day, he prayed. Soon as he knew it was signed, he went and remained faithful to God. He prayed to God 3 times a day until his captors came and threw him in the lion's den. And what happens is stones roll over it. The king's like, Hey, I hope your God's with you.
Jacob Nannie:Rolls the stone over, and Daniel says, Angels came and shut the mouths of the lions, and God has preserved me. And Daniel was faithful. What happened? The king made a new decree that all should worship Yahweh. He says this in in Daniel chapter 6 starting with verse 25.
Jacob Nannie:Then Darius the King wrote to all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages who are living in all the land. Verse 26, I issue a decree that in all the realm of my kingdom, people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he's the living God and enduring forever and his kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed and his dominion will be forever. He rescues, saves, and performs signs and miracles. He who has also rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. Daniel was faithful, and it transformed lives.
Jacob Nannie:I I have to imagine, we don't have enough information, but I imagine the lives of the people in that kingdom were changed as a result of Daniel's faithfulness. And the final greatest example is the faithful servant, Jesus Christ. Jesus, right, is the ultimate example of a faithful servant to God. In every circumstance, and for Jesus, even to the point of death on a cross, he remains faithful to god. The reference I have there in Matthew 2639 is is Jesus sweating blood in the garden, saying, let it pass, but your will be done, not mine.
Jacob Nannie:He's he's he's reaching the point of death. It's so imminent that he's sweating blood, but he's remaining faithful to God, and I don't think I need to explain to you that Jesus' faith faithfulness to God changed the world, changed hearts and minds and and the world. And as a result, in Daniel 713 to 14, Jesus is given dominion. He he ascends to the father, sits at the right hand, and receives a kingdom that all peoples and nations would come and serve him. Here's the point of this second point.
Jacob Nannie:Massive change comes by faithfulness and not human interactions and programs. There there is a there there were some crazy things happening in Rome during Jesus' time. If you were if you were a Roman soldier, I believe, and you weren't regularly having relations with young men, young boys, you were looked at as effeminate. That's pretty bad. We I don't think we even stand for that today.
Jacob Nannie:And not to mention, there was other things that are widely accepted leaving your babies out in the street if you didn't want them. You know what Jesus didn't do though? He didn't get John and Peter and say, You know what? I've got some issues. I want to settle at the room for them.
Jacob Nannie:We're going to go to the Senate. We're going to talk to the senators. I'm going to write my local official and change some laws. Like, Jesus, the son of God, who had all power, didn't seek legal change to clean up Rome. He was faithful to God, and that faithfulness in God and him just being God, but also transforming lives led to massive change in the Roman empire over the course of history.
Jacob Nannie:Daniel didn't didn't hear a decree and say, I'm not down with tyranny. We're going straight to the king. We're taking this straight to the top. He remained faithful to God and he prayed. He didn't get, protests gathered up.
Jacob Nannie:He wasn't talking to his friends about policies and change. He was faithful to God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, faithful to God. They didn't seek to change laws. They didn't even really say, You're you're that that no one should obey Nebuchadnezzar.
Jacob Nannie:They were saying, We can't do it. We're faithful to God, and change happened. God is sovereign, and you want to really believe that? Faithfully serve him. I I don't think we understand the power of this because it's hard for us to rely on it, Especially today, we have such a voice today, freedom to speak.
Jacob Nannie:Right? And we rely on that because it's easier, it's tangible. What would happen if everyone in just this room, just in these four walls, was sold out faithful to god? Forget the political change, forget what's happening with the rest of the world, you're just faithful to God. Big things I I promise you, big things will happen if you're faithful.
Jacob Nannie:This is not an if, and, or, but. When you are faithful to God, when you serve him in faithfulness, when you commune with him, lives are transformed. Your life is transformed. The lives around you are transformed. Your your network, everything is transformed.
Jacob Nannie:This this is a reality that we need to experience. I think I said it in one of my last sermons, like, sometimes we pray to god and when prayers get answered, it's like, oh, that's a coincidence that I prayed that god answered it. No. No. He he answered your prayers.
Jacob Nannie:And if you start being faithful, it's like, Oh, it's interesting. This person is more interested. Stop. He's transforming lives. He's drawing people to Himself through you, making you more pure and whole and changing society.
Jacob Nannie:This is during the good times and the bad, in and out of season, God's people ought to be and are faithful to Him. And when we are faithful, He transforms. It's I don't get it, but it's real. It happens. Look at Shadrach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Meshach, Mesh from them praying and refusing to bow to idols.
Jacob Nannie:What would happen if you refused to bow to even just your own personal idols? Would transformation take place? Would wholeness be had? Would true humanity be reached? Would you find God delightful?
Jacob Nannie:Would you take satisfaction and comfort and joy in him? I bet you will. But again, okay, God is sovereign, his people are faithful, and that's a real thing that transforms lives, but sometimes we're scared and maybe even feel guilty because we look at these examples and say, I'm not like these faithful servants, but we're in good company. Look at Daniel chapter 7 verse 15. He has these amazing, awesome visions that are terrifying and great, and Yahweh comes and kills the beast, and the son's given dominion, and he says, he sees all these great things, and he says, as for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me.
Jacob Nannie:And the visions in my mind kept alarming me. You know, I'm assuming that God is sovereign, But do things alarm you? Do they give you anxiety? Let me tell you a personal story. There's big things right now happening in Ukraine and Russia, if you didn't know.
Jacob Nannie:And, there's planes that fly over the orchard, like these military planes, and they always fly to the coast. And it it freaked me out. I'm like, oh my gosh. It's happening. We're we're here.
Jacob Nannie:I know God is sovereign. I know he has complete control over nanoseconds and smaller of my life. But sometimes, I hear those planes and I'm like, I don't know. Something could be happening. I'm anxious and I'm scared, and Daniel tells me kind of even if I see visions of God with great power killing these things, I can still be anxious and scared.
Jacob Nannie:Jesus, the Son of God, who knew it was God, he knew his mission, was anxious and scared of the cross. And so, when we are feeling like, I'm not like these servants. I'm scared. I don't really I don't know how to interact with God's sovereignty. What do we do?
Jacob Nannie:We dwell upon his sovereignty, and we continue to faithfully serve him. I'm sure Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were scared. I mean, imagine you're being taken to a fire, and as you're being taken there, the people that are taking you there are dying. They don't like walk in there like, Oh, that would be alright. And if they did, like, good on them.
Jacob Nannie:I don't know. But, I would be scared, but remain faithful. God, I'm scared. I have I have beasts in my life. I am terrified of them.
Jacob Nannie:I am terrified of the of the seeming power that they have, but I got to remain faithful. I got to trust. I got to commune with God, receive the father's love, the grace of the son, and the power of the spirit, and though I'm scared, and anxious, and nervous, my faithfulness to God will see me through because God is sovereign. And here's the big point. When god takes up his throne in your heart and in your life, he kills the most terrifying beast, and he strips the lesser beasts of their power.
Jacob Nannie:The beasts in Daniel, make no mistake, they are kings and kingdoms. Okay? That's what he says later in in the chapter, but they can be applied to our personal struggles. And when God takes his throne in your heart, those wheels of fire start spinning, which is painful because it's purifying, it's refining what is holy in you, and purging what is unholy, and he kills the most terrifying beast. What's the most terrifying beast in your life?
Jacob Nannie:It's sin, and it's really sin and death. He puts it to death and burns it forever. And the other things, the remaining roots of sin and death that are trying to to rear their heads, he strips them of their power. This is what happens, and if you believe God is there, and your capacity to experience that fire of God will expand as you commune with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He has slain the most terrifying beasts in your life, stripped them of their dominion, and is purifying you, making you whole, turning you from a beast into all he has created you to be.
Jacob Nannie:Secondly, we faithfully serve and commune with God, and watch him transform our lives and the lives of those around us. God is God. God takes care of of all the things in our lives, and I I want you to think right now of the most terrifying things. You you have you have it in your head. God has taken care of those things.
Jacob Nannie:It can be a myriad of things. God has dominion over it. He has he has has conquered it in all we do. Like, you do know you don't have to do anything to be saved? You just receive God's power and love through communion with Him.
Jacob Nannie:I'm reading a book right now called, Communion with God by John Owen, and he talks about the communion with the father. And he says, the father loves you fully and completely at all times. What changes is your capacity to receive that and experience it. And I'm not to the part of the son and spirit yet, but I'm assuming the same thing kind of happens. Right?
Jacob Nannie:It's showering you, like, there's never a time where God doesn't love you as fully as God can, and he's God. We, as we remain faithful to him and commune with him, expand our capacity to receive that, be transformed by it, and then pour it back out on others and our lives. I think what I'm really trying to preach here is that through God's sovereignty and faithfulness to Him, change can happen. I think it's time for change. It's time for change in my life, and I have to rely on God's sovereignty.
Jacob Nannie:I get so low, and the only thing I have to hold on to is that God has control. Like, God, these beasts are terrifying. If I could run away from them physically, I would in fear. And what do I have to hold on to? You're sovereign.
Jacob Nannie:Stay faithful. So my prayer for us is that as we dwell on the sovereignty of God and passages like Daniel, in the gospels, in the bible, as we read and pray and commune with God, that we will expand our capacity for faithfulness to Him and transform the world. If you believe you have this already, expand your capacity to receive it, and please do something with it. And if you don't believe this sovereignty, this comfort, this peace, this human wholeness is waiting for you, repent of your sin and believe. Let's pray.
Jacob Nannie:God, I thank you for passages like Daniel that are that are terrifying, and awesome, and and all these things. I pray that we do take them, we look at them, we study them, and we really get a good glimpse of your sovereignty. And I pray that as we get scared, or anxious, or have fear, that you would help us to remain faithful to you. God, show us what it means to be faithful. We don't have opportunities like Daniel and and the 3 men in the fiery furnace, but God, show us where we can act like that in our lives.
Jacob Nannie:And God, I pray that you bring true repentance and change when we do so. I pray that it is abundantly clear in our lives and the lives of those around us. Help us to be little flags that kind of point the way towards you as we interact with you, as we remain faithful to you, as we believe in your sovereignty. I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.